Lesson 6 – What Is The Arc Of Creation?

“Creation is in the lap of the Creator, and the Creator is the core of Creation.”
SADHGURU

The Arc of Creation Concept

The sages of previous times have told us that our world is divided into four distinct realms: the spiritual, the mental, the emotional, and the physical. Without any scientific knowledge, they described each of those realms in such a perfect way that today, through the discoveries of science, we are finally learning that what they shared with us is accurate.

From the dawn of human awareness, we have asked, “Who Am I?” and “What Am I Supposed To Be Doing Here?” We’ve tried to understand How The Universe Works And Why It Exists As It Does, but no one has come up with an adequate explanation that comes close to providing a good description. The myths of ancient civilizations leave with us a trail of thought that focuses on providing meaning in life so we can ask these very questions. With much time, we’ve built a better connection with our intuition and imaginative abilities than during those old times. However, we now look at life almost totally from a linear and logical perspective and don’t value our intuitive abilities much. That’s a shame since we have such extraordinary capabilities, but those capabilities lie unused and unappreciated by our current society.

As I’ve already shared, we desperately need a cosmology explaining life and our role. This cosmology must have a solid scientific underpinning for most people to accept it. We’ve “grown up” in our ability to understand and don’t want “hearsay,” “belief me,” or “faith” pushed on us by those who still follow old ways. Philosophical and scientific-based thought is much more capable of explaining life satisfactorily. Still, today, most people have become skeptics and are used to asking, “Show me,” and if we can’t, they move on to another topic. Everyone is in a big rush, rarely diving deep into a subject to find real answers. Today, most things exist on the surface and are not what they seem.

I will share a beautiful and accurate cosmology within this work. Rather than doing this from just my own experience and time-tested observations, I will also fold into this work the thoughts of other people who already have applied the test of science and who have come up with a good and acceptable scientific underpinning upon which we can build our future work and a whole new “language” to describe life.

I will describe how the material world came into existence through a Process that begins with a “Fall.” Where the Spirit descends into matter propelled by a Purpose and ascends back from matter and again into Spirit but takes with it the journey’s experience. That sentence describes the Arc Of Creation most succinctly.

This evolutionary descent and ascent is an actual process. I call this process The Arc of Creation since that is precisely what it is. The only way that our world is going to adopt a new and acceptable cosmology that can be used to guide us toward our future life is through the emergence of a language and a vocabulary with which we can describe the workings of life and understand its patterns and use those patterns to pursue a correct and proper future. I will make efforts on this website for this vocabulary to surface and an underlying language to emerge that will be able to be used by everyone. This is not easy, so please bear with me as I describe various aspects of this process.

Through the knowledge contained within The Arc of Creation, we can learn how and why life works as it does. This allows us to uncover an inherent and pre-existing pattern that points to an ideal direction for life in the future. By applying this knowledge, we can find a better and more direct direction for our lives that truly interests us and generates the highest degree of joy and fulfillment. Knowing this is positive and productive and in our best interests, we should do what we came here to do with our lives.

Everyone is special and has a unique destiny that is part and parcel of a more extensive process. When we form a new foundation of understanding and gain access to the corresponding language of its movement, we will be able to not only explain life but to communicate with each other about it and share the unique talents and creativity that currently lies dormant within each of us. Maybe we can’t change the world overnight, but we can change our lives and realize joy and happiness. We individually can do that. At the same time, we can plant seeds for future generations who depend upon early adopters like ourselves to build new structural foundations for a new, incredible future.

I’ve already mentioned that life at the beginning of the 21st Century has become laden with many significant problems. With 7 billion going to almost 10 billion people in the next few decades, demand for consumer goods is beginning to outpace supply. We already have too many people to support in any sane, sustainable manner.

To make things worse, most people on Earth want to achieve the living standards currently enjoyed in the United States and are working very hard. The problem is that these high living standards are already wreaking havoc upon the Earth as more of our current global population participates. As our future population grows significantly, we will find ourselves in serious trouble.

The profit-seeking consumeristic approach to leading life is responsible for our overpopulation, and it is also responsible for the life-threatening global warming that is just beginning to rear its ugly head. As our oil supply dwindles, pollution becomes a concern. As our global population reaches 10 billion, something has to snap – it just isn’t possible to keep heading in this same destructive direction without destroying our ecosystems and each other. As the recent pandemic unfolds and is replaced by another, and similar forces emerge, we cannot continue to own our old ways. They no longer support us.

Life’s simple and honest things wane as people become more self-centered and desire high consumption standards. But what is the proper direction? How do we go through an awkward and potentially tricky transitional period that may last well beyond the next 100 years and still increase our joy, fulfillment, and quality of life? It, again, isn’t easy.

It isn’t by consuming more, that’s for sure. A new set of values and a new way of living need to be developed. I study how life was created, why it is as it is, and what it searches for to come to my conclusions. With the answers I find, I know that we can form a vision for the future—a proper and rightful one that supports all of life and not just self-centered special interest groups.

