The Cyclical Consciousness: Returning to the Ancient Future
The cyclical theory of change, deeply rooted in Indigenous and pre-industrial cosmologies, understands time not as a straight line, but as a spiral—forever returning to its source, yet never quite the same. From this perspective, Planetary Consciousness is not something we are inventing, but something we are remembering.
This is a call to restore our ancient connection to nature, the planet, the stars, and the rhythms of life itself. This is a proposal for a “Worldwide Religion Change”—a radical cultural reset that reclaims naturalistic wisdom traditions aligned with modern science. This idea appears as a policy response to the necessity of ethical evolution and is linked to spiritual, shared values, and civilizational renewal (Glenn, 2025).
Steve Kantor adds poetic substance to this call. In his vision, humanity might one day adopt a universal identity as Terrans, and collectively celebrate planetary events like the full moon—a shared celestial ritual that transcends nationality, faith, and ethnicity (Kantor, 2025). These universal practices could form the foundation of a mythosphere—a global layer of shared meanings, stories, and rituals.
Can such cosmically aligned rituals reshape behavior, recalibrate our calendars, or even inform new models of governance? These are not just philosophical musings—they are questions that can be empirically tested, perhaps one day forming the basis of alternative civilizational blueprints grounded in ecospiritual unity.
The Progressive Consciousness: Engineering the Future Self
In contrast to the ancient spiral of the cyclical view, the progressive theory of change sees time as a forward-moving vector toward increasing complexity, consciousness, and capability. Here, Planetary Consciousness is being forged not in the return to the past, but in the leap into the technological future.
Through developments in artificial intelligence, neuroscience, biotechnology, and space exploration, we are inadvertently assembling the scaffolding of what some now call a Planetary Brain—a distributed, hyperconnected intelligence emerging from the fusion of billions of human minds, machines, and sensors. As discussed in sources like Noema and The Daily Galaxy, the Earth itself is acquiring a form of cognition (Moynihan, 2024; Morgan, 2025).
Under this view, Planetary Identity is not a nostalgic return but a future-facing metamorphosis. We are becoming a different species—not biologically, but epistemologically and existentially. The technosphere is reprogramming our sense of self, time, and belonging. It opens the door to new forms of governance (algorithmic or decentralized), novel calendars (syncing biological, lunar, and data rhythms), and civilizational redesign (platform-based or multispecies-oriented).
Like the mythosphere, the technosphere too can be studied and measured. What is the effect of persistent digital connectedness on empathy, planetary identity, or ecological responsibility? What new behavioral norms and collective decisions emerge when we live not just in local societies but inside a globally integrated, semi-conscious neural web?
Toward a Synthesis: The Planetary Mirror
Ultimately, these two views—cyclical and progressive—are not at odds. Rather, they mirror the dual hemispheres of human evolution. The cyclical draws us inward, back to the roots of meaning and nature; the progressive projects us outward, toward the unknown future we are co-creating.
True Planetary Consciousness requires both. We must remember how to belong to the Earth while we learn how to govern a planet. We must feel the moon’s pull in our blood and model that pull in our equations. We must ritualize and optimize—sing to the stars and code our futures.
Planetary Identity, then, is not a fixed label, but a dynamic fusion of heritage and imagination. It is a new mythos waiting to be told, a new neural map waiting to be drawn.
Conclusion: From Crisis to Cosmogenesis
We stand at a crossroads: crisis or cosmogenesis. But perhaps these are not two options—they are one and the same process. Crisis clears the path. It urges us to evolve, to remember, to imagine. The Age of the Nation-State may be giving way to the Age of the Planet—not by accident, but by necessity.
Through this dual lens of cyclical and progressive time, we might reclaim the Planetary Soul—a being who remembers the stars and builds the future, not in isolation, but as a species in sacred collaboration with its only home.
In this great unfolding, we are not just inhabitants of the Earth. We are becoming the Earth aware of itself.
We are becoming Terran.
