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the more superficial personal, and the deeper collective, unconscious. The collective unconscious is universal and predates the individual. It is the repository of all the religious, spiritual, and mythological symbols and experiences. From our point of view both the unconscious are included in the psychical Karma, which also predate the present form. Some thinkers have interpreted the collective unconscious as a kind of "Universal Mind" or metaphysical reality, which is not correct.
Rupert Sheldrake applied the idea of morphic fields to explain the existence of group mind or group field in the coordination of collective animal behaviour. Some kind of "collective behaviour" has also been observed in humans by social psychologists, behaviour of crowds, football hooligans, rioting mobs, and lyndring mobs are some examples.
Jain philosophy (Bhagwati canon) describes 10 instincts in organisms. Eight of these were mentioned earlier; these instincts are impulsive and are the consequence of karma. All instincts represent tendency of the soul to interact with the outside world under the influence of karma, this appears to be a natural property of the soul, but it is not so. The other two instincts, mass mentality (loka samjna) and cosmic consciousness (ogha samjna) are beyond karma and originate deeper in the consciousness. The mass mentality has been described as a personal consciousness signifying the individual characteristic and traditional wisdom, which is inherited from parents and earlier generations, and is expressed when performing in a group like a crowd. The mass mentality is seen in ants as moving in a line, in bees as obeying the queen, in birds as flying in formation, etc. The cosmic consciousness on the other hand is group consciousness that connects the individual to a group or cosmos and determines his behaviour. For example a creeper climbs a support or some animals and birds run for a safe shelter on sensing an earthquake. This type of knowledge is neither sensual nor mental; it is an independent expression of the soul that is natural and not conscious based. In both these cases some kind of connectivity between souls or between soul and cosmos is involved and for this to happen the vargṇā fields (morphic fields) may have a role. Vargṇā fields provide a medium for instantaneous connection between unconscious minds through which the soul communicates and responds in an extra-ordinary way that is beyond the capacity of conscious mind. The same instinct should also be the cause of telepathy observed in organisms in various ways. For instance, some dogs have been found to have prior knowledge of home coming of their masters, and some people can guess what their contacts at far away distances are thinking, etc. Such instances of knowledge are, however, instinctual and are different from direct perceptions by the soul, a capability which is attained by ascetics on spiritual advancement.
Arhat Vacana, 23 (4), 2011
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