Life is an evolutionary journey and humankind is on
an evolutionary path. This journey towards more evolved forms of intellect,
understanding, and creativity requires capacities that lie latent within our
very selves. To accept conscious evolution then is to accept that individually
and collectively we have a responsibility towards our future. This involves
purposeful thinking and action; to use our creative capacities to guide our
lives and the communities in which we live. To envision a creative, dynamic,
and positive future is a preliminary step upon the path of conscious evolution.
First, we make the choice for ourselves; then we give intention and commitment
in order to give life to those choices. At its core, conscious evolution is a
spiritual endeavour in that it affirms the potential capacity of each human to
participate within a creative cosmos. It affirms our use and commitment of
powerful physical and spiritual energies. It also gives rise to a new worldview
– a new perceptual paradigm that views our evolutional process as a lesser step
within grander processes. The opposite of this (which has been prevalent for
far too long) is for unconscious human energies to be used without our
knowledge or knowing participation.
Conscious evolution is also a very real social
movement providing for a higher level of cooperative communication and action.
It is a partnership understanding that offers personal development and
learning, community building and assistance, and ways towards practical,
positive social change.[i]
Conscious evolution also implies that each human,
each part, is an integral and interrelated part of the whole. The following
personal experience highlights this interconnectedness:
In 1983, after three days and nights of praying and fasting on a
mountain top, I snapped a twig with my fingers and had a revelation. I saw that
this simple action had changed the world, and that it would never be the same
again. I could never put that twig back together the way it had been. This was
a small change, but an important change nonetheless. As the sound of the snap
reverberated within my mind, I understood how everything I said and did changed
the world. What came with the snapping twig was not an abstract idea or a
philosophical insight, but a living experience of how all my actions influence
creation.[ii]
The new sciences have revealed that the concept of
integral relationships is now a reality; that all living organisms are
energetically integrated within a shared informational and creative field. As
an evolving species, we are encouraged to work together towards this synergy,
or gestalt: where the whole is greater than its sum, and thus leads to emerging
properties of the collective. However, we can only function in accordance with
our level of knowledge and capacity. We cannot be told what is, or what needs
to be done; we can only be guided until that understanding becomes an inherent
part of ourselves. Then we have an organic sense of how we should act to fit in
with the dynamic whole. Yet we can modify our thoughts, action, and behaviours
through self-observation. We can learn to clear our minds of antiquated
belief-systems and accumulated junk in order to allow these new thoughts to
penetrate. We may think we learn, yet often we learn rote without the thinking.
We should aim towards a conscious digestion of information: to learn how to learn; to know how to know.[iii]
In a similar way, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin talks
about the collective, unified soul of humankind as a ‘conspiracy’ of
individuals who conspire together to evolve to a new stage of life. De Chardin
wrote tirelessly of how continued evolution towards cosmic spirit was a
conscious duty hidden, sometimes forgotten, within humankind:
In us the world’s evolution towards spirit has become conscious. Our perfection, our interest, our salvation as elements can depend therefore on nothing less than pushing this evolution forward with all our strength. We may not yet understand exactly where it is taking us, but it is absurd for us to doubt that it is leading as towards some end of supreme value.[iv]
The over-arching question for de Chardin was how
modern humanity could best organise, maintain, and distribute the vital energies
required for this process. In this there are precise conditions necessary for
the storage and utilization of energies. Referring back to what was said in
Chapter Two concerning living complex systems, in order to defy entropy living
organisms are required to absorb, store, utilize, and distribute energy. The
human and the cosmos are both two examples of creative, dynamic, living complex
systems; hence, the rules still apply. How we store and utilize our personal
energies is of paramount importance and should become central to our lives.
[i] For more information see - Banathy, B. H. (2000) Guided Evolution of
Society: A Systems View. New York
[ii] Mcfadden, S. (1991) Profiles in Wisdom: Native Elders Speak About the
Earth, Santa Fe, NM, Bear & Company.
[iii] Recommended reads include Shah, I. (1996) Learning How to Learn:
Psychology and Spirituality the Sufi Way London I. (1998) Knowing How to Know: A Practical Philosophy
in the Sufi Tradition. London
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