Shared consciousness: an idea that I’ve loved for many years. I have heard that there’s a sci-fi movie with Johnny Depp that explores this a bit, but my love for this has nothing to do with a movie. My idea was that two people would essentially have the same shared experience, or conscious/subconscious experience. 

After doing mushrooms multiple times, I began to see how this could potentially exist already. Many people, including myself, undergo spiritual enlightenment and a shedding of one’s ego during psychedelic experiences. This shedding of the ego can make one feel like they are reborn as a new being, one that is virtually unrecognizable from their former self. This “new being” seems very child-like, and experiences the world as if seeing it for the first time. The senses seem heightened, the emotions are more intense, the experience is altogether raw. In this newborn-like state, one can see patterns and connections that were previously invisible. The mind meanders along hidden tangents, like a river being pulled through various inlets and across undulating surfaces. In many ways, it feels like you are daydreaming without much control, yet you feel so alive and so completely focused, as if you just had 3 cups of coffee but are completely calm, with no jitters.

In this mindset, you begin to develop a similar thought pattern and experience to other people who have also arrived there. Other “enlightened beings” start to see life similarly to you, and they begin using words like love, oneness, and vibrational energy, as if being fed lines from a script. Most major religions, when traced back to the original peak experience of the leader, have virtually all of the same absolute truths to them. In essence, they all lead you to the same basic destination: a shared consciousness. 

While achieving this peak experience is not necessarily realistic, or desirable for many people, I see an alternative path to a shared consciousness: identical twins. What better opportunity to experience similar experiences and process those inputs in identical ways, than with a genetic equal to you, with whom you shared a nearly identical environment. 

Imagine watching a movie with your identical twin. You two have the same genetics, and therefore the same senses. You both have 20/20 vision, equal hearing, equivocal senses of smell. You experience the world nearly the same. So, after watching a movie together you naturally have some shared thoughts. When you share your thoughts, it is nourishing, satisfying, and comforting to hear your own thoughts echoed back to you from another person. If you happen to continue life together (i.e. go to the same college), you could continue this shared consciousness and find incredibly high levels of comfort and relief in your shared experiences. 

I can’t imagine a more valuable opportunity for two people than continuing this relationship for as long as possible. The pain that likely occurs when their experiences start to differ must be intense. This detachment is likely harder than losing one’s best friend, rather, it’s like losing oneself. The personality of a twin is likely intertwined with that of himself. Losing his twin, even for a short period of time could feel like having his personality ripped in half. But preserving this bond, no matter how challenging, appears worth it, if only for the rare but sublime experience of sharing your consciousness with another person. 

Shared consciousness: what a lovely gift to be given on this beautiful earth.