Noosphere

Noosphere is a term to describe the “sphere of human thought”.  The word is derived from the Greek nous (‘mind) + sphaira (‘sphere’).  It is analogous to the word ‘biosphere’ (biology + atmosphere).

Noosphere is third in a succession of development phases of the Earth:
 1. Geosphere – non-living systems.
 2. Biosphere – biological life
 3. Noosphere – human cognition
 4. Theosphere – divine domain

In contrast to the conceptions of the Gaia theorists, or the promoters of cyberspace, noosphere emerges at the point where humankind, through the mastery of nuclear processes, begins to create resources through the transmutation of elements. It is also currently being researched as part of the Princeton Global Consciousness Project.

Integral philosopher Ken Wilber discusses the role of ‘Noosphere’ in ‘Brief History of Everything’: 

“Equal rights can never be achieved in the biosphere, where big fish eat little fish; but they can be achieved - or certainly aimed for - in the noosphere…Cultural construction is limited and constrained by the currents in the noosphere itself…There are limits how much a culture can arbitrarily “construct. We won’t find a consensus worldview, for example, where men give birth or where apples fall upward…The noospheres develops, it evolves.  It follows the twenty tenets.”

“By accepting that Spirit is the ultimate reality, that Spirit (Big Mind), mind and matter are the same [‘Monism’], then the Beautiful (I), the True (It) and the Good (We) can be integrated, be harmonized.  That consciousness, nature and culture can be integrated.”