Radiance of Being Section II

Section 2 Evolution
Section 2 explores theories about the evolution of consciousness.

Chapter 4 Here and Elsewhere
In the Phenomenolgy of the Spirit, Hegel says human beings contain the spirit of the absolute, thorough the human divine spirit comes to self-recognition. Being unveils itself through human history.
Henri Bergson used the term elan vital, which is a nonmaterial force that nudges organic matter toward higher and more complex forms. The essence of elan vital is consciousness itself. He saw consciousness as the power of choice. The purpose of evolution is to free consciousness from all restrictions.
Teilhard de Chardin said organic life on earth forms a biosphere and the human mental level forms a web of inner life that encircles the earth to form the noosphere, which is evolving to a higher level of being, a planetary consciousness he called the Omega Point. This process occurs through a mutual enfolding of personal inwardness identified with the experience of love. Teilhard:
"Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves."

Chapter 5 The Ever-present Origin
Jean Gebser claims that a new form of consciousness is developing. He called this new form integral consciousness. Gebser described five forms of consciousness that have already formed; archaic, magic, mythical, mental, and integral. Each structure has a unique perspective and enables us to understand the world. All structures are dependent on what Gebser called The Ever-present Origin.
According to Gebser, there is a spiritual depth to integral consciousness. Its diaphanous quality is suffused with the light of the spirit, the animating radiance of the origin. Gebser said, "In truth we ware (experience) the whole, and the whole wares us."
Gebser believed that projection is the mechanism by which potentials of the origin are first experienced. The retraction of the projection is an act of the new consciousness. In integral consciousness, space and time are withdrawn and reintegrated. Gebser said that it is essential that the inflated ego of modern mental consciousness be overcome by reintegrating the projection of individuality and separateness.
Gebser stressed the importance of the intensification of consciousness. Combs suggests that we think of this as being fully present in the moment.

Chapter 6 They Climb Indra Like a Ladder
Sri Aurobindo said, "Evolution is nothing but the progressive unfolding of Spirit out of the density of material consciousnesss..." This evolution is propelled by the indwelling spirit striving for self-expression and yearning to rediscover itself. The aim is not to create a state of perfection but to recover it. There is a part of the Divine that never becomes involved in evolution and it is this part that propels evolution. Without it the material world is dead.
Sri Aurobindo said that Integral Yoga strives to integrate and spiritualize the entire mind-body, while Supramental Yoga strives to bring down into human experience the transcendent energies and supreme knowledge.
The practice is a living meditation developing an alert and steady habit of calm self-observation. The superior mind is not a better thought machine but a better receiver of these energies and knowledge.
In his model the intuitive mind is associated with the subtle level of intellect. It grasps truth directly in larger chunks. Overmind is the transition between human and divine levels. At the Supramental level the Gods return into the One and stand united in a single harmonious action as multiple personalities of the One.

Chapter 7 All Quadrants All Levels
In this chapter Ken Wilber's Aqal model is examined This model is a way of organizing development into 4 quadrants so that all aspects are included in the developmental discussion.
The upper left quadrant concerns the internal subjective realm of reality (I). The lower left concerns interpersonal and cultural knowledge (We). The upper right concerns objective knowledge about material things (It). The lower right concerns objective knowledge about social systems and environments (Its). The upper and lower left are subjective and the upper and lower right are objective. The left and right upper quadrants are individual and the left and right lower are collective.
This model can be used to determine what it means to live an integral life that takes into account all of these influences on development and evolution.
Wilber calls the integral level of development vision logic. Here integrative wholes are recognized and yet all of the parts are celebrated. A compassionate and unified world vision is sought.
According to Wilber, involution can be understood as spirit descending into matter. Yet forms are being created in the higher realms of being and flow downward. This allows for kosmic creativity rather than pre-determinism.
The subjective self identifies with increasingly subtle realities. Previous levels are seen as objects of experience rather than as a source of identity. Emotions are experienced as processes that hold our attention rather than who we are. Thoughts are seen as flowing through our consciousness like clouds in water.
Beyond the integral level in Wilber's model these subtler levels are:
Psychic, nature mysticism. Here an intense sense of union with the entire gross realm is possible.
The Subtle level, deity mysticism, is the overmind or over self. Here strong identification with the body and mental self are released. Access to this realm as a stable structure of consciousness is indicated by a degree of conscious awareness in dream life - lucid dreaming.
At the Causal level, formless mysticism, the shift from God as the source of all forms to the transcendence of form itself is made - boundless radiance. Wilber:
"There is an eerie and beautiful numinosity to it all - a silent luminosity. You can't see anything except a silvery fullness. Shunyata. Brilliant formlessness with no objects. You are absolutely one with this Fullness which transcends all time."
Non-dual is the union of form and formlessness.It is the every present ground. Consciousness awakens entirely to itself, to its original condition and Suchness, which is at the same time the suchness of all that is. That which witnesses and is witnessed. The World Process arises as one's own Being.
Evolution is not a predestined unfurling of reality but a kosmic creativity flowing from deep subtle springs of Being. Evolution is the movement of Spirit back to its origin. The form that path back takes is always open to the creative outflow.

Next time Section III Emergence