The Present-Day Relevance of Siddhartha Gautama - "The Buddha"

R. McQueen - Saturday, 15 December 2001

Note: Because of the length of his teaching life and the importance that his insights were accorded, a large volume of biographical material exists on the Buddha. However, none of it was committed to writing until centuries after his death. At the time, it was fashionable to embellish verbal accounts of the lives of important religious figures with accounts of super-natural events. Virtually all early accounts of the Buddha's life contain such embellishments. However, they differ widely from account to account and are considered by many modern scholars to relate more to fashion than to fact. While there is a body of evidence suggesting that persons steeped in meditative contemplation may acquire unusual powers, Buddha's teaching ascribes no special significance to them. He taught that his accomplishments were not extraordinary - that any person, through adequate commitment to a meditative and virtuous path appropriate to his or her needs, could gain direct access to spiritual truth.

By focussing on records of events that are common to most early biographies, Western scholars have created an account of the Buddha's life that is as rigorous as antiquity allows. In aggregate, these biographies provide what is probably the most reliable profile we have of the founder of a world religion. This essay began with contemplation of the Buddha as portrayed by a number of those writings.Siddhartha Gautama was born some five and a half centuries before Christ into a society dominated, at the spiritual level, by legend and superstition. The prevailing belief was that humans were pawns in a game played by mythical gods at whose whim people might be blessed by good-fortune or cursed with sickness or other peril. Religions of the day offered a variety of means by which people might persuade gods to favour them. However, human knowledge was increasing and civilisation was undergoing rapid change. The myth-based religions of the day were coming under question as people yearned for a more believable and fulfilling view of reality.

Most had neither the energy nor the freedom to embark on a religious search of their own. Those who did tended to join existing sects and thus to be bound to pre-existing systems of belief. A rare few felt drawn to a life exposed to Nature in the search for a better understanding of her secrets. Most hoped, thereby, to sharpen their awareness of dimensions that, if brought into better focus, might show Life to have meaning and Man to have a worthwhile role to play in its pursuit.

iddhartha Gautama was born the son of a minor king and brought up in palace luxury close to the present border that separates India from Nepal. As a child, he demonstrated unusual sensitivity and intelligence. As a youth, he was troubled by the unfulfilled yearnings and suffering that seemed to overshadow human life. In his late twenties, aware that his princely position did not empower him to improve such conditions, he decided to devote his life to the search for a truth that, if gained, might carry people above the troubling circumstances that controlled their lives.

At the age of twenty-nine, he left his princely home to begin a life exposed to nature and devoted to contemplation. Initially he deprived himself of food and rest in the manner of other mendicants. However, he soon felt that this distorted his sensitivity and reduced his clarity of mind. He determined to allow himself disciplined access to both. He wished to determine why unsatisfied yearnings, suffering and death dominated human life. He intuited that, if an answer to that question could be found, his own life and that of his fellows might be given yearned-for meaning.

From the outset, he intuited that many years of meditative discipline would be needed to develop his inner consciousness and understanding of nature to a level at which the enlightenment he sought might be realised. He committed to such a path.

In the early summer of 525BC, after pursuing his goal for seven years, he was rewarded. For some time before the event, he had been experiencing insights that seemed relevant to his search. However, they revealed no complete answer until, as he was approaching the end of a thirty-hour period of unbroken meditation, the enlightenment he sought invaded his Being, bringing with it the sense of fulfilment and peace of mind for which he yearned.

He saw that the right approach to life for Mankind did not deliver people from suffering but carried them above it. He saw that Man's purpose lay, not in seeking earthly reward but in using earthly experience, discipline and meditation to achieve a quiet expansion of consciousness that brought with it love of all life and a sense of belonging. He saw how people could achieve this relationship with Reality by following a simple but disciplined path that he could open to them. He saw this path as leading to an understanding of Being and a relationship with Life that gave people a sense of well being and lifted them above the suffering they faced.

He intuited that many cycles of Earthly life were required to lift a Human Being to the state of wisdom, compassion, humility and serenity that was life's goal. He saw that, once this state was achieved, the illusions of self, fear, desire, suffering and death, which characterise Earthly Life, lost their power and influence. The individual's need to continue to experience such Life thus was vanquished and consciousness was freed from its individual identity to rejoin the universal consciousness that encompasses all Reality - to enter the state called Nirvana.

Of course, the perceptions of the Buddha carry infinitely more wisdom, compassion and spiritual truth than can be portrayed in a few paragraphs. However, the scope of this essay allows only for the barest essence of his vision to be presented here.

After experiencing his enlightenment, Siddhartha spent a further two months in contemplation. During that time, all aspects of his vision gained in lucidity and readied him to bring his perception of life and its purpose to others. People felt drawn by his teaching from all walks of life, many feeling inspired to put his vision to the test in their own lives.

Thus, many were brought to experience the sense of fulfilment and peace for which their spirits yearned and, in time, Siddhartha became known as "the Buddha" - the Enlightened One. For forty-five years he continued in his meditative path, endeavouring to help others find in their own lives, the sense of peace and oneness with Reality that he was experiencing. After his death - circa 480BC at the age of eighty - many continued to abide by the Buddha's teaching and as Monks carried it abroad. The religion we call Buddhism arose out of their efforts. For two-and-a-half thousand years, it has helped individuals to find peace of mind and fulfilment in their lives.

In the Australia of my childhood, the insights taught us were those held by the Christian Religions rather than by Buddhism. However, they brought similar, longed for, meaning and guidance to the lives of those that accepted them.

Since that time, the perceived need for institutionalised religion has been on the wane in the West. The World-View that began this diminution in religious interest emerged in Europe some five hundred years ago. It began to weaken the hold of institutionalised religions by holding that the right to search for spiritual and temporal truth belonged at the individual level rather than at that of the institution.

However, its ultimate impact was to be at a far more fundamental level than that. As the radical changes in perception it fostered gained strength, new ideas concerning the scope and purpose of Human Life emerged. These encouraged a successful search for scientifically defensible perceptions of Reality. In their turn, these began to create changes in the way that people earned their living, resulting in a marked diminution of the natural causes of the suffering, which had dominated human life since well before historic records began to be kept. An assumption that Human suffering on Earth was inevitable and continuing, formed the backbone of many institutionalised religions.

In the mid-Twentieth Century, the rate at which Western prosperity was reducing human suffering, accelerated. Cures were found for diseases that had plagued Mankind for millennia. Education and industrial mechanisation were leading to rapid increases in per-capita productivity, thus offering increasing numbers of individuals a level of prosperity, health, security and leisure, far beyond what was dreamed of in the past.

