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In integral theory, the process by which the Divine manifests the cosmos is called involution. The process by which the creation rises to higher states and states of consciousness is the evolution. Involution prepares the universe for the Big Bang; evolution continues from that point forward. The term involution comes from the idea that the divine involves itself in creation. 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. ... This article is about integral theory in philosophy and psychology. ... This article belongs in one or more categories. ... 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 speculative phylogenetic tree of all living things, based on rRNA gene data, showing the separation of the three domains, bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. ... The deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. ... According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe originated in an extremely dense and hot state (bottom). ...

After the creation, the Divine (i.e. the Absolute, Brahman, God; all these essentially mean the same thing) is both the One (the Creator) and the Many (that which was created). The Absolute is the totality of things, all that is, whether it has been discovered or not. ... Brahman (ब्रह्मन् in devanagari script) in the Vedantic (and subsequently Yogic) schools of Hinduism, is the signifying name given to the concept of the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality that is the Divine Ground of all being in this universe. ... Michelangelos depiction of God in the painting Creation of the Sun and Moon in the Sistine Chapel) This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and derived henotheistic forms. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... 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...

Basic themes

The process by which the Many is created from out the Absolute is called the Involution. Once that process ends, the process of Evolution begins. In essence the evolution begins with creation (or in scientific cosmology the Big Bang) and continues with all that follows. ... Cosmology, from the Greek: κοσμολογία (cosmologia, κόσμος (cosmos) world + λογια (logia) discourse) is the study of the universe in its totality and by extension mans place in it. ...

The involution is the process by which the Absolute manifests the creation, the universe. It is the process by which the Many emerged from the One as a universe of divided, ignorant forms. The involution is that which occurred that enabled the creation, the universe, the cosmos to manifest from out of the Original Principle, the Divine, God, the Absolute. Involution is the process of self-limitation, of densification, by which the Absolute veils itself by stages until it assumes the appearance in the cosmos, the universe we know of. It wishes to create the universe to objectify itself and its spiritual properties in infinite possibilities, for the purpose of delight of discovery which it will achieve thereafter. The deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. ...

Involution according to Sri Aurobindo

For Sri Aurobindo, involution is the process by which the Omnipresent Absolute Reality loses itself in a process of self-absorption in multiplicity and inconscience 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. ...

The reason for involution is Delight - the Delight of Being (the Spirit or Absolute) moving to Delight of Becoming (temporal existence, the cosmos), throwing itself into a multiplicity of forms, becoming lost in the inconscience of matter (Life Divine Ch.11-12), and then through evolution the Delight of rediscovering the Spirit which had been hidden. Delight is Sri Aurobindos term for ananda, and plays a large part in his cosmology and spiritual teaching. ...

Evolution then 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. Evolution out of physical matter is only possible because of the prior involution. So the evolution of Life out of matter supposes a previous involution of it there (Life Divine (10th ed.) p.185), and the same applies to the evolution of Mind and of Supermind. Look up life and living in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and appeal to a wider international audience, this article may require cleanup. ... 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. ...

It is the development and progressive movement of all in the cosmos, including humans, to attain its fulfillment, and the rediscovery in delight of the spiritual aspect, that Consciousness-Force, that was the source of the creation. The evolution is the progressive development from the original inconscience of matter into life (movement, sensation, desire, etc. and living physical beings), to mind (in conscious beings, animals, including the human, the self-conscious thinking animal), to spiritualized mind, culminating in The Supermind or Truth Consciousness (as supramental individuals, leading to a supramental, i.e. a divine life on earth.) This article belongs in one or more categories. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu  (extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Homo (genus). ... The Vital or Life faculty or part of the being, in Sri Aurobindos philosophy, refers not simply to the life force as to the various passions, desires, feelings, emotions, affects, compulsions, and likes and dislikes that strongly determine human motivation and action through desire and enthusiasm. ... The Mental faculty or part of the being, in Sri Aurobindos philosophy, is the conceptual and cognitive mind. ... 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. ...

Involution according to Esoteric cosmology

In Theosophy, Anthroposophy and Rosicrucianism, involution and evolution are part of a complex sequence of cosmic cycles, called Round. When the universe attains a stage of sufficient density, the individual spirit is able to descend and participate in the evolution. Involution thus refers to the incarnation of spirit in an already established matter, the necessary prerequiste of evolution: Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a body of ideas which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ... Anthroposophy, also called spiritual science by its founder, Rudolf Steiner is an attempt to investigate and describe spiritual phenomena with the same precision and clarity with which natural science investigates and describes the physical world. ... The Temple of the Rosy Cross, Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, 1618 The Rosicrucians are a legendary and secretive order dating from the 15th or 17th century, generally associated with the symbol of the Rose Cross, which is also used in certain rituals of the Freemasons. ... Esoteric cosmology is cosmology that is an intrinsic part of an esoteric or occult system of thought. ... A Round in the esoteric cosmology of Theosophy and Anthroposophy is a cosmic cycle or sequence by which an evolving reincarnating being passes through the various stages of existence as the Earth, the Solar System or the Cosmos comes into and passes out of manifestation. ... The English word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath. ... Matter is commonly referred to as the substance of which physical objects are composed. ...

