EVOLUTION

[Jon Fergus]

This is part of an ongoing series of posts regarding specific concepts related to theosophy.

Other Resources: Karma, Reincarnation, Souls

The intention of these posts are to create a resource for inquiring students, so we'll approach it a little differently than we would a normal discussion.

Please read below for the intended format of this project.

Here's how we do this:

• Members are invited and encouraged to post their favorite quotes along with links to websites for further reading. If the quote is long (i.e. an entire chapter of a book), please select a couple sentences that stand out and then provide a link to the full chapter online (or if the book is not available online, please provide the title and author name). Anonymous quotes will be deleted, so be sure to source your info...

• Members are also invited and encouraged to share their own thoughts/interpretations on the concept. However, no rebuttals or counter arguments are to be made in regards to any member posts. As this will be a resource for students interested in learning about a topic, we're not looking for debates on its validity, but instead are looking for sincere attempts at interpretation of its meaning (whether by Plato, Buddha, Blavatsky or Mr. Average Joe Smith!).

• Each member will be allowed only ONE post of their own interpretation, but are encouraged to post as many quotes and links to other sources as they wish. So think carefully and take your time composing your own thoughts on the subject - there's no rush and no deadlines!

• Let's also set a 500 word maximum for any post (whether of a quote or member interpretation).

 

The main idea here is that when you come across something while reading and think to yourself: "wow, what a beautiful description of such and such!", you can come here and post the quote and/or link so that we may all share in the discovery! As this resource builds, when we say to ourselves: "Oh, now where did I hear that quote again? I know it was somewhere!?", we can come to Theosophy.Net, run a quick search, and viola! find the quote/link we were looking for!

 

 

Here we will post quotes, thoughts and links on the concept of Evolution - whether from the physical sciences, from metaphysical or religious sources, or alternative theories.

I hope everyone will feel free to add to this ongoing resource. Don't be shy... share away! This is a "no debate zone". :)

[Jon Fergus]

Let us start off with the central work on Evolution in the realm of modern physical sciences,

Link: The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin

Quote: "It may metaphorically be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, the slightest variations; rejecting those that are bad, preserving and adding up all that are good; silently and insensibly working, WHENEVER AND WHEREVER OPPORTUNITY OFFERS, at the improvement of each organic being in relation to its organic and inorganic conditions of life. We see nothing of these slow changes in progress, until the hand of time has marked the long lapse of ages, and then so imperfect is our view into long-past geological ages that we see only that the forms of life are now different from what they formerly were." - Chapter 4, The Origin of Species

[Jon Fergus]

And, to provide another view,

Link: Theosophical Glossary, by Helena Blavatsky

Quote:

Evolution: The development of higher orders of animals from lower. As said in Isis Unveiled: “Modern Science holds but to a one-sided physical evolution, prudently avoiding and ignoring the higher or spiritual evolution, which would force our contemporaries to confess the superiority of the ancient philosophers and psychologists over themselves. The ancient sages, ascending to the UNKNOWABLE, made their starting- point from the first manifestation of the unseen, the unavoidable, and, from a strictly logical reasoning, the absolutely necessary creative Being, the Demiurgos of the universe. Evolution began with them from pure spirit, which descending lower and lower down, assumed at last a visible and comprehensible form, and became matter. Arrived at this point, they speculated in the Darwinian method, but on a far more large and comprehensive basis.” (See “Emanation”.)

Emanation, the Doctrine of: In its metaphysical meaning, it is opposed to Evolution, yet one with it. Science teaches that evolution is physiologically a mode of generation in which the germ that develops the foetus pre-exists already in the parent, the development and final form and characteristics of that germ being accomplished in nature; and that in cosmology the process takes place blindly through the correlation of the elements, and their various compounds. Occultism answers that this is only the apparent mode, the real process being Emanation, guided by intelligent Forces under an immutable LAW. ...

