Self-knowing Is The Gateway To Liberation And Transmutation

With a stunning degree of denial and hubris, a recent “Naked Science” documentary about three branches of human evolution (afarensis, erectus, and sapiens), exclaimed: “In less than 75,000 years, we went from being little more than primitive cavemen to the most powerful species to ever bestride the planet.” A line like that is enough to produce a line of misanthropes.

At the other end of the spectrum of philosophical stupidity, we have the bogus idea of “intelligent design.” According to it, since humans are starting to imbue computers with egos in their own image, it must mean that there’s a God that imbued humans with minds in His own image.

Of course that’s a reductio ad absurdum, but both of these views represent what passes for philosophy these days.

It comes down to this: Can the problem-solving brain of symbolic thought solve the problem of itself?

Certainly not by taking a problem-solving approach, since symbolic thought is the problem.

Nature operates in a dynamic, immensely layered and ever-changing order in which all systems are seamlessly interconnected. How then did man, who operates through conscious separation and manipulation, evolve out of that order, and become a creature and feature of increasing fragmentation and disorder?

In short, man is the very antithesis of the terrestrial and cosmic actuality of wholeness. But man has become such an overwhelmingly dominant and destructive species on this planet that he’s named a geologic age after himself – the Anthropocene Age.

There is an innate urge within healthy human beings to understand our place in the universe. My inquiry into the relationship between humans and nature began in my late teens. I pursued the question of the contradiction natural order and human disorder intensely for 15 years. No philosophical or scientific explanation satisfied me, either ancient or modern, Western or Eastern.

In the beginning there was simply an insight into the nature of thought–that it is inherently separative. There is no thought without separation. But in itself that isn’t the problem, since thought has tremendous adaptive and utilitarian value. (The word “separation” literally means ‘to remove and make ready for use.’)

Finally, a core insight struck me: The evolution of conscious thought carries with it the strong tendency to make the mistake of taking separation as the way things actually are, and that inevitably produces more and more division and fragmentation. Even physicists make this fundamental existential error in their futile search for the ultimate “particle.”

This almost preprogrammed error of symbolic thought has caused humans to fragment the earth to the point of ecological collapse. So whose mistake is it, evolution, or ours?

If the mistake of division and fragmentation is inevitable with the evolution of creatures possessing the ability for conscious, intentional separation (“higher thought”), how could nature make such an error? Something deeper must be going on with the evolution of sentient, potentially sapient species on this or any planet.

Contrary to Teilhard de Chardin and his philosophical descendents such as Ken Wilber, consciousness does not evolve. There is no upward ascension of humankind, though that idea is dying very hard. Rather, the quickening downward spiral of so-called consciousness is producing tremendous pressure for a breakthrough in consciousness.

There’s evidence that the subconscious breakthrough that produced “fully modern humans” occurred about 100,000 years ago in a small number of people in southern Africa. The human brain at the time was exapted for much more complex cognitive capabilities, ushering in tremendous technological advancements in stone and bone, cultural diversity, and art.

I wrote a long letter outlining my insights to the late physicist/philosopher David Bohm. After a weekend of dialogues, he said, “You’ve solved the riddle of man. Just don’t make another philosophical system out of it.” It changed the course of my life. He meant that adding another “theory of human nature” wouldn’t help transform human consciousness, but add to our contradictions and confusions.

The stresses that modern humans are placing on the planet and ourselves through the misuse of our cognitive capabilities are necessitating another breakthrough, and neither science nor AI can save us.

Will this necessarily conscious leap be precipitated by a global collapse of our own making? I don’t know, but it will be too late to pour the foundation for changing course after a nuclear or ecological catastrophe occurs.

Spiritually speaking, symbolic thought was a necessary development for the emergence of a higher state of awareness, capable of communion with the cosmic mind. Paradoxically however, thought is also the greatest impediment to the awakened awareness of a silent mind.

Wordlessly resolving the dilemma of thought within us is crucial to human survival and the emergence of a new order of consciousness. Truly, self-knowing is the door to liberation and transmutation.

Reversing the downward spiral of man’s fragmentation can only occur through the passive observation, passionate questioning, and diligent self-knowing within the individual.

A revolution in consciousness may happen in the near future, or take hundreds of years, but it is essential if humanity is to survive and live in basic harmony with the earth and universe.

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