Possibilities of Human Consciousness

The universe has direction, we ourselves have direction. There is meaning in the movement, intrinsic value in the embrace. As Emerson put it, we lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which by any other name is Spirit. There is a theme inscribed on the original face of the Kosmos. There is a pattern written on the wall of Nothingness. There is a meaning in its very gesture, a grace in it s every glance. We-and all beings as such-are drenched in this meaning, afloat in a current of care and profound value, intimate significance, intrinsic awareness. We are part and parcel of this immense intelligence, this Spirit-in-action, this God-in-the-making. We don't have to think of God as some mystic figure outside of the display, running the show. Nor must we picture it as some merely immanent Goddess, lost in the forms of her own production. Evolution is both God and Goddess, transcendent and immanence. It is immanent in the process itself, woven into the very fabric of the kosmos: but it everywhere transcends it own productions, and brings forth anew in every moment. We are invited, I believe, to awaken as this process. The very Spirit in us is invited to become self-conscious, or even, as some would say, superconscious. Depth increases from subconscious to self-conscious to superconscious, on the way to it own shocking recognition, utterly one with the radiant All, and we awaken as that oneness. Maybe the evolutionary sequence really is from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit, each transcending and including, each with a greater depth and greater consciousness and wider embrace. And in the highest reaches of evolution, maybe, just maybe, an individual's consciousness does indeed touch infinity-a total embrace of the entire Kosmos-a Kosmic consciousness that is Spirit awakened to its own true nature. I think the sages are the growing tip of the secret impulse of evolution. I think they are the leading edge of the self-transcending drive that always goes beyond what went before. I think they embody the very drive of the Kosmos toward greater depth and expanding consciousness. I think they are riding the edge of a light beam racing toward a rendezvous with God. And I think they point to the same depth in you, and in me and the all of us. I think they are plugged into the All, and the Kosmos sings through their voices, and Spirit shines through their eyes. And I think they disclose the face of tomorrow, they open us to the heart of our own destiny, which is also already right now in the timelessness of this very moment, and in that starling recognition the voice of the sages becomes your voice, and eyes of the sage becomes your eyes, your speak with tongues of angles and are alight with fire of the realization that never dawns or ceases, you recognize your one true face in the mirror of the kosmos itself: your identity is indeed the All, and your are no longer part of the that stream, your are that stream, with the All unfolding not around you but in your. The stars no longer shine our there, but in here. Supernovas come into being within your heart, and the sun shines inside your awareness. Because you transcend all, you embrace all. There is not final Whole here, only an endless process, and you are the opening or the clearing or the pure Emptiness in which the entire process unfolds-ceaselessly, miraculously, everlastingly, lightly. The whole game is undone, this nightmare of evolution, and you are exactly where you were prior to the beginning of the whole show. With a sudden shock of the utterly obvious, you recognize your own Original Face, the face you had prior to the Big Bang, the face of utter Emptiness that smiles as all creation and sings the entire Kosmos-and it is all undone in that primal glance, and all that is left is the smile, and the reflection of the moon on a quiet pond, late on a crystal clear night. (Ken Wilber, 1996. A Brief History of Everything, p. 42)