By Jim Adams
Evolution to the Power of One
Imagine waiting millions of years for a convenient genetic mutation that might trigger increased awareness in the human genome. What a drag. It would seem that in the last 10,000 years numerous such mutations have occurred. Human awareness is expanding or has been gradually expanding for thousands of years. This is a good definition for linear evolution. We wait, things change slowly. Let's call this evolution to the power of one.
Imagine evolution to the power of one as a long dimly lit hallway with no open doors or windows. One has a very limited set of choices. Continue down the hallway, stop, run, fall, die, sit, but not much more. One can hope for a bifurcation, a split in the path, a new hallway, a new choice, this way or that. Hope takes away the possibility of intending as it means waiting. These choices are genetic mutations, very rare and for the most part such mutations only effect the next generation via children.
Evolve With Intent
Imagine that some individuals, those fed up with the slow rate of change, or evolution, begin to mess around with their own consciousness. Look at the ancient Hindus, Buddhist, Gnostics, Toltecs, peyote and mushroom cults and many others. All of these groups developed ways for individuals to accelerate their own conscious evolution. In more modern times we have that are synthetic psychedelic drugs that are more randomly accessible. Individuals who do not belong to cultic groups or tribes have access to mind altering substances or practices. Some individuals take these drugs in order to initiate personal evolution. Some use meditation. Some use contemplative walking, hiking, or intense experiences with nature. Some study philosophy or theology. Some study spirituality, occult, or religion. Those who engage in any of these activities are engaged in what we can call evolution squared. That is, spatial, non-linear evolution. This is when an ordinarily person chooses to evolve with intent. That person begins to experience many previously unexpected phenomena. The new experiences shape the potential courses of future evolution for that individual.
Evolution Squared
Now imagine evolution squared. The individual that begins to alter his or her own consciousness might be viewed as one whom, having spent life walking down the same old hallway as everyone else, suddenly decides to make some big changes. The imagery here would be that these persons enter into their own enormous private vault, or vast cavern. They look around and see that they can move in new directions. They have numerous options. There are windows; there are many hallways, many doors, doors of perception perhaps. As this individual experiments with consciousness, new options are created, new rooms open up, and new levels appear. The individual discovers that its psyche is vast and populated with strange characters, dark places, brilliant places, imaginary places, and a near infinite set of possibilities. But, inevitably, one is limited by several factors, not the least of which is energy. Exploration takes lots of energy. One is face to face with thousands of potential explorations or expeditions, but still has only the tools one needed to walk down a dim hallway. Common society offers no help. Society IS the hallway. The status quo, the normal world, does not recognize much that is outside the hallway. It loves a good news story about crime or terrorism, but really only asks everyone to get in line and be normal (sic). The society offers no tools for self-exploration. It could be said that the status quo (the existing condition or state of affairs), abhors self-reflection and self-exploration. That is true for the most part, but there is the self-help section in the bookstore. These books can get you to where you do not hate the hallway but usually only tell you how to put up with the hallway without walking around constantly being an asshole. That is, most modern self-help exercises only teach you to tolerate, or co-exist with, and function minimally within the present poisonous state of affairs. So, what does one do in the vastness of self-potential, outside of the hallway, and inside one's newly expanded personal space of exploration – without any tools? THAT is the experiment. You look for new tools. Some meditate, this helps a lot. Some take psychedelic substances, this definitely gets things shaken up, put not always positively. There is a long list of potential tools. Many are drugs, but not all. Some use fasting or marathon running. Many turn to obscure religions or the occult. In short, you go looking for new energy sources or things to unlock hidden reserves. This works, sometimes. Sometimes one wastes a lot of energy to gain a small amount of energy. Even when one finds more energy there is still the fact that one is locked inside. This is your own head, your own imagination, your own soul. You only have the set of experiences that you had when you exited the Hallway. What does one do?
Evolution Cubed, Spherical Evolution, E to the Power of Three.
Having made the intentional, conscious choice to enter an open-ended exploration of one's own personal potential for evolution, how does one create more energy? How does one create more possibility? How does one break out of the cave, the cavern that is much more potentiated than the hallway of the status quo, but still confined to one's own imagination, bravery, courage, and willingness?
The first step is to begin to be aware of other people. Some of them are also on the same path to internal awareness and exploration. Some of them may be on the path and be unaware of consciously choosing. Some may be wasting their energy fighting the system. Some may be looking for a guru. Some may have descended into drug abuse or alcoholism. However, there are those who are certain that self-exploration is the only way to evolve intentionally. It may require that you put yourself out there and open up new discussions with the former set. It may mean being cunning and enticing others to try to engage in internal exploration. What is best is to initiate a dialog, an on-going dialog about what the explorations are bringing up. What is important is this: It is no longer time for waiting; IT IS TIME TO AWAKEN THOSE WAITING!
