It’s Simple — We Evolve or We Die

Notice, I said humanity has progressed. Some ‘doomers’ deny this and think humanity is just one big mistake, without any redeeming features. But I see things a bit differently. I can think of several crucial ways humanity has progressed; the problem is that our progress hasn’t been sufficient to avert disaster, protect our planet home, or ensure our continuation as a species.

All over the world, the ‘dominator/conqueror’ model of human life still prevails, despite our sincere efforts over the past few centuries to rein it (ourselves) in and live more harmoniously and peacefully.

Some progress has occurred, for sure: we have (almost) entirely abolished slavery; many nations and societies have transitioned from monarchies or dictatorships to more democratic forms of governance; many millions of people experience more personal freedom; and many millions have been lifted out of dire poverty and suffering. Our scientific and industrial progress has allowed our lives (for many, but not nearly all) to be far more stable and comfortable than ever before.

. . .

That is — until now. Our vaunted progress has now stalled, and instead, we find ourselves facing a vast ‘polycrisis’ or ‘permacrisis’ of our own making. It seems that humanity has reached a dead end; we are faced with the certain knowledge that our insufficient progress will spell doom for us IF we don’t consciously evolve and change our ways.

The crucial progress we’ve made so far shows that progress and change are possible for humanity — yet the vast changes in our societies and economies over the past century have come at a very steep cost. The simultaneous, rapid rise in both human population and our voracious ‘consumerism’ has wreaked havoc on our planet’s ecological and climate systems and hurled us into dire ecological ‘overshoot.’ The Earth can no longer ‘handle’ our excessive gobbling of resources or our destructive impact on other life forms.

Things have to change. That means WE have to change.

The vast counter-reaction against evolution and positive change

However, the fact that human evolution and change are deeply needed doesn’t ensure they will happen. Far from it.

In stark contrast, over the past few decades, we’ve witnessed a vast counter-reaction against all attempts to grow, evolve, and change our uncaring, destructive ways. The human potential and environmental movements of the 70s, 80s, and 90s have largely been undermined, hamstrung, or even reversed — to the point that now the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency of the U.S., is overturning or gutting many crucial environmental protections and regulations and reversing many of its vital policies! That’s how crazy things are getting, as humanity confronts — and resists dealing with — its colossal failures and the ongoing damage we’re causing.

The vast, spreading counter-reaction against conscious evolution and responsible stewardship of our planet is having dire consequences. At the very time when we need to be upping our game and working even harder to evolve, grow, and change… many of us are doing the exact opposite.

Governments around the world are reverting to ‘strong man’ rule, the gulf between rich and poor is widening fast, deep psychotherapy and healing are being replaced by ‘control of symptoms’ via medications, and our commitment to ecological protections is waning or even being reversed.

What the heck is going on? Why are all these negative, destructive trends accelerating now?

Separating the wheat from the chaff

My take on all this is that there’s an intensifying, accelerating ‘bifurcation’ of humanity taking place. As the Bible sometimes puts it, ‘the wheat is being separated from the chaff.’

Again, it’s quite simple. Those who choose to learn, evolve, and relate more kindly and consciously with other humans and all of life will eventually survive and thrive, precisely because they are adapting to our real-world circumstances and truly evolving. Those who resist growth and evolution may seem more ‘powerful’ in the short term, and may in fact possess far more earthly power — for now — but they are living ‘dinosaurs’ who are stuck in a vanishing past and are evolutionary dead ends.

As Bob Dylan put it in his famed protest anthem “The Times They Are A-Changin’,”

. . .

If it’s true that there’s a vast global process of ‘separating the wheat from the chaff’ occurring throughout humanity, what are the implications?

First, I’d say that the cadre of evolving, more conscious humans may seem powerless — especially today — but it is this segment of humanity that is truly fit to survive and thrive in the future.

Weirdly, most of today’s un-Christlike ‘Christians’ may not be in this evolving group. They believe they are ‘saved’ and think they’ll be protected and even whisked away in ‘the Rapture’ — yet they mainly adhere to old, destructive beliefs and often support misogyny, racism, cruelty, and ecological mayhem. Some even hope for and want the earth to be destroyed by ‘God’s wrath’!

Sorry, fake ‘Christians,’ but that’s one of the most UNloving and spiteful belief systems I’ve ever encountered. It surely does not mean you are ‘saved,’ nor does it show growth or positive evolution. It places you firmly in the camp of the separated ‘chaff.’

Our near-term prospects are grim

Here’s another implication. Since the vast majority of human beings, so far, are not embracing conscious growth and evolution — while many are now moving in reverse and embracing greed, hate, racism, cruelty, and destruction — our near-term prospects are looking increasingly grim.

It didn’t have to be this way. Due to developments in ‘green technologies,’ psychology, emotional therapy, and global trade, humanity now has the capability to consciously change course. We can control or partially reverse the damage we are causing to our planet and its many living creatures. Yet appallingly, we mainly don’t want to utilize this new knowledge or these capabilities. Instead, we spend our time and energy resisting or undermining the necessary growth and changes.

This deadly phenomenon — human resistance to growth and conscious evolution — may prove to be our undoing. As noted earlier, we have entered a time of vast, burgeoning ‘polycrisis’ and accelerating disruption, so if ever a drastic change of heart, mind, and action was called for, it’s now.

The perhaps insoluble problem is that most humans are not stepping up to the challenge. Most of us are burying our heads in the sand or finding endless ways to distract ourselves or divert our attention. Most of us are NOT choosing to learn, grow, heal, and consciously evolve.

The final daunting implication

Here’s the final, frightening implication: most of humanity is not going to make it. Some humans will survive, of course, as will most life forms. But the ‘human dinosaurs’ who refuse to grow or change are truly evolutionary dead ends and will be cast aside by the creative powers of the universe. In the long-range picture, they are the useless, toxic ‘chaff’ that will slowly die off and disappear.

It’s an ugly, painful scenario — but it seems to be the true picture of what’s happening all across the planet. Humanity has reached the limits of its unevolved, semi-conscious ‘progress’ — and now a new kind of growth, evolution, and progress is called for.

Will we step up? Will we or can we rise to this challenge? The next decade or two will tell the tale.

Conscious growth is our only true super-power

So far, I’d say that humanity as a whole is failing miserably at this new task.

Increasingly, it looks like the choice to not grow and evolve is humanity’s favored direction, so it must be said: the bulk of humanity is making the clear choice not to survive, long-term, and not to become loving, responsible, conscious stewards of our planet.

This means the majority of humans are choosing eventual death and oblivion rather than opening to evolutionary growth. Most humans are choosing resistance, destruction, and final obliteration. Most of us are siding with the forces of unconsciousness and death, and rejecting the glorious growth and evolution that are available and open to us.

. . .

But you, dear reader, do not have to be among the ranks of these ‘living dead.’ You can still personally and deeply choose to learn, grow, and evolve.

When faced with the choice to ‘evolve or die,’ you can still choose life, growth, and conscious evolution. No matter what our societies or those around us are doing, each of us has the innate power to choose openness, love, and conscious growth.

It may be the only real, functional super-power we possess.

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This post was previously published on ILLUMINATION.

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