The Spirit in Human Evolution - Waldorf Research Institute

follows: the evolutionary stream from the past, which brings us to our present state
of being, meets and brings to expression the spiritual stream from the future. Both are
aspects of life. Spirit and matter in this sense are double aspects of life. The “interference”
created in this encounter is the origin of new formation. Evolution preserves, refines,
makes fit for survival; the spirit generates new form. Past and future are integrated in
the potential-filled present. In the human being spirit comes to self-consciousness but is
active throughout nature as the potential, or intention, in all organic life forms.
We are indebted to Wolfgang Schad for pointing to this mystery of temporal
integration and what it teaches us about our relationship to the spirit. In a number of
books and articles, which as far as I can see have had little impact on wider scientific
circles, he has applied this principle to developing appropriate methods of studying
living phenomena and has demonstrated, with examples from the evolution of plants,
reptiles, mammals and human evolution, how the concept of temporal integration
provides us with a vital new conceptual tool to understanding the process of evolution.
Throughout this book I draw where relevant from his ideas and apply them to the themes
of human evolution.
While much of his work is of a more strictly biological nature, I have felt able to
extrapolate from his fundamental methodology an approach which has proved fruitful to
my theme. Having had the privilege of studying under him I am also personally indebted
to him for the impetus to write this book.
A Rediscovery of the Spirit
Our present phase of human culture, which has learned to see the world
in causal scientific terms, has, of course, been vitally important in the evolution of
human consciousness. It has also, from an historical perspective, been brief. Human
consciousness has evolved from a participatory mode to what has been termed an
onlooker mode. As Charles Davy put it, “That is the essential feature of the evolution of
consciousness: a gain in clarity and precision and objectivity is accompanied by a loss
of participation. We are able to study the processes of nature in fine analytical detail and
thus gain control over them, but we are strangers in a universe which has lost human
meaning.” 35
But consciousness goes on evolving and scientific thought is continuously
maturing into something much richer. In future we may look back on the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries not as the high point of the scientific revolution but as a brilliant,
if perhaps naïve, phase of modern human development. Brilliant yes, but also highly
dangerous. Not only did we lose sight of the spirit, but in our hubris we nearly destroyed
the planet! The two are closely connected. The healing of the earth will go hand in hand
with a new recognition of the spirit. This recognition will be a process of self-knowledge,
a rediscovery of the human spirit in terms appropriate to our post-modern age. A reawakening
to the human spirit will go hand in hand with a new, modern scientific
awareness of the spiritual dimension in nature and the phenomena of the world. It is a
path that will lead us to a sense of meaning in evolution from which we can draw criteria
for our deeds and from which we derive a true sense of responsibility for the world
whose stewardship we have been given.
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35
Davy, C., 1961, Towards a Third Culture, p51.
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