Wednesday 9 March 2016

The concept of teleology - the creation of everything

On reflection, I think that teleology must be of the nature of following a blueprint plus instructions - in other words, teleology entails achieving what is already in existence conceptually.

And therefore teleology is not a matter of following a particular direction towards some as-yet unrealized condition. In other words, with teleology, the destination must be foreknown - you have to know where you are going.

This means that in a teleological, purposive concept of evolution on earth; the perceptible evolutionary sequence must be conceptualized as a process of incremental - step-by-step - development towards a situation which already exists as a plan.

Indeed, this must be the case if things are to be coordinated - the coordination of nature, of reality, must be 'top-down' - so that things evolve to occupy pre-ordained 'slots'.

(This is not to deny that other types of evolution are working against this plan - for example entropic change and natural selection.)

The unifying purpose - to make more Deities from Men

The primary purpose of evolution is to make more Deities - the highest type of consciousness, this is achieved by the deification of Men - so the intermediate purpose is to make Men - which is done via raising animal consciousness, which is done by raising plant consciousness, which is the first obvious form of 'life' itself derived from the primordial level of the simplest and minimal level of baseline life and consciousness which is found in the mineral, physical world (a world that is usually assumed to be non-living and non-conscious). 


1. First half of evolution: Creating the plan

So, the evolutionary history of life on earth comes in two halves - the evolution of the plan then the realization of the plan; but the first half is usually neglected.

The plan evolves into a hierarchy from the simple unity of purpose at the top ('deity'), and down through layers of higher 'governing entities' concerned with advanced consciousness ('angels'), middle entities concerned with animal and plant life ('nature spirits'), and mineral entities concerned with the basic organization of matter in terms of what we would term physics and chemistry - elementary particles, fundamental forces, elements, molecules etc.

So - top-down, simplified, and descending in a pyramidal fashion, with greater numbers of simpler and more specialized governing entities at each lower level:

1. Deity
2. Angels
3. Animal then Plant Nature Spirits

4. Physical spirits

These entities are all purposive, conscious and cognitive - that is, they are capable of thought, analysis, modelling - but at very different levels. The idea is that there are extremely large numbers of extremely simple physical entities; and many-fold fewer numbers of (say) angels having far greater levels of consciousness and cognitive ability.

The first half of evolution involves the development of these purposive entities from the top downwards - until before the physical realization of creation has begun, the above hierarhcy of entities is already in place.

So this is the plan - containing both the 'blueprint' of the end result, and the step-by-step 'instructions' of how to achieve it.

2. Second half of evolution: implementing the plan

The assumption is that such a vast and complex plan cannot be implemented in one step - but requires multiple incremental steps - because only so much, some finite degree of organization, can be attained in a single step.

Therefore, at each stage the process requires the building-blocks to be ready - pre-prepared. So the first stage is to make the most primary building blocks and elaborate them stepwise until they are suitable to make first plant, then animal life of increasing complexity and consciousness; sexual reproduction, animal society; then Men - and then to raise the consciousness of Men towards Deity.

The history and sequence of evolution of and on earth is therefore the reverse direction from that of the governing entities:

4. The basic stuff and forces of the universe - The universe, solar system, earth; the physico-chemical 'mineral' structures of earth - done by Physical Spirits
3. The origins of life, elaboration of life through plants and animals via specialization and coordination and sexual selection - done by Nature Spirits
2. Origins of Man - done by Angels
1. Deification of Man - done by God

The second half of evolution is - overall - therefore a process akin to (but vastly more complex and long-lasting than) the development of the fertilized egg into an organism; in the sense that it is a growth and unfolding by multiple stages towards a previously established and planned end-point.

And each and all of the major stages, as well as the integration of the whole plan, are guided by governing entities.


Conclusion: To put the whole matter extremely simply: the structure of creation is first established as a plan by the hierarchical structure of governing entities which evolve from the top downwards getting simpler and simpler as they descend; then secondly creation is organized by these governing entities from the bottom upwards, from simplest to most complex, such that the pattern of actual creation is mapped-onto the pattern of the governing entities in the reverse direction from the formation of the governing entities.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kabbalah does this too.

Gnosticism half does it - which is why it is incorrect. The descent from God down through lower levels of the God-Mind to the lower levels of aeons (aspects of God). The material is a mistake, created by the illegitimate child of the Mother acting without God's permission, whereas your system and Kabbalah do not make that error - the spiritual and the material are part of the same intentional process.

The Genesis story does it too from Big bang to creation of worlds, stars sun, moon, plants, animals humans. Possible to see something deeper:

Gen 1 - everything is created, Man on the sixth day - possible to see this as the creation of the concepts in the highest heaven because in -

Gen 2 - Man is created again (in the garden - possible to see this as a lower heaven). Both the man and woman are naked (without flesh) - at this point they are created spirits only (naked meaning without material bodies because they are not yet in the material realm).

Gen 3 - Man and woman are thrown out of Eden and given animal skins to wear (made material - in the flesh) onto the earth - lowest level in Kabbalah - Malkuth.

It is how I read Genesis - the Fall then becomes a part of the plan - the Fall is the descent through the stages of highest heaven, down through lower heavens to the material earth.

The rest of the Bible is about humanity attempting to ascend through the heavens (spiritual states) back to God - with the knowledge of good and evil, which they got in Eden (lowest heaven before the material earth) but having chosen good.

I see your theory as the best explanation yet of creation. It takes the science and the deeper spiritual essence out of the stories, and puts them together in a convincing and cohesive whole.

The ancients had it correct - they knew it through mystical access to the real, the spiritual truth. Throughout history in all cultures, mystics have accessed these essential truths. Christianity is the fulfillment of the truths, and evolutionary theory only adds to the knowledge. You have fused them. Now it is a matter of time before other scientists catch up. Physicists are on their way, much to their discomfort and astonishment, biology lags behind.

But in time ....

Seeker

Bruce Charlton said...

@Seeker - There are similarities; but differences too!

David said...

It all makes so much sense, the mote i think on it the more baffling it is to me that people can still flatly deny the existence of God, meaning and purpose, or teleology in nature. I am reading the William Arkle material you referenced for me and the feelings of 'coming home,' a beautiful realisation that there is a God who loves us, a plan for our development and purpose on Earth, a feeling that the sting of death need not be feared as a ghastly annihilation as our misguided civilisation would have it. It makes my heart soften and grow with tenderness and a willingness to do whatever I can to serve the creator of such a profoundly beautiful order of creation. I want to reach out to my fellow man, to tell them they need not fear if they just allow their hearts to soften and receive the blessings that our creator dearly wants to bestow upon us. I sit amongst colleagues on a lunch break and marvel at the wonder of it all. Hoe can it be that so many of us are so confused for so long about who we are. It seems like a magic spell cast by an evil faerie. They sleep walk, they 'know' they have 'free-will' but if you ask most people they will tell you they are biological robots. Our generation have been truely brain - washed and we still brain - wash ourselves. I want to sing it from the roof tops!

Dear Lord the Gospel is true,
Wake up,
Wake up,
Wake up,
Jesus loves you.