These changes began further to weaken the hold exercised by institutionalised religion. The versions of Christianity that promised entry to paradise in the hereafter as a reward for living a virtuous life on Earth began to lose adherents. Increasingly people found themselves preferring to pursue the comforts, opportunities, diversions and excitements that the new advances were bringing within their grasp in this life.

As the popularity of the New Life-Style increased, so did its commercial exploitation. Industry, education and research were attracting large amounts of money and prestige. New discoveries proliferated. By the end of the twentieth century, an awesome and seductive array of diversions, status symbols, labour-saving devices, foods, drugs, electronic marvels, travel options, financial instruments and means of reducing suffering had reached a marketplace that was becoming global in character.

Slowly Institutionalised Consumerism was replacing Institutionalised Religion as the principle determinant of human values. As the change occurred, many ethical precepts were being dropped by the wayside, taking with them much civic pride and respect for traditional instruments of power and authority - thus introducing a destabilising factor.

It took time for Mankind to realise that Consumerism had a downside. Its most insidious dilemmas were surfacing slowly and all too often at global or communal levels rather than at that of the individual. Because of this, their personal impact was insufficiently felt to persuade those who were enjoying its advantages to give them up. By this time, substantially the whole of Mankind had been persuaded to embrace Consumerism and the negative impact of its most worrying side effects was worsening daily - in some instances moving them beyond existing means of control.

No new World-View capable of attracting a meaningful portion of humanity away from Consumerism yet had appeared on the horizon. Because it looks as if only a new and broadly embraced change in the way Man views his Reality can lead to the general deepening of human values prerequisite to overcoming the most harmful effects of Consumerism, this remains troubling. The indirect consequences of some of the most harmful are even propelling our Race towards an unsustainable relationship with the environment upon which all Earthly life depends for its existence.

Prince Siddhartha Gautama grew to manhood amongst people afflicted by causes of unease that were comparably troubling. The sudden growth of cities was placing a strain on traditions. The use of horses, armour, bows and arrows, metal swords and lances by raiding parties was exposing communities to forces capable of decimating traditional peasant armies within hours. Prosperous societies thus were being forced to raise sophisticated standing armies of their own in self-defence. The financial cost of so doing was huge for rural communities with little experience in centralised fund-raising. Many attempted to solve the dilemma by encouraging their armies to support themselves by raiding and plundering other settlements. Over time, this greatly exacerbated the problem. People in the more prosperous parts of Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean Region found themselves facing a new, devastating and unanswerable type of terror.

Traditionally, in such circumstances, people turn to religion. However, the very knowledge that had made the new instruments of terror possible also was making the mythically based religions of the day difficult to accept and largely irrelevant. A spiritual emptiness was descending on the people at the same time as they were being forced to face an increasingly perilous existence. Thus a need was created for a view of reality that, while being rational in terms of the knowledge of the day, was also capable of spiritually lifting individuals above the terrors they faced.

Approaching manhood in such an environment, Prince Siddhartha became intensely preoccupied by this state of affairs. After a time, he determined to devote his life to the search for a view of Reality that made sense in terms of the life people faced. As has been already described, he achieved that goal.

In Siddhartha's day, the main dilemmas that confronted Society derived from a rapid increase in human knowledge, which led to social upheaval and devastating military adventuring while rendering the traditional religions of the day obsolescent.

In our day, the situation is similar. The critical dilemmas that confront Society derive from an even more dramatic increase in knowledge, which is leading to social upheaval and the unleashing of massive, life-threatening forces whilst rendering the traditional religions of our day obsolescent.

In both instances, the Individual is confronted by pervasive insecurity of a type that the beliefs of the past no longer equip him to handle. In both instances, new beliefs concerning the Nature of Reality are required to provide the Individual with the means to effectively confront the perilous situations to which Civilisation is exposing him.

Can a World-View be found that inspires Individuals to work towards solving the problems caused by Consumerism whilst deepening the level of Human Fulfilment it opens to them?

If we wish our race to survive and prosper, we can but assume that such a View will be found. In the deep past, critically needed modifications of Human Belief Systems or Religions, were achieved through the contemplative efforts of single individuals. Each generation has produced its share of such Mystics. However, their revelations tended to fall on deaf ears unless Man's spiritual beliefs were being shaken to the core. Only perceptions, which inspire a profound spiritual re-awakening at a time when it is desperately needed, will manifest sufficient human impact to result in its becoming enshrined in a religion.

In Europe, the importance of Individual Mystics began to fade in Sixteenth-century, as advances in technology improved the capacity of Individuals to communicate perceptions and ideas through publication. Such means enabled those engaged in contemplating the profound problems of their day to stimulate each other by sharing perceptions and beliefs. From that point on, desperately needed changes in World-View resulted from cross-fertilisation between the perceptions of numbers of Individuals.

Today Man's means of communication have taken an even more dramatic leap forward. At close to zero cost, anybody that lives in a reasonably developed community can communicate with like-minded Individuals anywhere in the world. Amongst other things, this is leading to a growing perception that the more unjust and environmentally non-viable aspects of the Life-styles promoted by Consumerism are intolerable. Before this perception can begin to effect desirable change in our Society, major reforms to the political and financial power structures will have to be achieved. In their present form, they work to the discriminatory benefit of Individuals close to the World's powerful institutions. Required reforms, therefore, will not become possible until the new perceptions have become a part of the governing World-View. Before that can happen, they must have achieved a high global level of Individual acceptance.

The emergence of a perilous situation naturally stimulates individuals to ponder means of its solution. Where such means demand a fundamental change in the Group perception of Reality, such change seems to occur, although it may vary in nature from place to place. While Siddhartha was achieving his spiritual enlightenment in North India, a Greek named Heraclitus was achieving a scientific view of Reality on the Aegean Sea, far to his west. At the same time, in China to his east, Lao-tzu and Confucius each were achieving a quite different view of Reality. Although a very different aspect of the Human Condition was perceived and passed on by each, their teaching had a profound impact on their respective Worlds and has remained influential and revered to this day.

We live at a time when, again, circumstances are encouraging Man to search for new ways of making sense of his World. In doing so, he would do well to begin by revisiting some of the philosophical questions that the serious minded of previous eras were drawn to ponder. In the light of Man's newly acquired ability to wilfully effect drastic alteration to his World, the following expression of such questions is viewed as important: -

What is Reality? Does it manifest design? Does it have a purpose? Has Man's extraordinary Conscious Evolution been made possible because he has some essential role to play in the achievement of that purpose? Does the evolution within him of sophisticated aspects of Consciousness, together with the will to freely exploit them, mean that such qualities are essential to his performance of that role? What might that role be?

