|
Thoughts
On Evolution And Cosmogony, Part 2
-
John Onyido
CONTINUED
FROM PART 1
One is constrained to agree with the British born Samuel Alexander and the American Henry Wieman that the principle which man identifies as God must be both transcendent and immanent in his creation as well as in nature. This primal principle which flows through all things has been variously described by people like Bergson as the vital impulse (elan vital) or as Saint Augustine calls it, the rationes seminales- an extension of God’s principle into matter which engenders its gradual unfoldment and progressive growth. It is comparable to the concept of consciousness; energy or spirit from which atoms, sub-atomic particles and molecules emanate. The progressive development and evolution of mankind and all created matter encapsulates both the animate and inanimate, the earth and the planetary bodies, the Angelic and Devic kingdoms, the Solar system, the Universe, the Galaxies and the entire Milky Way, being inexorably involved in this process of growth and unfoldment within the cosmic plan of God and in a time frame that defies rational computation. Within this framework it becomes self-evident that what we perceive today, as manifest creation is merely a tiny fragment of an ancient lineage and an ancestral past that dates far beyond in time and is enclosed in our psychic genetics as the sum total of our existence.
Within this framework also reside the concepts of Rebirth, life after life, Transmigration, Metempsychosis and Reincarnation, coupled with the related concepts of Karma, Grace, Forgiveness and Determinism in an attempt to rationalize what defies explanation. Man being much greater than what is seen outwardly is as old as the Ancient of Days and the Rock of Ages. Science still attempts to approximate true religion, mysticism and ancient philosophy after hundreds of years of research, with Newton’s mechanistic determinism giving way to Einstein’s quantum physics and the theory of relativity that all matter is reducible to energy. Theories like the time-space continuum, time travel, the theory of the black hole and the developing concept of quantum gravity are all attempts by science to explain what today still remains a mystery so far unsolvable by man in his laboratories.
Recent trends in the theory of evolution by modern scholars evoke a spiritual awakening as the goal of all humanity, as the ultimate aspiration of all life. Today these find expression in the concepts of Transformation, Spiritual development, Transcendental practices and the dawn of a new era and a new Age of understanding. Leading proponents in this field include John Roger, Benjamin Crème, Ken Carey, Michael Murphy and James Redfield, at various degrees, among others. Their intention appears to be to attempt to release within man his latent abilities and untapped potential through transformational practices that will ultimately reveal mankind’s transcendent knowing and reality, resulting in a cultural and spiritual transfiguration that is the hallmark of a major evolutionary leap. The final frontier and the center of the universe is neither outer space, the ocean bed, the sun or the center of the earth but in Man himself, wherein resides in the words of our elder brother, Jesus the kingdom of heaven, the pearl of great price, the Holy Grail, the Elixir of life, the Philosophers stone and worlds without end. James Redfield in The Celestine Prophecy identifies 9 incredible insights from an ancient scroll re-discovered in the Andes, which reveals this movement of man’s consciousness to greater heights. They can be summarized as follows:
The 1st Insight - A Critical Mass
Involves a profound sense of restlessness with the ordinariness of our lives, as we search for more fulfillment and the most important purpose of life. We place unreasonable demands on others and adopt ‘the me first’ approach in our relationships thus making it impossible for these relationships to last. But about the end of the 2nd millennium we suddenly become more conscious of the coincidences in our lives that are beyond mere chance occurrences. A feeling of mystery and excitement comes in with a deep sense that something else is going on beyond our mundane everyday lives. The huge number affected by these occurrences is the sign of the new dispensation and will result eventually in a cultural transformation of humanity.
The 2nd Insight - The Longer Now
Involves an explanation/ interpretation of recent history. The Insight puts our current awareness into a longer historical perspective. A sudden awakening from the preoccupation of western culture within the past 600 years. The rise of the democratic spirit and scientific inquiry following the mass distrust of papal and royal authority and the new mandate given to science had resulted in the creation of secular and economic security- mankind’s preoccupation. Man became overwhelmed by this preoccupation however and lost sight of what he was surviving for and why we are truly on this planet. The return of the explorers earlier sent forth by man in the form of answers from various fields of endeavor will eventually lead to a rediscovery of mankind’s true heritage.
