The human mind is in a continuous evolutionary process. When we talk about rebirth or reincarnation, we only consider the body a focal point and evaluate things in terms of time. But it is the mind that is conscious, which is manifested through the body.The human mind has various levels, which is why we see so many varieties.
Every mind is unique in its own way. Buddha was perfectly right when he realised the evolutionary nature of the mind. He didn't recognise any separate entity, which different cultures and religions called a soul, atman, psyche, and so on. He suggested that what we think of as the self is an ever-changing collection of experiences rather than a fixed soul.
Evolution is a truth, and it is not only the physical evolution of species but also the evolution of consciousness. When we say consciousness, it can't be physical because it is not matter, a tangible or quantifiable object. It has to be spiritual. It means an individual who evolves and grows into a more developed and perfect consciousness. Here, I want to illustrate a different perspective, one in which the collective consciousness of human beings has evolved into a more fragile, impulsive, and survival creature regardless of our instant comfort zones.
Strange Case of Natural Selection in Elephants to Escape Poachers
A deep wound can result in a scar, but a traumatic incident in an animal population's history might imprint itself directly onto the genome. During the Mozambican Civil War from 1977 to 1992, extensive poaching for valuable ivory led to such significant losses among elephants that the species appears to have undergone evolutionary changes within just one generation. As a consequence, a considerable number of these elephants are now born without tusks.
Today, in the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, half of female elephants are tuskless. The females who survived the horrific fear of slaughter and death pass the genetic trait to their daughters. Scientists have mathematically calculated the whole incident, and they concluded that it was not some random fluke but because of natural selection.
The observed pattern of tusklessness within families validated the researchers’ hypothesis: it appears to be a dominant trait inherited by females but fatal to males.
Consequently, a female possessing one copy of the tuskless mutation lacks tusks, resulting in her daughters being split evenly between those with tusks and those without. However, among her sons, half will have tusks while the other half may perish, potentially even before they are born.
Effects of Evolutionary Realism on Human Consciousness
Our mind is broadly divided into two sections: the superficial layer and the deeper level of consciousness. The superficial layer of consciousness is important because it helps us in our daily lives and gives us the conviction of ‘free will’. Now, we are not aware of a more profound level of consciousness, so we do not know how it works. Like in elephants, as I put a brief case study, realism, whether it is a threat, survival or any spiritual realisation, will gradually transform individuals. In the case of elephants, the shock of death and sinister threats from humans changed the genetic code.
In general, we, as humans, tend to divide life into fragments: business life, social life, family life, hobbies, and so on. Though all lives are fragments, those fragments are apparently different from each other, but at the deeper consciousness, those are not different shells of our lives. Those divisions between our lives exist and mingle with each other when there is so much contradiction.
How to find a way of living? How do we get detached from the fragments of our minds? How do we find the core intelligence in us that’s continuously working within us? The idea of integration of fragments or, in a better way, to separate ourselves from the fragments of our lives seems absurd to me. We can’t just separate ourselves from those integral things; else, we have to renounce the world. So, where is the solution to live a less disturbing life?
The Focal Lens of Positive Psychology
To explore whether there is a way to live daily—distinct from a monastic lifestyle—that embodies both passion and intelligence, one must understand the essence of pleasure. Can we achieve the stillness of the mind amidst chaos? I have found it possible. When the mind is remarkably tranquil, silent, and free from resistance or any preconceived notions, it can grasp the entirety of a situation. However, we often resist this state. We seek immortality, often by writing something and attaching our name to it, which acts as a form of enduring legacy. Humanity has a persistent desire to leave a mark, to ensure that a piece of themselves endures. The primary obstacle to achieving a quiet mind is this innate passion for the self and personal possessions.
An important point of positive psychology is materialism. Denying materialism is no answer to the constant degeneration of consciousness because if you are living in this world, you need to accept it. The dazzling world of facilities and commodities orients people towards instant comfort points. Nevertheless, you need to understand the difference between a pleasant life, a good life and a meaningful life. As human beings, we have arrived at a point in the evolutionary trajectory where we measure our lives in terms of ecstasy, fun, joy, comfort, amusement, relaxation and so on. If you carefully observe the collective consciousness of human beings, we are actually rapidly disintegrating from a view of moral compass.
There are fundamentally three focal constituents of positive psychology:
Subjective experiences like well-being, contentment, and satisfaction in the past are valued, as are hope and optimism for the future.
The fundamental aspects of positive psychology at the individual level are different traits like the capacity to love, compassion, courage, interpersonal skills, aesthetic sensibility, spirituality and others.
At the collective or societal level, it is about civic virtues, altruism, civility, tolerance, work ethics, etc.
Why is Spirituality Important for Collective Consciousness?
I have already cited how human beings, regardless of material wealth, are in spiralling chaos. This does not just affect the present generation; without a conscious will, things are degenerated into something where we normalise the degeneration. Not everybody lives and chases a pleasant life. Still, even if you lead a good life where you wish to move beyond just pleasures, you will eventually leverage your strength and chase the gratifications that life has to offer.
Spirituality is realised as a mental state where you find a sense of meaning and purpose in an individual’s life and pertain to the sacred or transcendent. This is reflected through your acquired qualities like compassion, righteousness, forgiveness, truthfulness, control over the mind, and selflessness.
Reflecting on these themes of positive psychology, the criteria for a sense of spirituality can be summarised as:
Connectedness
Faith in your value system
Meaning and purpose in life
Self-transcendence
Inner peace and harmony
Inner strength and energy
Conclusion
The fundamental difference between elephants and us is we have acquired an inheritance on the evolutionary ladder. So, we have possessed the highest qualities of neurological maps that claim maximal integration in behavioural frames. We have intellect, and we are more mature emotionally. We have a solid, confident and adaptive ‘selves’, and we can deal with all kinds of mental challenges and threats. We may pass our behavioural genetic component to the next generations, but we can acquire deeper consciousness to understand the reality behind the delusion.
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