I will be honest with you. The task that lies ahead of us is going to be very difficult. There is no question about that, and the most significant difficulty will be getting people to let go of the old ways and see themselves as a part of a higher goal and a broader vision. Please stay with me as I get deeper into what may seem like meaningless facts. They are far from that.

Relax and allow the underlying language to emerge because it will emerge. Do your best to follow some details that may initially seem uninteresting or difficult to grasp. Just let it come through your mind and hold no judgment. Gradually, things will form. Even at a modest level, a basic understanding of the process involved in the Arc of Creation will expand your viewpoint of life. And if that isn’t enough, I’m right here with you, prodding you on. You can do it, and I ask that you allow yourself this privilege.

The structural change required to support billions of people as we go through the coming unimaginable changes is mind-boggling. If we begin today and immediately change everything in the best ways, we will go a long way toward lessening the impact of the various problems as they unfold. Unfortunately, human nature doesn’t work in such a speedy and all-encompassing manner. Change is difficult for most people, and voluntary change is almost unthinkable. Much pain and suffering is required to let go, which is what The Turn is all about.

Most people require force and considerable pain and suffering to make permanent structural moves. The difference in results that come from the change created by a reasonably good-sized group of early adopters as opposed to resistant and forced change on the entire population could mean the difference between life being able to survive and thrive on Earth over the next 100 to 200 year transitional period or completely vanishing.

The accurate measure of our early success will be the lessening of aggression and self-centeredness that we currently witness increasing globally and nationally. Where we begin is within ourselves – one person at a time. When a few of us get it and have access to the proper language and understanding to work together, we can expand our efforts to those more resistant to change.

For now, however, let’s keep working on learning this new language. Once your understanding becomes more defined and accessible, we can then work on creating an ideal vision for the future. The process will become much more enjoyable at that time, and you will be glad you spent the time learning.

Here’s How The Arc Of Creation Unfolds

1. EVOLUTION IS A PROCESS

A process contains a systematic series of actions directed to some end. Consequently, evolution holds a purpose for its steps. Accordingly, the universe is a process put in motion by purpose, a Purpose which I’ve defined as the Purposiveness of Spirit, or God, or a Godhead. Whatever you call this is fine, but Purposiveness is probably the ultimate way to describe this force. To call it God is very limiting.

Some people avoid considering the existence of Spirit or God and instead see human evolution as either existing within one single lifetime or, if multi-lives are accepted, the ultimate goal for existence extends only to a conception of a perfected human being or some higher mind.

We are not our body or our mind but an individualized point of consciousness (a monad) intimately involved in a lengthy process of evolution. This process was created by an Original purpose seeking the resolution of an Original Desire through the accomplishment of an Ultimate Goal.

2. THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS INVOLVES A DESCENT, A TURN, AND AN ASCENT

The evolutionary process begins with a fall of Spirit into matter, an awakening, and then an ascent of Spirit from the depths of matter back to Spirit while trying to correct the error of our ways. The shape of this evolution is an arc and can be diagrammed like this:

3. THERE ARE 4 PLANES OR LEVELS OF REALITY CONTAINED IN THE ARC OF CREATION

This ascent and descent occurs within four levels of unique reality – the spiritual plane, the emotional plane, the mental plane, and the physical plane.

Sri Aurobindo described these levels in his book, The Adventure of Consciousness, as “ . . . this universe is nothing else but a continuum of consciousness-force, a gradation of planes of consciousness which range uninterruptedly from pure Matter to pure Spirit – subtle Physical, Vital, Mental, Supramental . . . everything takes place amid these planes, our life and our sleep and our death; there is nowhere to go outside this; and not only is everything located there but everything coexists there, without separation.”

4. THERE ARE 7 BASIC KINGDOMS OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE ARC

This evolutionary process develops in stages, each with its purpose, each carrying within it its ability to shape and modify the original monad in some vital way related to the other stages, both past, present, and future.

If we classify these stages as kingdoms, there are 7 of them.

5. THE 4th KINGDOM CONTAINS 3 SUBSTAGES

Inorganic molecules versus organic plus free will. This appears and eliminates random evolution and allows the container to control itself. So we now have nine stages of development and not just 7. The kingdom of Molecules has three specific levels; our three-dimensional world now makes sense. It is the three dimensions that allow us to do what we do. This can be diagramed as follows:

6. THERE IS ANOTHER STAGE THAT LIES OUTSIDE THE OTHER 7 STAGES. It is the motor of evolution and provides the life force that conscious containers can use for their development and procreation. Consequently, evolution ultimately includes nine stages, not just seven, and this new stage lies at the center of all stages and sub-stages. It should be labeled as the 8th stage and can be diagramed as follows:

7. THESE 8 STAGES INCLUDE PRINCIPLES THAT ALLOW FOR THE CREATION OF A PARTICULAR REALITY

Each stage develops a new power:
Potential, substance, form (identity), combination, organization, mobility, and dominion.

