This post concerns Cosmic evolution, Biological evolution, Cultural evolution, and Self-evolution and their relationship to rigidity and plasticity. Yes, I it is true that we live in a complex and changing Universe that is unfolding, flowing, fluid, renewing, and where everything is in a state of flux. However, many of the changes that happen are very slow. It was Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who stated, “nature seen at a distance appears to be malleable and in motion, but seek to lay hands on it, to deflect by force even the least of its directions, and you will encounter nothing but absolute rigidity, an unshakably stubborn refusal to depart from the preordained path.” (1964) Cosmic evolution is the most rigid (slowly evolves). That is, cosmological evolution happens in an oscillating, unfolding, and expanding Universe over millions and billions of years. Biological evolution is the process of species evolving that unfolds over thousands and in some cases millions of years. Daniel Goleman referred to the “slow, deliberate focus of (biological) evolution.” (1995) Cultural evolution is societies and communities evolving that takes place over 25-50-100’s of years.  Frank Tallis maintained that, “human nature is conservative, and communities change slowly.” (2004) However, according to a hero of mine, Jane Goodall, “when compared with the ponderous crawl through time of physical evolution, cultural evolution leads to change in lightning speed.” (1999) I view self-evolution as a process of unfolding that takes place over the lifetime of a person, within the society we are born into. Personal developmental evolution is the …

In a previous post I discussed Gradual Self-Evolution, that is that long biological and cultural developmental process that we all go through from birth to death. I now focus on Deliberate Self-Evolution, and the major role  it plays in the Theory of Balanceology. I designate deliberate evolution as a purposive process of self-evolution. Deliberate evolution is making an attempt to advance and enhance one’s life. It is a process whereby we endeavor to understand and accept our nature, experience our needs, review our current view of reality, and to make some sense of our current existence. It is a process of asking the philosophical questions of “Who am I?,” “What am I?,” and “What is my place in the Cosmos? I highly appraise deliberate self-evolution because it involves honest questioning, healthy skepticism, and the ability to raise doubts. It is an effort to review the socialization norms of one’s native culture and to honestly evaluate one’s current beliefs, values, attitudes, and societal expectations. It is the process of keeping beliefs, values, attitudes, and social expectations that are working for us, and jettisoning those that aren’t working. Deliberate self-evolution encourages being the director of one’s life story. It is choosing to be the Architect of My Life!  Self-evolution for me, has been a journey where I made a decision to have a readiness and an eagerness to develop a new worldview, philosophy, vision, mission, and values, and to find a path to better know myself. For any of us, I contend …

In my discussion on evolution, I take a broad view and study of it concerning Cosmic evolution, biological evolution, cultural evolution, and self-evolution.  For me, self-evolution is the most important type of evolution for us, because it is a view of evolution that we can have the most control over  (if we choose to).  I now state that self-evolution can take two forms or paths:  gradual self-evolution and deliberate self-evolution. Gradual evolution is that normal developmental process that we all go through from infancy to old age:  i. e. natural human growth stages. It is an evolutionary journey of on-the-fly learning about oneself biologically, emotionally, psychologically, intellectually, behaviorally, and socially. Gradual evolution is being indoctrinated into the norms of the society and culture of birth. It is the familial, societal, religious, and cultural instructions into being a homme moyen ——> the common man. Gradual evolution is the commonality of learning about one’s sexuality, morality,  what loves means, and our different levels of consciousness. It is schooling oneself about one’s unique strengths, skills, attributes, and abilities. It is acquiring the skills it takes to manage life. It is experiencing human nature and our own nature. Importantly, gradual evolution is learning how to experience and satisfy our inherent needs. And, crucially it is learning how to connect, bond, live with, and love other humans. Gradual evolution is that micro self-evolutionary psycho-social path where minor developmental changes slowly unfold over time.

