In this topic Roy Posner, president of Growth Online, discusses the future evolutionary possibilities for the United States. He is a citizen of the USA. Updated September 2005. 

Go directly to main points

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PART I
AMERICA'S PROBLEMS, AND THE WAY OUT

Growth Online: Welcome again to the Growth Online interview series!

RP: Thank you!

Growth Online: The US seems to be going through a time of great ferment. Why do you think this is so?

RP: (pause) There are so many reasons. There is the vast evolutionary change that is happening throughout the world, at both the societal and the individual level. So we share in that. Plus, there is the US's own special challenges and difficulties. We're a vanguard culture where so many things are going on simultaneously; so many positive things mixed in with many negative ones. We are trying to work out the negative ones, though unfortunately we don't have any coherent vision of what we want to become, let alone what we actually are. That of course is not a problem unique to us, but to every nation and culture.

Growth Online:  Then what are the problems that are unique to us?

RP: (pause) To answer that, we need to first consider the opposite, i.e. what it is that makes us great. There you will also discover what limits us.

What makes us great is our material abundance. We have discovered the infinite in matter, and have produced endless abundance and material well being for ourselves, which has in turn also moved out across the world. That's why we have become the world economic leader.

The problem for us, and indeed for everyone, is that there are many realities, of which the material is just one. Our psychological condition is every bit as important as our material one. For example, are we a happy people as opposed to just being a materially well-off people?

And like the material, our psychological potential is infinite. We can be exceedingly fulfilled at all planes, the emotional, in our attitudes, in our beliefs, and so forth. But we have not even scratched the surface of our psychological, i.e. our inner and deeper potentials, as the focus has been outward towards material achievement.

We can even see it in our values. We are enamored of the values that relate to achievement, particular material achievement. Psychological values that value "inner achievement" -- i.e. personal fulfillment beyond mere freedom, insuring that we are all living out our full potential, that we have access to resources to do so, and that the society insists that it be available to everyone in order to bring about individual fulfillment, and so forth -- in other words values that value Man. This is very rare.

Then there are the highest values which are spiritual values and qualities -- such as sense of Oneness, Unity, Peace, true Knowledge, Wisdom, Delight of being, Love, and others. These we have not even come close to addressing. They are not even formulated ideas in our mind.

Thus the solution to our problems is to learn to make the transition from material values like -- ambition, money, acquisition of material goods, belief in technology, and so forth -- to higher, more meaningful psychological values and eventually spiritual values. We have very far to go, though I think the US is in the vanguard in making this attempt, especially in the development of higher social values that will express as we go through our psychological maturity.

Growth Online:  Are you saying that the US doesn't have any deeper values?

RP: Of course we do, but too many of these are oriented around material success, not psychological and spiritual success. For example, take honesty, which, despite occasional abuses, is truly valued in our society. Compared to certain countries around the world -- particularly where there is poverty and misery, we are a rather honest and forthright people; except of course on occasion in certain areas of international affairs. We are often honest, however, not for its own sake, but in order to comfortably and efficiently conduct business and trade; so that material goods can flow throughout the society. Honesty is necessary to conduct business, it is the outcome of the solid trust that enables the mutual exchange of goods and services.

So yes, the US has many values, although a good deal of them are fundamentally geared to our material success. Values that directly relate to material well-being -- like self-reliance, freedom, honesty, integrity, hard work -- are cherished in this society. There are also values like tolerance and equality that also are emerging in American society. Even these values have a subtle connection to the interest in our material success. We do things in our own material, economic, business self-interest. I will tolerate you because I need to work with you, otherwise ... well who knows.  Eventually, however we will take on deeper psychological values, when people are valued for their own sake, not for their ability to produce economic well-being. Then they become values that value Man.

Growth Online:  Please say more about this intriguing idea of Valuing Man.