As an example, the so-called descent of the monads into matter means an involution or involving or infolding of spiritual potencies into material vehicles which coincidently and contemporaneously, through the compelling urge of the infolding energies, unfold their own latent capacities, unwrap them, roll them forth; and this is the evolution of matter. -- (de Purucker, 1996)

The period of time devoted to the attainment of self-consciousness and to the building of the vehicles through which the spirit in man manifests, is called "Involution": is to slowly carry the life into denser and denser matter for the building of forms, till the nadir of materiality is reached. From that point the life begins to ascend into higher Worlds: this succeeding period of existence, during which the individual human being develops self-consciousness into divine omniscience, is called "Evolution". Gottfried von Purucker (January 15, 1874, Suffern, New York - September 27, 1942) was an author and Theosophist. ... Self might refer to various different things: Look up self on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 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. ... The Subtle body is a non-physical energy or psycho-spiritual body or bodies that all beings have, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. ... In metaphysics and esoteric cosmology, a plane of existence (sometimes called simply a plane, dimension, vibrating plane, or an inner, invisible, spiritual, supraphysical world, or egg) is a theoretical region of space (and/or consciousness) beyond, but permeating, the known physical universe (or the region of the physical universe itself... Self might refer to various different things: Look up self on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 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. ... The concept of the divine or of The Divine, meaning matters relating to a god, forms an important ingredient in many religious faiths (but compare Buddhism, for example, or Scientology). ... Omniscience is the capacity to know everything, or at least everything that can be known about a character/s including thoughts, feelings, etc. ... ...

In the cosmology of Surat Shabda Yoga, involution and evolution apply to both the macrocosm, the whole of creation, and the microcosm, the constitution of an individual soul. Cosmology, from the Greek: κοσμολογία (cosmologia, κόσμος (cosmos) world + λογια (logia) discourse) is the study of the universe in its totality and by extension mans place in it. ... Surat Shabd Yoga or Surat Shabda Yoga is a form of spiritual practice that is followed in the Sant Mat and many other related spiritual traditions. ... A speculative phylogenetic tree of all living things, based on rRNA gene data, showing the separation of the three domains, bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. ... Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of reality. ... For the definition of the word microcosm, see here. ...

In The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception it is advanced the concept of epigenesis as the key related to the evolution (after an involutionary period) of human beings. The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception or Mystic Christianity is a Rosicrucian text, written by Max Heindel (ISBN 0-911274-34-0) The first edition was printed in 1909, it has little changed since then and it is considered to be Max Heindel’s magnum opus: a reference work in the Esoteric... Epigenesis is the philosophical/theological/esoteric idea that since the mind was given to the human being, it is this original creative impulse, epigenesis, which has been the cause of all our development. ... A speculative phylogenetic tree of all living things, based on rRNA gene data, showing the separation of the three domains, bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. ...

Involution according to Ken Wilber

The integral philosopher Ken Wilber refers to involution in his online chapter of Kosmic Karma, employing concepts from Plotinus, Advaita Vedanta, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sri Aurobindo. According to Wilber, the cosmic evolution described in his previous works is preceded by an involution of Spirit into Matter. This involution follows the reverse stages to the sequence of evolution - e.g. Spirit to soul to mind to life to matter. Once the stage of insentient, lifeless matter is attained, then "something like the Big Bang occurs", whereupon matter and manifest world come into concrete existence, from which stage evolution follows. Ken Wilber Kenneth Earl Wilber Jr. ... Advaita Vedanta (IAST ; Devanagari ; IPA []) is probably the best known of all Vedanta schools of philosophy of Hinduism, the others being Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita (total six). ... Tibetan Buddhism — formerly also called Lamaism, after their religious gurus known as lamas — is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and the Himalayan region. ...

Involution and innovative future studies

In his 2004 future history novel State of Fear, science fiction writer Michael Crichton briefly introduces involution during a diatribe on media manipulation statistical research (John Naisbittt's Megatrends, 1982) and suggests implications for crafting more innovative scenarios about social engineering impacts on alternative futures (Harkins & Kubik StoryTech, 2004-2005). These future thought leadership themes reinforce knowledge management insights introduced by Marshall McLuhan in 1967. Futures studies researches the medium-term to long-term future of societies and of the physical world, mechanisms of change, and the driving forces of change. ... A future history is a postulated history of the future that some science fiction authors construct as a common background for some of their stories. ... State of Fear is a 2004 novel by Michael Crichton published by HarperCollins on December 7, 2004. ... Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (born October 23, 1942, pronounced /kɹaɪtən/ ) is an author, film producer and television producer. ... Social engineering has several meanings: Social engineering (political science) Social engineering (computer security) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar, professor of English literature, literary critic, and communications theorist, who is one of the founders of the study of media ecology and is today an honorary guru among technophiles. ...

References

• Sri Aurobindo The Life Divine, Sri Aurobidno Ashram, Pondicherry, 10th ed. 1977
• Naisbitt, John, Megatrends. Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives. Warner Books. 1982
• Posner, Roy Theory of Creation - the Involution (no date)
• G. de Purucker, Occult Glossary, TUP, 2nd ed., 1996 quote
• Wilber, Ken Introduction: From the Great Chain of Being to Postmodernism in Three Easy Steps Shambhala, 2005

The Life Divine is Sri Aurobindos major philosophical opus. ...

See also

Harkins, Art & Kubik, George

2005 Buddhists and Futurists A Mindful Approach to the Future ... adapting futures techniques for megafuturing.

McLuhan, Marshall

1967 The Medium is the Massage written with Quentin Fiore; produced by Jerome Agel (Random House; 2000 reprint by Gingko) ISBN 1584230703

Naisbitt, John

1990 Megatrends 2000, William Morrow & Co; ISBN 0688072240

Strategic early warning system

Cites prior megatrends research by John Naisbitt.