In philosophy and metaphysics, the development of the universe, and of consciousness through time, is referred to as evolution. The Integral Institute is a think-tank founded in 1998 by American philosopher, psychologist, and mystic Ken Wilber. ... The California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) is a private San Francisco, California-based graduate school whose programs focus on clinical psychology on one hand, and the study of the worlds various spiritual traditions on the other. ... Integral University is the worlds first truly integral learning community, where the AQAL approach (all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, all types) is brought to bear on a variety of disciplines for personal, academic, and professional development. ... These five broad types of question are called analytical or logical, epistemological, ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic respectively. ... Metaphysics (Greek words meta = after/beyond and physics = nature) is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of first principles and being (ontology). ... Development has meaning in several contexts: Science and Engineering Biological development of embryos in the context of developmental biology Child development or post-natal human development (pediatrics, etc) Software engineering, the methodology and process of development of computer software Technology development in industry, as in Software development New product development... The deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise such key features as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... A watch Attempting to understand time has long been a prime occupation for philosophers, scientists and artists. ...

Vernadsky's and Teilhard's theories

Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin independently formulated very similar theories describing the gradual development of the Universe from subatomic particles to human society and beyond. Teilhard's theories are better known in the West (and have also been commented on by Julian Huxley), and integrate Dawinian evolution and Christianity, whilst Vernadsky wrote more purely from a scientific perspective, and his ideas contributed to Gaia theory. Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (Владимир Иванович Вернадский) (March 12, 1863, N.S. [ February 28, O.S. ] – January 6, 1945) was a Russian mineralogist and geochemist who first popularized the concept of the noosphere and deepened the idea biosphere to the meaning largely recognized by todays scientific community. ... Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (IPA: ; May 1, 1881 – April 10, 1955), a Jesuit priest trained as a palaeontologist and a philosopher, was present at the discovery of Peking Man. ... Sir Julian Sorell Huxley, FRS (June 22, 1887 – February 14, 1975) was a British biologist, author, humanist and internationalist, known for his popularisations of science in books and lectures. ... Charles Darwin Darwinism is a term for the underlying theory in the ideas of Charles Darwin, particularly concerning evolution and natural selection. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... A Gaia theory is a class of scientific models of the biosphere in which life fosters and maintains suitable conditions for itself by affecting Earths environment. ...

Three classic levels are described. Cosmogenesis (Teilhard) or the formation of inanimate matter (the Physiosphere of Wilber), culminating in the Lithosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, etc (Teilhard), or collectively, the Geosphere (Vernadsky). Here progress is ruled by structure and mechanical laws, and matter is primarily of the nature of non-consciousness (Teilhard - the "Without"). Ken Wilber Kenneth Earl Wilber Jr. ... The plates of the Lithosphere. ... Layers of Atmosphere (NOAA) Earths atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earths gravity. ... Hydrosphere (Greek hydro- means water) in physical geography, describes the collective mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet. ...

This is followed by Biogenesis (Teilhard) and the origin of life or the Biosphere (Vernadsky, Teilhard), where there is a greater degree of complexity and consciousness (Teilhard - the "Within"), ecology ((Vernadsky) comes into play, and progress and development is the result of Darwinian mechanisms of evolution. The biosphere is that part of a planets outer shell—including air, land, surface rocks and water—within which life occurs, and which biotic processes in turn alter or transform. ... Complexity is the opposite of simplicity. ... (Ecology is sometimes used incorrectly as a synonym for the natural environment or environmentalism. ...

Finally there is human evolution and the rise of thought or cognition (Vernadsky, Teilhard), and a further leap in complexity and the interior life or consciousness (Teilhard), resulting in the birth of the Noosphere (Vernadsky, Teilhard). Just as the biosphere transformed the geosphere, so the noosphere (human intervention) transformed the biosphere ((Vernadsky). Here the evolution of human society (socialization) is ruled by psychological, economic, informational and communicative processes. Human evolution is the process of change and development, or evolution, by which human beings emerged as a distinct species. ... Look up Cognition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The term cognition (Latin, cogito: to think) is used in several different loosely related ways. ... The noosphere can be seen as the sphere of human thought being derived from the Greek νους (nous) meaning mind in the style of atmosphere and biosphere. Just as the biosphere is composed of all the organisms on Earth and their interactions, the noosphere is composed of all the interacting minds...

For Teilhard there is a further stage, one of spiritual evolution, the Christing of the collective noosphere, in which humanity converges in a single divinisation he calls the Omega Point. This latter has interesting parallels in the teachings of Sri Aurobindo (see below). ... Omega point is a term used by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to describe the aim towards which consciousness evolves; he held that evolution was a process converging toward a final unity. ...

