|
by Kingsley L. Dennis
is to promote the ascent
of the
human being.'
August 29, 1906
November 15, 2025
Without the experience of this separation and individuation there could be no comprehension of what it means to be a "drop in the ocean".
The path of individuation existed as a means to grasp the sense-experience of a personal, individualized identity.
Once a state of peak individuation has been reached then the return journey can begin, as all experience and memory can be brought back with the individualized soul.
Yet the danger here - the trap - is that a state of deep material embodiment also brings with it a state of conscious forgetfulness. And while in this state of forgetfulness, the individual personality can be taken, or steered, into the extremity of this pathway; that is, into the further reaches of materialism.
And this eventually can become its own evolutionary trajectory.
Trapped in the material, temporal realm, with a false notion of the enduring or eternal realm, a "transhuman" form of evolution then manifests as a logical or rational "progressive" future. Yet this shows a loss of perspective or connection to our enduring self, for the truth is that our souls are immortal.
Our human forgetfulness is a temporal state.
The transhumanist notion of immortality is temporal forgetfulness that we are already immortal beings. In this condition, what can be regarded as "evil" is the notion of separation, whether it is a separation from self, from others, from our culture, or, most significantly, from our essential Source or vital spirit.
An essential aspect of evil thus involves
separation at one or various levels. And that is why the primaeval
features, aspects, and manifestations of those forces we deem "evil"
are those of fragmentation, division, and exclusion.
And to be involved, or initiated, into the forces of evil means that the human being has allowed this separation to enter their inner core, and this inner separation then feeds into them a different energy.
On one level, many people in the world today feel an innate separation within their core being; hence, the extreme degrees of alienation, abuse, violence, loneliness, and addiction.
Before humanity can cross the threshold it first needs to experience the "inner spirit", so there is a connection with the Absolute and the human being is not adrift.
As such, evil forces can also act as a trigger that produces a movement or inclination towards spirit within the individual. It is only a simplistic, materialistic interpretation that manifests through violent or criminal actions that we deem as evil.
Rudolf Steiner made this clear when he stated in 1918:
The seed of the spirit within the human being must be allowed to germinate.
And forces of friction are often required to fulfill this function.
They only become categorized as good and evil when personified through human forms and behavior.
And these forms are often hijacked by groups and entities that wish to exploit and utilize them for achieving specific goals and objectives that are usually for the attainment of power and control.
On this note, the path of Manichaeism recognized that there was a need for the gradual redemption of evil, or negating forces, through the working of the impulses and influences of the good, and this process was not so much an external struggle as a path of inner development.
The central concept here was the ability to distinguish between these forces.
In other words,
Without this discernment, a different germination may take place within the human being, a germination of the sickness of separation from spirit:
The path to understand evil, therefore, is principally a path of self-knowledge, and on this path we need to think beyond the limitations of static dualistic thinking, in other words,
The phenomenon of negating forces is more complex, layered, and multifaceted.
And thus, real issues and
problems of the world can only be properly understood if accompanied
by the understanding that the physical world is underpinned by a
metaphysical one and that physical forces are often acting from
causes that are unperceived by our regular senses.
Human beings are unique in this respect, in that we can exercise an inner strength of will to make conscious choices towards our freedom from constraining forces. We can choose to develop or not. It can perhaps be said that the significance of this planet within the cosmos also lies at our feet.
And as long as we, as human beings, are prepared to invest in our developmental capacity then we retain our usefulness for the planet; and the planet, as one of many within a grander system, also develops an increasing usefulness.
The question remains then:
Or this question could be rephrased to ask:
This is the continual decision that lies open to humanity: the freedom to choose its future, and whether this future will be one of harmonious and positive development or not.
Without freedom there can be no real
love - freedom and love form an integrity in that they belong
together. Love as a force of purification can only come into being
through freedom. In this regard, the phenomenon of evil is a part of
existence and human evolution.
What we categorize or term as "evil" cannot be viewed as something "outside" or beyond existence for this is not possible. In fact, it may manifest in accordance with each particular stage of evolvement and human development.
