"We now enter a period wherein the goal of individual salvation is no longer appropriate. Our guidance calls for a collective transformation...The present recognition of our emergent collective consciousness represents a quantum transformation in human evolution."

"While much of human consciousness is still caught in a separative, alienated condition, significant numbers of individuals and groups are consciously working toward critical mass. When just the right quantity and quality of catalytic influence is reached, the entire process will be affected."

These are some quotes taken from Conscious Evolution by Barry McWaters (Evolutionary Press, 1982)

The movement has been growing for some time. As McWaters said - 'Applications accepted - inquire within!'

ITS OTHER NAME


Faith is an instrument,

Sharp as a warrior’s sword,
Shiny as a clean-cut diamond,
Reflective as a repolished mirror.

Above all, it is yours,
Yet you must learn
How to work it

For it can be as dangerous
As all the above.

Its other name is Love.

21.35
17.7.00

FAITH TAKES YOU TO MANY STRANGE PLACES



You asked me how I came to be here:
Well, my friend, Faith in something or one
Takes you to many strange places.


10.38pm
14.12.98




TRAVELLING



There are places to travel to
And other places to travel from;
Understand what must be left behind
Before you can find the One.


9.40pm
27.12.98

Part of the journey of inner development is about attaining the correct balance: in our mental, emotional, and physical worlds. Since consciousness is the core of all materiality, then our mental, emotional, and physical spheres are merely the different states of consciousness. In this respect there is the great possibility of being dominant in one area for the detriment of others. We see this in ourselves and others: we may be too intellectual and suppress our emotional nature, or let the emotional centre steer us and over-ride mental common-sense.

Evolution is not so much a linear progression towards some 'end-point' but rather an expansion that incorporates all that we already have known, and more. By moving forward, this gives us the false 'human' impression that we are leaving things behind - evolution is rather an expansion that incorporates and not an acquiring and discarding step. Think of our brains, how since our earliest reptilian brain, at the base, has been added to successively as our species developed - we still have that reptilian brain deep within is - we have incorporated it within our expansion. So too is our awareness of conscious evolution an integration of the constant evolutionary process that has brought us to this point from our earliest cosmic beginnings.

What is important about the next stage is that we can participate as conscious actors. Yet to do so requires that we expand our thought processes, our mental set, our spiritual being, and expand our understanding of universal processes. One path requires inward travel: the other requires that we balance our outer lives so that all our faculties are in a harmonious relationship. We are neither too intellectual, emotional, or physical; nor are we too introvert or extrovert.

Nothing is separate -this is another fallacy. All is joined together: everything that exists is in constant interaction with multiple forces. In this sense we all affect each other - yet if you're looking for the cables....you won't find them.

There is nothing to lose but your self - and this is the self of separateness. There is nothing to fear except fear itself. Our conscious environment is inherently connected in all and every sense - nothing is left out. What we require is an expansion of understanding to incorporate this new perceptual paradigm. Everything we do comes back to us for all living, experience, thoughts, and emotions are entwined.

So, with right thought and right action we can influence both near, far, connected, and seemingly unconnected events and further this connectedness. It is about contact with the greater whole - maintain, and continue to maintain that contact - it is truly an expansion of the self into the Self.

The present material paradigm, or mindset, is one that places matter as the primary source, with consciousness as a product of matter. Look at the universe – its atomic particles are the building blocks for all form. Consciousness then is a self-reflexive awareness that emerges from a specific level of intelligence – or is it? The popular explanation is that humans have such a complex degree of neuronal activity, such an intricate and complex brain activity, so that consciousness emerges from the firing of these billions of interconnecting neurons….

Well – lets look at a different hypothesis: matter is a product of consciousness. The universe is conscious because it is a manifestation of consciousness. All matter thus has the capacity to connect with this universal consciousness. How then are we conscious? The fact is, we don’t have consciousness – we only tune in to it. We don’t have consciousness any more than a radio has the music.

Our central nervous system is not the producer of consciousness, as some may think, but is the antenna for receiving the consciousness we are living within. It’s like the young fish who go to the old wise fish to ask where this thing called water is… we don’t perceive consciousness because, like the fish, we’re living in it – it is the medium of our existence, and our material form is the construction that our perceptions create for us. We breathe it, yet recognise it not.

Evolution may in fact not be concerned so much with material development but rather with a convergence towards consciousness. The growth of intelligence towards self-reflexivity and conscience can be seen, in an alternative way, as a precursor towards recognition and, finally, integration with the consciousness behind materiality; rather than as a tool for integrating with material structures. Seen in this light, our evolutionary trajectory is towards immateriality, rather than more evolved technological materiality.

