GUEST, Dan - Here's an interesting notion I came across in the works of Sri Aurobindo. Inert material Nature served as a laboratory in which to create growing, living beings (plants) and one-celled organisms...simple physical life, but without the capability of action or thought.

The realm of physical life thus established served as a laboratory in which to create Vital beings (animals) which were conscious (in a reactive and largely instinctive sense) and were capable of action and of simple thought.

The realm of Vital life thus established served as a laboratory in which to create Mental beings (humans) which were not only conscious, but were capable of higher thought, e.g. logic, deduction, theorizing about unrealized possibilities, imaging possible futures, creating art, science, culture, politics, technology, religions, and so on.

Inert -> Physical Life -> Vital Life -> Mental Life

Aurobindo asserts that where human beings err is in their assumption that the Mental stage is the LAST one in this ongoing process of evolution. He says that man is now on the threshold of superceding the mental stage and going into the Supramental...that is, God-Consciousness. Humanity is thus the present laboratory for creating God-in-man, the Self-realized being...and that, of course, has been known for a long time in India, only Aurobindo emphasizes that it is an accomplishment to be achieved while still in the physical body, while most of the older traditions tend to look to spiritual destinations beyond the physical.

So...

Mental Life -> Supramental Life

(Self-realized...capable of expressing both Universal Love and one's unique individuality at the same time. This was what Jesus spoke of when he said: "The Father And I Are One" He wasn't saying he was above other people, he had just taken the next step in awareness and realized he was already One with the Source of All That Is.

Just a very few people have done this, and they are the ones who are here to teach the rest of us how to do it...although most people have their minds on anything but that. They are mostly after money, property, security, comfort, adventure, success, and various other concepts that are well understood by the Mental, which cannot see itself as existing in Unity with everything, but is convinced that it is separate (and VULNERABLE!), and acts accordingly to protect and enlarge itself.

Aurobindo states that the whole human race is meant to achieve the Supramental, while still IN THE PHYSICAL BODY, and eventually will.

This is also why Jesus said to his followers that they could do all the miracles he had done, and even greater ones. He did not set himself apart, but set an example to be followed, as do all true spiritual teachers. His most powerful message was, in a nutshell: "You can do this too!"

Instead of trying that, most Christians over the centuries settled for just worshipping him, and practicing the conventional behaviour of their time (whether it meant attending Mass or burning "witches" at the stake), which is NOT what he advised them to do at all.

- LH