As I mentioned a few days ago, I thought I would re-introduce some themes from my journey in faith that are not based so strictly in Christianity, but reflect a more New Thought orientation. Since I find them utterly compatible with Christian theology, I thought them proper and interesting supplements to our ongoing discussion of God and our journey with our Creator.
As I mentioned then, Deepak Chopra is a writer who I deeply respect, and whose wisdom always benefits me. I ascribe these words to him, though as I said, I cannot locate the specific quotation within his book “How to Know God.” It’s possible that I read them in “A Course in Miracles” or something from “Science of Mind,” but I don’t think so. In any case, I think the most likely suspects are covered copyrightishly. I assert categorically, they are not my own words or ideas.
The quote I am referring to is: “Evolution cannot be stopped; spiritual growth is assured.”
Now, first of all, this presumes you believe in such a thing as evolution of the life sort of thing. The Darwin thing, if you will. Now some don’t of course, but they can be discounted as usually (as in never seen one who isn’t) religious far righters whom we refer to regularly here as fundamentalists. Such folks have perverted the original point of the “fundamentals” into so perverse a belief that the bible is down to the last “tiddle” the actual work of God.
Yes I said work, not word, though it is that too. Such believers conclude that God, who for some bizarre reason cannot write except on rock, directed the fingers of some various persons, and wrote out a version of the bible, now known mostly to us as the King James Version, not to be confused with the NKJV, signifying “new” because of course, to some, that was not God, but, horror, of horrors, “men.” And we know this, ummm, because (shhhh men) say so.
In any event, the bible being literally true in all its statements, doesn’t comport with what poor Charles Darwin of the Beagle fame, came to conclude, namely that life evolved from lower forms of life, to that magnificent final product the HUMAN BEING!
But this is not about wingnuts today, but reality, and as most sane and reasonably well read persons have concluded, evolution is a fact. Yes I know it’s called a theory, but in science, theory really means essentially fact. It means that evolution is the model of how life evolved that is used in countless disciplines as their starting point. So far, no experiment has cast serious doubt on its being accurate in the general framework, though of course the details are in constant flux and new information is both discovered and synthesized.
The question before us is whether spiritually we are evolving as well? It would seem categorically correct to assume so. Since we are a creative species, we necessarily in most every thing build upon the past. We have done so socially, economically, scientifically, in fact in every way that I can examine. We build better homes, better medicines, make better movies (technically at least), better computers; alleviate more mental illness, understand the universe, and well, just about everything.
Most of us don’t have the time or the inclination (whether we should is another issue) to sit under the tree as did the Buddha until he reached a state of enlightenment. But surely he passed on what he learned to others, and must be assumed to have made that path easier for others. The same is true of most of our Christian faith traditions. What we “learn” theologically and biblically, we pass on to future generations.
One would hope that as we progress in areas of human freedom, and all forms of moral and ethical theology, we also pass on this to the future. As more and more study and read these conclusions (i.e., that slavery is wrong, that women’s subjugation is wrong, that animals have rights, that the environment is our moral responsibility, that gays and other GLBT people have human rights, that war and violence are wrong, etc) we grow a ever larger cadre of humanity who have and are ready to take another step up the ladder of spiritual growth.
Such has, so far, always been the way of the world, though perhaps few have thought of it as spiritual growth. This happens to the acknowledged believer and the one who claims no such belief. We are spiritual creatures whether we choose to acknowledge that fact and even if we are unaware of that as a possibility. What others may term secular ”enlightenment” in the more 18th century mode, we call spiritual growth.
It is my contention that when we as a species, in our spiritual beliefs, known or unknown, reach a tipping point, then change begins. It may start slowly, and in segregated places at first, but it spreads, like a virus until it reaches most places on the planet. Sooner or later, hopefully sooner, it becomes the new norm and those that try to maintain against it are “backward” or “ignorant” or otherwise continuing to a dead end.
I tend to think that we can hurry this process along through prayer. I try to remember when I pray, that at that moment in time, my prayer is joined by hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of others who are all doing the same thing. So I am not a tiny little voice in a ear-shattering crescendo of noise, aimed at God’s “ear.” I am part of a chorus, and God pours out His spirit back through us, empowering us to speak forth the Truth, and act upon it. That is how little stones make big waves in my humble opinion. We are never actually acting alone.