Sri Aurobindo

Working at the same time, or a little earlier, than Vernadsky and Teilhard, Sri Aurobindo developed a theory of evolution that includes modern Western notions of evolution, with new age spiritual understanding. The process by which the Divine manifest the cosmos he called Involution. The process by which that which was created rises to higher states and states of consciousness he called the evolution. The Involution is essentially up to the point of the manifest universe; the Evolution is from the point from which the universe began. Mother India is the Sri Aurobindo Ashrams originally fortnightly, now monthly, cultural review. ... Collaboration is a journal dedicated to the spiritual and evolutionary vision of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. ... Auroconf is the primary mailing list serving the online community of followers of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. ... Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (Bangla: শ্রী অরবিন্দ) (August 15, 1872–December 5, 1950) was an Indian nationalist, scholar, poet, Hindu mystic, evolutionary philosopher, yogi and guru. ... According to Sri Aurobindo and other integral theorists, the process by which the Divine manifests the cosmos is called involution. ...

The Process of Creation is the process by which the Many emerged from the One as a universe of divided, ignorant forms. The process begins when the Absolute divides into the triune of Being, Conscious Force, and Delight. The Conscious Force is then sub-divided through the Truth Consciousness, releasing the plane of energy. This non-moving energy exits before the universe begins. When it "moves" and cogaulates the universe begins. (In this process that creates this original Energy, all consciousness of the original Divine source is absobed and lost purposefully by the creator, so that the individual forms who would appear in creation, i.e. we humans can discover the Divine essence in it which is invoved and hidden in those forms. Thus the Divine enabled creation for the discovery of spirit locked in unconscious forms, including matter, which enables the ultimate joy of being in our lives.) The evolution is the movement forward by which the created universe evolves from its initial state of divided, ignorant forms, emerges as Life and Mind, and in that process rediscovers its Source. The evolution occurs after the involution. It is the development and progressive movement of all in the cosmos, including humans, to attain its fulfillment, including rediscovery in delight of the spiritual aspect, that Consciousness-Force, that was the source of the creation but was intentionally hidden for the purpose of the delight of discovery. The evolution is the progressive development from the first inconscience in matter into life (movement, sensation, etc. and living physical beings), to mind (in conscious being, animals, including the human, the self-conscious thinking animal), to spiritualized mind, culminating in Supermind, Truth Consciousness (as supramental individuals, leading to a supramental, i.e. a divine life on earth.) Creation is a doctrinal position in many religions which maintains that one or a group of gods or deities is responsible for creating the universe. ... A quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by as or too or so or that; amounting to a large but indefinite number; many temptations; the temptations are many; a good many; a great many; many directions; take as many apples as you like; too... Look up one in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Absolute is the totality of things, all that is, whether it has been discovered or not. ... Delight is Sri Aurobindos term for ananda, and plays a large part in his cosmology and spiritual teaching. ... Supermind in Sri Aurobindos philosophy refers to the infinite unitary Truth Consciousness or Truth-Idea beyond the three lower planes of Matter, Life, and Mind. ... Matter is commonly referred to as the substance of which physical objects are composed. ... Life is a multi-faceted concept that may refer to the ongoing process of which living things are a part the period between the conception (the point at which the entity can be considered to be an individualized being) and death of an organism the condition of an entity between... The mind is the term most commonly used to describe the higher functions of the human brain, particularly those of which humans are subjectivel // holaMedia:Example. ...

Although Sri Aurobindo was more concerned with indidividual spiritual development, his successive stages of matter, life, and mind are very much the same as the collective sequence of geosphere, biosphere, and noosphere described by Vernadsky and Teilhard, and his future state of Supramental Transformation has intriguing parallels with Teilhard's "Omega Point". A number of authors (Bruteau, 1974, Sethna, 1973, 1981, Zaehner 1971) have pointed out the striking similarities between the two visionary thinkers. Supramentalisation is the ultimate stage in the integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo. ...

See also

• Spiritual evolution
• Gnostic circle

... The Gnostic Circle is a product of the yoga of Vedic Cosmologist Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet. ...

References

• Sri Aurobindo (1977), The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust
• Bruteau, B. (1974). Evolution toward divinity: Teilhard de Chardin and the Hindu traditions. Wheaton, Ill.,, Theosophical Pub. House.
• Sethna, K. D. (1973) Teilhard de Chardin and Sri Aurobindo - a focus on fundamentals, Bharatiya Vidya Prakasan, Varanasi
• ----- (1981). The spirituality of the future : a search apropos of R. C. Zaehner's study in Sri Aurobindo and Teilhard de Chardin. Rutherford, [N.J.] London, Fairleigh Dickerson University Press; Associated University Presses.
• Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre (1959) The Phenomenon of Man Collins Fontana Books, London
• Zaehner, R.C. (1971) Evolution in religion: a study in Sri Aurobindo and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (Bangla: শ্রী অরবিন্দ) (August 15, 1872–December 5, 1950) was an Indian nationalist, scholar, poet, Hindu mystic, evolutionary philosopher, yogi and guru. ... The Life Divine is Sri Aurobindos major philosophical opus. ... Amal Kiran (b. ... Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (IPA: ; May 1, 1881 – April 10, 1955), a Jesuit priest trained as a palaeontologist and a philosopher, was present at the discovery of Peking Man. ... Robert Charles Zaehner (1913 - 1974) was an expert in Ethics and Eastern religions [1]. According to Phoenix Press, he was educated at Tonbridge School and Christ Church, Oxford where he gained first class honours in Persian and Avestan. ...

External links

• The Tendencies ("Laws") of Evolution

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