RP: Yes. The highest of values is not to worship material goods, or another's achievement, but values that recognize another's beingness, his dignity, his special qualities, and our concern that he actually realizes it; not merely that he has the freedom to realize it, but that he IS realizing it! These higher values recognize our capacity for individual fulfillment -- not just the freedom to be fulfilled, or the ability to be fulfilled materially, but psychological and spiritually as well. That is to value Man.

For the US it means to follow values that relate to social connectedness, not just freedom.

Though he may have been incorrect in certain areas, Marx's social values were perhaps the first organized theory and approach to valuing Man. He raised the issue, and now we need to raise the bar and come up with a more comprehensive and integral view of valuing Man that relates to our current life. In the US we value the freedom that can be given to man, but we care less about how he actually utilizes that freedom and becomes a whole human being. That's left to the proverbial marketplace, the business marketplace, to the survival of the fittest mentality. When we actually come to know and value what the human being is, and what the human being can becomes, -- not just that he is free to become anything -- then we have adopted a human view of existence. This would be a vast spiritual progress for the nation.

Beyond that are the spiritual potentials of man, which enables ultra-fulfillment. That rests of course on the psychological fulfillment.

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Growth Online:  So where do we begin? How do we get to that point? (pause) Maybe it needs to start locally.

RP: Oh, of course. That's where any movement toward psychological and spiritual fulfillment begins -- locally. For example, I have recently heard that there are 1 to 2 million organizations in the world dedicated to higher consciousness in some form. This is movement welling up from the bottom. It rarely comes from the top.

For example, you see it in the deep human values expressed by health care professions. There in one field you see the beginnings of valuing Man. You also see it amongst concerned scientists. It is there emerging in every field of life. It begins locally and then it rises up. It always begin with pioneer individuals, who are expressing the emerging subconscious will of the people. It hen gathers momentum, until it arrives at the tipping point, as they say.

You even see it in the mission statements of corporations, where they list out human values -- such as concern for the well-being of their customers, concern for the well-being of their own people, their dedication to values like honesty and integrity, openness to the inputs of employees, even a dedication to the personal development of their staff! This is a remarkable change that has gradually occurred over the last 50 years, and especially over the last 10-20. It began in pioneering companies, or actually pioneering individuals within these businesses.

(pause) It is an irony of life that Marx’s social values -- concern of the status individual’s employment, his wage, his opportunity, his health, and other aspects of his well-being, etc. are gradually being fulfilled through capitalism. It's just that we just need to develop a vision of psychological development for our people, in the context of life's present conditions.

A new social theory based on human values is the next intellectual frontier. That foundation of truth can lead to decisions and emphasis amongst leaders in all fields of life that can help usher in a new psychological and spiritual age for the people of this, or any other country.

Growth Online:  How about religion ? Doesn't it help bring about higher values in society?

RP: Yes, religion certainly brings in a moral sense, especially especially when an essential moral order has not been firmly established. Religion can also advocate the fulfillment of Man in a certain way. But that I believe is not its fundamental mission, and thus it is limited in its current form in what it can do to truly bringing about evolutionary change that truly values Man.

Growth Online:  Why limited?

RP: Well, in one sense religion's fundamental goal is simply to add more people to the flock -- i.e. to perpetuate. Though there are higher human, even values embedded in the teachings -- compassion, love, brotherhood, etc. -- they have become secondary to following scripture, ritual, and dogma alone. That in turn leads to a woefully limited social perspective of existence. Of course there are exceptions. Some religious people -- [former US president] Jimmy Carter comes to mind -- have integrated their religious beliefs and their deep social values. He has made a certain synthesis between his faith and a social view of Man. That is quite rare. He says that the Prince of Peace would advocate peace, goodness, givingness, helping the unfortunate, solving the problems in the world, etc. It is not just based on a mental perception of what his Lord's mission is, but on his (i.e. Jimmy's) deep faith.

