Collective Consciousness
| “ | Reality is like this enormous churning river. The average joes and janes are just floating along not causing any trouble but when it comes to low-key magic users or the supernaturally aware they can kind of stick their hand in that river and mess with it a bit. See, normal humans think the world should work a certain way so they sure as Hell won't believe in fireballs or teleportation. That's their belief, all six million gallons of it. You try to fight back against that, it's going to fight back twice as hard. Trust me, kid. It's a losing battle. Don't try it. | „ |
| ~ Harry Dresden |
The Collective Consciousness, also known as the Consensus, is the opposite of the Collective Unconscious that standardizes things in the human realm.
Description[]
The Collective Consciousness is the flow of normalcy that exists within the perception of the mundane, such as the way human beings act and their way of living, believing and wanting to grow. In a way, it acts as a barrier that keeps the Collective Unconscious from spilling out into space of Consensus. The Collective Consciousness is an inner sphere located within the outer sphere of the Collective Unconscious that surrounds the Tree of Life and thus can be considered the root perception of reality for humans who view the world in a realistic and scientific basis.
Much like how the Collective Unconscious supplies the Tree of Life with "nutrients" so as to feed its flowers for them to blossom into Aeons, the embodiments of principle in Creation itself, the Unconscious also provides the Conscious a sense of purpose or enlightenment as one might say. While contact between the two spaces is kept at a very minimal degree, every so often the Unconscious leaks into the Consensus which is what grants humans whose minds are centered around the mundane begin to delve into dreams, ideas, and philosophies that can change the course of history.
Said "leaks" are what actually result in a Mage's "awakening" where they begin to see reality for what it truly is and the more they peer into the crack the more they gather information from the Superflow to perform feats that would be considered magic. However, Mages must not perform magics in front of mortals for this tampers with the flow of the Consensus between Belief and the Unconscious. Consequences for desecrating the wall of Belief is often quite severe to where the Collective Consciousness outright retaliates against the oppressor such as directly attacking the offensive mage, causing temporary, long term, or even permanent wounds, flaws, or oddities and magical form of madness, forcing the offender to resolve their guilt over disjointing reality. Exceptionally offensive mages can be catapulted into Tindalos, or hounded by Paradox spirits. But perhaps the most devastating is the release of the enigmatic Upside-Down Man who is said to be chained by the grounded rational belief of mankind.
Overview[]
The Consensus was the result of the Collective Unconscious being tampered with due to the actions of Sophia, the Aeon of Wisdom, who in her arrogance wanted to create a being of her own. The instability was comprised of the negative aspects in Thought and Will such as fear, anger, and hatred with them being the driving force of Thought and Will to exert destructive outcomes by humanity. This led to mortals who cannot or will not accept anything outside of their normal expectations which creates ripples that threaten to tear the very principles of Will and Belief. Even worse still, it is said that the grounded rational belief of humanity is what chains the enigmatic Upside-Down Man, keeping him from tearing down the walls of logic and reason, and making reality crumble.
After the Flood Age, magic was more easily practiced, a time known as the "Mythic Age" when the majority of humans truly believed in superstition and folklore. In those days dragons, monsters and other magical creatures walked the Earth, it was simpler to travel to the realms of faerie and spirit, and mages could enact powerful spells in front of mortal witnesses with relative ease. However, with the coming of advanced technology courtesy of the Da'at Yichud coupled with enduring several ages where humanity was plunged into an era of famine, death, and darkness, the Consensus slowly but surely gripped the minds and beliefs of mortals causing magic and the supernatural to slowly fade from the once normal perception of reality and be viewed as an abnormality in the eyes of the mundane. As such, the Consensus is what prevents mages from performing magic in front of mortals lest they incur its wrath.