[MD] Catching up to Pirsig

[markhsmit]

Aloha g,

I loved your post.  I find that evolution is much easier to understand through
the concept of attraction.  In previous posts I have likened the evolutionary
tree to the delta of a river as it approaches the ocean.  The attracting force is
gravity, and natural selection is the terrain.  The gene pool is the river as
it subdivides due to the pressures of the terrain.  Sometimes these branches
dead-end, others keep branching.

The actual shaping force of the "outside" environment is intimately creating
new species, as the overall driving force pulls them.  This does not only happen
through genetic sequence selection on a generational basis, but also happens
within generations where the experiences of an organism causes it to change
and these changes are actually passed along to the offspring.  The area
of genetics studying this is termed epigenetics.  So through epigenetics (by
such methods as DNA methylation), "learned" behavior is passed along as
phenotypic expression and is not related to DNA sequence.

The reason I bring this up is that evolutionary control is occurring at every
moment.  That is through the force of natural selection (some call this God, but not me).

In terms of the concept of 2012, I enjoy all the different interpretations of this
prophesy.  Is it perhaps the internet that will enable this fusion and ultimate
expression of the group consciousness?  Is the change to be sudden or slow?

 McKenna's adventures, with his brother, in lateral symbol manipulation and resulting
conclusions is one possible interpretation.  McKenna was able to think somewhat
laterally since he disinhibited serotonin produced logical thinking through specific
chemical analogue introduction.    He was, however,privy to wide conceptual tools, 
that had evolved through wide group interaction, and was able to group these in
 different ways through chemically induced thought hallucinations.
However, this does not make his interpretation any more valid than say Kafka's or Buddhas
The Hindu concept of large time cycles.

The strength of the 2012 concept lies in the math.  If indeed
math is behind our thought progression, in a Kaballah way, there is reason
to think that it is predictable.  Intuitively we may already know what the result is,
and can express it in sociologic terms.

Cheers,
Willblake2



On Apr 15, 2009, at 6:27:16 PM, gav <gav_gc at yahoo.com.au> wrote:

hiya monkeys,

time and space, being static patterns, are abstracted from the eternal omnipresent. all past and future is here now; each point contains the entire universe (i am assuming that people get this, otherwise i will have to write a lot more). 

teilhard de chardin understood this and it helped him shape his orthogenetic theory of evolution. put simply, it is the idea (also favored and eloquently related by terence mckenna) that an attractor 'pulls' evolution towards it - towards an 'omega point' in de chardin's terminology. 

as i have said this is entirely logical if you understand the relative nature of time and space.



the best way we can interrogate evolution is existentially - as this provides us with the most empirical data. 1)do we evolve? 2)how does it happen? 

1) yes. i am sure that i have changed over the years - i have gained knowledge, experience, a little wisdom i hope. in short i feel more complete and sufficient in myself than say 10 years ago.

2) through suffering. suffering is the negative face of quality. it forces us to comprehend the why of suffering and through that understanding integrates it within a larger conception of the self.

evolution is the topic du jour. we are accelerating through an evolutionary bottleneck which is predicted to culminate in dec 2012. the current climatic, economic and personal instability are symptomatic of this period of rapid change.... and things will change more rapidly as we reach the end of this age - mckennas timewave zero study of the i ching is very interesting in this regard. 

i see the end of the mayan 5th age (the end of time) as being an awakening of jung's collective unconscious - which is the same thing as de chardin's noosphere, or the gaian mind. jung always said that synchronicity was natural time - which again complements the idea of an end to (psychological) time.

remember what the word evolution actually means (how often is the answer we seek right in front of us i wonder?) - UNFOLDING. it is an expansion - an expansion into awareness of what already exists but is hidden.

cheers
g