Religion does provide faith -- faith that God can give us a solution to our problem when we are suffering, faith we will go to heaven, etc. But that is often set in a very limited spiritual context. The nature of the Sprit is far beyond such limited religious notions. As a result, the moral and social social imperatives that one arrives at through religion are also limited. That is, by not having the big picture of the Spirit -- such as a perception of the nature of creation, our purpose in the evolution, the deep spiritual experiences of Love, Oneness, Bliss, Truth, Knowledge, the infinite nature of things, etc. -- there is little context for the development of an evolutionary view of psychological and spiritual progress, which would embrace the true valuing of Man. Yes, I am my brother's keeper is a useful value, but it is to a certain extent shallow. Knowing and experiencing that we are truly One from an inner perception, knowing that life is for Delight of Being, to experience the Divine delight in the becomings of our existence, and so forth are spiritual experiences, which lend themselves to the development of the very deepest of psychological and social values. In other words the Spirit, or rather the multiplicity of experiences of the spirit, in the ways I have just mentioned, can lead to true and deeper psychological and spiritual values; the type the country, or for that matter all counties, could use.

I am not saying you have to be spiritually-oriented to value Man. I am just saying it really helps. It really can establish a basic view of existence that can help us value Man. On the other hand, some of the greatest social movements in history have been aspiritual in nature. Yet even these subconsciously reflect deeper spiritual values like Oneness, Love, and Truth. In fact, many of those who have advanced the social cause have been atheists, and yet what they have cherished and valued are earthly reflection of these spiritual properties like Oneness, Love, Peace, Infinity, and so forth. Michael Gorbachev changed the course of human history through the development of social and  psychological values, even though he was an agnostic or atheist at the time.

I guess what I am saying is that the more we connect to the Divine Reality -- e.g. by by going to the depths and connecting to our spirit within, or open ourselves the Divine Force around us -- the more we will experience the Spirit in its variety. That will help establish the context from which we develop deeper and higher psychological values. In other words, these spiritual experiences help us develop a more integral social view through which we can begin to truly value Man. As we rise in consciousness we see deeply into the nature of our true humanity.

Growth Online:  (pause) How can we then put this in a context of the current situation in the USA?

RP: Recently in the US of course we see a lot of religious dogma, intolerance, and narrow-mindedness amongst a select group that has for the time being risen in stature. That movement in of itself tends to turn away from the value of Valuing Man. That's because Man in their terms is second to God. God is the boss and that that. It is the opposite from a reality where I have the experiences of the Divine, the Spirit, from which I am able to see humanity's plight, and from which psychological and spiritual values can be developed, and then brought to bear to further humanity's progress.

(pause) I believe this type of one-dimensional worshiping of God by fundamentalists and others, which is opposite from having the variety of psychological and spiritual experiences that enables us to see the various sides of the Divine Nature, of the Spirit, turns us into a dry husk. It is a superficiality of religion compared to the spirit, not unlike our normal superficial existence in which we are obsessed with the surface of life, of what our five senses are telling us, instead of the true truth that is emerging at any moment in time. We always live on the surface, instead of the depths. The fundamentalist and others lives on the surface of a superficial religion.

Jesus then becomes just another product we are eager to possess. Jesus who brought love to the world, becomes an object, like a loaf of bread to possess. If we have the surface it is enough The deeper truths, well that does not matter so long as one has the symbol of the deeper life.

You could almost say that religion has become a kind of the materialization of spirituality. It doesn't have the experience of the essence of the spirit, so it goes for the surface personifications of the inner truths. That then further generates into a limited social view that rails against anything new that opposes it -- e.g. like abortion, anti-gay, anti-stem cell, anti-evolutionism, etc. Because religion has completely lost touch with the inner experience of the truth of the spirit, it focuses on the surface issues, and very often on the wrong side of them. A social and psychological view of man is lost.

Even for those who are religious and progressive in their social views sometimes do not see the whole picture. Because they to are locked into the religious dogmas and rituals, do not have the full variety of spiritual experiences. (In fact I believe they hardly ever have spiritual experiences), and thus have a limited view of what is possible for humanity.) Each religion sees one or two of the fundamental spiritual truths. There are several dozens. Therefore the values that emerge for them can be excellent within their own limited sphere, but the sphere is still woefully limited.

