Evolving Right Along: An Integral CSL?
(Jim’s presentation was fast moving and had many slides. Again, please get the audio recording for a more accurate rendition of the excellent presentation. These notes are meant to give you a rough impression of the evening. Forgive inaccuracies.)
Talking about evolution tonight, but not in a way you’re used to hearing about it. Despite how we might see ourselves, we are not the end of evolution. We are a step in the process. So what is evolution today? It is seen as the idea of emergence, and in so many different areas of life: psychology, culture, spirituality, as being the way things are arriving and showing up. Not that we are bringing them into being, but in the sense that they are using us to come into being. We are the vessels for these ideas.
Darwin began to see that things change and evolve. He was working in the observable world. Today we look at that same idea and find that the idea of evolutionary biology has shifted dramatically and we are looking at everything through an evolutionary lens.
This is not a fad, but an emerging paradigm. Our own religious science movement, you may say, began as a small circle of people who were really in the know. That circle began to grow as Dr. Holmes began to teach and speak. As more people came into that circle, it began to change and shift into an oval with a leading
edge and a trailing edge. Both are necessary: a trailing edge holds what we have and honors what is. A leading edge asks what is next. Evolutions seems to be the device by which the Intelligence of the Universe manifests. It sometimes seems to move at a glacial speed and sometimes very quickly.
We, in our history as a movement, have sped up and slowed down in our evolution and while we have been doing that the world around us has been speeding up and speeding up and speeding up. Although I don’t know how it is calculated, it is said that the total amount of human knowledge is said to be doubling every three to six months. Whereas In 1990 it took 3 years to double. “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.” Abraham Lincoln. Things are speeding up and in order to stay near the leading edge, the whole oval needs to be near that leading edge. Once the leading edge gets too far from the trailing edge, communication is no longer possible. Digging in their heels, those who are following fall further and further behind, because the whole system is changing around the entire oval.
(Aside: By the way we do have dogma. Try take a Practitioner exam and say “I don’t believe what you say” and see if you can get a license.)
The function of the modern spiritual leader is to see, in part, what wants to come through the membership, and help facilitate them to be a clear vessel for the wisdom that is trying to emerge. The demands of the world are becoming more complex whether we like it or not. It just is. I listened to a TED talk in which the speaker said that two thirds to three quarters of Modern Americans are overwhelmed by the nature of the world that they find themselves in because of the complexity. 30% of the data transmitted on the internet is pornography. What is going on there? It is that people are seeking to set the dopamine lose in their brain because they can’t cope with the world they are in. And if all knowledge is doubling at an accelerating pace, what will the world be like in 20 years? What are we studying now? We took some young adults to lunch today and asked them “What do you think of the Science of Mind Text book?” There was a long delay. There were sideways glances to each other. A kind of awkward moment. I said, I think there is problems with it because any under 25 I have introduced it to doesn’t read it. They sighed and said, you’re so right.
We got into an animated conversation about what we could create in terms of teaching materials that included multimedia – and they said when you start doing that project we want in. My only fear is that by the time we finish the project it will be obsolete.
We have to stop making stuff that can’t change.
Everything is happening in the oval that is our movement. Diversity is present. I know I am at the leading edge because it is a personal preference. I have to be careful that I don’t say “If you are not up here with me there is something wrong with you.” Today people were asking at the business meeting “Why isn’t this stuff done?” Well, it’s because you are not doing it. I’m just trying to be clear. It’s not that we don’t have good leadership, it’s that we refuse to be led.
“Others will arise who will know more than we do; they won’t’ be better or worse, they will be different and know more than we do. Evolution is forward.” Ernest Holmes – Sermon by the Sea 1959
It used to be easy to be on the leading edge. You just had to be able to think for yourself. Now it is not such a big deal. If someone who is tuned into complexity and forward thinking, do you have anything at your Center to hold them there.
Evolution is happening. We are either consciously directing it, or unconsciously reacting to it. We are now capable of consciously directing our own evolution. Here is the truth we are consciously directing it either way.
Back to the oval. You’re in it, and it is being consciously directed by the consciousness in the oval. Whatever you are doing you are creating your experience and we are co-creating each other’s experience.
We will act cooperatively to co-create our future or will we take a more independent approach. If we all go off in our own direction we will lose coherence and then what is the reason for coming together either virtually or physically. I don’t mean following and obeying, that time has passed. I’m talking about willingly cooperating because we see the big picture and we see that it works.
When we are able to bring our individuality into a conscious willingness to be together, then we benefit from each other. We say, “We are in this together, let’s go.”
We don’t know where we are going. No one does. We are in unchartered waters and we have the tools to navigate through them.
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” The universe continues forward. It must be ok, because we are here. If it’s in your life it’s yours.
“But I could be wrong.” (Carl Sagan.) If you’re not thinking that all the time, you’ve got a problem.
Thanks Rev....I am so looking forward to this talk...and how we shall re-create the SOM text in a user friendly and hip YA style....I appreciate all you do to keep those of us unable to attend this year informed.
ReplyDeletePeace and Blessings