"In the long run it is far more dangerous to adhere to illusion than to face what the actual fact is."
David Bohm
**
"The next mutation will see the birth of a planetary civilization capable of coping with the 'fluctuations' that rock the societies, economies, and enterprises of the industrialized era - the civilization of Holos.
"We live in a window in time between industrial-age Logos civilization and a yet-to-be-achieved civilization of Holos.
"Achieving the latter is not assured: The current window allows alternative outcomes. But before long, we shall reach a global tipping point - the Chaos Point - and then our world will evolve either one way or another.
"Our systems will be launched on a trajectory either toward breakdown or breakthrough..."
--- Ervin Laszlo
An Introduction
To my knowledge the term "species forerunners" was introduced into our lexicon by Thomas Yeomans (aap-psychosynthesis.wildapricot.org/resources/Pictures/Articles/Thomas%20Yeomans/Toward-Species-Maturity.pdf).
The term suggests that, like individuals, the human species as a whole has the capacity to mature - and that there are people who represent our "growing edge". These individuals and groups are visionaries, who are, so to speak - "ahead of the pack" - while very much remaining grounded in our fundamental human being.
This series will present a very partial and subjective review of a few individuals I think of as "species forerunners."
Such beings are like mentors - having: 1) a certain level of psychospiritual development and 2) the ability to teach and inspire others who are ripe to assume leadership positions in terms of our evolutionary trajectory.
It will be "partial" because, as Yeomans points out - while there are world-famous examples of such forerunners, including Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela - there are : "many, many lesser known, and unknown, instances of the lives of men and women, and groups, who have been responsible in this way for the development and maturation of the [human] species over the centuries".
My goal is to offer a glimpse into the lives of a few of these individuals.
Some of these people would readily agree that they are attempting to work for the growth and development of the human species. Others may be working toward this goal without thinking in these terms.
This series is "subjective" in that the cast of characters I will briefly review are merely those known to me - either in person or through their public offerings. Due to the limitations of space, I will not include others who certainly appear to be species forerunners.
My hope is that the series will simply be a "slice of the pie", which may illustrate some aspects of the process of our possible evolution.
Growing Up
Tom Yeomans:
"As a species, we need to grow up and begin to take a fuller level of responsibility for who we are, for our relationships to each other and other life forms, and for where we live.
"We need to find ways of living that sustain rather than destroy life on earth, and ways of knowing ourselves that support these ways of living.
"The planetary crisis, then, is a challenge and an opportunity, not only to establish more sustainable outer systems by which to live on earth, but also to transform our inner ways of thinking and feeling and, thus, behaving so that we match on the inside the harmony and health we seek to create around us.
"And to do this we need to look closely at the human soul, psyche, and personality and at how they contribute to, or impede, this transformation of self, other, and world. This is a purpose of Spiritual Psychology."
**
In thinking about species forerunners, we can recall these words:
"First they laugh at you, then they ignore you, then you win."
[Attributed to M.K. Gandhi: This appeared to be in part a paraphrase from the book Freedom's Battle, compiled by Gandhi, in which he wrote about introducing his particular form of determined, but nonviolent protest, which he termed satyagraha, from the Sanskrit and Hindi term for "soul force" or "holding firmly to truth" - snopes.com.]
And from philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer:
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
**
Yeomans adds:
"These ideas and images are not the product of current cultural/societal norms, and as such, have a particular force in them. They are a spiritual calling for the person and, if we are fortunate, a step of maturation for the culture.
"We think of these people as having spiritual strength, as strong souls rooted in, and expressing, a vision which is not immediately shared by those around them, but which turns out to be effective in furthering the maturity of the species."
He continues:
"Often, initially, as I said above, they are criticized for their views, but in time, it turns out that they had a valuable contribution and that they were articulating and standing for something that was actually buried in the consciousness of many people who were too immersed in their present life-conditions to speak for it themselves, or who were identified with the status quo in ways that kept them from seeing this possibility."
Unpacking the concept of "species forerunners," we can see that they are in touch with both their own gifts and with the potential of the species - and they are willing to risk rejection in order to express their vision.
Such people have the spiritual strength to carry this out. In these forerunners we sometimes recognize an aspect of ourselves that is also capable of taking such a stand--a certain strength of spirit, a calling in our own souls that we secretly yearn to honor and fulfill.
"And in this way, such a person, or group, can inspire us to leadership, even if we work in a different field and time and culture, for this image of spiritual strength is transcultural and common to the species, so that this expression stirs in us the desire to express, within our own life, our particular gift, even if it is not immediately received and acknowledged by the culture around us."
The Inevitability of Stagnation and Regression
Clearly, at the same time, we need to recognize the inevitable regressive tendencies in all of us that will resist change - and often - seek to return to a concept of the "good old days". In addition, for our own sake, we need to realize that many people and institutions invested in their current positions of power will put up quite a fight to maintain the status quo.
Yeoman's view of our situation is similar:
"There are many warning signs that, unless we change our collective ways as a species, the future will become increasingly a nightmare of bare survival in a global landscape bereft of the plenty and beauty that the earth has provided in the past. In short, as a species, we are in a crisis of immense proportions and at a point where our ways of living on earth are in question... Part of our response is to insist on, and reinforce, the old ways, and reactionary fundamentalism in all forms is rapidly emerging as a force in planetary life.
"But another response is to accept this crisis, even if we do not fully understand it, and begin to search for new ways of living that will relieve the suffering we presently experience.
"As the situation grows more obviously worse, more and more people are joining in this quest, recognizing that the 'death' of old ways is accompanied by the 'birth' of new, and that in the very complexity of these times, in the chaos and ferment, lie the seeds of the new."
Maturity
An interrelated element of this series is another area Yeomans has explored - is that of "species maturity".