Growth Online:  So religion, or rather religious fundamentalist, is the big problem in the USA.

RP: I would say, it is one problem. It is a short-circuit to the deeper, wider truths. It does blind one to the emerging evolutionary possibilities. The other problem is that we live on the surface of life, not seeing the depths. In America we "think" with our senses; not with our minds. Which introduces us to the other problems in the USA, which actually occurs at the other end of the spectrum from the moral religious life, as much as the moralists themselves. (editing point)

Growth Online:  The other end of the spectrum?

RP: At the opposite extreme of religious fundamentalists, or for that matter the moralism and piousness of religion, you have, broadly speaking, a predomiannt urban culture, people who live mostly on the coasts of the USA, who have vastly more sophisticated points of view, including a deeper appreciation of human values. Well the problem is that they too are locked into their own materialism. Though they are more learned and mentally oriented, they too are self-absorbed by the material formations in front of them. Driven by an obsession in using the latest technological gadgets, caught up in acquiring the latest material comforts, absorbed in the visual intensities provided by the arts and media, stimulated by alcohol, drugs, sex, this sophisticated urban and suburban bi-coastal vanguard class is too busy with material formations and sensations to get too involved in the psychological development, let alone the spiritual development of Man. 

Still, when they do so, it is in a far more productive positive direction than the falsehoods of the conservative religious movement. They may be overly physical/material and vital, i.e seeking material objects and needing sense based-based intensity, but their mental consciousness is emerging rapidly, which means they are more and more open to more of the possibilities of other realm beyond the mere material, beyond the objects, the "chotchkas" that our technology oriented science produces.

We live so much on the surface that we value what pleases the sense, which are the outer material objects. We become obsessed by them. Rather than seeing them as a means, we tend to focus on them as ends in themselves. Our own material consciousness within, where our center of awareness is on the inputs of the five senses are only too happy to oblige. If we can learn to move to a deeper center, then we will see that material objects and all of the outer sensations in their proper context. We will sense the deeper unfoldings of life, which will change the way we look at the material. The material will be of limited concern, as merely a means to serve the values of Man, and ultimately the vales of the Spirit.

We in urban America -- and for that matter, much of the rapidly emerging cosmopolitan world --  have just not yet come upon a deeper and wider context through which we can understand life. We can't get beyond the outer material that our sense mind is self-absorbed in, and we do not have perceived in any concrete way the spiritual essence of life, that is the source of all.

It is ironic that the religious conservatives see the indulgences of the urban core, and the urban core sees the utter falsehood that the conservative element is steeped in. So it is through this complementary opposites that we in America try to progress.  

Still the urbanites, unlike the religionists are much more aligned with the emerging values of Man, which also puts them on a more direct path to knowing the various ways the spirit manifests that will lead to spiritual values. The religionists are cut off from spirit, because they are in confined to moral and religious cul de sacs.

I like to point out how Michael Gorbachav, a self-acknowledged agnostic or atheist at the time, almost single handedly saved the world from annihilation when he undid the Soviet Union from within with no bloodshed. This sophisticated and well-educated "non-believer" was able to make the great transition because he deeply appreciated the values of Man. And so he became the instrument of the evolutionary divine spirit which supported his actions to undo a system that no longer had a reason to exist.

The mental consciousness is simply a better conduit for the emergence of the psychologically and spiritual growth of an individual or a society. The Indian seer and sage Sri Aurobindo says that we have been evolving from a physical to a vital and then a mental, and eventually a spiritual consciousness. Though we are mental creatures, we are still caught up in the vital realm of desire, wants, acquisitions, a following of the heard movement. When we truly move into the mind we become more rational. When we a re more rational we begin to see the many sides of things, no the dogmatic side of the religionist or even of the technology-oriented scientist. When we see the wider truth of things we begin to understand and acquire a more integral knowledge of things, which puts at the edge of True Knowledge, which is one manifestation of spirit, along with Oneness, Peace, Love, Delight, Power, Beauty, and others. By becoming more mental beings, we begin to see the many needs of Man. As a result of that mentality, we move towards deeper psychological values. And even the psychological values have roots in spiritual qualities, which we can also come by when we learn to harness the spirit within.

