Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl01043)

Alexis writes,

> When we are speaking of the developmental changes which took humanity from
> Homo-Erectus to Homo-Sapiens, we're talking physical evolution.

Alex -- this is the heart of the matter.  HPB's entire work goes to try and
show that NOTHING in evolution is purely physical, even below the "Abyss"
that Jerry S. is fond of speaking about.

According to the S.D., and really HPB's lifework, evolution is TRIPLE:
physical, mental and spiritual.  And of the three, the physical is the least
important from the point of view of Causes.  The physical, we are told (and
it makes sense) reflects the PSYCHIC and SPIRITUAL needs of the organism in
order that it may manifest according to its (evolving) nature.

To reduce evolution, even a short stretch of it, to purely physical
adaptation, is to really buy into materialistic science far more than you may
recognize.  Rupert Sheldrake is one of those offering a far more
comprehensive view, along with the position mentioned by Jerry S. of
symbiosis.

> In fact, anthropogenesis has only to do with
> the physical. There is no spiritual difference between people of allegedly
> different races.

Is this true?  From our first appearance on this planet, has humanity gained
not an inch of spirituality?  Again, this strikes me as prevarication:
"spirituality" can refer to one's relationship to the Absolute.  In this, it
seems, not only are all humans, but all manifestation, in exact parity.

But "spirituality" can also refer to monadic development.  As in,
"Self-consciousness" meaning not merely mental awareness, but consciousness
of the SELF.  In that sense, people vary widely.  I cannot speak for the
races today definitively (who can?) but at the risk of being accused of being
quite a racist, I will point out that various groups of people are known for
having specialized in something or other, and having developed it to a high
degree.  Indian thinkers are well known for the heights of spiritual
abstraction which they have attained, soaring far above the material world --
while thinkers in East Asia are generally excellent at explaining Spirit in
Nature, a more manifest spirituality.  You will never find haiku becoming a
fad among Hindu ascetics.

There are interpersonal differences, there are international differences, and
it doesn't seem too far of a stretch to suggest racial differences,
particularly when one considers not the races on the earth now (which are
largely amalgamated, and hardly distinct even physically) but races which
have come and gone.  What was the LAKSHANA or specific mark of the Atlantean
compared to the Lemurian or the Fifth Race person?