So, that portion of one’s Self, which he has disowned by claiming he is finite, becomes an intuitive perception of potential of unattained good, or unattained life, but nevertheless attainable through some path or other. So, while that one identifies himself three-dimensionally, he is constantly reminded, goaded, pushed by his Actual Oneness and Universality to give up his finite view as fact. This whole process has nothing to do with evil, error (as power) the dark forces, evil powers, or the devil. You could say it is purely mechanical, with no values associated with it.

RAJ: Good evening, Paul. You are beginning to notice the limitations you place upon yourself by virtue of assuming that you don’t know something or that you can’t figure it out, or that it’s not the right time, or any of a number of excuses which are totally false, but which you totally believe. You are beginning to discover that you truly do not have to figure a single thing out. You, Paul, person, three-dimensional finite consciousness, do not have the answer! Yet, the answers are available. The answers are available because of What You Are when you are standing as the Door. You are really beginning to see this, and this is excellent. You are also beginning to find more satisfaction from being that which is the Answer unfolding Itself, rather than being the one who is figuring out what the Answer is, or being able in any way to claim credit for the Answer. This also is excellent.

E.O. Wilson’s writing about biophilia.And it’s really this very rich hypothesis that we have this evolved love about naturalbeauty. So if you’re out in the woods, you’re in the mountains, you’re watching patternsof light on the ocean, it triggers this feeling in us, this feeling of beautiful delight ifyou will. And E.O. Wilson makes the case that that is an evolved preference because whenwe attach to beautiful things in nature, we’re finding kind of resource-richenvironments that have food and water and shelter as a way to orient towards thelandscape.

As I said yesterday, your Being is unfolding Itself infinitely in all Its perfection. This is the Fact which underlies everything that Is, as well as everything that seems to be. Do not get hung up on what seems to be the case. Your Being is capable of manifesting Itself as your conscious experience of being, and has never stopped doing so. It is this ongoing eternal, abiding Fact which needs to become an integral part of your conscious experience. Cultivate It and you will not be sorry.

You must get over this idea that your life is actually occurring in the way you see and experience it from a three-dimensional standpoint. You must realize that whether you are consciously aware of it or not, your Being is infinitely unfolding Itself at all times, and is doing so in all of Its perfection. Infinitely speaking, you never become more nor less than You Are. Whether you choose to focus in on any particular detail of your Infinity or not, your Being continues to unfold Itself on the basis of Its Infinity, and not on the basis of what you choose to narrow your attention down to.

You must get over this idea that your life is actually occurring in the way you see and experience it from a three-dimensional standpoint. You must realize that whether you are consciously aware of it or not, your Being is infinitely unfolding Itself at all times, and is doing so in all of Its perfection. Infinitely speaking, you never become more nor less than You Are. Whether you choose to focus in on any particular detail of your Infinity or not, your Being continues to unfold Itself on the basis of Its Infinity, and not on the basis of what you choose to narrow your attention down to

Adam Smith, the great economist, when he was thinking about what makes forcivil, kind, cooperative societies, said that gratitude is really the glue that ties peopletogether. If you move forward a couple of centuries we encounter Trivers, the greatevolutionary thinker who was making the case that altruism and sharing and generosity ofthe reciprocal kind that takes place between two individuals is really driven by feelingsof gratitude, of having a sense that other people are giving to you

The problem, of course, is that most people don’t have very good control over their attention. Part of this is due to human nature, shaped by evolution: Our forbearers who just focused on the reflection of sunlight in the water—they got chomped by predators. But those who were constantly vigilant—they lived. And today we are constantly bombarded with stimuli that the brain has not evolved to handle. So gaining more control over attention one way or another is really crucial, whether it’s through the practice of mindfulness, for instance, or through gratitude practices, where we count our blessings.

You see, Paul, the evolution of the earth, of mankind, on the planet, has been going on for centuries. The presence of the Christ has occurred many times in different names and nationalities and teachings—always within the framework of what could be understood at the time by the people being addressed.

As you know, hearsay has it that the island of Atlantis is in the process of rising again. but unlike your concept that such an event will have no value for you or modern day man, it will, indeed, have great value. The artifacts which will be unearthed will verify and substantiate the “chain of scientific being” which Mrs. Eddy spoke of in “Science and Health”.1 You see, Paul, the evolution of the earth, of mankind, on the planet, has been going on for centuries. The presence of the Christ has occurred many times in different names and nationalities and teachings—always within the framework of what could be understood at the time by the people being addressed. this happened in the case of the civilization which developed on Atlantis. The reason the reemergence of the island will be of exceeding, great significance to the world today, is that the Atlaneans were the first civilization, as a whole, to enter into that Place as Conscious Being, as Fourth-dimensional Man. The artifacts which will be found will serve to be the nail holes and spear wound which the doubting Thomas’s of the early decades or centuries of the Age of Aquarius will find resolving their doubts into Understanding. It will be “ancient objective proof” which will settle once and for all, for them, the actuality of the fact that Maitreya is, indeed, the reappearing of the Christ. The reemergence of the island, through further geographic displacement, will occur harmoniously and without causing great earthquakes and tidal waves. it will not happen soon, but it will happen. And these transcripts of our conversations will take their place in some way, further validating for those doubting Thomas’s the actuality about which they are in doubt.

