Introduction:
Evolutionary Spirituality is a highly promising new generic paradigm, uniting evolutionary science with a very rich and highly inspiring form of spirituality. Although it is in a very early stage of evolution and development, it has already differentiated into some closely-related sub-forms, such as Michael Dowd's Evolutionary Christianity, Lawrence Wollersheim's Universe Spirituality and Eco-spirituality, as formulated by Joanna Macy, John Seed and others.
In keeping with the general "arrow of evolution" of the universe, which entails ever-increasing levels of diversity, complexity, and integrated order, Evolutionary Spirituality may well represent a major new stage or level of human evolution that's on a par with the initial use of tools by our human ancestors, their development of language, etc.
Along with integrating science and spirituality, Evolutionary Spirituality also brings together and extends Eastern and Western wisdom traditions, merging them with active forms of social engagement. Specifically, much like a higher order scientific theory, it offers an elegant way to integrate the mystical experience of Non-duality with an ongoing active spiritual practice of socially-engaged creative evolution. Within this framework, it is possible for people to evolve beyond ego and to develop an enlightened sense of self without living as ascetics in relative solitude as has been required in most historical spiritual traditions.
Some Brief History:
The origins of this creative union of evolutionary science and spirituality go back to the German Idealists of the 19th century, prior to the publication of Darwin's "Origin of Species." They include the philosophers, Friedrich Schelling, Immanuel Kant, J.G. Ficte, and Georg Hegel.
This movement continued to develop in the 20th century through the enlightened vision and contributions of Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo in India and those of its Western pioneers, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Henri Bergson, Alfred North Whitehead, Thomas Berry, and Brian Swimme.
With the advent of the 21st century, this revolutionary new paradigm has been given rapidly accelerating impetus through Michael Dowd's watershed book, "Thank God for Evolution," along with the growing acceptance of the Integral philosophy of Ken Wilber, Andrew Cohen, Craig Hamilton, and many others.
A Brief Overview of Evolutionary Spirituality:
Here is a brief overview of some of the key assumptions and important implications of Evolutionary Spirituality:
The universe suddenly evolved from formlessness into form 13.7 billion years ago through what is commonly called "the Big Bang." It has continued to evolve over this time span into ever-increasing levels of diversity, complexity, and integrated order. Much like a graduated set of nested objects, the universe has evolved directionally into a hierarchy of holons, ranging in scale from sub-atomic particles, to atoms, to molecules, multi-celled organisms, groups of such organisms, the entire biosphere of planet earth, the solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, and-ultimately--the entire universe of galaxies. Just as every cell in a living organism is integrally one with that organism, humans are integrally one with the universe; we are, in other words, the universe itself. Our bodies are literally composed of "stardust"-that is, of the various elements that were forged in giant stars billions of years ago and then released in huge supernovae explosions. By evolving into conscious life forms on this planet, the universe started becoming self-aware. Through its further evolution into human consciousness, the process of evolution itself has become self-aware. As a result, humans are now positioned to become conscious co-creators in the ongoing process of evolution. This includes evolving themselves into progressively higher and more integrated levels of development. The 13.7 billion year "Great Story" of how the universe has evolved from the Big Bang into what we are today offers an awesome, fact-based creation story to replace all of the many mythic (that is, fictional) creation stories that humans have believed and relied on historically for existential meaning. The depth and richness of meaning it offers is as expansive as the universe itself. Through a full understanding of this factual reality, for example, each human life, is seen to be the lawful outcome of a fantastically long and complex evolutionary process, each and every tiny step of which has been a crucially necessary condition in order for it to come into being. In other words, each of us owes our life not only to our parents and other recent ancestors, but rather to the collective contributions of an incomprehensibly large number of ancestral beings extending down through eons of time. Correspondingly, it can be seen that every single human action in each of our lives inevitably contributes to the ongoing co-creation of the universe; in other words, each and every one of us participates, consciously or unconsciously, as a "co-author" in writing the ongoing "Great Story." To the degree that we clearly and consciously recognize/embrace these existential facts, we are likely to experience profound gratitude, as well as an equal degree of what the modern consciousness philosopher, Ken Wilber, calls "divine pride;" that is, by consciously recognizing our integral participation in the universal "Great Story," we see also that we are, indeed, one with the Great Being through which it progressively unfolds.
Much more in-depth and comprehensive information about this important new science-based spiritual paradigm can be found on my blog, "Wise Ways to Happiness."
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