The Evolution of Humanity: Part 3 — Nature

Image Credit: Art by Igor Morski

For most of us, when we think of nature, we think about its beauty and calm: the trees and animals, natural habitats, the night sky. We also think of the great and terrible forces, for instance, those of natural disasters that show us how weak we are in comparison. But this is not the true nature, rather it is just a fragment of what we perceive.

Nature is everything, meaning it’s all that exists, all we perceive: ourselves, our family and loved ones, our home, our belongings, others, the world, the universe, and it all exists in the general system of nature; including our experiences, sensations, thoughts, emotions, and desires.

In the previous segment, we described how after the birth of the universe, our nature evolved in four stages: the still, the vegetative, the animal, and the human degrees. But prior to the initial creation of the novel will-to-receive, nature began as one law and remains One law.

However, the will to receive is a complete novelty. Prior to its creation, such a thing did not exist in reality, and since there was no quality of the will to receive at all, that which preceded it did not possess the nature of reception.

For this reason, this will to receive, which is extracted as existence from absence, is complete novelty. But everything else is not considered an innovation that could be called “creation.” Hence, all the vessels and the bodies, from spiritual worlds and from physical worlds, are deemed spiritual or corporeal substance whose nature is to want to receive.

Meaning all stages of development from the still, up to the human degree are nothing but the desire for fulfillment. So why are human beings the only ones causing the real damage to ourselves, to our surroundings, and to our nature?

The will to receive is part of nature’s program. The desire for fulfillment of this will to receive is the driving force of evolution, and this desire permeates all levels of nature. The only difference between us (human beings) and the rest of nature (the land and plant & animal life), is that we lack the sensation of connection to the altruistic force which sustains us and our reality. And the reason for this disconnect is the human ego.

All stages of natural development prior to the egoistic human stage of development (which includes the still, vegetative, and animal stages of development) operate according to the altruistic laws which govern them, instinctively and harmoniously; and without free will. And although the substance of our nature is the same — the will to receive, they lack egoism, technically, also a desire to receive pleasure, the difference is that egoistic pleasure is aimed at self-fulfillment, and the more we evolve, the more our egoism evolves, and the more we fail to see the importance of others. We regard them less or not at all, and we are constantly in competition with others. Our sense of self-worth increasingly comes at the cost and benefit of others.

For instance, take a tree. Its nature is also the will to receive. It receives nutrients both internally from the earth, through its roots, and externally: sunlight, rain, and so forth. It thrives in the right conditions, it receives fulfillment while contributing to the health of our nature by simply existing.

Let’s go a step further up the complexity ladder to the animal degree. The observations are clearer, the symptoms of distress and pleasure are much easier to spot, also we tend to connect more with animals than with plants. Hell, we tend to connect with animals more than with other people. And though we may see a dangerous animal attack a helpless animal and view it as cruel, this is so because cruelty is a human trait, an egoistic trait. A lion doesn’t have any cruel intentions when attacking a gazelle. Animals act purely on instinct and survival. Animals can sense pleasure, pain, stress, hunger, and so on; and by the way, vegetation can sense these things as well, it’s just harder to observe. And on the still level, it’s nearly impossible to outwardly observe as the will to receive in this level is internal. But the bottom line is that none of it is egoistic, this quality is unique to human nature only.

This is the only difference between us and the rest of nature, yet this has led to the breach of the balance on a global scale, and it starts at the head: From the highest, most complex of all systems within the general system of nature, the system of consciousness. From there it passes through every system all the way down to the lowest levels of nature. Since we, humans, are the most complex, we are also the cause of this imbalance, and the disruptions we cause to nature are making themselves increasingly known to us through the manifestations of the various crises.

Right now our egoism is like a double edge sword. We use it to hurt others and benefit ourselves, and at the same time, since we are all interconnected and exist in a closed unified system, not only are we not benefiting from any of our actions, we are self-destructing.

Believe it or not, our egoism has an exalted purpose. I know that’s incredibly difficult to believe considering what we hear and see every day as a result of our egoistic actions. And though the majority of this article speaks to the evils and the destructive force of human egoism, that is only because we have not begun to use it for its intended purpose, which is to allow humanity to advance to a higher degree of life. A good life, one that is worth living. This depends on educating the masses about nature in general.

Human Nature

Understanding our nature and the way we perceive reality is key to consciously attaining higher states of awareness, but it is also necessary in order for us to navigate in this world with a sense of surety and freedom.

Our nature is Egoism — the will to receive for the self, and this too is part of nature’s program. On one hand, it works as a blind spot, giving us the illusion of separation, free will, and a sense of self-awareness. It doesn’t allow us to sense our connection to each other and to the general nature and as the world is becoming more global, we are realizing our dependence to one another, but we don’t know how to properly connect, because we don’t feel like we are integral parts of one nature. We feel like independent beings that are stuck on the same dying planet against our will, and we have no choice other than to deal with it and each other. We all have our own values ideas, perceptions, justifications because that’s what we’ve been taught, and more to the point, it is how we experience our subjective reality.

On the other hand, the ability to be self-aware is precisely how we can exit our current state and elevate to a higher degree. One of mutual connection, mutual support, and love of others. The space, the framework for a shared objective reality without the confines of limited human perception exists. All we lack in order to make this happen is to implement integral education on a universal scale. Teaching these methods in our schools needs to be a mandatory step in the advancement of humanity. I suspect we will experience a few more harsh blows from nature prior to this happening; you know, just in case there are any doubts as to who is really in charge.