Spherical evolution, three-dimensional evolution, evolution that affects not only one's self, but also others, begins when you, or I, or anyone, opens up to others who are intentionally evolving in their own unique ways. I cannot evolve very far inside my own cave, no matter how big it is, how glorious it is, how magical or beautiful it is. I need others to blow holes in my cave to help me get out of myself. We all need others to help us begin to realize that my evolution is tied to and limited by your evolution. We need each other to fertilize our interior imaginations. My ideas of evolution are limited to my past experiences and what I can synthesize from those experiences as new possible realities. When I ask you about a problem that I am stuck on, you might be the key to a new understanding of the problem. You might wittingly or unwittingly drop a new seed into my consciousness. I need you, many of you, to help me evolve. In turn, I must be open to your scrutiny, your ruthlessness. I, also, in turn must be willingly, honestly, open to listening to you; to your requests for input, to your input to me. This is a reciprocal process; it goes around and around, spiraling towards greater conscious evolution. This requires trust in one's self. It requires trust in others. It requires my best, and your best. Mostly it requires honesty, humility, and integrity. There is no room for pettiness, even though we all begin as weak, petty tyrants. We all start off from the status quo and all of the torturous distortions of self that we have put ourselves through in order to fake getting along with the poisonous matrix of planetary domination and abuse. We have no time or energy to fight this system. We cannot go against anything. We can only evolve consciously, and when we choose to do that with friends and allies then we begin to build a planetary grid of intentionally evolving individuals. These are the one's who are consciously getting rid of pettiness and greed in order to create perpetually increasing opportunities for evolving, personally and as small groups of friends willing to dedicate their lives and energy to the synergy of planetary growth or SPHERICAL EVOLUTION.
Basically, we evolve consciously, or we will reach our collective peak, then begin to rapidly DE-evolve towards brutality and mean-spirited self consumption. We are on the brink of either planetary, conscious, intentional, evolution, or we are on the brink of the end of human potential. Those who choose to evolve must do so as representatives of the whole human species. Those who choose to evolve are ambassadors of tolerance, acceptance, ruthlessness, kindness, and FREEDOM.
Listen! FREEDOM IS AN EVER-EXPANDING FIELD OF AWARENESS!!! This means that whatever closes down awareness is not freedom. Whatever brings on and sustains closed minded, fear-based, depressed thinking is not freedom. Freedom is the most important evolutionary choice. Freedom is the ultimate invitation to BE. To be as yourself, as a focused energy of conscious evolving. Judge yourself, inspect your behavior, and work on your pettiness. Accept yourself where you are and consult with the other intentional evolvers. Get the help you need by being humble. Approach others with the love that you need from them. Give freely of yourself in honest ways. Do not waste energy trying to acquire higher status in any circle. Be your best as often as you can. Don't fret over what you waste when you are down. Don't fret over the days when you are down and feel useless. Sometimes that is just the process of emptying. We must become as empty of pettiness and greed as we can. That is very difficult, very, very difficult. Beginning to evolve can be disorienting because you are being called on to think for the whole of human kind. From this point forward, we must evolve together intentionally. We cannot afford to remain isolated and immune to the ties that bind us all together. We really are one family because we are all one species in one house. That house is EARTH!
Spherical evolution is the highest calling. The call comes from within, from the void, from the emptiness. That emptiness can never be filled. That emptiness is the most common factor in every human. We all yearn to belong. We all want the protection and security of having a group, a community, a family of others who love us and care for us. This is both a source of joy and of pain. Each one of us is alone, no matter how much we feel union with others. We want to belong, but we are locked inside. The opposite is also true, we can reach out and become friends with others. The goal is to never assume that either is dominant. We are all together, all alone. This is just one of many paradoxes. Life is full of paradoxes. The only thing we can do about paradoxes is to not hate them, not let then stop us from evolving. Paradoxes force us to see above them, to see where or words cannot take us. Paradox renders the internal dialog silly, and bumbling. To be free, to evolve with consciousness means to learn to see the whole picture with one's imagination, with vision, with heart. Our linear, word stream consciousness is all about self-defense, self-control, self-denial. To evolve intentionally is to choose to do so from the biggest vision of life that one can muster. This requires sharing in other's vision, taking risks, facing fear with love and intentionally open vision.