[J. E. Mead]

"by estimating the relevant quantities in a way that is certain to overestimate the final result. Consider the entropy difference between two systems: Earth as it is at present, and a hypothetical Dead-Earth on which life never evolved. We will assume that Dead-Earth and Earth are identical, except that every atom in Earth’s biomass is located in Dead-Earth’s atmosphere in its simplest molecular form. When considering the entropy of Earth, we will assign zero entropy to the biomass. That is, we will imagine that to turn Dead-Earth into Earth, it is necessary to pluck every atom required for the biomass from the atmosphere and place it into its exact present-day quantum state. These assumptions maximize the entropy of Dead-Earth and minimize that of Earth, so the difference between the two entropies grossly overestimates the required entropy reduction for the production of life in its present form..."
...
"...we find that the second law [of Thermodynamics], is satisfied as long as the time required for life to evolve on Earth is at least [...]  ~ t = 10,000,000 sec.,  or less than a year. Life on Earth took four billion years to evolve, so the second law of thermodynamics is safe."

"Evolution and the second law of thermodynamics"
Emory F. Bunn
arXiv:0903.4603v1

[Jon Fergus]

PDF of above mentioned article:

[Brenda Tucker]

As part of our human evolutionary process, we pass through a period of three races which I refer to as the ascension (5th-7th). The first three human races likely coincide with an emanation as described above for humans, but simultaneously an ascension for e. animals. The creates an overlap so that while emanation is occurring for one kingdom and their angels, there is an ascension occurring for the other kingdom and its angels which are already existing in physical forms.

First, there is the new kingdom (girasas) to introduce. Second, there is a new process of involution that is widely unknown and unaccepted by science. With the e. animal (evolving animal) ascended at the end of the human 3rd race, what we have left on earth with us is a menagerie of involving lives - angels using the forms of all nature except human. When evolving animals are on the earth, some of the involving animals that humans bring with them may begin to occupy different forms that exist beyond the e. animal’s ability to manage.

This type of involving life can be recognized and appreciated, helping them to progress in the opposite direction to evolution due to their different nature. While we don't know much about involution or how the different types of angels relate to each other, we do know that this type of life progresses by obedience. They use the forms and then move lower. They move lower when they are transferred from one kingdom, such as the human, to the lower kingdom. After existing with humans, the evolving kingdom that they reside with and have to command them is an animal kingdom. There also may be commands from other evolving kingdoms that are not in form on the globe they occupy, but it is a question for further research.

I don't find much information on the subject of receiving the girasas kingdom, working with the girasas kingdom, delighting the girasas kingdom, loving the girasas kingdom, and eventually parting with them during the 7th race. I had no idea after studying theosophy for years that a higher kingdom was capable of this sort of thing, even though the 2nd race is spelled out to us as half human- half animal. Since no mention is made of a higher kingdom (that would be the 8th in number), I am assuming much that I have thought with regard to it. I am assuming, for instance, that a higher kingdom is not confined to living on a globe chain through a period of 7 rounds. I am assuming that they are only needed for the human ascension and then are free to return to their business as a higher kingdom, doing whatever it is they do. The forms do not hold them as they do humans, animals, etc.

Since the ascension process is not even mentioned as an essential part to evolution, I am somewhat at a loss as to how to best engage in this phase of evolution. webpage

[Jon Fergus]

The following is an excellent article on the current debate between "Darwinian evolution" and "intelligent design", from a theosophist's perspective.

Link: EVOLUTION & CREATION: A Theosophic Synthesis, by W. T. S. Thackara

Quote: "Behind and underlying any discussion of evolution and creation is a question that takes us to philosophy's very heart: Why is there a universe at all? Certainly our answers both reflect and define the meaning and direction of our lives; and they are important because our beliefs affect the lives of others as well — profoundly so. Creation and evolution are fundamentally about our origins and ancestry, and about who we are and where we're going. Although many people see no basic incompatibility, creation and evolution have come to represent two antagonistic, mutually exclusive worldviews, largely because of restrictive definitions, either/or reasoning, and tacitly-held assumptions. Evolution is generally equated with Darwinism, creation with biblical creationism; one is physics, the other metaphysics, and never the twain should meet. This thinking has become so habitual that we may not realize how much it narrows our perception and understanding; nor does rejection of one imply adoption of the other. ..."

[Jon Fergus]

The Secret Doctrine of H.P. Blavatsky is, of course, all about evolution, from an occultist point of view. This view of evolution encompasses cosmic and planetary processes, but also delves into details of biological evolution on our planet. From this work, I'll highlight two sections titled:

XVI. CYCLIC EVOLUTION AND KARMA.

and

V. ORGANIC EVOLUTION AND CREATIVE CENTRES.

Quoting from the first section: "No Occultist would deny that man — no less than the elephant and the microbe, the crocodile and the lizard, the blade of grass or the crystal — is, in his physical formation, the simple product of the evolutionary forces of nature through a numberless series of transformations; but he puts the case differently.