Evolution of consciousness and conscious evolution are two distinct concepts: the former deals with the development of consciousness through species evolution. The latter refers to the conscious participation within evolutionary processes.

It is with the latter that this site is dedicated to. Humankind are energy receivers-transmitters, and as such we are capable of receiving chaotic energies and transmitting harmonious one. Evolution, after all, is concerned with harmony. Despite the disorderly manner of evolutionary jumps, there is an inherent harmony, or equilibrium, with such disorder (see complexity studies). Part of our service within conscious evolution is to maintain this harmonious balance - the opposite of entropy - by dealing in the transmittance of positive and balanced energies, to ourselves, those around us, and the environment we are in.

Unity is a fundamental concept to this evolutionary process. So is correspondence - the idea that all levels of existence adhere to the same laws and principles: the 'As Above, So Below' of the famous Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. Yet our first priority is to correspond within ourselves.

Do we function as a true human being with unity of harmony in all processes?

Social development is neither a result of technological determinism nor of random processes, or even as a capitalist drive, although all these factors do, in varying degrees play a part of the whole process. At a fundamental level the development of any system is based upon a drive towards increasing complexity, whether it be a living or social system. Such a complexity pushes towards increased connectivity within its component parts, and thus towards a greater wholeness of all the constituent parts of a system. The source behind this drive is the flow of energy.

The energy that flows through such systems is that of information. Whether it be DNA transfer, cellular transfer, or digital transfer – the bottom line is that information seeks its transference within a network in order to spread the relevant signals whereby a system is able to maintain its collective cooperation. When the level of information, or the degree of component parts of a system reach a threshold limit, then the system bifurcates into a higher system that incorporates its recently-left now sub-system. Information seeks to increase the intelligence of a system. Information increase leads to greater complexity, networking, and connectedness. This heightened connectedness in turn allows information a greater flow or access to all the component parts of the system, which in turn allows each part the chance to share in the information/intelligence of the whole. This then leads to the emergence of an intelligent system that is greater than the intelligence of its separate parts. No longer do we need to say that two heads are better than one: now we should be saying that millions (billions?) of heads are better than one.

This may correspond to the processes behind intelligence increase - as Leary himself stated:

“The biological “master plan” of organic evolution located in DNA directs the unfolding of the circuits of the nervous system. One major goal of life is for the individual to becomes Increasingly Intelligent in order to decode somatic signals within the body, within the nervous system itself, signals from the DNA code and metaphysiological neuro-atomic energy patterns. The history of life and of humanity is best defined in terms of the evolution of the nervous system and of knowledge technologies.” (Leary – ‘Info-Psychology’)

Yet it doesn't go any way to answering the question of consciousness. What is consciousness and how are we conscious?

If there are problems accessing the article for the transhumanist webpage, then go directly to the source at http://www.aleph.se/Trans/index-2.html

As always, the debates concerning whether the future evolution of humankind will lead to an evolved biological species, or a cyborg-synthesis, or even to complete AI, are ongoing. Recent research is now trying to synthetise DNA within nanotechnology - and one experiment was to place rat neurons into a robot. There is a large body of people who call themselves the 'Transhumanists', and they take this issue very seriously. The way forward, they say, is definately within a mixture of human and machine parts to produce an organic, human-engineered species with vastly increased intelligence.

To read up on this debate, check out this recent Transhumanist article.

Now that the excesses of the festive period are over, its time once again to put life into balance. Life itself requires harmony, otherwise small unbalances can tend to build up and accumulate. They're not 'visible' in the normal sense, yet they get stored within the body's energy centers. Over-consumption of foods and drink; over-stimulation of external inputs (sights + sounds) drain one's energy. It is then so much harder just to do what used to be considered as regular activities. Even thought becomes sluggish, and it's harder to concentrate and focus.

(Wo)Man is a finely tuned apparatus. Everything works together: the body, mind, and emotions. Any one aspect out of balance will affect the rest. Since we are a conscious self-evolving species it is within our own responsibility to sort this out - to monitor and regulate oneself. This is not about being a dictator to the self. On the contrary, it requires further tact and care towards oneself. It requires a knowing, a taste of one's own balance, of one's own needs. Listen to yourself: listen daily. Either in meditation or contemplation. Choose a quiet time: register your own thoughts, feelings, emotions, the body. Trace your body in your mind - find where the taste is a little off and make a mental note of it. The work towards correcting this.

We are our own repairers as well as our own consultants. We're quite miraculous really... if we listen.