As a species, we are in need of expanding our perceptual capacities so that we are better able to comprehend how such "unknown phenomena" participate in the human journey - and this includes the phenomenon of evil, negating, or entropic forces.
And the more conscious awareness expands, the more it is cognizant of the myriad forces operating in existence that were previously unknown and/or invisible to us.
It is the path of balance to attempt to transform forces rather than seek to struggle or push back against them, as this just furthers division and separation and not integration.
What is necessary are the capacities of transformation, not the power to destroy:
Many philosophers have theorized that evil equates to entanglement in matter.
While there is some truth to this perspective, it is only a part of the picture, which overall is more nuanced. For others, the concept of evil represents a limit or threshold to a capacity of perception.
We tend to view the fundamentals of negating forces through their manifestations in the physical world yet are unable to perceive the underlying causes or primary impulses.
To approach
these counterforces, we need to go beyond theory and the arena of
our physical senses. By being conscious of the vital forces, we are
more able to recognize those aspects, elements, or entities that are
in opposition to these vital, energetic forces.
Yet this necessity for inner development and evolution has been increasingly pushed onto the external world to the detriment of the inner life.
The outer, material world accelerates through stages of development (what we often call "progress"), yet the world of spirit is neglected to the point of its near vanishment.
Rudolf Steiner refers to this when he said:
In other words,
Certain attributes manifested incorrectly, or out of place and time, can bring about negating consequences.
And yet there is no "without" - all attributes, essences, and features exist within the realm of our known existence:
Therefore, worldly philosophers who ignore the
metaphysical realm are unable to fathom the depths of meaning
inherent within the phenomenon of evil.
The psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist has said that,
Humanity stands poised on this threshold where intellect and a machinic form of thinking can take us in one direction, whereas
imagination, intuition, and a spirit-consciousness can take us in
another.
On the contrary, it seeks to overtake the will of the human being and to replace this with a framework of automation, certainty, and soul-passivity.
There are forces on the Earth, manifesting through what I call the "machinic impulse", that aim to hinder and prevent metaphysical truths and wisdom from entering into the human domain, and they divert these into materialism.
A machinic form of technology (for not all technology is necessarily "machinic") coupled with a cognitive programming of materialism leads to a culture of not-being.
One strategy for this deadening is from subliminal and subconscious programming through the media and entertainment culture exerting influence beyond people's conscious awareness.
Through the dogma of scientific materialism people have been taught that their thoughts and opinions are their own. That is, thoughts are produced from the act of conscious thinking which is a direct by-product of the neuronal processes of the brain.
People are now so materially minded that they believe that "thoughts" spring from their own minds almost as if they were to believe that breathing brings forth oxygen within them rather than being received.
What many people are still not aware of is that thoughts can be implanted or directed into the mind of an individual.
Also, thoughts and ideas can be picked up from the consciousness field that exists beyond the confines of the physical brain. A person's brain acts as an antenna that decodes information from the collective consciousness field.
Furthermore, ideas and opinions can be implanted into an individual through subconscious processes or signals that have been deliberately planted in external forms of information and entertainment.
Much of what has been seen as evil is based on falsehood.
Those forces and impulses opposed to human evolution often attempt to curtail humanity's future by trying to force premature development upon a humanity not yet mature enough to deal with it - such as is the case today with advancing technology and the creation of AI.
This aims to block or sabotage the balanced and correct path of human evolution and misdirect it into an alternative direction that ultimately leads not to improvement but implosion or stagnation.
One example of this will be,
Hence, we shall be unprepared and immature...
And this will divert or short-change people
from having to gain new faculties of communication, or psychic
capacities, through a path of organic inner development.
At the same time,
The nihilism and "not-being" that is heavily promoted through tech-materialism is pulling the human vessel further into the heavy calcification of machinic forces.
Oppositional forces create the potentials for making choices as well as offering false opportunities to step back from the path of development.
Notes
|