Light, particles, atoms, molecules 1 and 2, the lifeforce that leads to learning and eventually an awakening into plants, animals, and humans.

8. POWERS ARE CUMULATIVE

Each stage retains the powers developed in the previous stages.

9. POWERS ARE EVOLVED SEQUENTIALLY IN WHAT ARE CALLED KINGDOMS

Description Of Each Kingdom’s Powers:

  1. Potential Light (no space, no time)
  2. Substance Nuclear Particles (no space, but with time)
  3. Form (identity) Atoms (space and time)
  4. Molecules – Inorganic (combination of atoms)
  5. Freewill (a unique stage that enlivens the ascent)
  6. Molecules – Organic (life emerges with the ability to inject free will)
  7. Organization Plants – Cellular Growth But Immobile
  8. Mobility Animals – Mobile But No Ability To Be An Observer And No Ability To Speak (Limited cerebral brain)
  9. Dominion Human Beings – Brain Development Allows For Speech & Thinking, The Ability to Be An Observer, And Hence The Ability to Manifest Reality For The Rest of The Kingdoms

10. THE ARC OF CREATION

The early stages of the process of evolution that the Arc of Creation displays take on increasing constraint or loss of freedom until constraint becomes maximal, at which point there is a turn. The later stages of the process of evolution see the conquest of the constraints and the increasing development of freedom. Freedom in the first half (or the descent side of the Arc) is random, and in the last (the ascent side of the Arc) is controlled:

11. DEGREES OF CONSTRAINT OR DEGREES OF FREEDOM

The “descent” and “ascent” pass through four levels of evolution in a v-shaped arc. These levels have successively zero, one, two, and three degrees of constraint on the descent side of the arc and three, two, one, and zero degrees of freedom on the ascent side of the arc. The stages on the right and left-hand sides of the arc at the same level have properties in common and share a kind of symmetry in terms of projecting essence, values, and characteristics between the two opposite sides of the arc:

Level I                    Purpose           3 degrees of freedom    0 degrees of constraint

Level II                   Substance        2 degrees of freedom    1 degree   of constraint

Level III                  Form                1 degree of freedom     2 degrees of constraint

Level IV                  Combination     0 degrees of freedom    3 degrees of constraint

12. SYMMETRY

The stages on the left and right sides of the arc can be viewed as the inverse of one another:

13. EACH STAGE HAS 9 SUBSTAGES

EACH OF THE 8 STAGES INCLUDES THEIR 9 SUBSTAGE DEVELOPMENT

Each stage of the evolutionary process (or kingdom) is itself an evolutionary process in which the power of the stage develops as it does in the primary process. The development of this power occurs in stages called “sub-stages,” whose description correlates with that of the main stages.

14. 72 LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

There are four levels in the descent and four levels in the ascent, hence eight distinct levels of creation.

When you map each of the eight stages and their nine substages of development and include them within eight distinct levels of creation, you end up with 72 different levels of consciousness before you reach the realm of spirit.

To see the significance of mapping this, use the following grid to reduce all numbers to a single digit. When you do, you will see the vital pattern. You will notice that all of the substages in all the nine substages at the Turn add up (when reduced to their lowest number) to a 5. The 5 in numerology is the number of changes, and that substage is critical as it defines when logic and reason must give way to intuition. The number five is where each stage applies free will to accomplish something.

This is The Arc of Creation, my best summary of how it is created and what each level of consciousness includes. You must understand and become familiar with these levels to improve your consciousness.

Is the eight levels of Spirit a continuation of some of these ideas? It doesn’t matter. In my opinion, it is the realm of Purposiveness, and the Purposiveness will do as it wishes.

In my understanding, the realm of Spirit is the beginning and the place where the Pusposiveness begins this process. Evolution is necessary to allow free will to take things beyond what the Purposiveness can create on its own. It sends consciousness down into the Earth plane and back up, bringing the experience of what consciousness goes through. That is the key here. More than one lifetime now makes sense, and understanding this Arc challenges our thinking but is suitable for us. We are thinkers and the containers that express consciousness as best we can.

For the visualization exercise, I recommend that you perform the steps involved and grasp an improvement you cannot gain without doing this. I cannot recommend doing this more highly; it is the only way to improve your consciousness other than just living your life normally. You have a 100-point improvement possibility to grasp in one lifetime. Without performing this visualization exercise, you will only gain a 3-point improvement. I don’t know about you, but the possibility of a 100-point increase interests me.

In addition, when you finally arrive and can see the Mother’s Temple diagram (in the final lessons of this course), you will understand how consciousness resides on the “world sheet” and how it is formed individually (one person at a time), and how it works throughout time. The beauty of this diagram is impressive, and I can’t wait until you finally see it. It will come. Just keep going.

THIS IS A CRITICAL LESSON IN THIS COURSE, AND I SUGGEST YOU READ THIS PAGE MANY TIMES TO BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THIS PROCESS.