Growth Online:  So you're saying that there are these two major lines in which America is working out its psychological growth.

RP: Well, there are several actually, but these two stand out, at least in the public eye.

The US is working out the problem of the narrow minded, ritualistic religion on the one side, and the overly-stimulated curious and mental urbanites who are on the right track but are over sensitized by the outer material stimulants of modern life, and who do not have the spiritual context of existence.

It is my belief that religion is mostly an anachronism, and in general tends to separate itself from valuing Man. The irony of course is that the Spirit -- which is the essence of religion, and which has been forgotten by both the fundamentalist religionist, as well as the more mentally evolved urban sensationalist -- enables us to value everything, all aspects of life, from all perspectives and views, including the view of the ultimate psychological potential and possibility of Man.

If America can learn to look within, to discover a deeper active poise, to find their essence, their inner being and spirit, then human values will continually will spring to mind. As we move within and discover our deeper parts, our True Self -- even to our evolving soul -- we begin to look out onto the world with new eyes, in an entirely different way. We begin to perceive the fact that we really are all One, that we all share the same Divine spirit within ourselves, that we are not separate. We perceive that we each are very dear, and each serve a great purpose, and therefore are to be deeply valued and cherished.

As a result, then what will matter the most in our society is whether each of us are living a fulfilled life, whether we are truly happy, experiencing the infinite possibilities of existence. This can actually be a social value, even a  national value! Imaging "human fulfillment" as a national value! It would be to value Man in its deepest and truest sense.

By making an effort to discover the depths of our consciousness within, our True Self, our soul-essence, and also by coming in touch with the spiritual Force that is there in the atmosphereat our disposal, we will begin to move beyond our small ego-based individual existence, and open ourselves to a wider universal existence, where we see life from its deepest and broadest perspectives. From that deeper poise our minds begin to see the interrelationship between all things; we begin to see how our mutuality and harmony is essential for a progressive and fulfilling life on earth. When we experience these deep and profound perceptions of life, they begin to formulate into deep personal of values -- including the values that advocate total human fulfillment. Total human fulfillment means material prosperity, health and well-being, as well as non-material psychological and spiritual fulfillment.

By shifting our orientation within to a deeper consciousness within, and away from the bubblings and blinding lights of the material surface, we begin to emerge out of the limited surface view of existence, and begin to perceive the wider currents and possibilities of life.  As a result, our values change, and we shift away from values that merely support material fulfillment, to values that also support psychological and spiritual fulfillment. When the American people value such depths of fulfillment, then she will merge as not only the economic leader, but also has a true cultural and spiritual leader.

So in the end, our individual movements towards higher consciousness will be the way out of the material obsessions that Americans have, whether the material obsession of the urban dweller, or the narrowly focused views of the pious who see the world through a narrow lens.

Growth Online:  So by going within we will be abandoning our vast material abundance for a more rounded psychological abundance. 

RP: I'm not sure I'd put it that way! We will not abandon our material abundance, just our attachment to it. The material well-being of the society is not something to be condemned, but is in fact a great development in world history, as personified by the US. In fact, the solid material foundation provides the very best conditions for our further psychological and spiritual progress. For example, look at how the hippy movement in the 60s tried to bring out such values. They were predominantly the children of a prosperous middle class.

But if we are stuck at the material level, then we open ourselves to a host of problems. For example, if we remain at that level then every time we develop a new technology, a negative symptom will arise.

Growth Online:  What do you mean?

RP: We see that when we unlocked the atom, we then created the greatest evil the world has known -- the nuclear bomb. We developed fast automobiles and jets but they pollute; we develop miraculous healing medicines that also poison through their side effects, and so forth.