All of this is Spherical evolution, intentional evolution, and it is critical evolution. There is no time left for waiting and feeling useless. Only I can choose to evolve, but I cannot get very far alone. I need your input. I need you to poke holes in my program, my silly, over-thought, self-dominated program of self-improvement. Thousands of you have gone ahead into corners of expanded freedom that I have never dreamed of. I may have gone where you have never dreamed of. This is the only frontier that remains. It is not really new; it has been there all along, calling from within, from the place of selfless freedom. Even the idea of self can be an obstacle to evolution, because the idea of self is just an idea. I exist, but my idea of self is just as imaginary as my dreams. It is a paradox. Self is a cauldron of evolution. It is a place where self is burning off as an impediment to absolute freedom. Each one has to face the domination and tyranny of the petty small self, to expose another broader, selfless self. Aha! Paradox! No worries mate! Face it with your friends. Face it with an assuredness that those who choose to evolve consciously are all going through the same set of paradoxical encounters with themselves. This is the ultimate playground, and the ultimate workshop. Come on in, come on out. Be free, and get to work. Your only limits are the one's you choose. Your only spell to break is the one you cast over yourself. Others can help you break out if you are willing to stand with them as equally committed to their freedom as you are to your own. THIS IS HUGE!
Invite others, as I have invited you. There is no possible way to exhaust the invitation. Every invitation is another seed of freedom. Some will need a lot of watering and attention. Just remind those you invite that you need their genius, their brilliance, their honesty in order that you also may continue to evolve. Be willing to be silent together when the paradoxes bring you to the end of your ability to cope. This will require more patience than you can imagine. Who cares, I never said it would be easy! Silence is a sign of the nearness of one's own emptiness. If you hear silence, if you experience stillness with the void, remain vigilant, stay alert for you are creating an empty space within yourself, this is where evolution occurs. It happens, out-of-the-blue; it is always an original creation. This means acting, behaving, dreaming in new ways.
If you are thinking – at some point while reading this you should have wondered – What does it mean to evolve, intentionally or otherwise? My answer might be that if you are evolving you are spending more time expanding your awareness than being in fear or hatred. To see freedom as an ever-expanding field of awareness means that anything that one does that restricts awareness reduces freedom. When in fear, awareness becomes wariness, paranoia, or fright. These are not bad, but are indulged-in at the cost of true awareness. Living to manifest freedom is not a moral position; it is a position of the highest practicality and pragmatic usefulness. Hate, fear, greed, envy, and so many more, are simply wasteful of one's own precious life's energy. This is not about good and bad, it is about preserving one's limited energy for awareness in the present. The idea is to live a life that is a Path of Heart. Being aware allows one to see the way that is the path of heart for oneself. It is your path. There are no guides. You must find it moment by moment. There is no arriving, no permanence, no place to be, no objective achievement to work towards in the future. This moment now is the field of awareness that is what you are, or it is something else. Only you can evolve. You must define what that means from where you are. You began when you were conceived. Evolve, de-evolve, or remain neutral. Three possible choices. In every day, we all do all three. Our only hope is to shift the daily averages so that we spend more time evolving than, being neutral or de-evolving. It is gradual and self regulated. Ask others if you feel stuck. You probably are. Be quiet, listen, relax.
Imagine that you are a very important part of a planetary matrix of evolution that is creating the possibility that we can survive the current state of affairs on Earth. Each of us can affect that matrix in positive and pragmatic ways. Imagine the matrix and you are a part of the matrix. Simply by imagining spherical evolution you bring it into existence. When this spreads, it will change human potential forever.
I am with you as a friend who chooses to evolve intentionally. This is Spherical Evolution, evolution to the power of three, E cubed. With help from others, you and I can evolve in a three dimensional open field, an unlimited open space of opportunity. Spherical, like Earth is spherical. This intentional, critical evolution can surround the planet with individuals and groups that are willing to listen to each other. Imagine groups of CEOs and corporations asking aboriginal tribesmen and tribeswomen how to change their ways to sustainable ways. Imagine Muslims and Christians consulting with each other openly. Imagine conservatives and liberals openly seeking each others input and compassion. Spherical evolution turns all of the fighting aside in favor of evolving to sustain life. Spherical evolution has no energy to go against anything; it can only go for awareness and freedom. There is no possibility to exclude anyone. Either you are evolving more awareness or you aren't. It’s that simple. There are no judges, no rulers, only one's self, and one's honesty. Honesty is what I know about what I do. I do not need to be told when I am being dishonest, I already know. This is nearly universal, some are just too broken to know, but that is a very small bunch. Be honest, do your best, have integrity so that you can evolve as a whole being.
