Raising your software consciousness

Abstract

I n 1970, Charles Reich published a bestselling book called The Greening of America.1 In it, Reich identifies three kinds of awareness or consciousness, which he calls Consciousness I, Consciousness II, and Consciousness III. Consciousness I (“Con I”) is the pioneer mentality. People who operate at Con I place great value on independence and self-satisfaction. They don’t easily tolerate other people telling them what to do. They are highly self-reliant and self-sufficient. Reich believes that Con I dominated the American psyche during America’s first centuries and that this focus on selfreliance was a significant factor in America’s development. Consciousness II is the gray flannel suit mentality—corporation man. People who operate at Con II understand the importance of getting along with others and playing by the rules. They believe rules are good for society, and they think everyone should follow them. Reich believes that Con II became more dominant than Con I in the mid-twentieth century. Consciousness III is the mentality of enlightened independence. The Con III person operates on the basis of principles, with little regard for the rules that predominate in Con II and without the selfishness that predominates in Con I. By the time Greening was published, Reich argued that Con II’s time was over. He believed Con III was in its ascendancy and would soon replace Con II. Although The Greening of America struck a resonant chord when it was published, history has not been kind to the book. In 1999, Slate magazine’s readers voted it the silliest book of the 20th century. Reich’s Con III was a hippie nirvana, and the “greening” Reich predicted was a nationwide movement toward the hippie culture of the 1960s and 1970s—psychedelic drugs, bell-bottom pants, and all. As the hippie culture faded into obscurity in the 1980s, so did the credibility of Reich’s predictions.