“The only means of attaining the Absolute lies in adapting ourselves to It.” --Recejac, quoted in Underhill, Mysticism, p. 90
I am thinking that rather than an evolution of human consciousness, there is an infusion of higher (transcendent) consciousness from realms other than genetic heredity and certainly from other than the human societal realm.
Some individuals are “struck” by it and have little choice in the matter, Others can, through specific methods, train themselves to develop a capacity for it. The latter is generally done through methods of quieting the mind or through encouraging the mind to greater excitation through imagery, sound, or substances.
While the evolution of human consciousness is one I would like to believe in (it certainly fits my bodhisattva tendencies –“I will not enter heaven until all go there”), and certainly relish the idea of all us two-leggeds dwelling in cosmic consciousness while tending to our earthly life, if there is an evolution of human consciousness, it is not only excruciatingly slow, it does not seem reflected in the daily news.
Of course, there is the concept within evolutionary thought of the stochastic leap, a phenomenon of exceedingly rapid burst of change. This idea is popularized in the Hundredth Monkey story, loved by all new agers. Heaven appears suddenly in our midst.
My thought is that a heavenly, or a name I prefer, transcendent consciousness is already here. We are just too busy doing our stuff (making a living, searching for love, building up security, zoning out, and all the other absorptions we call “our lives”) to recognize it.
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