“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.” [i]
This is Woody Allen speaking from his signature nihilistic view of life. He is reflecting the modern worldview that says we are nothing beyond our human biology and that life is essentially meaningless.
But there is another perspective that stands on the premise that life is purposeful and that we are much more than “only human.” Yet, by all appearances we are deeply embedded in our human nature—this is quite evident. The evidence that we are more than human is somewhat more difficult to perceive. This is our dilemma.
As human beings we have two very powerful internal forces pushing us in opposite directions. We have a survival instinct: the drive to survive in physical form. And this has been overlaid by the drive to survive as a psychological entity, as an individual ego. Sometimes this drive can be even stronger than the one for physical survival.
Yet, within us is another very powerful drive: the divine impulse to grow, to evolve, and to become more than we seem to be. This drive for self-transcendence is present in all life forms; albeit unconscious in most of them. But, with some humans it has become conscious; and it may be very compelling.
This dilemma of self-preservation and self-transcendence is a central theme throughout human history. In nearly every human being, the tension of these conflicting forces is experienced to some degree; perhaps consciously, but most often not.
In Christian circles we may hear someone observe that “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die to get there.” In New Age circles this statement could be paraphrased as “Everyone wants spiritual transformation, but no one wants to sacrifice their ego-identity to attain it.” To face the death of the body is not easy, but we all must, eventually. To face the death of the ego may be even more difficult, and relatively few of us do so.
Human beings will go to almost any length to preserve their identity, to lose it feels like death, or worse. And yet human beings have also gone to incredible lengths to transcend their identity. The history of the human race is a fascinating drama depicting how we have played out these conflicting drives.[ii]
This conflict is now being felt more poignantly than ever before. The tension between these two powerful forces is virtually palpable in our world today: caught between the beasts and the angels; torn between safety, comfort and security and the indomitable force within us that demands that we come up higher, to be more than we are now. This tension is part of the present crisis which is evoking us to birth a greater reality.
By deepening our awareness of both of these forces- the drive to maintain our present identity and the drive to evolve beyond it- we will be in a better position to facilitate this birth. The degree of conflict and suffering that we experience in this birthing process is a function of our understanding (or lack of it) and our willingness to consciously embrace the evolutionary process of transformation.
To the degree that we are unconscious our evolution occurs with fits and starts, and with much conflict and suffering. We will evolve, that is a given; but whether that evolution occurs through a cataclysmic Armageddon experience or from a natural cosmic childbirth, is largely up to us.
[i] Woody Allen, NY Times, Aug 10, 1979
[ii] Ken Wilber, Up From Eden. Boston: Shambhala, 1981.