Saturday, June 27, 2009

Guided Evolution

It has been suggested that evolutionary progress on Earth has been a guided operation that has, so far, culminated in humankind. This process – it is conjectured[i] - has been achieved by making available at a planetary level a succession of energies, each higher in frequency than the one before. These conscious and creative energies have been ‘turned on’ sequentially in order to give rise to the entire evolutionary progression from molecule to man. The way these energies operate is by each new, higher, frequency being applied while planetary life is still struggling to adjust to the existing energetic level. Thus, each new ‘energetic stage’ is introduced long before living systems (including humankind) are fully deploying the current energy. In this way, evolutionary progression is constantly reaching for the next ‘energetic stage’[1]. However, at transition eras between energetic levels there often manifests disruption as differing energetic ‘zones’ collide, like quantum interference. At such times of interference great change is possible.


Through active awareness of these transformative times humanity is able to process higher/finer forms of energy streaming into the Earth. It can be said that sufficient numbers of ‘receptive individuals’ are needed to transmute, and transmit, certain energies; especially during these times when such energies seem to be increasingly radiating ‘our cosmic sector’. A critical mass of humanity is required to start awakening to aid the process of planetary and human evolution. It does not require a majority - for this will never be reached in time - it only requires quality. A ‘sleeping mass’ (i.e. an unaware humanity) does not transmit energy well. Such energies are thrown off into physical and emotional attachments, and distracted into other social channels. As the writer Frank Herbert so masterfully said in Dune: ‘the sleeper must awaken’.

One of the highest forces at our disposal is conscience and unconditional Love. It sometimes seems that the Earth is degenerating, or devolving, from human life lacking the receiving and transmitting of such forces and energies. This capacity needs to be provoked and stimulated within people; and it may be that the coming years will inspire renewed activation and growth, as periods of transition often ‘shock’ people out of their everyday stupor and into re-invigorated appreciation and gratitude. It is often the case that humanity is coaxed and coerced along its optimum evolutionary line by contrived situations, which involve chaos and suffering, before regeneration can occur. As Duane Elgin writes:

It is the immense suffering of millions - even billions - of precious human beings coupled with the widespread destruction of many other life-forms that will burn through our complacency and isolation. Needless suffering is the psychological and psychic fire that can awaken our compassion and fuse individuals, communities, and nations into a cohesive and consciously organized global civilization.[ii]


It is fair to say that the Earth is in ecological crisis and humanity is in spiritual crisis - and that a similar response is required for both as the two crises are fundamentally tied to the same source. Humanity needs to rapidly develop, not just physically but psychologically and spiritually as ‘time’ is both speeding up and running out simultaneously. Our lack of conscious contribution may be said to be behind much of our life dissatisfaction and disconnection. Yet we can connect: the cords are in place; we need only to ask, reach out, and to sincerely offer our intentions to do so. These unprecedented times that we now find ourselves in are ripe opportunities for personal growth, knowledge and understanding. Why? Because we are now, as a planetary species, moving through a historic civilizational shift. And during such times how we think is of paramount importance.


[1] A good analogy of how these ‘energetic stages’ exist alongside each other can be found in Doris Lessing’s masterful novel ‘Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five’


[i] Scott, E. (1985) The People of the Secret. London: Octagon Press.

[ii] Elgin, D. (1993) Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness. New York: William Morrow & Company.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Humanity’s Evolutionary Journey

Something of importance is brewing as we stand here at a strategic crossroads in humanity’s evolutionary journey. And before this ‘sudden shift’ occurs, we might have to bear witness to some chaotic upheavals. This is because many of the old structures that society has relied on for so long are finally creaking and collapsing. And why do I believe that this shift will be sudden? Well, because that’s how evolution is set-up to function. Just like in the life of a human, on a grander scale our species life has its own particular stages; its childhood, adolescence; adulthood; and elder maturity. And at each stage

man has to abandon the secure, the trusted, and - for his present moment - the ultimate. At each stage he has to struggle with the denying force of inertia. He has to surmount a mental obstacle as once he had to surmount biological obstacles. If he succeeds, he learns more, understands more, gets closer and closer to participating. It may be that he is now required to confront - and accept - the mechanism of his own evolution.[i]

