I do wonder if this interconnectedness is global and universal. Before I dive into that, my compliments to your clear and well written explanation of these notions.
When I was dating my ex, before I met the woman whonis now my wife, we were often separated by hundreds of kilometres (perhaps even miles), but we both spoke of something we could only describe as a tug of connection. Even as I write this, I feel that tether of memory, or something I cannot describe pull gently to the North East. Meanwhile, my wife sits to my right, and theres no doubt aboit the connectedness of that particular conciousness.
I have felt the same thing for my close friends, and as (a programmatic man of science) - I've always been thoroughly fascinated by this "otherworldy" function of my mind and body.
As I've started to focus less and less on the worries of consumption and consumerism, and value my interpersonal relationships far more - I get the impression that were all just silia in a greater lung of being. The universe we each experience is indeed entirely connected, and at the risk of sounding a tad mystical and unlearned, my current state of general happiness and health allows me to see what I can only describe not as consequence, but a resonance of my actions.
I've started to change my tune on determinism (as I held the position that free will was impossible previously) and now hold myself closer to the delusion that perhaps we do indeed all have agency, or at the very least, limited enough agency to know that our own actions impact the actions and reactions of others.
Thank you again for an incredibly thought provoking post.
I am happy I am not the only one that has taken that risk regarding this matter, then. AFAIK, we are indeed utterly nescient as to the make and model of consciousness, as it were. None of us can be learned much about it. To come to any understanding we must speculate, and thereby devise means of testing to ascertain whether our speculations have merit. With but thin knowledge, our speculations must necessarily be some wild, some sensible, that we will only know which is which after testing.
Regarding free will, I note we are of limited knowledge of ourselves, the world, and our future in particular. Whether or not God or gods know our fate, we do not. Therefore when we make a choice to turn left or right, to set forth or remain idle, we cannot know what the consequences may be. We must then have agency, must decide ourselves what act suits us, by such as we guess is best. I don't reckon God's knowledge of my actions, whether that is or isn't omniscient, much matters to me, whom must make the decisions, because I am neither God nor god. AFAICT, I have free will as a meatsicle, and that is all I am capable of as a meatsicle. I expect both determinism and free will are operant, but I am only capable of agency, not certainty.
It is great you not only experience such community, but know you do, as I have muddled such understanding with my attempts at reason, and my substantial lack of knowledge necessary to rational understanding. I have felt such community, but have been poorly able to understand what it was, or even to know it was, at times mistaking some fever or variety of lust or yearning for it. My new understanding takes on such significance to me because I have lately lived by my gut feeling that goodwill of good people was far more valuable than any possessions, particularly of financial assets. I feel as if I've pierced a veil, or passed through a clinal boundary of understanding of our human condition as a result, and reckon I better not fuck it up and do me and mine injury despite better understanding. Lucky guesses aren't often serial, while scientific understanding builds a scaffold of knowledge that enables wisdom.
I am fortunate to have been able to produce such a wall of text that yet is appreciable by such thoughtful men as yourself. I was loathe to post it as impenetrable bloviation would produce nothing of value. I did so because I see our present exigency, and that the proper course we must embark on must restore good society or leave innumerable dead and unimaginable suffering in our wake. That future I loathe far more than some well earned derision for excessive verbosity (which I am accustomed to anyway). Having recently experienced the good effects of goodwill, I sought to provide a foundation folks could base some confidence in the power of community to effect necessary reformation on.
Resonance is a good word for the affect of our contribution to consciousness.
Thanks!