When we rise above the mere material level, and also embrace human values, and thus sees things from a wider perspective than merely putting out a material product or inventing a material technology, then as thinking individuals who now see the multiplicity of issues involved -- social, psychological, material, etc, -- we will produce results that have less deleterious affect on society. Man who worships Man instead of matter, will create infinite abundance, but abundance that is harmonious, embracing levels of life -- materially, psychologically, and spiritually.

The material only view creates a negative symptom for each technical advance. e.g. atom bombs after the splitting of the atom. That's because man only sees the part, not the whole. If he saw all of the truths -- including the psychological/vital truths -- in his creation, he would produce more wholesome products. Being on the surface of life, we are locked into our ego -sense, our exclusivity which is knows only one ray, one part, excluding all of the rest. That leads to ignorance, falsehoods, and evil. When man looks within he sees the whole, and moves to knowledge, truth, and goodness.

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PART II
AMERICA'S RISE TO GREATNESS

Growth Online:  So how did the USA come to this great abundance, including this overly material view of existence

RP: (pause) Well, we inherited our materiality from the Europeans, who are also in their own way blindly material. It is really an issue of Western materialism. The difference is that we, i.e. we Americans, have turned it into an art form! (laughter)

(pause) Let me try to answer your question more directly. We can think of a long arc of evolutionary progress on earth. In my view, that arc begins with spirit. It is the spirit that the ancients experienced, especially in India, But then it mysteriously 'goes under ground," you might say so that the other planes first work out their evolution. That is an evolution from a physical-orientation, to a vital orientation to a mental one. Then the spirit can emerge from the mental, but now incorporating all that we have learned along the way, including the material laws of science and the inner psychological laws and values of Man.

Growth Online:  Can you be a little more specific?

RP: Yes. As I said, it is my belief that the truest aspect of spirit emerged in India, but did not spread around the world. Instead nature had other designs. First, she needed to develop religion in the Middle East, then the beginning of Mind with the Greeks, and then order, security, and stability, with the Romans, and then the abolition of hard religion with the renaissance in Europe, then Science and technology, culminating in us. Nature, i.e. the evolutionary part of life wanted to create a material foundation before the sprit, as represented and experienced thousands of years ago by the Rishis and other in India and elsewhere, was ready to flourish. There needed to be a material foundation for the spiritual.

We can say that man was first physical, in that he waged a struggle to survive. then he became social, i.e vital as he interacted with other people through trade, and now he is becoming mental, as he values values, believes in freedom and democracy, organization, computers, Internet, and so forth. Though in the West we are emerging as mental beings, our focus is still the excitement of the material world which arose during the Renaissance to overcome the utter falsehood that religion had become at the time. We have become excellent at knowing why religion has harmed us, especially in Europe, and we have developed our minds, especially as it relates to producing things, to technology, to applying science for the purpose of creating material well-being. However, a mind dedicated to material well-being alone misses the wider dimensions of Man, not to mention the infinite dimensions of Spirit.

The Spirit waits for man, especially Western man as embodied by the USA to develop psychologically beyond the technology-orientation, the material orientation. As the focus shifts to the psychological condition of man, not just the material status of man, the spirit that was there 3000 years ago, and is there now -- it is always there -- will begin to creep into society.

(to be continued)

The factors that catapulted the USA to infinite-like material success.

• it was her time in the evolutionary progress of the earth

• she faced a vast new virgin land, and had access to infinite physical endowments

• the people were hungry for a new start in the new world after oppression and limited opportunity in the old

• the people had the memory of and thus the full capacity to recreate Europe easily and rapidly

• her people were dedicated to hard work

• her people were dedicated to self-reliance

• to facilitate her productivity she took to enormously efficient and practical systems of organization

• she was continually refreshed by the energies of new immigrants

• the immigrants get along is a vast experiment in social harmony

• she was able to uncover the infinity of the material world

• her people felt they had the freedom and lack of social constraints so that they could rise to their full potential

• they believed in education

• power and authority was decentralized into the lower levels of society

 