Traditionally, Scientists have left such questions to the Philosophers. However, many now are beginning to contemplate them in the light of current knowledge. The are beginning to wonder whether the comprehensible, predictable and mysteriously ordered manner in which Evolution moulds the Universe could mean that something additional to pure chance is involved in supplying it with direction. If some such influence does exist, it can only exert itself through the Principles and Laws by which Evolution is governed.

With this in mind, scientists are beginning to ask "Does Man's very ability to comprehend Temporal Reality, including the manner of its evolution, imply that the process of Evolution is realising some form of intellectual design?"

To help us understand the reasoning that prompts this question, it is valuable to take a parallel from every-day life. The mechanic learned to understand the old-fashioned automobile by pulling it to pieces and using observation and reasoning to figure out what each part does and how it does it. He could be oblivious to the fact that it was a product of intellectual design without such ignorance impairing his abilities in this regard. However, if each part of the automobile had not been logically designed by an intellect to fulfil a specific purpose, the mechanic's powers of observation and reasoning would have been powerless to nut out how it works. The Scientist works on Temporal Reality in much the same way as the Mechanic works on the automobile. He separates it into its parts and, through a combination of experimentation, observation, intuition and intellect, nuts out what each part does and how it does it. We have good reason to believe that the mechanic is successful in his endeavors only because the automobile manifests Intellectual Design. Does the success of our Scientists then mean that the Universe, also, is a manifestation of Intellectual Design?

Scientists have established that the Universe is evolving - that chance interactions, occurring in astronomical numbers over aeons of time, have resulted in the formation of the whole existent range of atomic and cosmic products. Through a truly unbelievable chain of processes, these have come to include the Elements and the Planets necessary to the evolution of Life.

The evolution of the Universe has unfolded in the way that it has, solely because of the nature of the Laws by which it is governed and the properties and constants that define the Space, Time and Fundamental Particles that were its incipient components as it emerged from the ‘Big Bang'.

Were these Laws and Parameters designed by some Intellect in order to ensure that the Universe would evolve as it has? The number of different types of Fundamental Particle and the number of Laws through which they are linked through Time and Space is surprisingly small. Further, had any of the properties and constants by which all are defined differed even slightly from those made manifest, the course of Evolution and the nature of the resultant Universe would have been entirely different to that, which exists. On that ground, the choice and design of such controlling parameters would represent a valid means of pre-determining the manner in which the Universe would unfold.

If some Designing Intellect is responsible for their choice, then an intermediate Design Intent can be assumed to be the emergence, over a period of some ten billion years, of the type of Universe that existed some four billion years ago. It was that Universe, which made possible the existence of the Elements upon which Life relies and of Planets capable of supporting it. Further, the Designing Entity would have to have preconceived the emergence of Life in order to embody within the Universe at the outset, the Laws and Parameters that made its emergence and evolution inevitable. If we assume that Consciousness, also, was preconceived as a product of evolution, then the design parameters would have had to be such that it could come into existence and evolve, as well. In conclusion, all parameters would have had to be chosen and designed such that the preconceived outcomes would come about as an inevitable consequence of chance and the passage of time. Fascinating! But not beyond possibility.

It is time to leave this interesting aside and to return to our discussion of the role that Man's Beliefs have played in the evolution of his Civilisation. Our starting point was Siddhartha Gautama and his search for a View of Reality capable of filling the spiritual void felt by people in his day. After seven years of meditative contemplation, he succeeded in gaining insights that satisfied the spiritual needs to his people. Interestingly, for a broad segment of our Race, they have continued to do so ever since.

The deep passions still engendered by religions that arose during the eleven hundred years following Siddhartha's enlightenment, suggest that, for millennia, such religions have filled a highly important human need. Against this background the fact that, in the most knowledgeable Civilisations of our day, the influence of these religions is declining, is unlikely to mean that modern knowledge and life-styles are rendering the Spiritual Yearnings of Individuals less humanly important than they were in the past. It is much more likely to mean, as it did in Siddhartha's day, that such advances are rendering the Ancient Religions inadequate to present-day Human needs.

Why should this be so? Modern Man is developing extraordinary and unique powers. This is demonstrated by the World-changing accomplishments of his Civilisation. Many Ancient Religions demand that their followers accept beliefs that cannot be reconciled with the knowledge from which these powers derive. This weakens such religions in their capacity to appeal to well-educated people. More importantly, such Religions failed to anticipate that, one day, Man would achieve an understanding of his Reality that would make it possible for him to create an environment of his own collective choosing and, through it, to overcome most of the natural causes of human suffering. They failed to anticipate the need for forms of spiritual guidance that would tend to prevent major abuse of such powers. Many Ancient Religions taught that Spiritual Salvation was to be gained only through divorcing one's-self completely from involvement in such ‘Things of this World'.

At this time, Man, through his Civilisation, is modifying this World at a rate, which is millions of times faster than that at which Evolution brought that World into Being. In many ways, the manner in which such powers are being exercised is threatening the well being of Human and other Species. On this ground, the down-to-earth involvement of those, who make the search for Spiritual Fulfilment their goal, could well prove to be a key to Man's future salvation.

On such grounds, many of the beliefs held as sacrosanct by Ancient Religions fall well short of providing for Man's present-day needs. A new World-View, which is capable of inspiring him to wise individual and collective use of his new powers, is a clear and urgent need.

Apart from the violence that continues to be incited by institutionalised versions of many Ancient Religions, the misuse of Man's powers that is implicit in the values preached by Consumerism appears as the source of Modern Man's most troubling dilemmas.

By appealing to their instincts, Consumerism persuades people to devote their lives to the pursuit of such things as wealth and power; status and sex; health and fitness; food and drink; comfort and security; education and entertainment. The importance of such things as prerequisites to the living of a fulfilling Human Life is not denied. However, there is a deeper side to Man's Being that must be satisfied, as well, before the type of happiness for which all Humans yearn can be achieved.

The Consumerist World-View denies this. While it has proved uniquely successful in providing goods and services that overcome human suffering, it does so by appealing to the instinctive level of Man's Being, thus seducing him away from accessing the deep-level Happiness for which all Humans yearn. Yearned-for human qualities evolved much later than Instincts and exist at a deeper emotional level. Their purpose appears to be the creation of longer-term emotional responses that encourage harmonious behaviour, not only between Individual and Individual but also between the Individual and other elements of Society and Nature. By contrast the Instincts, which Man has inherited from his animal past, tend to be self-serving and to promote emotions that are directly or indirectly related to fear and survival. Instinct-stimulated responses to a situation tend to vary considerably from Yearnings-stimulated responses to the same situation.

