Recently, I was having one of those deep and meaningful conversations, with a friend, which usually involve consuming copious quantities of red wine. (However, as it was in the morning and before an important event – Network Central’s 15th birthday – congratulations Kim – no alcohol was involved.)
During the conversation she asked “What’s the purpose of everything – the entire Universe?” That, I thought, was a great question and so here is my attempt at a response (in 800 words or less).
One of the constituents of the Universe is consciousness. Just like matter and energy, consciousness is an integral part of the Universe. After all, if it wasn’t, then we couldn’t have it. I’m taking it as a given we agree that human beings have consciousness. However, some people appear to make greater use of it than others – but that’s for another bottle of wine.
Contrary to Darwinist thinking I don’t believe that consciousness came into existence as a product of chemical reactions which make up a living organism and is the end-product of a lot of chemical accidents. Like carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and all the other elements together with energy, consciousness was present from the beginnings of our world. In fact, it predates even the Big Bang and so was around well before matter existed in any form we understand.
So what is this consciousness stuff?
It gives us our self awareness, and so it is self aware. Freud would call this ‘ego’.
It gives us our sense of being human. Jung would refer to this as the group consciousness.
It also gives us a sense of be part of something much bigger than our individual selves or even part of the species. We are able to connect with the Universe in a profound way which takes us well beyond the confines of this world.
We are able to conceive of, and share ideas. This is an awesome ability – we can share with other people concepts about things which don’t even exist and through that ability bring those things into reality. We can share insights about aspects of our Universe which we have no way of pointing to in the physical world. How is it possible that we have conversations about ‘soul’, ‘hate’, ‘fear’, ‘love’ and so much more?
We have this ability because we are made of consciousness, just as surely as we are made of carbon and oxygen.
Everything has consciousness at some level. While a flower might not be as self aware as a person it expresses a universal essence of what it is, in this case, a flower. Similarly, a rock exists to express the cosmic essence of rock and a whale is an expression of the essence of whale.
All things and all beings are an expression of some level or form of the Universal Consciousness.
While the ultimate Universal Consciousness is unchanging, the forms through which it is expressed are evolving and developing. Thus we have the process of evolution.
Inanimate matter becomes animate in the form of the primordial slime out of which came the first plants and then animals. In turn they developed into the huge range of plants and animals we have today (or have had over the millions of years the Earth has existed).
All these are or have been an expression of this Universal Consciousness. We could even call this the Universal Mind or God depending on what language you’re comfortable with.
So, returning to our original question – what’s it all for?
This Universal Mind is seeking to express itself. In order to do so, it needs suitable vehicles. Given the nature of the universe it’s not possible, or it’s pointless, to bring into existence a being which is a full expression of this consciousness and so a process of evolution is required.
So, everything in the universe is there to provide a unique expression of this Consciousness.
You are absolutely unique and special. As such you are a vital part of the entire system. For that reason alone (although I’m sure there are lots of others) you are precious and important. No-one and nothing can have the thoughts or ideas that you can and so your life and existence is of vital importance to the Universe. So too, is that of everyone and everything else.
I often her people talk about how special young children are these days. Somehow, they seem to be born with understanding and insights which we’ve taken our whole lives to acquire.
This is an expression of the process I’ve been talking about. We’re each a part of the process and as we move into the Age of Aquarius we’re seeing the beginnings of the next stage of the expression of this Consciousness.
It’s ongoing and never-ending. On one hand we should be proud of where we are and what we’ve achieved. On the other, we must be humbled by the understanding of what is to come. The important thing to keep in mind is – we are not the end of the process but we are responsible for providing the best possible grounding for the next step.
The Universal Mind is opening like a flower and for that to happen properly it’s vital that every one of us (people, plants, animals and even the planet itself) fulfill our unique role.
To understand your unique role, download my workbook ‘7 Steps To Aligning With Your Soul Purpose’ and put the steps into action.