The Evolutionary Spiral
from Oliver L. Reiser, Cosmic Humanism and World Unity, 1975, Interface Book, p.130
Cosmology: Reality not aimless, but in a dynamic evolutionary movement towards greater self-unfoldment. In other words, reality has direction; it is teleological and goal-directed. The Cosmos is a teleological process. This is an interpretation of Teilhard de Chardin's evolutionary metaphysics - the Earth and the Universe as a whole evolving through stages from total matter ("Alpha") to total Spirit or Divinity ("Omega - in Teilhard's formulation the immanent Christ Consciousness). Others who advocate this position are Arthur Young and, to some extent, Sri Aurobindo (although he also takes into account higher planes of existence, a more esoteric conception). The universe therefore can even be understood as unfolding along a sequence of pre-defined stages, in which the ultimate stage can be referred to as "God". Divinity therefore a state to be achieved, rather than a big brother up in the clouds. One can also suppose the existence of an underlying matrix or formative reality, which constitutes the blueprints of physical phenomena, and a sort of feedback between the two
Knowledge: The universe is eminently rational
and knowable. The mind is not a blank slate, but percieves pre-existing
ideas, and these are the same ideas that guide the universe. Knowledge
cannot compartmentalised, but it can be understood in terms of an archetypal
pattern. Truth may or may not be an absolute quality independent
of man's conception of it. There is hierarchy, but of a benevolent
sort.
Cosmic
Evolution - the Gross and Subtle Planes
The
Theory of Evolutionary Process as a Unifying Paradigm - by Frank
Barr, MD - interesting on-line essay inspired by Arthur
Young's teleological cosmology
Cosmos |