As you know, what is ultimately simple can seem totally impossible. The simple fact is, that as things unfold, as things occur, the clarifications will come along as they are able to be understood and internalized. The evolution will be as natural as possible for all concerned. It will occur in such a way that even when it seems difficult or impossible, the individual will also—at the very same time—experience a realization or a conviction that it is possible. This realization will carry him through the difficulty of breaking through his concepts and beliefs.

a wandering mind isn’t all bad. Not only can we leverage it to build focus using FA meditation, but the capacity to project our mental stream out of the present and imagine scenarios that aren’t actually happening is hugely evolutionarily valuable, which may explain why it’s so prominent in our mental lives. These processes allow for creativity, planning, imagination, memory—capacities that are central not only to our survival, but also to the very essence of being human. The key, I believe, is learning to become aware of these mental tendencies and to use them purposefully, rather than letting them take over. Meditation can help with that.

Paul, I keep saying that Being, Enlightenment, Growth, the rising of the Phoenix from its own ashes, is perfectly natural and normal, that it is always something that we are capable of doing. It will probably be some time before you realize the full impact of that fact and relax at the living of Life. But be aware of it now, to whatever degree you are able.

For example, you have noticed that when you do not want to get a telephone call because it will interrupt our conversation, you don’t get any telephone calls. You will find that when you say the word, and the word comes from that point where you are being as Conscious Being, then that word will be done. It will be with no personal sense of power, because the only way the word can come from there is if it is in total harmony with Being Itself. Nevertheless, you will find that things will happen differently for you now than they did when you were seeing from a three-dimensional point of view and placing your sense of self within that frame of reference. You have graduated into the Fourth Dimension rather smoothly, Paul.

Here in the city-escapes, under bridges, ingraveyards and side streets, street children have formed “flourishing”outdoor communities, some with elaborate order, discipline, and an

Why might evolution have outfitted us with such an ability? Biologists have offered several hypotheses. I’m especially fond of the “valuable relationship” hypothesis, espoused by de Waal and many other primatologists. It goes like this: Animals reconcile because it repairs important relationships that have been damaged by aggression. By forgiving and repairing relationships, our ancestors were in a better position to glean the benefits of cooperation between group members—which, in turn, increased their evolutionary fitness.

Chimpanzees aren’t the slightest bit unique in this respect. Other great apes, such as the bonobo and the mountain gorilla, also reconcile. And it gets more interesting still, for reconciliation isn’t even limited to primates. Goats, sheep, dolphins, and hyenas all tend to reconcile after conflicts (rubbing horns, flippers, and fur are common elements of these species’ conciliatory gestures). Of the half-dozen or so non-primates that have been studied, only domestic cats have failed to demonstrate a conciliatory tendency. (If you own a cat, this probably comes as no surprise).

In highly mobile modern societies such as ours, often we can simply end relationships in which we’ve been betrayed. But in the close societies in which our earliest hominid ancestors lived, moving away usually wasn’t a good option. In fact, ostracism from the group was often a severe punishment that carried the risk of death.

If our ancestors saw that someone didn’t seek revenge after being harmed, they may have concluded that he was an easy mark, then tried to take advantage of him themselves.

The desire for revenge isn’t a disease that afflicts a few unfortunate people; rather it’s a universal trait of human nature, crafted by natural selection, that exists today because it helped our ancestors adapt to their environment. But there’s some good news, too. Evolutionary science leads us squarely to the conclusion that the capacity for forgiveness, like the desire for revenge, is also an intrinsic feature of human nature, crafted by natural selection.

This view might make sense for solitary species, like the golden hamster, which flees upon being attacked, or territorial species, like many birds, that rely upon territorial arrangements to avoid deadly conflicts. But many mammals, and in particular primates, need each other to survive. Ostracism and marginalization are tickets to shortened lives. Among humans, individuals who have fewer and less healthy social bonds have been shown to live shorter lives, have compromised immune function, and be more vulnerable to disease. Our sociality, and that of many nonhuman primates, requires a mechanism that brings individuals together in the midst of conflict and aggression.

This offers us insight into the true nature of embarrassment: I have discovered that this subtle display—the averted gaze, the pressed lips—is a sign of our respect for others, our appreciation of their view of things, and our commitment to the moral and social order. Far from reflecting confusion, it turns out that embarrassment can be a peacemaking force that brings people together—both during conflict and after breeches of the social contract, when there’s otherwise great potential for violence and disorder. I’ve even found evidence that facial displays of embarrassment have deep evolutionary roots, and that this seemingly inconsequential emotion provides us with a window into the ethical brain.

