In this blog we explore the relevancy of Buddhist teachings to our evolutionary journey. The heart of this philosophy lies in the Eight-fold Path of Awakening, which begins with two principles that are relevant to the journey of conscious evolution. These principles are called right understanding and right motivation.
These are not rules or commandments; they are principles which identify different facets of the awakening process. The term right might best be translated as wise or skillful. In practice, these two principles are interrelated.
Let us talk briefly about wise motivation. We can begin with the recognition that our very motivation to understand and to engage in conscious evolution originates from within the evolutionary process itself. It is not something within us that is reaching for something outside of us; nor is it that something outside of us that is influencing our inner motivation. This motivation to evolve is within us, and it surrounds us; it is the core of who we are.
We recognize that our motivation to evolve is itself part of the response. Our sense of wonder and of awe at the immense potential within us, is itself a motivational force and a response. Our desire to bring this potential into manifestation in our life and in the world is an expression of this evolutionary force.
And now we address wise understanding. The wonderful paradox is that both our desire to understand the evolutionary process and our motivation to engage it consciously, are originating from within the evolutionary process itself. Evolution is requiring itself to become conscious. This reminds me of the well-some of the edge known C W Escher drawing which portrays two hands: each one drawing the other! Our usual assumptions of cause and effect become baffled by this process. Cause and effect are reciprocal and indistinguishable.
Similarly, our familiar dichotomy of doing and not-doing is turned inside out. We are conditioned to think of ourselves as actively doing something from our own volition, or of passively doing nothing at all. Either we are responsible, or we are not; either we are in control, or we are not. We see our self as either active or at rest, giver, or receiver, subject or object.
But the evolutionary impulse is done neither by us, nor for us, nor to us. It is done through us. We are instruments of it and for it. In this process we are simultaneously active and passive, subject and object, seed, and fruit. We are both alpha and omega. We are not a thing; we are a process. Not a noun; but a verb.
The American philosopher John Boodin eloquently captures this sentiment. “We are part of a creative destiny, reaching backward and forward to infinity…. We are the fruition of a process that stretches back to star dust. We are material in the hands of the Genius of the universe for a still larger destiny that we cannot see….” [1]
Evolution is natural: we will it to occur or will it to not occur. However, conscious evolution requires our active consent and our active involvement. We cannot sleep through it. In a recent discussion with a friend on the topic of personal will versus divine will, we concluded that we must be willing to surrender to the divine will; otherwise, it cannot unfold though us. Our primary work then is to see where we are unconsciously blocking the awareness and expression of the divine will. Likewise, conscious evolution may be considered a metaphor for the unfolding of the divine will- not to us or for us, but through us.
We unwittingly block the divine will- AKA conscious evolution- not so much by what we do not know, but by what we know, but don’t know that we know, in other words, by our unconscious beliefs and assumptions. We must know what we know and then discern if what we know is true. If it is not, then it must be released. And if we are not willing to release it, then we need to see why we are holding on to it. Much of conscious evolution is simply becoming conscious of what we believe to be true.
Yet another paradox we meet on our journey is that of what we call “personal” versus what we call “collective;” or individual versus group; or part versus whole. The transformation of consciousness must take place one person at a time; how else could it happen? However, who we are as an individual- as a person- cannot be separated from our relationships and from our environment, who we are is always contextual. Human beings can never be considered solely as individuals- we are innately connected in a broader web.
We are deeply interconnected in many ways and at many levels. Our personal reality is fundamentally embedded in a collective reality. Evolution and transformation can never be considered in isolation. To consider oneself as an individual and as part of a greater whole is to simply look at two facets of our being; they are intrinsically inseparable. We are like the electron that may behave like a wave or may behave like a particle, depending upon circumstances and perspective. We are both an individual and a collective. Personal transformation and global evolution are inseparable. We may consider each aspect separately- this may be helpful for our understanding- but these are but two perspectives of our earthly expression.
Likewise, our human nature is not apart from our divine nature; the absolute is not apart from the relative. Once again, these may be considered separately, but they are simply different profiles of the same face. Evolution and personal transformation are different profiles of the same process separated only by the perspective of time. Both are descriptions of spiritual awakening, which is the destiny of every one of us. [2]
[1] Quoted in The Choice is Always Ours. D Phillips, E Howes, L Nixon, ed. New York: Harper & Rowe, 1975, 35.
[2]Today’s blog is adapted from R Brumet, Birthing a Greater Reality, 2010, Unity Books, p23-25.