Thank you for this excellent article, Marco! I have often asked myself this same question: why don't we speak more of biological human evolution into the future? Is it due to some deep-seated anxiety that Nature is, as you said, beyond our ability to glimpse and know fully? Or do we just expect (maybe hope) that humans will be obliterated by human-caused climate change or our own technologies before we arrive there? ("hope" because perhaps it's more amenable to our delusions of control to imagine our species' demise than to imagine a radical shift in our human egoic identity/ self-defining). I think you are completely right that trans-humanist mythologies are materialist misunderstandings (I would go so far as to say it's a materialist, pseudo-scientific re-imagining of religious belief, like people wanting to gain immortality through downloading their consciousness to a computer). I think my favorite statement in this article is where you claim that the superpower of our species is *not* our rationality, but its self-overcoming through our recognition of ignorance! This recognition alone would go a long way towards saving our species (saving by self-overcoming). Really looking forward to checking out more of your work!
These recent blog posts are drafts that will become the collection of essays for my upcoming book “The End of Materialism” (an introduction to the more technical “Spirit Calls Nature”.) They are still a raw and not proofread version, I hope my English doesn’t sound too awkward.
Yes, I also feel that the question of future evolution is rarely addressed. That’s a (more or less unconscious) reflection of the ingrained materialism, too. Perhaps it is also (again, a more or less unconscious) understanding that the future (or, maybe, already the present) human evolution will be (is) physical AND spiritual. But the latter possibility is instinctually blended out, because of the same reason. Therefore, people prefer to opt for the “materialist, pseudo-scientific re-imagining of religious belief,” as you most appropriately call it, rather than admitting a trans-material and trans-rational worldview (BTW, your command of language and expressive power especially in articulating more subtle and intuitive concepts is something rare, also among native English speakers. I would love to have that!)
And yes, again, “saving by overcoming” is the key to our future. As Sri Aurobindo used to say “Man is a transitional being”, obviously meaning all the human species (the politically correct wasn’t there yet) and its mind is only a temporary and intermediate stage of evolution towards something less ignorant.
PS: May I add you to my newsletter that announces the publication of my writings?
I would love to be added to your newsletter! I am also eager to start reading your Spirit Calls Nature, which I plan on ordering soon. Yes, evolution is (and will be) physical AND spiritual, and I think the spiritual is leading the physical and fast! P.S. I didn't think your English was awkward at all. And I found your arguments very enlightening 🤗
Excellent. I like this especially: We could also step out of such binary thinking (hmm, non binary individuals, non binary evolution! Just kidding - mostly)
I see you didn't mention bacteria. As far as I know (as a mere psychologist, not a biologist) there's irrefutable evidence that bacteria - one celled organisms - "intentionally" (obviously not consciously) alter their DNA in order to deal with noxious substances, environments, other organisms, etc.
SO much evidence for what you write, in fact, that it really is only a willful blindness that keeps people from seeing it. (even the Nondual folks still try to ignore the possibility of future evolution of the species - and beyond the species).
yes, I think that the same thing with the massive alterations of family, sexuality, gender, community, politics, science - well, it's actually hard to think of anything that hasn't been touched by the descent.
I'm surprised I haven't gotten more pushback when I suggest that many more people are waking up (psychic and Self realization) in just the last 5 to 10 years than previously.
I'm not talking about hundreds of millions, but it may actually be in the low millions. I find in talking with patients - rural folks with 8th grade educations and 3rd grade reading levels - I can talk (in simple language) about some amazingly sophisticated, deep spiritual realities and they get it - in their own way, but they do.
David Bentley Hart has an interesting passage in his book "The Experience of God."
one of the things atheists always complain to philosophers about is that whatever the deeper conception of God is, the average person still thinks in terms of the old man in the sky.
Actually, David quite rightly says, that's not true:
"Do you think of God as being in a specific place or omnipresent, everywhere?"
If you ask this of anyone over the age of 10, they'll answer, "Everywhere."
Similarly with the supposedly abstract philosophic categories of omniscience and omnipotence. And they even can understand omnipotence not as, "Some guy with the power to make anything happen" but simply, "Well, if God is everywhere, permeating everything, supporting everything, in some way God is DOING everything (omnipotence) as well."
was this understanding so easy to come by 50 years ago? I don't remember it being that way.
I see a lot of my friends getting into their 70s and 80s and mourning for the "good old days."
I feel like every year has gotten better (no, I'm not measuring it by politics:>))
Yes, but A. Pandey's argument was more articulate. According to Mother, the gnostic being will be asexual, neither female nor male, nor androgynous, nor... well nothing. Pandey says that the crisis of sexual identity, while not new in history, is amplified also due to the action of the supramental that will increasingly blur the distinctions between polarities, therefore, also the sexual distinctions (sort of... that was my summary.) I have no strong opinion on this, but never thought of the LGBTQ+ phenomenon in these terms, and found his theory interesting.
Also, a lot of the appeal of far right populism is to people who feel utterly confused and left behind by all these changes. I think one of the major reasons why the work you're doing is SO important is that a story, a meaning, needs to be put in place, widespread, to make sense of the apparent craziness that is going on. And you're doing it quite well.
