What is the meaning of evolution?
Science doesn’t answer that question, nor should it. Its job is to map and explain the processes of evolution, a job it has done remarkably well. Science reveals that 13.7 billion year ago from a “point” in nothingness, there blasted forth an ever expanding matrix of time and space into which arose all the matter that will ever exist and which has organized itself, in accelerating stages of development into … us.
Wow, surely something is going on here. With our contemporary understanding of evolution we have the makings of a new Creation Story, one that is post-mythic and has the benefit of being vetted by science, and which also reveals the outlines of a new spiritual path.
This is the subject of a rich conversation I had recently with one of my dearest friends, Steve McIntosh. Steve has established himself as a significant integral philosopher with his first book, Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution.
In our video conversation on integrallife.com, Steve and I discuss his new book, Evolution’s Purpose: An Integral Interpretation of the Scientific Story of Our Origins, which is a powerful and exciting argument for the progressive nature of evolution in matter, life, culture and personal development. He demonstrates how these fundamental dimensions of life are called forward into more complex and intelligent forms by the gravitational pull of Goodness, Truth and Beauty. Ultimately Evolution’s Purpose reveals a radical spiritual teaching, and it succeeds not by relying on established religious lineages but by pointing out the profound creative forces that are demonstrably at work in our world and in our lives.
Steve and I are not only good friends but neighbors, so we have a lot of time to hang out and talk shop. It’s a privilege to be able to capture one of our more stimulating conversations and share it with others who are interested in the philosophical and spiritual dimensions of the living reality of evolution.
I so appreciate Steve for his ability to transmit his great insight. It’s heartening to hear the story of creation and evolution told in such a fresh and gifted voice. I love Evolution’s Purpose because I feel changed by reading it. I finished it feeling more alive, happy and awake to the presence of the loving intelligence that is animating the cosmos and my own being. I’m happy to share some of the gifts of Brother Steve McIntosh with you in this video.
[See a preview here, or watch the whole video if you’re a Premium member of Integral Life]
About Evolution’s Purpose by Steve McIntosh
Evolution’s Purpose presents a fresh and compelling view of the scientific facts of evolution, and shows how a deeper understanding of evolution itself can lead directly to a more evolved world.
As we come to understand how evolution progresses, this reveals evolution’s purpose—to grow toward ever-widening realizations of beauty, truth, and goodness. And it is through the generation of these most intrinsic forms of value that evolution expresses its spiritual message. McIntosh argues that the purpose of evolution is not “intelligently designed” or otherwise externally controlled; rather, its purpose is being creatively and originally discerned through the choices of evolutionary creatures themselves. Without relying on any spiritual authorities, McIntosh demonstrates evolution’s purposeful progression and shows how the scientific story of our origins is actually a profound and sacred teaching compatible with many forms of contemporary spirituality.
