For those of us chosen to embark on this thing we call the journey of the spirit, the scenes are all too familiar. We are having a discussion with a friend about an esoteric topic that interests us and begin to notice that the friend has no idea what we are talking about and no interest in pursuing the topic. The relationship we are in has become strained and out of balance because the other person neither understands nor is interested in what we need to pursue in our lives. Those around us who we are close to us have become angry and concerned for us because we no longer seem to share in the activities in which they would have us participate. Parents begin to doubt our sanity and worry about what will become of us if we do not come to our senses. We seem out of sync with not only those around us but with the reality that defines their lives. And yet we continue the journey because we cannot pretend that there is anything else worth doing. And when we actually try to fit in by participating in the real world that surrounds us, there arises from the depths of our being the knowledge that what we are doing is just not right.

  Why we are called to this journey is a bit of a mystery. What we do know is that we have always been called. Even as children, we saw more than the other children and found ourselves drawn to what they could not see. Strange beings would visit us in our rooms when we were alone or visions of other realities would be visited upon us leaving seeds within that would come to fruition as we grew older. Or, for some of us, it was simply a matter of not being like those around us in our predilections or interests. A feeling of always being out of synch with those in our own age group. And as we grew, we would find ourselves trying to fit in to the world around us only to discover time and again that it was somehow not where we belonged.

  As adults, we find ourselves inextricably drawn to the esoteric and wonder why those around us are not. But this should not surprise us, evolution has always worked in this way. When the time is right, organisms appear that posses the physiology necessary to access higher states of consciousness. The river of time flows in this direction. The ordinary consciousness of animals had to wait for the human brain to develop  before the next level we call self-awareness could manifest on the planet. And this process did not happen over night. In the beginning, there would have only been a few individuals possessing this capability and they too must have felt out of synch with those around them. We can imagine them wondering why they were different and being on the lookout for other individuals who were also beginning to see the world in this new way.

  We can begin to understand this process by looking at studies done on animals and consciousness. In one such study by G.G.Gallup, self-recognition was tested on animals through the use of mirrors. In most of the animals tested, the image in the mirror was seen as another animal and treated as such. It did not matter how many times they were exposed to the mirror, the results were always the same. However, when chimpanzees were used, something very different occurred. In the beginning, they would, like the other animals, see the image as another animal. But after a time, their behavior would change and they would begin to notice that the image in the mirror was mimicking their own. They would eventually come to see the image as themselves and would notice changes in their appearance as perceived in the mirror. They were behaving much like four year old children would in a similar circumstance. The difference being that this was as far as they could take this process whereas a child continues to develop in this way until the sense of self is fully developed.

  Chimpanzees are our closest relatives in the animal world. The difference in DNA is less than one percent. But this one percent is the difference between self-aware and non self-aware. And during historic times, this one percent  was selected for because self-awareness allows for the manipulation of the material world in ways that greatly increase the probability of survival for those animals that posses it. What we need to understand is that it could not be selected for until the DNA showed up in the animal. Why this DNA should appear at this time is a question that we cannot answer except to say that it is simply the direction in which life is flowing. The Universe was conspiring to produce a being capable of self-awareness. Even science is coming to this conclusion. Physicists have found that the constants in nature such as the mass of a proton and the charge of an electron must be what they are in order for the universe to exist. Any variation in these values would make the development of life impossible. In other words, the evidence is beginning to strongly suggest that the evolution of life and consciousness on this planet and perhaps others is the reason the universe exists. And this evolution is rooted in the ever changing nature of matter and energy. The ability to access higher levels of awareness has its basis in the physiology of the organism.

  What the experiments with the chimpanzees suggests is that the biological evolution that brought about the advent of self-awareness must have occurred over a long period of time as the result of increasing numbers of individuals being born who possessed the necessary physiology to support this trait. Imagine a group of apes in prehistoric times who have developed to the point where they, like the chimpanzees, have the awareness of a four year old child. Now imagine an individual being born into the group who has enough new DNA to allow him to be at the level of a five year old. What would it be like for this individual? His awareness of the world around him would be greater than the awareness of others in the group and he would therefore find himself behaving in different ways than those around him. Behavior that might cause him to be rejected by the others if it weren’t for the advantage he would have in terms of survival.

  Who knows how long it took for these apes to become fully aware of themselves as distinct individuals capable of abstract thought and the development of language. The evolution of consciousness has its own timetable and we do not need to concern ourselves with what this might be. What we do need to concern ourselves with is the mechanism by which this evolution is brought about. If we can understand the part that biological evolution plays in the evolution of consciousness, then we can begin to understand why those of us drawn to the spiritual journey find ourselves at odds with those around us. We can begin to see that our perception of the world is different because the physiology is different. We are those individuals who find themselves at the next level and, just like the apes, those around us do not understand our behavior because they cannot know this level.

  But evolution is at work here and this capacity to connect with these higher levels will be selected for because our survival on this planet depends on it. If human beings continue to see the consumption of the material world as the only purpose for being here, then the planet will be consumed and that will be the end of it. But what if there were experiences available to us that were far more fulfilling than any available in the material realm? What if transcendent experiences like unconditional love and even enlightenment were real and attainable? What if we were able to walk through a Redwood forest and have it be far more fulfilling than any ride at Disneyland? What if we all understood that transcending the separateness in which we find ourselves is the real reason we are here?

  In this world, nature would become our ally in helping us to understand the connectedness of all things instead of something to be consumed. Caring for one another would be valued as a way to see ourselves in those around us. And children would be seen as ourselves projected into the future and treated accordingly. As a species, we would begin to actively participate in our own evolution. But until this comes about, we must deal with being part of a minority of individuals that knows the possibility even exists.

  And if we are a part of this minority, then what are we to do to further this process. The first thing we need to do is pay attention to our own journey. If we yield to the world and become like those around us, then we do nothing to further evolution. If we follow our own paths, then we attain these higher truths and become a means by which others can also attain them. The second thing we need to do is to support one another. If we do not seek each other out and create our own support systems, then the world will keep us isolated and ineffectual because it does not understand us and sees us as a threat to the status quo. The third thing we need to do is understand that, at this point in time, most people are not going to be able to relate to higher levels of consciousness and there is no point in trying to force the issue. The most we can do is to search out those who have the potential to realize these higher levels and do what we can to further their journey. In time,the species will evolve and we will no longer find ourselves in the minority. Until then, it falls upon us as torch bearers to show the way to those willing and able to follow.