Because of the way in which Consumerism skews human emotion, the World-View it promotes fails to deliver on the promise that Individuals who follow its dictates will attain the deep happiness for which they yearn. This failure tends to engender animosity amongst its more intelligent and sensitive followers as well as from outsiders who, through religious beliefs or geographical accident, find themselves excluded from its benefits. The supplementing of the present Consumerist World-View with perceptions that encourage Individuals to focus, at least in part, on the fulfilment of their Yearnings, would appear to represent a legitimate and important future goal of Society.

In the past, communities, which encouraged their members to attain a balance of focus between the fulfilment of Yearnings and the satisfaction of Instincts (as many Western Communities did in the past) tended to become more stable, vibrant, renaissant and prosperous than Societies that focussed on exploiting instinctive responses, alone. Such qualities tend to promote the more positive aspects of Consumerism. Hopefully, in the future, World Society can be motivated to modify the Consumerist World-View in a way that encourages Individuals to aspire towards attainment of a deep level of happiness, which promotes harmony and selectively amplifies, rather than opposes, the satisfactions associated with the more pleasurable of instinctive drives.

As has been said, Yearnings exist at a deeper emotional level than Instincts. Both are products of evolution and, as such, exist because they confer some evolutionary advantage on those, which possess them. Instincts evolved over hundreds of millions of years to guide Animals in overcoming threats to their survival. Human Yearnings commenced evolving no more than five million years ago. They appear to exist to encourage Individuals to wisely use the advanced-level aspects of Consciousness that are evolving within Man - particularly when such use varies from what is instinctive.

We all are aware that some Yearnings relate to our Individual behaviour and that they change as we mature - particularly as we pass through the adolescent stage that prepares us for adulthood. Most of us are less aware that more advanced Yearnings are evolving in Humans, which respond to consciousness of the effects of collective behaviour. Individual response to both types of Yearning is essential to healthy evolution of both the Individual and his Civilisation. Unfortunately, it is easy to tempt Humans away from responding to them by focussing their attention at the instinctive level.

Today, Man takes a bigger risk in neglecting his Yearnings than did his forebears. This is because Human Civilisation has reached a stage at which it empowers its members to create an Earthly environment of their own collective choosing. No previous generation has possessed such power. For that reason, history is unable to guide Man in its proper use. The evolutionary purpose of Human Yearnings appears to be to provide Man with both access to and the desire to follow such wisdom.

Most accept that Man now utilizes his creative powers in a manner that is antipathetic to Nature. They further accept that he appears powerless to correct the situation. Perhaps this is because he is looking for answers at the wrong level. Perhaps it is because he has allowed Consumerism to persuade him to neglect the level of Being at which such wisdom is to be found.

On the above grounds, the Consumerist World-View can be considered to be immature and its replacement or extensive modification as the principal determinant of human values can be considered imperative. Our happiness, our survival and our capacity to discover and pursue human destiny demand that it be converted to or replaced by a new World-View that is more in tune with the modern needs of Evolution, Life and Man.

In order to cause the shifts in perception required to render the man-made dilemmas presently threatening our world solvable, the new World-View will have to be accepted as superior to Consumerism by a large number of Individuals. To gain that sort of support, it must present a vision of the future that is more Humanly fulfilling, stimulating, creative and sustainable than that offered by present-day Consumerism.

History suggests that such a World-View probably will be found. Each time in the past that an established World-View has become a threat to the continued evolution of Humanity, new beliefs powerful enough to effect necessary change in Man's Consciousness and behaviour, have emerged and been adopted in time to prevent insurmountable catastrophe.

The last major event of that kind came to the rescue of Western Civilisation in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. It brought to an end a thousand years of domination by a World-View that had supported the institutionalised use of religious dogma and force to stifle human progress. The World-View that broke its stranglehold did so by promoting the perception that creative thought - including the passion for freedom, truth and justice, which it inspires - is a quality sacred to the individual and that no institution has the right to usurp it. This Individualistic World-View spread quickly, aided by new means of publishing that made possible the rapid spread of arguments in its support. These arguments awakened within many Individuals a new perception of life's potential and encouraged them to take back the power to control their existence.

As this Individualistic World-View gained strength, it encouraged the free and open pursuit of all types of knowledge. Such pursuit, previously treated as a capital crime, soon achieved the status of Noble Enterprise.

The artist, the mystic, the philosopher, the scientist, the educator, the reformer, the freedom fighter, the explorer, the inventor, the craftsman the entrepreneur - all were freed of the shackles that, previously, had bound them. As a result, the conditions out of which our present Western prosperity was gradually to emerge exploded into being, hugely revitalising the communities it infected

At last the Individual was free to seek and follow a path that would lead him to comprehension of his World. In the last four hundred years, he has travelled a great distance along that path. The knowledge thus gained has enabled him to bring forth a new Civilisation so extraordinary and powerful that it has been able to replace Nature as the creatively dominant force on this Planet. Unfortunately, by its very power, it has been able to seduce the Individual into abandoning Self-reliance in favor of the security, comforts, opportunities and entertainment that its Institutions are able to offer. He has been persuaded to forsake his highest natural vocation, which is the pursuit of Deep Human Happiness, in favour of reliance on commercially fashioned appeals to his Animal Instincts. And, which is worse, the Life-style by which he has been seduced and for which the whole World now clamors cannot be enjoyed by more than a small percentage of Humankind without it causing the destruction of the Natural World upon which all Earthly Life depends for its existence.

Many of us are searching for ways of retrieving our Self-reliance and of countering the more harmful and unfair effects of the Consumerist Life-style. So far, we have failed in these endeavours. It is beginning to appear as if the best hope we have of success in this regard will entail a fundamental re-examination of our modern belief system. Our position is not so different to that faced by Siddhartha Gautama two-and-a-half thousand years ago. We must return to contemplation of fundamental philosophical questions, though we must address them in a far different context to that faced by Siddhartha: -

Why is the Universe comprehensible? Why have Beings that are capable of comprehending it evolved within it? Why are such Beings able to threaten the existence of an environment that has taken Nature billions of years to create and upon which all local Life is dependent? What could be Nature's purpose in creating the Universe and in making it possible for Manlike Beings to evolve within it?

The only answer that satisfies all of these questions is that Beings such as Modern Man evolve because they have an essential role to play in enabling Nature to fulfil the creative purpose for which she established the Universe - whatever that purpose might be.

As an evolving creation, the Universe is awesome. From the chaos that characterised it at birth, it took some ten billion years to create the order, elements and conditions necessary to the evolution of Planetary Life. Further, it appears that such Life began to evolve, at least on this Planet, as soon as such conditions became manifest. From this, it appears likely that Life in the Universe is a Natural Phenomenon. If this is so, now that the conditions necessary to support it have been in existence for some four billion years, there will be billions of planets in the Universe capable of supporting it, on most of which we can expect Life to be evolving.

