Spirituality and Religion
Sri Aurobindo
E.M. Bucke
Teilhard de Chardin
Evolutionary Technology
Buckminster Fuller
Evolutionary Psychology
Carl Jung
Abraham H. Maslow
Science
David Bohm
Albert Einstein
Ilya Prigogine
Jonas Salk
Bela Banathy
Spirituality and Religion
 Sri
Aurobindo, the great Indian saint who developed Integral
Yoga is the Eastern father of modern evolutionary spirituality.
He writes, "Before there could be any evolution, there must
be an involution of the Divine. Otherwise there would be not an
evolution but a successive creation of things new, not contained
in their antecedents, not their inevitable consequences or processes
in a sequence, but arbitrarily willed or miraculously conceived
by an inexplicable Chance, a stumbling fortune, or an external Creator....Evolution
is nothing but the progressive unfolding of Spirit out of the density
of material consciousness and the gradual self- revelation of God
out of this apparent animal being."
Reading:
The
Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1973. The Life Divine
explores for the modern mind the great streams of Indian metaphysical
thought, reconciling the truths behind each and from this synthesis
extends in terms of consciousness the concept of evolution. The
unfolding of Earth's and man's spiritual destiny is illuminated
pointing the way to a Divine life on Earth.
The
Synthesis of Yoga. Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
1955. A master work from the great Eastern yogi, who along with
Teilhard de Chardin established the ground work for evolutionary
spirituality and the emergence of the universal human.
Websites:
www.sriaurobindosociety.org.in
www.miraura.org
 E.M.
Bucke, author of Cosmic Consciousness, saw that
the mystical geniuses of all faiths are a foreshadowing of evolutionary
potential of humanity. In Cosmic Consciousness he wrote: "Cosmic
Consciousness is a third form which is as far above Self Consciousness
as is that above Simple Consciousness. The prime characteristic
of Cosmic Consciousness is, as its name implies, a consciousness
of the life and order of the universe... There occurs an intellectual
enlightenment or illumination which alone would place the individual
on a new plane of existence -- would make him almost a member of
a new species. To this is added a state of moral exaltation, an
indescribable feeling of elevation, elation, and joyousness, and
a quickening of the moral sense, which is fully as striking and
more important both to the individual and to the race than is the
enhanced intellectual power. With these come, what may be called
a sense of immortality, a consciousness of eternal life, not a conviction
that he shall have this, but the consciousness that he has it already.
"
Reading:
Cosmic Consciousness (New York, E.P. Dutton & Co.,
Inc, 1969)
 Teilhard
de Chardin the grandfather of evolutionary thinking in
the West wrote in his major work The Human Phenomenon:
"It was therefore not enough for us to say that all evolution
has to do in becoming conscious of itself deep within us is to look
into the mirror to see into its very depths and to fathom itself.
It moreover becomes free to dispose of itself-- to give or to refuse
itself.
Not only do we read the secret of its movements in our slightest
acts, but to a fundamental extent we hold it in our own hands: responsible
for its past to its future."
Reading:
The
Human Phenomenon, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: A New Edition and
Translation of Le phenomene humain by Sarah Appleton-Weber (Sussex Academic
Press. Brighton. Portland, 1999)
Teilhard image used by permission of The
Creative Process, portrait by Frank V. Szasz, available
as a poster, notecard and bookmarks with the quote, "The
future of earth is in our hands."
Websites:
www.webcom.com/gaia/tdc.html
www.trip.com.br/teilhard/links_en.htm
Evolutionary Technology
 Buckminster
Fuller was one of the 20th century's great proponents of
humanity's cosmically endowed evolutionary potential. In Critical
Path he writes:
"Humanity is moving ever deeper into crisis—a
crisis without precedent.
"First, it is a crisis brought about by cosmic
evolution irrevocably intent upon completely transforming omnidisintegrated
humanity from a complex of around-the-world, remotely-deployed-from-one-another,
differently colored, differently credoed, differently cultured,
differently communicating, and differently competing entities into
a completely integrated, comprehensively interconsiderate, harmonious
whole.
"Second, we are in an unprecedented crisis because
cosmic evolution is also irrevocably intent upon making omni-integrated
humanity omnisuccessful, able to live sustainingly at an unprecedentedly
higher standard of living for all Earthians than has ever been experienced
by any; able to live entirely within its cosmic-energy income instead
of spending its cosmic energy savings account (i.e., the fossil
fuels) or spending its cosmic-capital plant and equipment account
(i.e., atomic energy)—the atoms with which our Spaceship
Earth and its biosphere are structured and equipped—a
spending folly no less illogical than burning your house-and-home
to keep the family warm on an unprecedentedly cold midwinter night.
"Humanity's cosmic-energy income account consists
entirely of our gravity- and star (99 percent Sun)-distributed
cosmic dividends of waterpower, tidal power, wavepower, windpower,
vegetation-produced alcohols, methane gas, vulcanism, and so on.