Working with captive primates, de Waal and Johanowicz created a mixed-sex social group of juvenile macaques, combining rhesus and stump tails together. Remarkably, instead of the rhesus macaques bullying the stump tails, over the course of a few months the rhesus males adopted the stump tails’ social style, eventually even matching the stump tails’ high rates of reconciliatory behavior. It so happens, moreover, that stump tails and rhesus macaques use different gestures when reconciling. The rhesus macaques in the study did not start using the stump tails’ reconciliatory gestures, but rather increased the incidence of their own species-typical gestures. In other words, they were not merely imitating the stump tails’ behavior; they were incorporating the concept of frequent reconciliation into their own social practices. Finally, when the newly warm-and-fuzzy rhesus macaques were returned to a larger, all-rhesus group, their new behavioral style persisted.

Kummer conducted a simple experiment, trapping an adult female savanna baboon and releasing her into a hamadryas troop and trapping an adult female hamadryas and releasing her into a savanna troop. The females who were dropped in among a different species initially carried out their species-typical behavior, a major faux pas in the new neighborhood. But gradually, they absorbed the new rules. How long did this learning take? About an hour. In other words, millennia of genetic differences separating the two species, a lifetime of experience with a crucial social rule for each female—and a miniscule amount of time to reverse course completely.

Some evolutionary biologists argue that organisms may sometimes put themselves at risk in order to help another because they expect that the other organism will return the favor down the line, a concept known as reciprocal altruism.

Taken together, our strands of evidence suggest the following. Compassion is deeply rooted in human nature; it has a biological basis in the brain and body. Humans can communicate compassion through facial gesture and touch, and these displays of compassion can serve vital social functions, strongly suggesting an evolutionary basis of compassion. And when experienced, compassion overwhelms selfish concerns and motivates altruistic behavior.

Darwin made the case that sympathy, or compassion, is our strongest instinct. And I’ll quote,because “sympathy will have been increased through natural selection for those communitieswhich included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish thebest and raise the greatest number of offspring.”

Evolutionary biologists like Frans de Waal have shown that we are social animals who have naturally evolved to care for each other, just like our primate cousins. And psychologists have revealed that we are primed for empathy by strong attachment relationships in the first two years of life.  But empathy doesn’t stop developing in childhood. We can nurture its growth throughout our lives—and we can use it as a radical force for social transformation.

We rely more on what we feel than what we think when solving moral dilemmas. It’s not that religion and culture don’t have a role to play, but the building blocks of morality clearly predate humanity. We recognize them in our primate relatives, with empathy being most conspicuous in the bonobo ape and reciprocity in the chimpanzee. Moral rules tell us when and how to apply our empathic tendencies, but the tendencies themselves have been in existence since time immemorial.

Bonobos are less brutal, but in their case, too, empathy needs to pass through several filters before it will be expressed. Often, the filters prevent expressions of empathy because no ape can afford feeling pity for all living things all the time. This applies equally to humans. Our evolutionary background makes it hard to identify with outsiders. We’ve evolved to hate our enemies, to ignore people we barely know, and to distrust anybody who doesn’t look like us. Even if we are largely cooperative within our communities, we become almost a different animal in our treatment of strangers.

Within a bottom-up framework, the focus is not so much on the highest levels of empathy, but rather on its simplest forms, and how these combine with increased cognition to produce more complex forms of empathy. How did this transformation take place? The evolution of empathy runs from shared emotions and intentions between individuals to a greater self/other distinction—that is, an “unblurring” of the lines between individuals. As a result, one’s own experience is distinguished from that of another person, even though at the same time we are vicariously affected by the other’s. This process culminates in a cognitive appraisal of the other’s behavior and situation: We adopt the other’s perspective.

Having descended from a long line of mothers who nursed, fed, cleaned, carried, comforted, and defended their young, we should not be surprised by gender differences in human empathy, such as those proposed to explain the disproportionate rate of boys affected by autism, which is marked by a lack of social communication skills.

rhesus monkeys refused to pull a chain that delivered food to themselves if doing so gave a shock to a companion. One monkey stopped pulling the chain for 12 days after witnessing another monkey receive a shock. Those primates were literally starving themselves to avoid shocking another animal.

This capacity likely evolved because it served our ancestors’ survival in two ways. First, like every mammal, we need to be sensitive to the needs of our offspring. Second, our species depends on cooperation, which means that we do better if we are surrounded by healthy, capable group mates. Taking care of them is just a matter of enlightened self-interest.

Interest in using the internet to slash the price of higher education is being driven in part by hope for new methods of teaching, but also by frustration with the existing system. The biggest threat those of us working in colleges and universities face isn’t video lectures or online tests. It’s the fact that we live in institutions perfectly adapted to an environment that no longer exists.

But at the same time, from boredom and necessity, man wishes to exist socially and with the herd; therefore, he needs to make peace and strives accordingly to banish from his world at least the most flagrant bellum omni contra omnes

And since the inclination to aggressiveness against the father was repeated in the followinggenerations, the sense of guilt, too, persisted, and it was reinforced once more by every piece ofaggressiveness that was suppressed and carried over to the super-ego

struggle is what all life essentially consists of,and the evolution of civilization may therefore be simply described as the struggle for life of the humanspecies.