MAIN POINTS The world is going through an evolutionary change. The USA shares in that and is undergoing its own unique individual evolutionary change (as are all nations.) The USA has discovered and released the infinite potentials at the material level. It has moved out to the rest of the world making us in essence the world leader. Material well-being is the sound foundation for psychological and spiritual growth of a society. The USA has that solid foundation. The USA has adopted powerful values that support material abundance -- e.g. self-reliance, freedom, honesty, integrity, hard work. The USA must move from material values only to other values that support Man -- i.e. the wholeness and fulfillment of the individual. Americans tend to "think with their bodies," i.e. they see the surface reality through their five senses, and are caught up in that surface. When they move from thinking only by what stimulates them on the outside, they will begin to think at a deeper level, which will enable greater perspective of life. On way that living on the surface manifest is being materialistic. Seeing material objects as an end in themselves rather than a means to something more important, psychological and spiritual fulfillment. If we begin to withdraw from the surface into the deeper parts of our being within, we will establish the foundation for greater mindfulness, better insight, decisions, and actions. (This is something all peoples of the world can do.) Beyond the material plane that we see is the psychological and spiritual plane. The US has fulfillment at the material, but little at the psychological level of human fulfillment, and next to nothing at the spiritual. The Spirit is the essence. Religious, which was founded by teachers who lived one ray of that essence, has lost connection with its spiritual source, instead focusing on dogma and ritual, or narrow social points of view. Not only do they not even see the essence of the one ray of their founders mission, but they don't see all of the other rays and makeup and dynamis of the spirit. Thus religion, lives in almost total Ignorance. When it acts on the Ignorance, which is often has, it moves to falsehood, and at times evil itself. Religion has become anachronism, and needs to be replaced by rationality of mind and the pure many-dimensional knowledge and experience of the Spirit. Fundamentalism here and elsewhere are anachronistic and reactionary. Even the major leadership of religions are fully out of touch with the emerging evolution of Nature, which is hiding an even deeper evolution for consciousness and Spirit. The movement to urban centers is a progressive movement. There people discover the cross-currents of thought; are exposed to the many rays of truth. Unfortunately, people there, as on the coasts of the US get too caught up in the vital and sensations, which they must overcome to discover the even higher spiritual evolutionary truths. At least these people are moving in the right direction, even if they are blinded by vital sensations. The material only view creates a negative symptom for each technical advance. e.g. atom bombs after the splitting of the atom. That's because man only sees the part, not the whole. If he saw all of the truths -- including the psychological/vital truths -- in his creation, he would produce more wholesome products. Being on the surface of life, we are locked into our ego -sense, our exclusivity which is knows only one ray, one part, excluding all of the rest. That leads to ignorance, falsehoods, and evil. When man looks within he sees the whole, and moves to knowledge, truth, and goodness. People are moving to the vital sensations -- drugs, alcohol, intense music, sexuality -- because the family is breaking down (especially in the West), with nothing substantial to replace it. the family breaking down is also a positive evolutionary movement. The problem is to find a replacement. there is one, the connection with the spirit within so that one can develop a true individuality and stand by himself in connection with society. Nature has progressed through a long arc to the present time. From religion of Middle East to the development of Mind in Greece, to the security and organizations of the Roman Empire to the rationality and science of the Renaissance to the development of technology as developed by the USA. This is one reason the USA is the vanguard. She ahs been chosen by Nature to help unfold this stage of our evolution. However, we must now move to the next stage which is the psychological and spiritual. The US can help lead us there. (The sprit was there even before the religious, especially in India, and now she plays a special role with the USA of bringing the Spirit to the fore as the next stage of human evolution. The 20th century was the century of the emergence of the common man. The 21st century will witness the emergence of the Spiritual Man.

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Additional Information:

• Please see Growth Online Mini-thoughts on the Future Evolution of the USA. Go

• Please see Growth Online's 'The USA Center': New Pathways to the Psychological & Spiritual Evolution of the United States. Go

• Please see Growth Online's 'Society's Evolution': New Insights into Humanity's Future. Go

 

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