What are we?
article copyright 2024, Stanton Stevens

Are we animals? No, it should be clear that while we have animal bodies, we are very different from animals. Our minds have made language, art, music, science, and self-consciousness possible. But compared to what we are yet to become, we are still close to animals. In general, we are sub-humans, yet to open our hearts and our mental potential. Some of us have made progress and are nearer to the goal. An advanced person thinks for themselves, truly cares about others, and has a deep need to help, driven by compassion. This compassion comes from a recognition of ourselves in others, the beginnings of a realization that all consciousness is one. This is more than a platitude. It is a truth too great for us to grasp, we can only sense its magnitude. Humans have many limitations and are unable to ascertain the answers to the great questions. We are not yet equipped with the senses that will reveal the truth. It is our fate, our challenge, to live in the dark, where our instincts are honed. Gradually, new awareness and new senses unfold through almost desperate efforts to know. I write to tell you that we can know, we can live in the light, and many have already achieved this.

Who am I? Who are you? We are two beings in the same world, with the same challenges, sharing the human experience. It is a lonely one, even more so without the recognition that we are in this together. Loneliness from our individual isolation is essential. Without it we would not develop our individuality. Our unique personalities are the result of millions of years of different experiences, no two people have taken anything close to the same path to get to where we are now. We are developing the ability to be independent points of action. When we can do this, we can't be swept away in the sea of collective consciousness that is our eventual goal. That will be the end of the lonely human journey. There is much preparation for us to make. We have to steadily clear out all egoism, the mistaken belief that what we want is more important than the needs of the universe. We are not welcomed into the loving embrace of the greater consciousness while there is still selfishness in us. Here is the paradox for us: how do we develop into awakened, powerful individuals while remaining servants of the great loving purpose of the universe? The more powerful we become, the more tempted we are to violate the freedom of others to satisfy ourselves. We are all free to do what we want, if we respect that same right of others. If we don't, there are unpleasant and somewhat obvious consequences. We have all violated the rights of others in some lifetime and should have an idea of the consequences.

This is not a journey or a task of one lifetime. It takes thousands of lifetimes to learn our way in the darkness, to open our hearts and be led by love and truth. If a lifetime was like a day, the journey would be about 500 years. This is how it appears to the Soul. At first the lifetimes blink by from the Soul's perspective, and the individual learns from the hard lessons of cause and effect, sowing and reaping, action and reaction. When the mind unfolds enough, it begins to be possible to see the path, instead of crawling along feeling our way through physical and emotional impacts and experiences. Then we can see the hands outstretched to help us, contact our Souls and make more rapid progress. To hear the whispers of the one loving consciousness is to begin to open our hearts. Those who are far ahead of us are both motivated by and channels for love, of course they will help us if they can. Pythagoras tried to help long ago, it is his philosophy, called Hylozoics, that underlies this article.

There is no progress except through our own efforts. Those who would help us know this, and respect it, all they can offer us is information. Information such as I have just repeated for you. There is much more for those who are interested. These few will likely be seekers who recognize information learned in another lifetime.