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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Inner & Outer Evolution



Meditation is mind management. It is remembering who we are and observing the
relationship with the mind and its activities and finding a way to manage and
integrate that. – Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati

We are beginning to understand that evolution is an integral phenomenon.  It is not just a biological process, but also an evolution of society, technology, thought and awareness.  Biological evolution has given us these body/mind vehicles through which we, as beings of consciousness experience life.  Due to the capacities of our brains we have further developed increasingly complex social structures, as well as, medical, social, information, entertainment and military technologies. 
Do you remember the dark ages before the internet, cell phones, military drones?  It is amazing how the rate of change in our world has accelerated in recent times.  These technological developments have both positive and negative impacts.  Surgical procedures are improving constantly improving our quality of life.  On the other hand more and more children are developing health problems related to a sedentary lifestyle where they sit for hours playing video games.  Agricultural science has sought to find new ways to feed our expanding species population but has also has detrimental effects on our health through the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, genetically-modified plants, etc.  Our technological progress over the last century has left us with serious consequences in terms of pollution, overpopulation, resources depletion, and the threat of nuclear destruction.  There is hope however that we can learn from and correct these imbalances as we continue to evolve both in terms of increased technological sophistication and inwardly in terms of spiritual or consciousness evolution. http://youtu.be/BltRufe5kkI
Consciousness evolution is about expanding our awareness and our sense of self beginning from our ego-centric survival concerns.  As consciousness develops it moves through stages from ego-centric to universe-centric.  As Peter Merry writes, “Each emerging stage – from ego-centric to ethno-centric to world-centric to universe-centric – transcends and includes the previous ones, thus widening its awareness and embrace, identifying with ever more of the universe, and therefore able to feel compassion for an ever expanding circle of life.” (2009, Evolutionary Leadership)  It is through this evolution of consciousness that we will be able to survive on this planet. 
On the surface we believe ourselves to be individual selves out to achieve our own needs and desires, on a deeper level we are all interconnected, not just with one another but with the planet and the universe as a whole.  As Albert Einstein famously put it, “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
Does our technology help us to expand consciousness?  If we are fixated on media consumption, it is apparent that it does not.  Instead it keeps us locked in narrow concerns, fears and an obsessive need for electronic stimulation.  On the other hand we see some of the social media helping to promote cross-cultural friendships and familiarity.  People often complain about the low level of commentary on Facebook, however, I am continually in contact with friends who are maintaining positive attitudes, posting relevant information and concerned with spirituality.  Our inner consciousness determines how and why we use our technology.  Do we use it, or do we let it distract and manipulate us?
Yoga meditation is an inner technology.  It is a means of becoming aware of our own unconscious mental constructs and seeing beyond them.  Ultimately it is a means of going beyond thought into stillness and silence where we are attuned to the infinite.  It enables us to engage with the evolutionary energy of the universe, called kundalini within the yoga tradition.  By awakening to this energy within us we can accelerate our own consciousness evolution.  It seems crucial that we utilize inner technologies along with the development of outer. 
In Tantric terms the energy of evolution within the universe is called Shakti and is seen as the Divine Feminine aspect of creation.  The deep universal consciousness is known as Shiva, the Divine Masculine.  Evolution proceeds harmoniously when these two are in balance, when the outer corresponds to the inner.  The whole process of evolution is the reunification of consciousness and energy, Shiva and Shakti.  This is the process of awakening and liberation.  God lives in and through us.  We are the universal process of evolution.  

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