It is not against zoological and anthropological discoveries, based on the fossils of man and animal, that every mystic and believer in a divine soul inwardly revolts, but only against the uncalled-for conclusions built on preconceived theories and made to fit in with certain prejudices. Their premises may or may not be always true; and as some of these theories live but a short life, the deductions therefrom must ever be one-sided with materialistic evolutionists."

Quoting from the second section: "No more than Science, does esoteric philosophy admit design or “special creation.” It rejects every claim to the “miraculous,” and accepts nothing outside the uniform and immutable laws of Nature. But it teaches a cyclic law, a double stream of force (or spirit) and of matter, which, starting from the neutral centre of Being, develops in its cyclic progress and incessant transformations. The primitive germ from which all vertebrate life has developed throughout the ages, being distinct from the primitive germ from which the vegetable and the animal life have evolved, there are side laws whose work is determined by the conditions in which the materials to be worked upon are found by them, and of which Science — physiology and anthropology especially — seems to be little aware."

[Jon Fergus]

Swami Vivekananda makes an interesting statement in his translation and commentaries on the Yoga Aphorisms of Pantanjali (part of his book "Raja Yoga"). The idea presented here goes to the heart of the divide between scientific thought and religious thought in terms of evolution.

Link: Raja Yoga, by Swami Vivekananda (PATANJALI'S YOGA APHORISMS; CHAPTE...

Quote: "... There seems to be a great difference between modern science and all religions at this point. Every religion has the idea that the universe comes out of intelligence. The theory of God, taking it in its psychological significance, apart from all ideas of personality, is that intelligence is first in the order of creation, and that out of intelligence comes what we call gross matter. Modern philosophers say that intelligence is the last to come. They say that unintelligent things slowly evolve into animals, and from animals into men. They claim that instead of everything coming out of intelligence, intelligence itself is the last to come. Both the religious and the scientific statements, though seeming directly opposed to each other are true. Take an infinite series, A—B—A—B —A—B. etc. The question is — which is first, A or B? If you take the series as A—B. you will say that A is first, but if you take it as B—A, you will say that B is first. It depends upon the way we look at it. Intelligence undergoes modification and becomes the gross matter, this again merges into intelligence, and thus the process goes on. The Sankhyas, and other religionists, put intelligence first, and the series becomes intelligence, then matter. The scientific man puts his finger on matter, and says matter, then intelligence. They both indicate the same chain. ..."

[Jon Fergus]

Link: The Enneads of Plotinus: The Fifth Ennead, Second Tractate: The Ori...

Here, Plotinus treats of the basic tenets of emanation from a first principle, from which there is an "outgoing" or an "overflowing" or "generation" in a progressive, "downward" movement, bringing forth hypostasis or form.

Quote: "there is from the first principle to ultimate an outgoing in which unfailingly each principle retains its own seat while its offshoot takes another rank, a lower, though on the other hand every being is in identity with its prior as long as it holds that contact. ..."

"There exists, thus, a life, as it were, of huge extension, a total in which each several part differs from its next, all making a self-continuous whole under a law of discrimination by which the various forms of things arise with no effacement of any prior in its secondary. ..."

[Jon Fergus]

Here's a book available online that covers many aspects of a modern theosophical perspective on evolution.

Link: Man in Evolution, by G. de Purucker

[Jon Fergus]

From The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians by Magus Incognito (William..., PART X: METEMPSYCHOSIS

Quote: "The Rosicrucians’ teachings hold that the Evolution of Man has been accomplished not alone by the general evolutionary trend of the race by which it moves forward from generation to generation, but also by the advance and ascent caused by the improvement in the reincarnating individual soul, each step of rebirth tending upward and onward. As a writer has said: "The teachings hold that Evolution is caused by the soul striving, struggling, and pressing forward toward fuller and still fuller expression, using Matter as a material, and yet always struggling to free itself from the confining and retarding influence of the latter. The struggle results in an unfoldment, causing sheath after sheath of the confining material bonds to be thrown off and discarded, as the spirit moulds matter to serve its higher purposes. Evolution is but the process of birth of the imprisoned spirit, unfolding and extricating itself from the web of matter in which it has been involved and infolded. And the pains and struggles are but incidents of the spiritual parturition.""