Passion vs Evolution: What happens to our feelings?
I never quite like the word “enlightenment” but for a lack of a better term, this is probably the best word to describe humanity’s evolution of the mind and heart.
In an ideal world, the human race learns to balance feelings with logic, not one overpowering another but a complimentary function. But this balance also comes with a higher perspective of detachment. Like the teachings of “enlightenment” in Buddhism, it is neither emotionless nor controlled by emotions.
Redefinition of what it means to be human
We as humans often pride ourselves of our feelings, our love and attachment to love, but in this evolution, it is inevitable that we have to detach ourselves from this definition of “humanity”. LOVE becomes something that is gentle and consistent rather than something that is forceful or potentially even violent. It moves beyond a possessive exchange into a way of giving and sharing and connecting.
Yet at this time, we are far from being this higher self. Look at the world today, and you see people frantically worried about security and survival, the rich worried about not having enough and the poor scrambling to make ends meet. Often, the higher you climb, the more unsatisfied you become. This is really a result of consumerism and materialistic values which is grounded in the physical.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with having comforts and luxuries. But if your life is depends on it and you become a slave to the lifestyles, then we are only looking at the very basics of the human experience.
An Evolutionary Hierarchy of Humanity
Reflecting on Mallow's Hierarchy of needs, the human experience can be broken down from the physical all the way through to the spiritual. Mirroring the hierarchy, we transition from the survival instincts of food and shelter, sex and procreation, into higher physical luxuries and pleasures, emotional connections of family and love, all the way to the spiritual connection with the Source or God/Goddess as we know it. This process of spiritualization in some ways is the basis of for future human evolution.
At present, human beings as a species is still too attached to its physical being and has yet to fully awaken to our spiritual selves. It may be millenniums until such awareness is present in our consciousness, that is if we manage to survive that long. Perhaps in this unity of thought, we are able to transcend beyond, life or death beyond the physical, beyond attachment to an individual but see things from a higher perspective and fully appreciate the human condition.