Humanity's present rate of total energy consumption amounts to only
one four-millionth of one percent of the rate of its energy income.
"...Ninety-nine percent of humanity does not
know that we have the option to 'make it' economically on this planet
and in the Universe. We do."
Reading:
Critical
Path, (St. Martin’s Press; ISBN: 0312174918). Available
through Amazon.com or directly from the Buckminster Fuller Institute at
718-290-9280.
Operating
Manual for Spaceship Earth, (Lars Muller Publishers; ISBN: 3907078233).
Available through Amazon.com or directly from the Buckminster Fuller Institute
at 718-290-9280.
Websites:
www.bfi.org/
www.spaceshipearth.org
Evolutionary Psychology
 Carl
Jung is a great pioneer of the human soul, bringing forth
the awareness of the reality of the psyche, the archetypes, the
collective unconsciousness, the shadow. He called for the completion
of the incarnation, and the ability of humanity to incorporate "the
dark side of God."
He wrote: "Since everything living strives for
wholeness, the inevitable one-sidedness of our consciouslife is
continually being corrected and compensated by the universal human
being in us."
Reading:
The
Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C.G.
Jung Vol.9 Part 1) Princeton Univ Pr; 2nd edition (August
1, 1981) Jung used the word archetype to represent a concept about
unseen, powerful influences that result in predictable psychological
states. An archetype is a psychic format in which instinctual and
conditioned behavior plays out in human activity. They are best
seen in action, and their actions are recorded in so-called fairytales
and in religious symbols and stories.
Man
and His Symbols, Laureleaf; Reissue edition (June 1997)
Illustrated throughout with revealing images, this is the first
and only work in which the world-famous Swiss psychologist explains
to the layperson his enormously influential theory of symbolism
as revealed in dreams.
Website:
www.cgjungpage.org
 Abraham
H. Maslow, founder of humanistic psychology, brought forth
the study of human wellness in Toward A Psychology of Being.
He developed the concepts of the hierarchy of human needs, the self-actualizing
person, and the essential tendency toward goodness of the human
person.
Reading:
Toward
a Psychology of Being (Van Nostrand Reinhold, NY. 1968)
The seminal work that founded Humanistic Psychology, mapped the
self actualizing person, the precursor of the cocreative universal
human, and also identified the hierarchy of human needs.
Further
Reaches of Human Nature ( New York, New York, 10166). The
master founder of the human potential movement gives us powerful
insights as to the ways in which we reach self actualization and
self transcendence.
Websites:
www.maslow.com
www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/maslow.html
Science
 David
Bohm, the physicist, is famous for his theory of 'implicate
order'. "The world we experience is only the surface of a deeper
reality, one in which space and time are mutually enfolded into
a dynamic implicate order. From this point of view space and time
are simply ways we experience the 'unfolding' of the implicate order....my
suggestion is that this implicate order implies a reality immensely
beyond what we call matter...
The implicate order is a boundless whole which continually
enfolds and unfolds....Future and past are within the implicate
order. This is fundamental to a possible explanation of the next
evolutionary direction [and for any possible activation of the sleepers,
the new species emerging in us.]"
Reading:
Wholeness
and the Implicate Order, Routledge; 1 edition (November
15, 2002) "Wholeness and the Implicate Order, for all its demands
on the reader, is one of the most important books of our time.
Quantum
Theory, Dover Pubns; (June 1989) This is a book for you
to read again and again through your whole life. When you are an
undergraduate, lots of good technical information are found in this
volume regarding, for instance, wave packets or the hydrogen atom.
As you get more experienced and, of course, if you have some interest
in the philosophical issues raised by the subject, the book turns
to be a reference again.
Websites:
www.muc.de/~heuvel/bohm
www.vision.net.au/~apaterson/science/david_bohm.htm
www.fdavidpeat.com/ideas/bohm.htm
www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/science/sc-jbel.htm
 Albert
Einstein is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating and
influential figures of the modern era. As a preeminent physicist,
he radically transformed our understanding of the universe. As an
ardent humanist, he took an active and outspoken stance on the significant
political and social issues of his time. As a committed Jew, he
advocated a distinctive moral role for the Jewish people.
Albert Einstein's contribution to modern physics is simply unique.
His scientific career was a constant quest for the universal and
immutable laws which govern the physical world. His theories spanned
the fundamental questions of nature, from the very large to the
very small, from the cosmos to sub-atomic particles. He overturned
the established concepts of time and space, energy and matter. Einstein
played a crucial role in establishing the two pillars of 20th century
physics: he was the father of the theory of relativity and a major
contributor to quantum theory.
Science was Albert Einstein's first love, yet he always
found time to devote tireless efforts to political causes close
to his heart. His ardent humanism led him to strive for peace, freedom
and social justice.