As Earthly Life evolved, it assumed an ever-greater variety and complexity of forms. Over the first three billion years, the process altered the Earth's atmosphere in a way that made possible the evolution of macro-life-forms. These have dominated the planet's surface for the last six hundred million years. During that time, a continuance of evolutionary processes has resulted in the emergence of an ever-greater variety and complexity of Species.

Amongst these, Man is a late-evolving member of the Animal Kingdom. Like all animals, he conforms to a genetic framework that defines him as a sentient and mobile macro-product of the evolutionary process. However, he has powers that make him unique in the Animal World. These derive from a rapidly evolving and already highly developed Consciousness, which is characterized by a broad spectrum of emotional, intellectual and communicative qualities that remain largely embryonic in other Animal Species. Through the application of these qualities, he has brought into being the phenomenon that we call Civilization. Working through it, he has been able to accelerate and broaden the evolution of his consciousness through a process that has created the extraordinary World in which he now lives. That world could not have evolved in the absence of his creative input.

This human capacity to compete with Nature as a local evolutionary force has profound philosophical implications. Before Man acquired this capacity, changes in the Earthly Environment occurred as a result of the Physical and Life Streams of Evolution, working alone. For billions of years, these chance-dependent tools of Nature represented the sole means of bringing about evolutionary change. Each worked through a spectrum of chance occurrences, the nature of which was determined by unalterable Natural Principles and Laws. This reliance on chance meant that evolutionary change occurred at speeds that were infinitely slow by comparison with those by which Man's intellectual approach to evolution brings profound changes to the Earth. Thus, Man has become an astonishingly new and radical local evolutionary force. The philosophical ramifications of accepting Man as new tool of Evolution are only now beginning to be addressed.

Let us take a little time to re-examine in more detail the ancient Physical and Life Streams of Evolution. Both are governed by a surprisingly small number of Natural Principles and Laws. Science has established that, had the characteristics of any one of these varied in the slightest degree from those they manifest, our Reality would have evolved in a very different manner to the way it has. In all likelihood, it would have remained chaotic. Almost certainly, the Evolution of Life would have remained impossible within it. One mathematician has calculated the odds against the Principles and Laws governing the Physical Universe having acquired, purely by chance, the values that permit Life to find a home within it, as equal to the square of the number of atoms it contains. His methodology is challenged by some. However, all agree that the odds against these critical values having been arrived at purely by chance are astronomically large! As negative odds approach infinity, the propositions to which they refer approach the impossible. Thus, it may be regarded as highly improbable that the Laws and Principles governing Evolution could have acquired the critical values prerequisite to Life's Evolution as a consequence of chance operating without intellectual guidance.

Even the eventual emergence of physical conditions amenable to Life Evolution does not, by itself, render such Evolution possible. The human intellect recognizes Consciousness as an essential quality of higher Life Forms. In order to be available to that level of Life, Consciousness must exist, at least in embryonic form, in all Life Forms - even the most primitive.

The existence of anything in the Universe demands that it be defined by Universal Principles and Laws. Consciousness certainly is not definable in terms of those that govern Physical Evolution. Life's entry into the Universe, therefore, demands that the Laws and Principles governing the Evolution of Consciousness be included. The evidence suggests that the addition of new Laws and Principles to the Universe after its conception is not possible. On this ground, the Laws and Principles defining Consciousness must have existed within the Universe from the time of its conception. In the absence of some form of Intellectual Design, the odds against Laws and Principles having existed in the Universe for some ten billion years prior to the need for them becoming manifest, must be considered as astronomically large.

Even given the existence of such Governing Parameters within the Universe, the odds against Life Evolution leading to Beings capable of comprehending and, through the application of intellect, wilfully modifying the reality within which they evolve also must be reckoned as immense.

For reasons earlier explained, even the odds against Temporal Creation proving comprehensible, were it not a product of intellectual design, are great.

When all of these odds are compounded, their product unambiguously approaches infinity. Thus, there is a much higher probability that Temporal Reality is the brainchild of some form of purposeful intellect (which utilises chance, ordered by unalterable Principles and Laws as a tool) than it is to be the product of pure chance, operating other than as a tool of intellectual preconception and design.

The probable existence of some form of Consciousness behind the Universe is admitted and it becomes rational to assume that the Universe exists as a means of accomplishing some Objective of importance to that Consciousness.

If it is probable that an Intellect is responsible for designing the Laws and Principles that govern Universal Evolution, then the evolution of Wilful, Intellectually Creative Beings such as Man under those Laws and Principles makes sense only if such Beings have some role to play in the accomplishment of the Design Objective. Further, it is reasonable to assume that the nature evolving in such Beings will be such as to inspire them to discover what their creative role might be and to desire involvement in its performance. In the absence of such inner stimulation, Human Free Will would more than likely prove to be an impediment to achievement of the Design Objective rather than a means of assisting in its accomplishment.

Although, from a scientific viewpoint, such a view of Reality is radical, it occupies a central place in many ancient belief systems. This suggests that it conforms with the Yearnings that evolve as a part of Man's unique Consciousness. It also provides a rational explanation for the existence of the Universe, its Evolutionary and the emergence of Man-Like-Beings within it. To Human Nature, that appears to be important.

Before we go further, let us ponder another question: -

How is it that the qualities of consciousness, which are responsible for Man's creative powers, evolve within him at a speed that is orders of magnitude greater than that at which Conventional Evolutionary Advances are able to take place?

The evidence suggests that Man's advanced brain, which is the essential hosting element of his Advanced Consciousness, evolved rapidly. Our best guess is that its unique properties evolved in just five million years. This strongly suggests that, as mental capabilities advance, they have an accelerating effect on the evolution of the Being within which they are advancing. The uses to which Man now applies his brain are having an even more rapid effect on the evolution of his Consciousness. Over the last fifty thousand years, sophisticated aspects of that Consciousness have evolved hugely in Man, while they have remained largely dormant in all other Animal Species.

The most likely reason for the high speed at which Advanced Consciousness is able to evolve in Humans is that a fundamentally new type of Evolution, which responds to intellect rather than chance, is represented. This rapid evolution of Consciousness could not have begun to occur until a brain capable of supporting it had evolved. This roughly parallels the way in which Life had to await the creation of planets capable of supporting it, before it could begin to evolve.

For millennia, interaction between Individual Consciousness operating through the human brain, and its collective equivalent operating through his Civilisation, has been prerequisite to the rapid evolution of all aspects of Human Consciousness. Continued evolution of advanced aspects of Individual Consciousness occurs in concert with and as a consequence of advances in aspects of Artificial Intelligence in the Civilisation within and through which its capacity is amplified and focussed.

