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Spiritual evolution is the philosophical/theological idea that human beings and/or human culture evolve along a predetermined
pattern.
Philosophers that have posited theories of spiritual evolution include Schelling, Hegel, Aurobindo, Jean Gebser, Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin, and Ken Wilber. Spiral Dynamics, based on the work of Clare W.
Graves, is also a theory of spiritual evolution. These theories tend to be non-materialistic, and thus out of the
intellectual mainstream. They can be Idealist (holding that reality is primarily
mental or spiritual) or non-dual (holding that there is no ultimate distinction between mental and physical reality).
Reality is said to consist of several realms or stages, including more than one of the following: the physical, the vital, the
psychic, (after the Greek psyche, "soul"), the causal (referring to "that which causes, or gives rise to, the manifest
world"), and the ultimate (or non-dual). Although terminology can vary, the realms are usually approximately equivalent to
these.
Theories of spiritual evolution can be temporally or non-temporally based. That is to say, the realms can be the stages
through which existence or spirit passes in time, or in a non-temporal, qualitative way. An example of a major non-temporal
theory of spiritual evolution is Plotinus' Neoplatonism, which heavily influenced Augustine's and
Aquinas' conception of the Great Chain of Being. The Great Chain of Being also had an under-acknowledged influence on the shaping
of the ideas of the Enlightenment and subsequent theories of biological evolution.
The Hindu idea of the Chakras is also
considered by some to be a non-temporal theory of spiritual evolution. Adherents to this line of thought would equate the root
chakra with the physical realm, the crown chakra with the ultimate realm, and the five other major chakras with corresponding
intermediate realms.
Theories of spiritual evolution tend to be either cosmological (describing existence at large), or personal (describing the
development of the individual), or both. An example of a theory that falls into both of these categories would be Ken Wilber's Integral Ecology. Simplistically, Wilber sees humans developing through
several stages, including magic, mythic, pluralistic, and holistic mentalities. But he also sees cultures as developing through these stages. And, much like Hegel, he sees this development of individuals and cultures as the evolution of
existence itself.
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