In previous posts, I discussed Cosmic Evolution, Biological Evolution, and Cultural Evolution.  However, Self-evolution is the level of evolution I am most excited about discussing and writing about. I view self-evolution as the most important level of evolution, because it is about us and if we choose too we can have the most control over.  In my narrative, personal evolution increasingly becomes more prominent.  That is, I progressively focus on self-evolution (and to some degree cultural-evolution). I hypothesize each one of us is on our own personal evolutionary journey, and each one of us can have a major say in writing the narrative of our own story. I attempt to make a case that the Theory of Balanceology is a nature-based philosophical and psychological paradigm having a teleological focus aimed at self-evolution and cultural-evolution. Evolutionarily, Nature has laid the groundwork for each one of us to have the ability to become awakened to ourselves, and to start a process towards personal evolution. Neale Walsh maintained that, “life is the process of awakening. It is the process of becoming. It is the process of knowing that one has become what one always was. It is the process of enjoining the inseparable.” (2004) Self-evolution is a journey that involves an awakening process of how we can undertake to have greater satisfaction of nature-based needs, greater meaning in our life, advanced levels of balance, and enhanced levels of health. To reiterate –> the Theory  of Balanceology includes my effort to construct a workable worldview and …

Each one of us is a biological creature born into an evolving culture. Each person is born in a certain area of Planet Earth. I am fortunate to have been born in the Great Plain’s state of North Dakota, and in the United States of America. I am proud to have now lived in the state of Indiana for many years. Herbert Spencer focused on cultural evolution. For Spencer, cultures and societies evolve by natural laws just the same as biology. I maintain cultures are man-made and they are influenced by nature-made laws. I  float the idea that cultural evolution is dependent on the extent of natural human biological evolution. Cultures are also dependent on the collective evolution of individuals in a society —-> more about self-evolution in a post to come. All cultures and societies will unfold and change over time. It is because of natural law contributions to cultural evolution, I felt the need to include cultures in the Theory of Balanceology. Louis Leakey suggested that it is the evolutionary advanced human brain that has allowed cultures to evolve (1978). The modern human brain is 30-40,000 years old, and has been able to create communities 10,000 years ago, and early civilizations around 6,000 years ago —–> eg. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia “the land between the rivers,” Ancient Chinese culture, the Mayan culture, and the civilization of the Indus River Valley. Our 30-40,000 year old critical thinking brain has created tremendous material advancements. The last 400 years have especially …

I have a better understanding and appreciation for biological evolution when I view it as being embedded in Cosmic evolution. Primack and Abrams maintained that “to choose life is to nurture and protect the cosmic process.” (2006) Karl Peters advanced the notion that biological evolution is “the creative system of evolving life in an evolving universe.” (2002) Theodosius Dobzhansky insisted that, “nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” (1973) I insist that all human cultural and individual evolutionary stories have a genesis in the Cosmic and biological evolutionary stories. Charles Darwin is considered to be the “father of biological evolution.” In 1859, Darwin wrote his best known work he called The Origin of Species (1859). Some key components of Darwinian biological evolution are:  1.) natural selection says organic life is a natural process. “Natural selection is solely by the preservation of profitable modifications.” (Darwin, 1859) It is about gene mutation and how species change through genetic variation. Natural selection is the process by which genes change their sequence. This mutational process is a designing process where the most fit survive (mutants). A mutation is really about genetic code corruption. It is if a mutational virus has entered the code. Dramatically, as many as a million mutations enter living organisms each day. However, immunological cells fight-off and eliminate the vast majority of these corruptors. And, sometimes a few invaders survive and over a period of time can eventually change a species,  2.)  adaptation – life adapts to its  environment. Species adapt or become …

Over the next several posts I am going to present a broader view of evolution that includes Cosmic evolution, biological evolution, cultural evolution, and personal evolution. It was the Big Bang that initiated in our Cosmic evolving and unfolding journey that continues to define itself and influence every one of our personal journeys. Over time the Big Bang primordial explosion unfolds, flows into, and inaugurates the 4 levels of evolution: 1.) physicality of energy-matter, 2.) biological flora-fauna, 3.) cultural (sociological), and 4.) personal (the Self). At all levels this evolutionary oscillating process is unfinished. Over time this process will continue to unfold, flow, renew, and create. Change often happens in a dramatic, hectic, complex fashion where a galaxy dies –-> a galaxy is born;  a life dies –-> a new life is created;  a culture dies –-> a new culture arises. This process can be causal, or in many cases a-causal in the sense of randomness and probability. John Haught indicated that, “the cosmic process has gone through the pre-atomic, atomic, molecular, unicellar, multicellar, primate, and human phases of evolution. During this journey, the universe has manifested a measureable growth in instances of organized complexity.”  (2003)  In the chart that follows I posted several key evolutionary events.