It is this interactive relationship that first made possible Man's comprehension of the Universe and its Evolution. That comprehension, in its turn, is what has enabled Man, at accelerating rates, to alter the nature of the environment in which he carries on his existence. In other words, through his Advanced Consciousness and within the constraints imposed by Natural Principles and Laws, Man is able to conceive of and bring into being a Reality of his own wilful choosing. That reality is very different from any that could have been brought into existence by Nature in the absence of his input.

If a new Evolutionary Stream is at work on Man's Consciousness, it is probable that the level of conscious sophistication that he presently enjoys is but an interim manifestation of what he can expect to enjoy in the future. On this ground, it is reasonable to hope that, as time passes, ever greater numbers of Human Individuals will experience ever higher levels of emotional maturity, compassion, sensitivity, intellectual astuteness, wisdom, creativity, harmony with Nature and Deep Happiness than most of us are capable of achieving, today.

Some Ancient Mystics intuited that Man was created in the image of his Creator. It could be that such intuition is not far off the mark. The ultimate purpose of Temporal Reality well may prove to be the creation of Beings with qualities of Consciousness similar to those that characterise the Entity responsible for its creation.

Few would suggest that Man yet has attained God-Like Consciousness. However, it is possible to accept him as an interim product of an evolutionary process designed to create a Being possessed of such Consciousness. That is not so different from believing that trilobites represented an interim product in the evolution of modern animals.

Assuming that Modern Man does represent such an intermediate evolutionary product, pro-creation can be hypothesized to be the ultimate purpose of Temporal Reality. Although attitudes and beliefs have prevented much scientific thought from being devoted to such a hypothesis, it is one that can be tested against the present body of scientific knowledge to the extent that it will prove to be either consistent with or inconsistent with that body. If Human Reality is a manifestation of Intellectual Design, from the viewpoint of its Designer, procreation becomes rational as the ultimate purpose of the creative process going on in the Universe. A motive is established for the Act of Creation! Again, this appears to have built-in importance to the Human Psyche.

Since ancient times, Humans have yearned to believe that Man has a sacred role to play in assisting his Creator to achieve His/Her Earthly Purpose. History relates many instances in which a World-View that placed this Yearning above other human drives formed the foundation of Society. We refer to this type of World-View as being Spiritually or Religiously Based. Commonly, such World-Views offer instruction to Individuals on how best to live their lives in order to attain and enjoy the raised state of Consciousness, which such a World-View brings within the scope of Human awareness. Nearly always, such instruction calls on the Individual to develop Yearnings-Level qualities of love, creativity and compassion within his/her Being. When such a World-View gains a high level of acceptance, it tends to bring with it a high level of individual fulfilment and a renaissant release of communal vitality.

In the Modern World, Humanity suffers from the lack of such an uplifting World-View. The Religions that served Mankind in this regard in the past, while still honoured in many quarters, fall short of the spiritual needs of increasing numbers of people and the temporal needs of Society and Nature. As was the case in Siddhartha's day, a new and more appropriate World-View forms a clear and present need.

If advanced Nations do not soon find and adopt such a World-View, then a life-threatening reversal of evolutionary progress on this planet would appear to be unavoidable. This would be doubly tragic at a time when the powers by which Man threatens his World are the very ones that could equip him to take on a role that he has yearned to fulfil for millennia - that of becoming his Creator's principal Evolutionary Agent on this Planet. It is ironic that Man, having finally acquired such powers, far from advantaging himself of them to realize the satisfaction of such Yearnings, appears bent on utilising them in a manner that is instinct-driven and, which threatens a World that has taken Nature billions of years to create.

Can Man be persuaded to reverse such perverse behaviour? Such a reversal will be difficult to achieve. There are complicating aspects of the relationship between the Individual and Society that make the reversal of broadly held beliefs, which support those in control, difficult.

Like other animals, Humans pursue emotional rewards. However, unlike other animals, they are able to choose between two levels in the pursuit of such rewards - the Instinctive Level, which he shares with all Animal Species and his Yearnings, which, at advanced level, are unique to his Race.

Instinctive-Level drives have evolved within the animal brain over hundreds of millions of years in order to optimize Individual and Collective chances of survival within a complex, challenging and often hostile World. As we all know, they can trigger very strong emotional responses.

Yearnings, on the other hand, are of much more recent origin. At advanced level, they have evolved in Humans in parallel with advanced aspects of Consciousness that are unique to his Species. Their primary evolutionary purpose appears to be to inform and motivate Individuals in the wise use of the advantages that Advanced Consciousness confers upon them, both as Individuals and as a Race.

The Human Individual is born free to choose between actions motivated by varying combinations of Survival Instincts and Human Yearnings. However, as he is nurtured by society, his freedom to exercise that choice becomes greatly influenced by various external factors. Acting in favor of his Yearnings-level drives are love relationships, particularly those experienced in early infancy. Acting to weaken the Individual's reliance on his Yearnings are the belief-systems advocated by Society. All too often, these contrive to force those who accept them into follow directives that favor those in control of Society. Individuals deprived of love during infancy tend to lack confidence and to become particularly vulnerable to such external means of persuasion.

At the fundamental level, the Belief Systems advocated by society are either Materialistic or Religious. The former, in the main, appeal to motivations derived from Survival Instincts. The latter appeal to those derived from a combination of Survival Instincts and Human Yearnings. It is an aspect of Human Nature that, with time, both types tend to become skewed in a manner that favors the interests of those in control.

In order to move beyond his current malaise, Man needs to adopt a Belief System, which is more Humanly Fulfilling, equitable and harmonious with Nature than that advocated by Consumerism. Is there hope that such a change can be achieved? We have to believe that it can. Almost certainly, it will entail a deepening of emotional focus from the Instinct-related Drives exploited by Consumerism. Such a deepening would allow Humans to achieve awareness of the greater emotional satisfaction that they are capable of acquiring by taking cognisance of their Yearnings as well as their Instincts. Of great importance in this regard is the quality of Deep Happiness that all Humans yearn for. It is of a quality that is finer and more enduring than that associated with the satisfaction of pleasurable instincts, alone. People are naturally reluctant to give up their Instinct-related pleasures and delights. Fortunately, the attainment of Yearnings-level Happiness does not cut them off from enjoyment of these. On the contrary, it creates an emotional environment in which their selective enjoyment becomes fuller and more meaningful through association with the deeper levels of Human Fulfilment. Those who attain the ability to achieve such dual-level Happiness place themselves in a position to experience the highest emotional rewards of which the Human Being is capable. People, who become aware that such opportunity is available to them, acquire a powerful personal motive for assuming a lifestyle that makes them less dependent on Consumerism and more likely to contribute to a lessening of its harmful effects.

