Involution, Evolution and the Pressure from Domains of Life and Mind

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We tend to take the development
of life and mind for granted.

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We do not actually reflect on
what it takes for them to emerge

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from matter.
Many believe that somehow

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various chemical elements in the
material world are impacted by

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the radiation from the sun and
through the heat of the core of

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the planet.
To modify material substance,

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recombine chemicals and voila,
life and then mind will emerge.

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Scientists are now finding
various essential elements found

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in biological entities on
meteorites, and they have

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discovered the presence of water
on Mars, both of which

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indicating that there are other
potential causes to the

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emergence of life here.
Possibly it was brought here

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from elsewhere, just as seeds of
various plants are carried

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across vast expanses of oceans
to bring about trees and other

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plant life on remote islands in
our world.

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However far we try to stretch
the influence of matter as the

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cause of life and mind, however,
we always run up against the

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issue of causality and the need
for a force other than material

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force to create life and mental
activity.

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It is telling that no one who
has asserted that given enough

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time, random mixing of the
chemical elements of the world

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will develop.
Shakespeare, in fact, has

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succeeded in creating life out
of bare matter.

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When we look at every living
form, we see that the

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information required to build it
and energize it is contained in

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seed form, an encoded data set
if you will.

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We can now map and analyze the
entire genome of certain

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species, but have still been
unable to find a way to turn

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matter into life even with this
understanding.

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Charles Darwin, in describing
the evolution of species, skips

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over this initial issue and
starts with life forms and how

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they develop and are modified,
mutated, and adjusted over time

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due to the principle of survival
of the fittest.

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Essentially that those that are
better adjusted to their

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circumstances tend to survive
and thrive, and those that are

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not tend to die off and not be
perpetuated.

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The definition of the fittest is
thus directly tied to

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circumstances.
In today's world, that

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definition would be vastly
different than in the world of

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the Neanderthal, for instance.
The qualities are transmitted

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through the genetic code.
Researchers in genetics have

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found that certain
characteristics perpetuate as

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dominant and others as
recessive.

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Over time.
Both.

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Natural selection takes place
which combines genetic material

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from the parents into a new
variation, and which tends to

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favor those that are the fittest
in that environment to

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reproduce, and mutation play a
role in bringing about change.

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Mutation can be caused by
external factors such as

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radiation, as well as other
causes.

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Mutation can be beneficial to
the survival of the species, or

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detrimental depending on what it
takes for its actual form.

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The question still arises as to
how this all occurs.

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Shriorobindo has noted that
nothing can evolve that has not

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been previously involved in
matter.

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This is akin to the encoding of
a data set within certain forms

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of matter such that it can
express life and under the right

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circumstances, in the correct
developed forms.

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The powers of mine.
In order to be involved,

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however, they must come from
elsewhere, and for this we then

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have to appreciate the existence
of independent worlds or domains

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of life and mind that act within
their own sphere and which then

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imprint impacts into the
material world.

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There then comes about both the
possibility and the necessity of

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a dual action.
In order to create the world as

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we know it, there needs to be
the internal pressure from

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within to manifest the encoded
data, and there must be a

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pressure from the native planes,
which are the source of that

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encoding, to support and further
that action when the time and

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circumstances are favourable,
Shuyorobindo writes.

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Quote.
Our material world is the result

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of all the others, for the other
principles have all descended

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into matter to create the
physical universe, and every

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particle of what we call matter
contains all of them implicit in

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itself.
Their secret action is involved

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in every moment of its existence
and every movement of its

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activity.
And as matter is the last word

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of the descent, so it is also
the first word of the ascent.

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As the powers of all these
planes, worlds, grades, degrees

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are involved in the material
existence, so are they all

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capable of evolution out of it.
It is for this reason that

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material being does not begin
and end with gases and chemical

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compounds and physical forces
and movements with nebulae and

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Suns and earths, but evolves.
Life evolves, mind must evolve

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eventually.
Supermind and the higher degrees

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of the spiritual existence.
Evolution comes by the unceasing

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pressure of the supra material
planes on the material,

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compelling it to deliver out of
itself their principles and

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powers, which might conceivably
otherwise have slept imprisoned

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in the rigidity of the material
formula.

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This would Even so have been
improbable, since their presence

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there implies a purpose of
deliverance, but still this

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necessity from below is actually
very much aided by a kindred

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superior pressure.
End Quote.

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Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
Mother, The Hidden Forces of

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Life, Chapter 6.
Hidden Worlds and Evolutionary

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Forces, pages 146 to 147.