I died a mineral and became a plant.
I died a plant and rose an animal.
I died an animal and I was a man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as man, to soar
With the blessed angels; but even from angelhood
I must pass on. All except God perishes.
When I have sacrificed my angel soul,
I shall become that which no mind ever conceived.
O let me not exist! For Non-existence proclaims,
“To Him we shall return.”
(Jala al-Din Rumi)
Filed under: Essays, Evolution, God, Jesus, fundamentalism, religion, theology | Tagged: fundamentalism, God, Rumi, spiritual journey, spirituality, theology
Thinking nonstop since April 15, 1950, and expressing a good deal of it. My motto: Never let knowledge get in the way of an opinion. Come join in the conversation. 
“The question before us is whether spiritually we are evolving as well?”
As with biological evolution we must answer the question by looking at the evidence and seeing if it supports the conclusion.
A first observation is that biological evolution has nothing to do with growth or progress. A cockroach is equally evolved with the Dalai Lama, from a biological point of view. Darwin’s theory rather brilliantly explains speciation–how it is that variation leads to new biological forms under the force of natural selection. There is change, but there is no “progress” in our sense, except, perhaps, that the struggle to survive produces more complex mechanisms for survival. Some look like ruthlessness, and some look like altruism, but they have no aim.
Is there really evidence of spriritual evolution? If that were so, the twentieth century must necessarily have been more spiritually advanced than its predecessors, and I find that a hard judgment to take seriously. To take one example, when bombing of civilian populations was first done, it was universally condemned as an inconceivable atrocity. Now it is a commonplace tactic even in little wars like Iraq.
And of course we judge things differently. What you see as progress in sexual morality I see as enabling adult freedom at the expense of childrens’ nurture and security. We admit the humanity of slaves, but deny that of children in the womb. We have more material prosperity, but we undergird it with military systems that annihilate third world populations at a drop of a hat, and may well annihilate all of us if the nuclear option is unleashed.
And the danger of believing in spiritual progress is that it gives a normative value to the new, just because it is new.
I would say, on the contrary, that, unlike technology, which does build on itself, generation by generation, without any need for individual mastery (I have no idea how this computer works, but I’m using it), spiritual growth begins with each birth, and I am not more or less spiritually advanced, at age fifty, in the twenty first century, than another might have been in the first or the tenth or the sixteenth century. At least that is the conclusion I would have to reach by virtue of what I know from history and literature.
Rick, I certainly agree with what you stated about evolution, but it does seem to involve the opportunity for some species over time to develop into more highly intelligent capable creatures. Such has been the case of one branch of the ape family at least. If we posit that life began as simple cell creatures, it has evolved at least through plant then the lower forms of animal life to the present wherein we have several species with rather significantly larger capacities for thinking than others. Humanity seems at least to be at the top. This may have much to do with being anatomically capable of manipulating the environment more easily than say dolphins or elephants or pigs.
I would argue that the change you speak of is advancement, since the resulting creature through various genetic chance mutation can result in a new creature that is better adapted to that environment and thus becomes the dominant one.
As to spirituality, I disagree with you plain and simple. It was not all that long ago that life was short and mean for most people. No especially premium was placed upon it by most people in power. The great and the small died early from disease. I think we value life generally to a much greater degree today.
You bring in abortion, which is a very complicated issue since it involves the well being of two persons, and where to draw the line is difficult and for many of us, it is not a disregard for the fetus so much is it a respect that this most difficult choice should remain with the person directly involved. Perhaps the future will change our opinion.
But clearly we are moving to more respect for life. You can of course isolate any single issue and point to where it is abused somewhere, but that is hardly the point.
I think more and more people are recognizing the futility of war period. It hasn’t stopped war yet, and of course, by its very nature it cannot.
To say that some people attain great depth individually while others do not, is not the question. This is most always through conscious endeavor I think. What I suggest is that the minds of the irreligious is affected, and slowly they too are coming to a deeper respect for human life and freedom. The exceptions do but prove the rule.