Readings:
Ideas
and Opinions, Bonanza Books; Reprint edition (March 1988).
A new edition of the most definitive collection of Albert Einstein's
popular writings, gathered under the supervision of Einstein himself.
The selections range from his earliest days as a theoretical physicist
to his death in 1955; from such subjects as relativity, nuclear
war or peace, and religion and science, to human rights, economics,
and government.
Websites:
http://www.albert-einstein.org/
 Ilya
Prigogine, Nobel prize winning chemist, discovered the
process whereby life evolves into more complex systems. It is called
the theory of dissipative structures. ...how living things have
been running uphill in a universe that is supposed to be running
down. How, in the face of the inevitable tendency in nature toward
entropy, or increased disorder, has more complex order increased
since the Big Bang?
How might we learn from this process to facilitate
our own leap to a higher order? Marilyn Ferguson writes about Prigogine
in The Aquarian Conspiracy: "The continuous movement
of energy through the system results in fluctuations; if they are
minor, the system damps them and they do not alter its structural
integrity. But if the fluctuations reach a critical size, they perturb
the system. They increase the number of novel interactions within
it....the elements of the old pattern come into contact with each
other in new ways and make new connections. The parts reorganize
into a new whole. The system escapes into a higher order. As Prigogine
said, at higher levels of complexity, the nature of the laws of
nature changes. Life feeds on entropy. It has the potential to create
new forms by allowing a shake-up of old forms. The elements of a
dissapative structure cooperate to bring about this transformation
of the whole."
Reading:
The
End of Certainty, Free Press; (July 1997) Over the years
(and it's been something close to 60 of them) Prigogine has almost
single-handedly defined non-equilibrium thermodynamics. This book
presents an overview of how he thinks quantum theory should be interpreted
in order to give a direction to the "arrow of time".
Websites:
www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1977/prigogine-autobio.html
www.ph.utexas.edu/~smwww/ip.html
 Jonas
Salk, most famous for his development of the Salk vaccine,
and the founding of The Salk Institute, was a pioneer in evolutionary
biology and philosophy, applying the lessons of how nature evolves
to our own social evolution. He writes in Anatomy of Reality:
"The most meaningful activity in which a human being can be
engaged is one that is directly related to human evolution.
This is true because human beings now play an active and critical
role not only in the process of their own evolution but in the survival
and evolution of all living beings. Awareness of this places upon
human beings a responsibility for their participation in and contribution
to the process of evolution. If humankind would accept and acknowledge
this responsibility and become creatively engaged in the process
of metabiological evolution consciously, as well as unconsciously,
a new reality would emerge, and a new age would be born."
Reading:
Anatomy
of Reality: Merging Intuition and Reason (New York, Columbia
University Press, 1983)
Websites:
www.jonas-salk.info/jonas-salk
www.salk.edu/
www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/salk.html
 Bela
H. Banathy
Bela H. Banathy is a systems and design scientist, educator,
and author. He is Professor Emeritus of Saybrook Graduate School. A graduate
of the Hungarian Royal Academy, he earned a Master’s Degree from
San Jose State University and a doctorate from the University of California,
Berkeley. During the ’70s and ’80s, he was Program Director,
Senior Research Director, and Associate Laboratory Director at the Far
West Laboratory for Research and Development in San Francisco, during
which time his work focused on the application of systems and design theories
and methodologies in social, social service, educational, and human development
systems. He has directed over 50 R&D programs and designed many curriculum
projects as well as several large-scale complex systems, including the
design and implementation of a Ph.D. program in educational R&D for
UC Berkeley.
For the last two decades, his work has focused on humanistic
systems inquiry, social systems design, guided evolutionary inquiry, and
the design of evolutionary guidance systems. Dr. Banathy is the President
of the International Systems Institute, a nonprofit, public-benefit R&D
agency, which has held 30 international research conferences in several
countries. He is a co-founder of the General Evolutionary Research Group.
His most recent publications include Designing Social Systems in a Changing
World (1996) and Guided Evolution of Society: A Systems View (2000). He
is on the board of editors of World Futures, and serves as a contributing
editor of Educational Technology.
Reading
Guided
Evolution of Society: A Systems View (Contemporary Systems
Thinking)
Featured In the Book Study
Center
Designing
Social Systems in a Changing World
Developing
a Systems View of Education/Systems Inquiry Series
Systems
Inquiring: Theory, Philosophy, Methodology. Applications
Comprehensive
Systems Design: A New Educational Technology
(NATO Asi Series F: Computer and Systems Sciences, Vol 95)
Audio/Video
Live from
the Peace Room Radio Show 5-9-01
Printable Files - Articles, Papers
& Inspirations
ISSS Integrated Systemic Inquiry Primer Project (ISIPP)
Websites
www.isiconversations.org
www.21stcenturyagora.org
www.saybrook.edu
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