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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

R-eVolution

“While the rest of the species is descended from apes, redheads are descended from cats." -Mark Twain


If you traveled 40,000 years back in time, you’d find 2 types of beings most closely related to humans. First you’d see Neanderthals which were short, hairy, monkey-like humans. And existing, in some places, side-by-side with the Neanderthals, you’d have found Cro-Magnons which would have appeared exactly as modern day humans. However, these Cro-Magnons lived very simple lives using primitive bone and stone tools. A Cro-Magnon would be frustrating to a time traveler who’d want to go up and ask this “fellow human being” for advice and directions. Still not evolved enough to form sounds and create articulate sentences, the Cro-Magnon might muster a grunt or a whistle. But as Jared Diamond wrote in The Third Chimpanzee, these Cro-Magnons were “anatomically fully modern people” and certainly had the mental capacity to fly a plane…it’s just that a plane (let alone a wagon) had yet to be invented.

I’d like to pose this question. If another time traveler came from 40,000 years in the future and traveled back in time to the present day, he would emerge from the time machine and see us humans driving the freeways and walking the cities. In what ways would present-day humans (like you or I) seem primitive to future humans?


1. We Don’t Know How to Use The Brain

A future human would see a present-day human stuck in her mind. We present-day humans tend to think the same thoughts day after day and often fail to quiet the mind and allow for innovation and imagination. The yogi Iyengar writes about an ‘infinite intelligence,’ “What a shame it is that we have such access and ignore its use and development. We are like someone with a vast fortune locked up in a numbered bank account who forgets the number and so much scrapes by in poverty.” Future humans will recognize the importance of a daily ritual or mechanism (like a meditation machine) that enables access to a deeply present moment. In such a relaxed yet focused state, one accesses a fresh flow of ideas.

You best accelerate your evolution by recognizing that to strengthen the mind, you quiet the mind. Dare to take a siesta next time you’re struggling with drumming up a new idea. As Eckhart Tolle said, “There is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought.”

2. We Don’t Know How to Control ‘Fire’


Jared Diamond writes that the control of fire was a major reason why Cro-Magnons evolved so quickly and left Neanderthals in the dust. For present-day humans, ‘fire’ is conflict. All too often, we allow conflict to knock us down and hold us back. Imagine the conflict in your life to be a strong wind and if you position yourself with the wind at your back, it can fuel your fire. Kenji Miyazawa said, "We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey." Future humans with greater access to the present moment will enjoy enhanced perspective on their lives. They will realize that the greater the conflict, the stronger the wind.

3. We Can Enhance our Personal Sense of Faith

It’s one thing to be religious but it’s another to have a personal faith. I know that I struggle with really and truly believing and trusting in something Greater. Patricia Aberdeen hints at what future humans will surely make a bigger part of daily living: personal spirituality. She writes, “At some point the divine energy within us reaches a tipping point and a social epidemic might simmer along just out of view until one day it’s ready to explode.” Present-day humans’ frustration with endless communication and information is reaching a boiling point…how will the pot boil over?






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posted by David Romanelli @ 8:59 AM