Yearnings-motivated behaviour can vary a lot from that motivated by Instinct. A healthy Individual needs to be encouraged to develop sensitivity to both levels of stimulation in order to achieve the emotional balance prerequisite to wise Individual and Collective decisions and behaviour. The Consumerist World-View places little value on Human Yearnings. If it could be broadened to encourage Humanity to pay as much attention to them as to Instincts, Man's individual and collective decisions would become richer, wiser, more humane and more sustainable.

The beliefs and values of people tend to reflect the professed beliefs and values of their Society. These, in turn, reflect the World-View by which that Society is governed. Modern Society is governed by a World-View, which strongly motivates those in control to use every means available to foster beliefs and values designed to turn the people it influences into Consumers. It does so by creating within them the desire to acquire goods and services that are promoted through appeals to their instinct-related emotions. If those in control of Society could be persuaded, as well, to put Individuals in contact with the emotions engendered by their Yearnings, Humans would become more aware of the depth and breadth of their emotional Nature and their behaviour would become modified accordingly. If this were to happen on a broad enough scale, many of the most pressing human problems, including those associated with well-being, global wealth sharing and environmental sustainability, would attract the Will prerequisite to their solution.

. Unlike instincts, Yearnings are out-going and compassionate. They incorporate concern for the way in which one's behaviour may impact on loved-ones, other Human Individuals and Groups, other Life Forms and even the Earth. This compassionate quality has a refining effect on the texture of the associated emotion and tends also to give it an enduring dimension. Instinctive drives, by their nature, tend to be the opposite and, in consequence, the emotions associated with them tend to be short-lived or coarse in texture - like those associated with power, fear, greed, lust and cruelty.

What hope is there of achieve a softening of the Consumerist World-View? Any strategy with a hope of success in this regard has first to emerge at the Individual level. To be effective, the strategy must lead from Individual Perception, to the desired change in the perception of the whole Community. If the proposition is timely and pertinent, this may be achievable. However, it must enter the realm of Politics to have a hope of achieving such impact. To initiate the political process, those behind the move must gain a sufficient toehold at the ruling level of Society to achieve access to the communications media and/or the educational institutions. If they succeed in this and the new perception strikes a chord, a communications Network can be built through which it should be possible to stimulate an interactive process between the individual and the collective levels of Society. If it stimulates a broad enough response at this stage it will tend to take on a life of its own. It gains the status of a Political Movement. Assuming that it is broadly perceived as important and timely and gains support in this regard by the nature of Worldly events, its influence will grow rapidly. With time, it may become powerful enough to effect the desired deepening in the Consumerist World-View - though that would be very difficult to achieve in the face of the opposition it can be expected to stimulate.

Mooted change that achieves the status of a Political Movement - especially if it is perceived as counter to the interests of the ruling elite - will attract powerful opposition. To have a hope of surmounting such opposition when the change being contemplated is so fundamental, the person or persons championing the Movement need to achieve powerful charisma. That entails first gaining complete mastery over one's own Inner Being - over one's Consciousness.

Gaining such mastery is difficult because, for millions of years, the servants of Instinct - fear, lust, need, greed, ambition, imagined wants, desire for influence and idle chatter - have enjoyed unfettered access to the animal/human consciousness. None of them cares to be denied such access by the Being it serves. They desire to retain control of the animal they serve, just as they have always done. And, as we all are aware, they possess weapons that are very effective at weakening Human resolution. To conquer them takes commitment, discipline, patient acceptance of setbacks, tranquillity, belief that one's efforts will succeed and, of course, time.

If you succeed in establishing mastery over these internal opponents, you place yourself in a position to take on the broad spectrum of external forces that also wish to control your life. The forces that they are able to arraign against you, even if you don't threaten to rock the boat, are awesome.

If you are able to use your hardly acquired inner strength to proof yourself against these external forces, then you will have joined the company of rare and inspired Humans, which have achieved absolute control over their Being and you will have acquired charisma. By so doing, you will have accomplished the most important achievement of your Life. You will have become a free spirit and you will have put yourself in a position to serve your World as a partner of Deep Nature, which is the only force by which the Designing Entity exerts influence on the creative process that is evolving in our World.

Assuming that you embrace the challenges, opportunities, vision and perceptions that attend the attainment of such Mastery, your life begins to change. You discover qualities within yourself of which you were previously unaware. In your outer World, positive coincidences mysteriously provide you with protection from misfortune and improve the quality of your Life. Powers, which although accessible to all Human Beings, previously languished unrecognised within your Being, become yours to command, strengthen and utilise. Life takes on the quality of an empowering adventure in which neither fear nor boredom have a part. Notwithstanding the emotional and mental stimulation that this Life brings with it, perfect peace of mind becomes and remains yours. You relationship with Reality has become one of complete faith and harmony.

This is very different to what you can expect to experience if you allow others - or your animal instincts - to run your Life for you. When you do that, you leave your Free Will and your capacity to control your Consciousness unexercised. In the absence of exercise, they atrophy. You lose the power to take back control your life - even if you want to. The ability to experience the fulfilment, joy-in-Life, sense of purpose and oneness with Reality, for which every Human yearns, goes with it. As these powers and qualities desert you, your Life becomes a drag. In an effort to escape boredom and fear, you bow to the seductive nature of Consumerism and lose yourself in your work, in an alcoholic haze, in sexual diversions, or in the pursuit of any one of the hundred other opportunities, goals and entertainments, which are thrust in your path. Welcome! You have become a Consumer - perhaps a rather overweight one - but a Consumer, nevertheless!

The longer you accept such means of escape, the harder it becomes to return to a healthy relationship with your Being and your World.

If you have not allowed your life to drift too far, you will eventually sense a yearning for deep level Human fulfilment. You may feel drawn by this to the wisdom and compassion contained in one of the Ancient Belief Systems as it is proffered by a Religious Institution. Its support may be enough to empower you to turn your life around. However, for many of us, these systems fall short of what our Being yearns for.

So where to from here? It is Evolution that has created Man and, within him, the aspects of Consciousness from which emerge his creative powers. It appears natural for Beings possessed of such Consciousness to wonder why they have come to exist in the Universe.

