Origins of humans, their environment, and their understanding of the world from at least 3200 B.C. until around 700 B.C. involved many Gods. By the 6th century B.C. people in different cultures started to give expression to new ideas. These ideas were independent but were actually very similar. One of these new ideas was monotheism. This was reflected in the ideas of Moses around 1200 B.C., the Upanishads around 800 B.C., and Zoroaster and Jewish prophets of the 600’s B.C. These profound explanations for the universe and the purpose of life can be seen as the evolution of consciousness.
In earlier times the emphasis was on the group. This helped reinforce religions and the resulting church and community groups. Today there is less meaning in the group, and often even less on the world. The focus appears to have shifted to the individual. In the resulting transition, one does not know what it is we are moving towards. The lines of communication between the conscious and the unconscious zones of the human psyche have all been cut, and we have been split in two.
The social/group unit is no longer the carrier of religious content. We have become an economic-political organization, where the ideals are those of a secular state. The values have too often become competition for the material supremacy and resources. The vestiges of the ancient human heritage of ritual, morality and art seem to be steadily decaying. The universal triumph of the secular state has put religious organizations into a secondary position, leaving them relatively ineffectual.
The mystics stress the self-knowledge that we are more than the rules and boundaries that govern material existence; we are of more divine origin that is apparent. We are asleep and must wake up to the truth that our work is to help others. The lower self is enslaved in a world of dreams and sleep, and doubts the existence of the higher self – which is the true link to the eternal.
The mysteries and unconscious messages have lost their force. The values and morals seem to no longer interest our psyche. The beliefs held by the group are now held by fewer and fewer people. Is this really the evolution of consciousness? Perhaps our current dilemma is being disconnected with our unconscious.
We have an evolutionary imperative to grow beyond the conditioning of pleasure and self-satisfaction. George Bernard Shaw (Shaw was not a religious man, but comes close to the great mystics of all religions) This is what it means to be a human being, and not just in the pursuit of money.
Rites of initiation and installation teach the lesson of the essential oneness of the individual and the group. Joseph Campbell
If only we could see ourselves as we really are. If only we could see each other that way, there would be no reason for war, for hatred, for cruelty, we would fall down and worship each other. Thomas Merton
Silence is the language God speaks and everything else is a bad translation. Father Thomas Keating
The Journey Home 