The entire prehistory of human evolution - perhaps 3.5 million years - might be described as the childhood of our species. Like other animals, we lived in a primal dependency upon nature.
It can be said that the childhood of our species ended with the emergence of agricultural civilization, a more settled lifestyle and more powerful technologies to manipulate our environment. From this perspective, the adolescent stage of our species began some 5-10,000 years ago along with the beginnings of recorded history.
Today, we are still in our adolescence. We are steadily attempting to make our dependence upon nature a thing of the past and establish our technological hegemony. Yet the increased pace of new technologies has not been matched by discernment or maturity.
We continue to act with recklessness, without carefully thinking about the consequences of our actions and operate with a narrow short-term judgement, beset by delusions of our omnipotence and invulnerability.
It is as if we are in rebellion against nature. Remaining adolescent, we are on the verge of losing control of our own technology. As Edgar Morin has written, we are dealing with:
"...the fact of runaway positive feedback, an acceleration that is currently,...overtaking all sectors of life... The rate of change is itself accelerating. The question now becomes whether we have crossed a critical threshold in the process of acceleration/amplification that could lead to an explosion or implosion involving any number of deadly global threats."
To illustrate our overall predicament, I turn to an interview of Duane Elgin, titled - "Peril and Promise" - in the August 2002 edition of The Sun Magazine, which provides a way to think about our capacity to evolve as a species. It is important to recognize that, at one level, we are at the very beginning of this phase.
***
ELGIN:
"Over the past decade, I've given talks around the world, and I have asked people to consider the human family as one individual and then... to determine our stage in life.
"Specifically, do they think the human family is behaving like a toddler, a teenager, an adult, or an elder? I've asked this question in India, Europe, Japan, Brazil, and the United States, and without hesitation three-quarters of the people say that we're in our teenage years.
"Another 20 percent say we're in our toddler phase...
"I've looked into adolescent psychology and found interesting parallels. Teenagers are rebellious, and we are rebelling against nature. Teenagers don't tend to think about the long-term future; nor do we as nations. Teenagers are often concerned with how they look; we're a materialistic society consumed with appearances.
"But there's also an upside to this life stage. Teenagers have a huge amount of untapped energy and idealism, a sense of hidden greatness that is about to burst forth. As a species, I think we also have untapped idealism and a sense of our hidden greatness. We just need a chance to develop these potentials as a human family.
"We are already beginning to move from our adolescent, reactive mode into our early adulthood, in which we start learning to live together. For example, the nations of the world are cooperating in ways that are seldom recognized.
"Every day we cooperate in running the world's weather-forecasting systems and air-traffic control. Cooperation among world health organizations has eradicated polio and smallpox. We are beginning to cooperate in the realm of international justice for example, arresting dictators for abuse of power and genocide. And around the world, reconciliation movements are emerging and trying to take root. Some are making dramatic progress, like the peaceful transition to democratic rule in South Africa and the growing peace process in Northern Ireland.
COOPER:
"In the final pages of Promise Ahead, you say that, within twenty years, humanity will undergo an 'initiation.'
ELGIN:
"Most teenagers do not become adults without moving through a time of testing and challenge a rite of passage. I believe the human family is about to go through a time of profound initiation and challenge as we move from our adolescence to our adulthood.
"This initiation will take the form of a worldwide systems crisis as we hit an "ecological wall" the physical limits to growth. For example, right now, CO-2 levels are higher than they have been in 20 million years. We've already overshot the boundaries and thresholds of climate stability, and it's just a matter of time before we start experiencing severe fluctuations in the climate."
Endnote:
Although humanity may be at the very beginning of an exponential development that could lead to our initial maturity, there are numerous possible pitfalls on the way, any of which could deflect our development or lead us into a dead end. There are no guarantees of success, and opportunity is not destiny.
We have entered into a period of the testing of our evolutionary intelligence. Will we develop the cosmic wisdom needed to survive?
A few of the ways in which we can sabotage our own evolution:
Resource Wars:
It is predicted that within a generation we will deplete a significant amount of critically important natural resources.
1) Easily accessible and relatively inexpensive supplies of oil are expected to be exhausted within thirty years or less.
2) Major ground-water aquifers are being pumped dry to support high-intensity agriculture.
3) Widespread soil erosion is depleting precious topsoil.
As our situation grows more critical, areas that possess essential resources will become the focus of protracted conflict. The world may well disintegrate into warfare rather than mutually sustainable development. The apparent false-flag operation which we call "9/11" has been documented to be an early manifestation of this situation.
The Unsustainable Gap Between Rich and Poor Nations
Worldwide media, such as the Internet, continues to reveal glaring differences between rich and poor nations. These conditions will become less and less possible to gloss over.
People in the most impoverished regions, who want a decent standard of living, will have decreased tolerance for chronic extremes of material inequity that result in conspicuous consumption for the few and misery for billions of others.
The continued stability of wealthy nations will be vulnerable to disruption by the people of impoverished nations who feel they have nothing to lose.
Authoritarianism
Ecosystem breakdown, resource wars, and attacks on wealthy nations could easily push the world into such chaos that, in order to restore "order," authoritarianism is likely to increase at national or international levels.
Elements would likely include strong military/police forces, especially to secure borders; a powerful religious foundation to bring moral legitimacy to nondemocratic governments; extensive uses of computer networks (including AI) to monitor and control people; military, political and economic operations in which each resource-based region seeks to maintain its material advantage. Covert false flag operations are likely to become more common.
***
Fortunately, there is good news.
As Yeomans has argued, all human beings have a built-in urge for emotional, cognitive, and spiritual ripening.
May we learn to catalyze and cooperate with this force.
(Article changed on Aug 07, 2023 at 12:44 PM EDT)