A popular belief holds that blind chance is the cause. Against the body of knowledge that Man now possesses, this belief appears as improbable as it does unsatisfying. A more rational view would hold the Universe to be the brainchild of some extraordinarily gifted Designer. It would further hold that the most likely reason for Modern Man's emergence, within it at this time, is that the process of Creation in the Universe has moved beyond the stage at which the chance-dependent Physical and Life Streams of Evolution are able to continue the creative effort. If this is true, its design must be such that new evolutionary tools, capable of taking over from these old chance-dependent ones, are able to evolve when and where they are needed. If the required new tools happen to be Beings possessed of free will, advanced introspective intelligence and capacity for broad-spectrum emotional involvement, then the appearance of Beings such as Modern Man in the Universe becomes rational. His emergence - and the evolution of advanced Consciousness characteristic of him - become a necessary consequence of that need.

Unfortunately Modern Man is abusing his newly acquired creative powers in a manner that endangers rather than serves Reality. Given the nature of the animal state from which he is merging, such instinct-related abuse of his new powers is understandable. However, at the moment, Nature is making it abundantly clear that, if he does not soon learn to redirect his creative efforts in a manner that is more in tune with her requirements, he will face dire consequences. Although her response as it must be is evolutionary, it is unmistakably threatening. Man is free to disregard it, but he does so at his own peril.

To reiterate, the work of scientists confirms that, excluding the recent efforts of Man, all observable change in the Universe is explainable as a consequence of Evolutionary Processes that employ countless sequences of chance events under the government of unchanging Natural Principles and inviolate Natural Laws. Man has deduced the Principles and Laws that govern Physical Evolution. However, additional Principles and Laws appear necessary to explain the evolution, certainly of Consciousness and probably of Life. To this point in time, these Laws and Principles appear less well comprehended. The phenomenon of Consciousness is universally acknowledged as essential to the evolution of advanced forms of Life. The fact that Consciousness exists in the Universe and, itself, has evolved in Man to a level that makes his local creative challenge to Nature possible, provides grounds for reviewing present theories concerning Evolution in order to grant consciousness its rightful place. It is hard to believe that a Being capable of acquiring will and intellect and then of employing them to replace chance-dependent Evolution in the local creative process at break-neck speed, would have evolved in the Universe unless there was a powerful reason for him to be there.

The creation of such extraordinary capability in the Universe is reckoned to be beyond the scope of blind chance acting alone. As already has been argued, unless Principles and Laws that were intellectually formulated prior to the Universe's Conception govern Reality, Consciousness within it remains unexplainable. Practically from the time of its appearance in the Universe, Consciousness must have been working along side chance as an evolutionary tool in order to make it possible for the sentient organs and brain, which are essential to advanced life forms, to have evolved.

In the absence of Consciousness, such evolution would have been impossible and such organs would have been able to supply no more advantage to their owners than they do to the dead.

Evolution makes Consciousness possible in the Universe but it is not, in itself, possessed of consciousness. It is not capable of manifesting concern for any entity that it creates. Hence, the degree to which Man's behaviour proves destructive of his own and other Earthly Species is entirely his own business. From Nature's viewpoint, if he succeeds in wiping-out his own or other Species, each becomes just another of Life's countless experiments that has ended up on the rubbish heap of extinction.

However, assuming that Man-like Beings are essential to the ongoing creative process in the Universe, this lack of capacity within the creative mechanism to directly interfere to prevent Man's demise has interesting connotations. It suggests that there are likely to be sufficient Planets in the Universe upon which similar Life Forms are evolving to ensure that a sufficient number will survive to participate in the ongoing evolutionary process. Thus, whether or not Man succeeds in attaining his appointed destiny on Earth, would not be a matter of insurmountable concern to the Designing Entity. However, his hard-won creative ability is likely to be deemed rare enough and of great enough importance by the Creative Entity, to ensure that the evolutionary process by which he is created will have implanted within him qualities that make his present instinct-related propensity to self-destruct, reversible. Those qualities are most likely to exist at the depth of his Yearnings.

We have argued that one of the reasons for the existence of his Yearnings is to supply him with guidance in the wise use of his newly-won creative powers. We have just intuited another to be the provision within him of means by which he may be persuaded to reverse his current perilous misuse of those creative powers. A third may well prove to be the provision of means whereby his free will may be aligned with that of the Creative Entity - at least to the extent necessary to ensure the application of his creative and other qualities towards the achievement of her Earthly Objectives.

What is the most likely Earthly Objective of the Designing Entity?

Evolution has been shaping the Universe for a period of some fifteen billion years. First, it engineered the Modern Universe. Then, through Life, it engineered Man. Finally, it is engineering the sophisticated creative Consciousness that characterises Modern Man. The latest emerging product that we are aware of is the human will, intellect and emotional involvement, which characterise that Consciousness.

Whatever the Earthly Purpose of the Creative Entity may be, it is reasonable to assume that Human Consciousness has a central role to play in its accomplishment. Human intuition supports this view and takes it further. It suggests that evolution of Human Consciousness will continue until it has created in all then living Human Beings, a will, emotional sensitivity and intellectual sophistication, which is comparable with that possessed by the Creative Entity.

Procreation thus becomes the Objective of Universal Creation and the creation of a Heaven on Earth becomes the Objective of Civilisation.

Over recent millennia, Historic records suggest that, in rare instances, Individuals have attained a sophistication of Consciousness intuited to approach that of the Designing Entity. Wisdom, love, creativity, intelligence, fairness, forgiveness and compassion are evident qualities of such Consciousness. Through his Yearnings, Man recognises and is urged to practice these qualities, while his inherited Instincts often oppose such practice

The above suggests that, if an Individual devotes his/her Life to the fulfilment of Yearnings, his/her Individual Consciousness will evolve rapidly. There are previously argued grounds for believing that the more evolved Human Consciousness becomes the more complete becomes the type of Happiness that the Human is able to experience. Thus, Nature supplies Man with a strong motive for deviating from other Animal Species by making, not the satisfaction of his Instincts but the fulfilment of his Yearnings his Primary Goal.

If enough people were to choose to take their primary motivation from the yearnings level of their Being then, Human Nature being what it is, their example would be bound to exert a profound influence on the behaviour of the whole Human Race. The path to spiritual fulfilment, first opened to Mankind by the Ancient Religions, would thus have been rediscovered in the form that it now must assume in order to guide Humanity through the uniquely powerful creative stage of Being that it has now reached.

The achievement of Siddhartha Gautama will have been repeated in our own time. The direction in which lies the survival of our Race will have been illuminated and hopefully accepted. Continuation of the rapid evolution of Consciousness in Mankind and of complementary qualities in his Civilisation will have been assured. Their joint progress towards the ultimate attainment of their respective destinies, whatever those might be, will have survived yet another great challenge. Once more the design of the Universe will have proved equal to its awesome, hopefully soon to be Humanly recognised, task.

Robin A. McQueen
Saturday, December 15, 2001

 

 

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One Man's View - Robin A McQueen