The 3rd Insight - A Matter of Energy
A new understanding of the physical world and the perception of what was formerly an invisible type of energy is the hallmark of the 3rd insight. The transition from Isaac Newton’s conception of the physical universe as causative to Albert Einstein’s concept of quantum physics and the relativity of matter to energy, is the revelation of this principle. Unlike the mechanistic concept of the world, the primal energy is malleable to mankind’s intentions and expectations. Awareness of the energy comes with a sudden heightened perception of beauty in everything animate and inanimate and finally we start to perceive this pure energy that permeates all things.
The 4th Insight - The Struggle for Power
The need to increase our personal energy on realizing our disconnection from the larger source of energy leads to an unconscious competition and human conflict for power. This leads to a form of psychological violence, which passes from generation to generation of the compulsory acquisition of power and energy from others who are weaker, in an illussionary fight for survival. The dominator feels more powerful and knowledgeable than the victim, whether on an individual or world scale. It all results from a feeling of weakness and insecurity in ourselves and the lack of knowledge of the infinite supply of this energy by nature.
The 5th Insight - The Message of the Mystics
We begin to transcend the conflict when we understand the struggle and the fact that we can obtain our energy from another source, a universal limitless supply of energy all around us. A feeling of euphoria, lightness, aliveness and bliss takes over our being, giving us total security and confidence and an inner buoyancy that connects with all creation and the vast planetary memory. It leads to the demise of human conflict as man learns how to tap into this energy at will, how to give and receive energy through love rather than to force it from our fellow human beings.
The 6th Insight - Clearing the Past
To connect to the energy on a permanent basis and maintain the connection, we must identify and face up to our particular way of control and manipulation and deliberately putting a stop to our control drama. A habitual pattern, which we built up from childhood from parental influences, must be identified through the recognition of the energy dynamics in the family by moving past these control strategies and perceiving our experiences from an evolutionary point of view. We start to identify why certain experiences were presented to us and why being born to particular parents was not accidental. The control drama generally manifests in the following forms: the Intimidator- the Interrogator- the Aloof person- and the Poor Me type could be adopted singularly or in combination by the manipulator to gain power from others.
The 7th Insight - Engaging the Flow
This insight involves a process of consciously evolving oneself by staying alert to the coincidences and the answers the universe provides. The way objects jump out at us and the way certain thoughts come forward as guidance must be understood and utilized in the expansion of our consciousness. Dreams, thought impressions or daydreams do come to us to tell us something about our lives that we are missing. We place ourselves in the flow of evolution when we adopt an observer status and we can then receive intuitions and see the obvious connections in life, based on the questions and aspirations we hold in our minds. Life takes on new meaning when we realize that everything that happens to us occurs for a reason and those we meet even by sheer chance encounter all have some meaning waiting to be unraveled.
The 8th Insight - An Interpersonal Ethic
A higher and more ethical way of relating with and treating others through the proper use of energy is the message of the eight insight. Children should be seen as end points in evolution and should be handled with a lot of care. One on one attention, constant energy and unconditional loving should be given to children at all times. Be wary of the temptation of addiction to another person as one becomes clear and as one engages his evolution, so we do not degenerate into the usual addiction for power and control. As we begin to evolve we start to receive our opposite sex energy automatically. A higher relationship results, when we complete the circle of relationship ourselves first and stabilize our connection with the universe. We can then create a super person as an extension of who we are when we do go into relationships without adopting the usual selfish Co-dependent relationships that we so often create. The more we love, appreciate and energize others the more energy flows into us and the more we receive. When there is no selfish intention or undue attachment involved in the process, we begin to see clearly the message available to us in our interactions with others.