And this is where we now find ourselves, both individually and as a species: confronting a transition stage in our own evolution. Further, the choice we have to make is whether we accept – and participate – in the mechanism of our own evolution. It has been a long journey, punctuated by starts and stops; by catalysts of numerous kinds, from revolutions, wars and conflict, science and the arts, innovations and communications. In other words, for a new global-social order to emerge it is necessary to first go through a series of transformative pulses, including periods of chaos and collapse. Not only is this necessary, but it may also be welcome. After all, you can’t fill a bottle of vinegar with new wine when it is already full: first you need to empty before the new can be introduced. And the Earth too, as part of the solar family, has her own cycles that require this periodic ‘cleansing’. So within the long-tail of evolutionary time there are periods of upheaval that serve cosmic purposes (to put it simply). And most of the time these upheavals create havoc for the creatures resting upon the skin of the Earth. Only very few are those who have in times past been aware of these cyclic occurrences. To the general masses these are often seen as times of craziness when war and strife seem like everyday madness:

There are periods in the life of humanity which generally coincide with the beginning of the fall of cultures and civilizations, when the masses irretrievably lose their reason and begin to destroy everything that has been created by centuries and millenniums of culture. Such periods of mass madness, often coinciding with geological cataclysms, climatic changes, and similar phenomena of a planetary character, release a very great quantity of the matter of knowledge.[ii]

This release of knowledge that comes with upheaval can be utilized to help civilization push through to a higher level of functioning. Information is itself a catalyst for rapid evolutionary change. Evolutionary progress appears to operate through various ‘release’ and ‘gear shift’ mechanisms in that physical chaos provides the release of energy and information necessary to fuel a leap or ‘phase change’ in evolutionary development. The problem in the past has always been that these transitions sometimes leave a bit of a mess in their wake. However, to be forewarned is to be prepared. Such transition stages can be best navigated when the participants (namely ‘us’) can be conscious and aware of the coming changes. The bottom line is that there is never an end - there is always a further transformation. So the world is not coming to an end, despite what some soothsayers and doom-mongers predict. What these upcoming times foretell is a period of accelerating evolutionary change. And importantly, what the coming transformation requires is that we, as individuals, consciously participate through our own creative and positive energies.



[i] Scott, E. (1985) The People of the Secret. London: Octagon Press.

[ii] Ouspensky, P. (1950) In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Monday, June 15, 2009

A World in Flux

Everything around us is in flux and there are good reasons for this. The Earth is, quite literally, shaking: what has been termed as ‘earth changes’ are occurring with greater frequency, with ever increasing destructive consequences, and dangerously close to irreversible tipping points. Global human society too has accumulated such complex interdependencies that it has affectively become like a woven body – where a pain in one of the limbs will affect the whole. Further, this ‘whole body’ of global humanity has reached critical points in its equilibrium. It is at a point of dynamic critical vulnerability; and at such moments the slightest of impacts can set into motion an unpredictable chain of events. However, the opportunity also presents an incredible moment in the capacity for transformation. An intervention at the right time, and in the right manner, can bring forth accelerated change. We are thus passing through an ‘evolutionary moment’ of heightened sensitivity – a period of transition - with the possibility for unprecedented accelerated human-socio development (breakthrough); or for sudden and cataclysmic collapse (breakdown). How this epoch plays itself out will be a defining moment, either way, for the human species on this planet. It is, in all respects, a ‘trigger point’ within the evolutionary journey of humankind. And the implications stretch much wider for the evolutionary journey of life exists within a vast and complex system of impacts that are planetary, solar, galactic, and universal. It is an immeasurable Indra’s Net:

Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net that has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each “eye” of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in all dimensions, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring...it symbolizes a cosmos where there is an infinitely repeated interrelationship among all the members of the cosmos. This relationship is said to be one of simultaneous mutual identity and mutual intercausality.’[i]

Within this ‘abode’ of mutual intercausality all things have their connection. Processes reflect each other, and so a period of development can be, to use a familiar phrase, a rising tide that lifts all boats. Other times there is no ‘trickle down’ effect, just a tornado that brings everything into the eye of a hurricane.

In these current times of ‘tornados and hurricanes’ it can be a time of immense fear and insecurity. After all, all those support structures that exist to keep everything together are now being shaken badly, or for some pulled away. Many people will have lost much of their savings; future securities thrashed; stability and order decapitated; and, importantly, perceptions and beliefs stretched to the limits of credibility. Such degree of change is plain unnerving at best and increasingly fearful in less than best situations. It has to be said that many people actually ‘fear’ change; for them it brings trouble, hassle, and the unknown. And what people can’t understand usually means it becomes a self-created specter of fear. Politicians often perform the best in this category – usually because change in the long-term is a no-voter, and short-term change involves something negative for the people. So the status quo is safe; only that there is no future for the status quo in today’s global events. Transition is upon us whether we accept it or not, and the last thing we need is to be stuck in mimicry. We need to know for ourselves what is happening, how this will affect us, and what we intend to do about it.


[i] Cook, F. (1977) Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.