An Idea whose Time has Come
From the book chapter: An Evolutive Crisis
The general belief in humankind’s capacity to evolve spiritually has been most prominently emphasized by some spiritual teachers across different traditions. While some readers might think that these spiritual teachings can take us away from a rational, grounded, and practical political thought that this book intends to develop, I offer them as deeper perspectives, in which this reflection can—but does not necessarily need to—be embedded.
The belief in humankind’s spiritual evolution is inherent to many spiritual traditions, for example those with cyclic cosmologies or others believing in reincarnation and the existence of the divine within living beings, that we can, life after life, learn to manifest more fully. These include many traditional cultures and religions, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. Many interpretations of the latter seem to agree that we are moving out of the “kali yuga,” the “age of quarrel and strife.” The faith in the upcoming unification and progress of humanity is also present in numerous indigenous prophecies. The indigenous people’s track at Politics of Being the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions was titled: “The Spiritual Evolution of Humanity & Healing Our Mother Earth.”
Most religions also have an eschatological dimension: they are concerned with the destiny of humanity, which, after many crises, is said to be ultimately radiant. For instance, this is illustrated in Christian concepts such as the “kingdom of God”—which is generally considered to be the central theme of Jesus’s teaching, and, according to some interpretations, means the earthly fulfillment of God’s will—or the “new Earth.” In the last two centuries, three spiritual teachers from different traditions have been particularly prominent in proclaiming not only humankind’s destiny toward spiritual fulfillment, but its upcoming realization […]
Sri Aurobindo, Teilhard de Chardin, and many others have shaped a spiritual vision of evolution that honors the current scientific knowledge while transcending its materialistic paradigm. According to this vision, it is the spirit in nature that springs higher orders of complexity, consciousness, and freedom. While evolution has unfolded unconsciously during billions of years, we can now start to understand the nature, direction, and patterns of evolution. […] We can align ourselves with this universal intelligence at work and tap into our great scientific, spiritual, and social knowledge to cocreate the next stages of our evolution.