Thank you for this excellent article, Marco! I have often asked myself this same question: why don't we speak more of biological human evolution into the future? Is it due to some deep-seated anxiety that Nature is, as you said, beyond our ability to glimpse and know fully? Or do we just expect (maybe hope) that humans will be obliterated by human-caused climate change or our own technologies before we arrive there? ("hope" because perhaps it's more amenable to our delusions of control to imagine our species' demise than to imagine a radical shift in our human egoic identity/ self-defining). I think you are completely right that trans-humanist mythologies are materialist misunderstandings (I would go so far as to say it's a materialist, pseudo-scientific re-imagining of religious belief, like people wanting to gain immortality through downloading their consciousness to a computer). I think my favorite statement in this article is where you claim that the superpower of our species is *not* our rationality, but its self-overcoming through our recognition of ignorance! This recognition alone would go a long way towards saving our species (saving by self-overcoming). Really looking forward to checking out more of your work!
Hi Sondra!
These recent blog posts are drafts that will become the collection of essays for my upcoming book “The End of Materialism” (an introduction to the more technical “Spirit Calls Nature”.) They are still a raw and not proofread version, I hope my English doesn’t sound too awkward.
Yes, I also feel that the question of future evolution is rarely addressed. That’s a (more or less unconscious) reflection of the ingrained materialism, too. Perhaps it is also (again, a more or less unconscious) understanding that the future (or, maybe, already the present) human evolution will be (is) physical AND spiritual. But the latter possibility is instinctually blended out, because of the same reason. Therefore, people prefer to opt for the “materialist, pseudo-scientific re-imagining of religious belief,” as you most appropriately call it, rather than admitting a trans-material and trans-rational worldview (BTW, your command of language and expressive power especially in articulating more subtle and intuitive concepts is something rare, also among native English speakers. I would love to have that!)
And yes, again, “saving by overcoming” is the key to our future. As Sri Aurobindo used to say “Man is a transitional being”, obviously meaning all the human species (the politically correct wasn’t there yet) and its mind is only a temporary and intermediate stage of evolution towards something less ignorant.
PS: May I add you to my newsletter that announces the publication of my writings?
I would love to be added to your newsletter! I am also eager to start reading your Spirit Calls Nature, which I plan on ordering soon. Yes, evolution is (and will be) physical AND spiritual, and I think the spiritual is leading the physical and fast! P.S. I didn't think your English was awkward at all. And I found your arguments very enlightening 🤗
Great! I added you to the newsletter. I plan an announcement in a couple of weeks for my new book. Meanwhile, I ordered yours. :)
Excellent. I like this especially: We could also step out of such binary thinking (hmm, non binary individuals, non binary evolution! Just kidding - mostly)
I see you didn't mention bacteria. As far as I know (as a mere psychologist, not a biologist) there's irrefutable evidence that bacteria - one celled organisms - "intentionally" (obviously not consciously) alter their DNA in order to deal with noxious substances, environments, other organisms, etc.
SO much evidence for what you write, in fact, that it really is only a willful blindness that keeps people from seeing it. (even the Nondual folks still try to ignore the possibility of future evolution of the species - and beyond the species).
Fascinating stuff!!
Ahaha... didn't think about the non-binary innuendo. :) Alok Pandey has an interesting theory about this, as a sign of supramental descent.
I actually AGREE with Alok!!??
yes, I think that the same thing with the massive alterations of family, sexuality, gender, community, politics, science - well, it's actually hard to think of anything that hasn't been touched by the descent.
I'm surprised I haven't gotten more pushback when I suggest that many more people are waking up (psychic and Self realization) in just the last 5 to 10 years than previously.
I'm not talking about hundreds of millions, but it may actually be in the low millions. I find in talking with patients - rural folks with 8th grade educations and 3rd grade reading levels - I can talk (in simple language) about some amazingly sophisticated, deep spiritual realities and they get it - in their own way, but they do.
David Bentley Hart has an interesting passage in his book "The Experience of God."
one of the things atheists always complain to philosophers about is that whatever the deeper conception of God is, the average person still thinks in terms of the old man in the sky.
Actually, David quite rightly says, that's not true:
"Do you think of God as being in a specific place or omnipresent, everywhere?"
If you ask this of anyone over the age of 10, they'll answer, "Everywhere."
Similarly with the supposedly abstract philosophic categories of omniscience and omnipotence. And they even can understand omnipotence not as, "Some guy with the power to make anything happen" but simply, "Well, if God is everywhere, permeating everything, supporting everything, in some way God is DOING everything (omnipotence) as well."
was this understanding so easy to come by 50 years ago? I don't remember it being that way.
I see a lot of my friends getting into their 70s and 80s and mourning for the "good old days."
I feel like every year has gotten better (no, I'm not measuring it by politics:>))
Yes, but A. Pandey's argument was more articulate. According to Mother, the gnostic being will be asexual, neither female nor male, nor androgynous, nor... well nothing. Pandey says that the crisis of sexual identity, while not new in history, is amplified also due to the action of the supramental that will increasingly blur the distinctions between polarities, therefore, also the sexual distinctions (sort of... that was my summary.) I have no strong opinion on this, but never thought of the LGBTQ+ phenomenon in these terms, and found his theory interesting.
Sounds good to me. Do you have a link to what he wrote on this?
It looks like that we (males) are going to disappear anyway. :)))
https://www.newsweek.com/y-chromosome-disappear-soon-humans-men-extinct-1763123
Unfortunately not. I heard him saying this in one of his many talks.
Also, a lot of the appeal of far right populism is to people who feel utterly confused and left behind by all these changes. I think one of the major reasons why the work you're doing is SO important is that a story, a meaning, needs to be put in place, widespread, to make sense of the apparent craziness that is going on. And you're doing it quite well.