Conscious Evolution
“We must be conscious because our era, the anticipated new era, will not take the form of earlier cultures, when unconscious elements pressed from below instinctively and animalistically. Humankind has reached the point where, by taking the future in its own hands, it must recognize clearly what to do next. Thus we will find the way to that which is divine within us.”
–Richard Wilhelm (German Sinologist, Theologian and Missionary, 1873-1930)
“Wilhelm: Lectures on the I Ching: Constancy & Change Cloth (Bollingen series)” (wilhelm)
Conscious Cooperation
“If we learn how to consciously cooperate with the creative force of planetary evolution as it is shaping up with the passage of time, mankind’s age-old dream of the kingdom of heaven on earth, i.e., an internationally unified world order controlled by the power of truth, justice and love, can inevitably come true.”
–Haridas Chaudhuri (Bengali Integral Philosopher and Founder of the California Institute of Integral Studies, 1913-1975)
“Karma: The Universal Law of Harmony” (Theosophical Publishing House)
The Evolution of Intelligence
Here we have a conventional approach to the notion of intelligence, by someone whose work I have always admired. But on this I think that he is wrong. I constantly see evidence of multiple types of intelligence in all kinds of animals. To be sure, it is not the kind of cognitive skill picked up “standardized testing” but it is “high intelligence” all the same.
What do you think?
“Nothing demonstrates the improbability of high intelligence better than the 50 billion earthly species that failed to achieve it.”
–Ernst Mayr (German-born American Evolutionary Biologist, 1904-2005)
Creator of Philosophies and Poems
I’m not at all sure about his use of the term ” Superior species,” but nonetheless he makes a point worth considering!
“Man may be considered as a superior species of animal that produces philosophies and poems in about the same way a silkworm produces their cocoons and bees their hives.”
–Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (French Philosopher, Critic and Historian who was a leading exponent of positivism and wrote the six-volume Origins of Contemporary France, 1828-1893)
We Are All Being Challenged to Grow
“This new mind awaits us in this next stage of our evolutionary journey. We are being challenged by the forces of history to grow into this mind, to mutate, as it were, in order for our species to survive. Jesus had the new mind, called in him the Christ Mind, as did Buddha and others. It is the mind when it is overshadowed by God, our mind when it has become one with His, when we have touched the heavenly light and been permanently altered by it. This state of enlightenment is the exaltation of our existence, the uplifting of our human consciousness to such a high place that we manifest, at last, as the children of God we truly are.”
–Marianne Williamson (American Author, Unity Church Minister and Lecturer on Spirituality, 1952-)
“The Gift of Change: Spiritual Guidance for Living Your Best Life” (Marianne Williamson)
Evolution: Natural and Unconscious. Until Now…
“By contrast with history, evolution is an unconscious process. Another, and perhaps a better way of putting it would be to say that evolution is a natural process, history a human one…. Insofar as we treat man as a part of nature–for instance in a biological survey of evolution–we are precisely not treating him as a historical being. As a historically developing being, he is set over against nature, both as a knower and as a doer.”
–Owen Barfield (English Lawyer, Philosopher, Anthroposophist and a Founder Member of the Inklings Literary Group, 1898-1997)
The Emerging Spirit of the Age
“Every age has, so to speak, its own idea of Zeitgeist. Now it is a commonplace that ideas rule the world. But it is not generally known that they derive their potency from the spiritual force that lies behind them, and prepares the world for their reception.”
–Charles George Harrison (English Theosophist, Anglican Christian, Lecturer and Writer, 1855-1936)
Enlightenment Is An Evolutionary Goal. For Everyone
“Whether or not enlightenment is a plausible goal for us is a vital question for our lives. If it is possible for us to attain such perfect enlightenment ourselves, our whole sense of meaning and our place in the universe immediately changes. To be open to the possibility is to be a spiritual seeker, no matter what our religion. Enlightenment is not meant to be an object of religious faith. It is an evolutionary goal.”
–Robert Thurman (American Buddhist Writer, Author, Found and President of the Tibet House and Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, 1941-)
Harmony From a Hierarchy of Wholes
“The harmonious cooperation of all beings arose, not from the orders of a superior authority external to themselves, but from the fact that they were all parts in a hierarchy of wholes forming a cosmic pattern, and what they obeyed were the internal dictates of their own natures. Modern science and the philosophy of organism, with its integrative levels, have come back to this wisdom, fortified by new understanding of cosmic, biological, and social evolution.”
–Joseph Needham (English Biochemist, Embryologist, and Historian of Science who wrote and edited Science and Civilization in China, 1900-1995)
“Science and Civilisation in China. Volume 1: Introductory Orientations” (Joseph Needham)
Where Did We Come From and Where Are We Going?
“There have been…individuals who have stumbled across an evolutionary threshold into what they see as the true evolutionary goal of the species. These pioneers have returned from their expeditions with maps and routes to the natural state of man and have shown where we originally came from, who we are and where we are heading.”
–Yatri (a.k.a. Malcolm Godwin, English Artist, Spiritual Seeker and Writer, 1936-)
“Unknown Man: The Mysterious Birth of a New Species” (Yatri)
