For several hours I stood virtually rooted in one place, physically stunned and mentally shocked to the deepest core of my being. Everywhere I looked, I saw an infusing radiance of immense intelligence, creativity, and love. I saw, and directly experienced, that everything, including 'empty space', is visibly alive. Space was not simply the absence of form but the formless expression of infinite possibility.
I also saw that the entire fabric of material reality is arising in a flow of continuous creation, that a reflective capacity is present throughout the universe, that an organising geometry of elegant symmetry and simplicity infuses the universe, and that our cosmos exists within an ocean of boundless compassion.
From mid-afternoon until early evening, with utter simplicity and breathtaking directness, every question about human evolution that I had ever imagined was effortlessly answered. Again and again, I was overwhelmed by the miracle of 'ordinary reality' - by the immensity and depth of Life in which we are immersed, by the aesthetic and functional structure of existence, by the infinitely deep and compassionate Knowing that permeates the cosmos, and by the visible presence of Life-energy in the flow of continuous creation.
This experience left me feeling unshakeably confident in the deep integrity of creation, profoundly grateful, inexhaustibly happy - and finally home.
In the days following this experience, transparent insights coalesced into symbolic patterns representing the major stages of human evolution, both personal and civilisational. These symbolic patterns became living seeds of insight with a life of their own that coalesced into specific concepts and ideas.
Although I realised these concepts would never convey more than a faint echo of the original experience, during the next few weeks I wrote several hundred pages describing the theory of 'dimensional evolution' that lies at the heart of my book.
In the following passage, the author foresees the eighth stage of this future evolution.
Although the future, eighth stage of planetary development - the mature stage - will surely be distinguished by an elevated consciousness and great technological advances, it will not be unimaginably remote from contemporary experience. As a Zen saying states, 'After awakening, we sweep the floor'. After awakening in the eighth dimension - in 500 years' time at a minimum - we will recognise the extraordinary nature of the reality that surrounds us. In appreciating the ordinary miracles of everyday life, 'sweeping the floor' will be sufficient. We will be far more content with life as it is and not seek manufactured miracles to entertain us.
Simplicity reveals the master, says an old adage. When we become masters in the art of living on earth, our mastery will be evident in the simplicity of our way of living. If we could look ahead in time and see life in the eighth stage, its simplicity might deceive us into thinking that relatively little change had occurred. Given outward appearances, life may seem so unassuming that we could overlook the conscious sophistication of design required to create a mode of living that is sustainable into the distant future.
Historian Arnold Toynbee described the process whereby the material side of life is progressively simplified so that increasing amounts of energy and attention are freed up to develop the cultural and spiritual aspects of life. The aesthetic refinement of the material side of life (learning to do ever more with less) develops in concert with the refinement of the consciousness side of life (learning to touch every aspect of life ever more lightly and gently). Through this co-evolutionary process we will be able to create a true wisdom-culture that is rich in beauty, nurturing relationships, caring communities, and other arts of elevated living.
Duane Elgin, 107A Holcomb Street, Larkspur, CA 94939, USA (tel 415 927 8308; fax 415 927 8309; e-mail: <delgin@igc.apc.org>).
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