As we attempt to bring out the best in others by giving them energy, the pace of human evolution will increase markedly and as the energy level increases, human culture will be transformed in the next millennium as a result of conscious evolution. Population decreases automatically to a sustainable level and we learn to live in the most powerful and beautiful places on earth close to nature in its pristine form. With incredible automation, needs will be met without exchange of currency but without encouraging over indulgence or laziness. More time is freed up to allow man focus on the mystery of life and the universe and why we are here. As we give, we receive even greater energy and as we create more space for this to happen we are able to hold more and more of this sublime energy. Things are then used based on need levels and not possessed or contained out of greed or near sightedness. An alternative source of energy emerges to replace the energy sources that are responsible for pollution of the planet. A totally spiritualized culture also springs forth based on higher energies and vibrations attained by humanity, leading to the clarification of many religions and then we cross the barrier between this world and the next. By the middle of the 3rd millennium whole groups of people can cross over together thus becoming invisible to the rest or move into a higher frequency and vibration. Our increased perception and vibration is what opens us up to the heavens already around us that is the divine heritage of mankind.
Man’s ability to hold the vision of this evolving spiritual culture and gradually precipitate its actual emergence on the planet, constitutes the 10th Insight in the process towards mankind’s evolutionary transformation. James Redfield, Michael Murphy and Sylvia Timbers brilliantly identify the next steps in personal evolution in their book God and the Evolving Universe. They recount how far we have come and what the probable subsequent steps will be and how we can best ensure that we prepare ourselves for the next stage of evolution and enlightenment. They quote Rumi who in the 13th Century had this to say about the story of evolution:
“We began as a mineral. We emerged into plant life, and into the animal state, and then into being human, and always we have forgotten our former states, except in early spring when we slightly recall being green again. That’s how a young person turns towards a teacher. That’s how a baby leans toward the breast, without knowing the secret of its desire, yet turning instinctively. Humankind is being led along an evolving course, through this migration of intelligences, and though we seem to be sleeping, there is an inner wakefulness that directs the dream, and that will eventually startle us back to the truth of who we are”.
Interesting allusions to the various seasons and dispensations of creation and what awaits mankind in the near future are contained in different Holy Scriptures of the various religions of the world. In the Holy Bible for instance they can be found in the Books of Genesis, Daniel, Peter and Revelations, most of which have been subject to differing interpretations from various perspectives. A clear unbiased reading of these scriptures will reveal the transformation of human consciousness and the planet we live on, whether willingly or by compulsion, but transform we will. Happily, whatever may befall man in the near future, there probably will be growth, awareness, insight, and an expansion into man’s greater potentials. One thing is clear though and that is man still exists on this planet, which has so lovingly preserved and nourished us all these years against all odds and clearly humanity owes an immense responsibility for the earth’s continued preservation, positive transformation and perpetuation for many more years. We all owe it as a duty to exhibit a reverence for all life be it human, animal, vegetable or mineral, knowing that everything is all one in the grand scheme of things and in acknowledgement that all these levels of creation are involved in the evolutionary process. As things begin to unfold, mankind will realize its additional obligations to become more of the God-man/ Hu-Man and the humane creature, which he truly and always has been.
The process of evolution is indeed a process of enlightenment and awakening to our true self – the final frontier, of the ultimate expression of those higher qualities of Love, Goodwill, Compassion, Tolerance, Peaceful Co-existence, Justice, Equality and Fairness. It involves the just and more equitable distribution of the worlds abundant resources and technological growth, the alleviation of hunger and deprivation and the removal of hardships and discriminations in all its myriad forms, the realization of mankind’s one humanity and single objective, the unity of all races and the removal of all artificial man- made barriers that continue to inhibit the establishment of a one brotherhood under our creator. It becomes imperative also to view our children truly as end-points in evolution and the repository of a better life and to provide and equip them with the right form of education and all they need to meet the challenges ahead. In doing this we realize that we are not alone and have never been, for we can be assured of divine support and intervention from our brothers in inner and outer space, the forces of light and the great spiritual masters and initiators of all time still living in flesh and blood with us (some of whom we are told still live in remote parts of the world, like Tibet, the Himalayas, the Gobi desert and the Andes) and who have led us up to this very point, guiding us slowly, gently but certainly to an eschatology.
June
2002
***************************************************
BACK
TO PART 1 |
.
