Transformation involves three dimensions:
Self-Transformation - the spiritual evolution of the individual (the spiritual path); athough difficult it is still the easiest to achieve (hence individual Liberation and Realization). In the old days, self-transformationw as all that was required, and the path of the mystic was one of renunciation. While this was ameliorated to some extent by ethics of charity (e.g. in Christianity), and even in esoteric teachings by Mahayana Buddhism (the boddhisattva ideal), in general the ultimate goal is one of individual transcendence (or in the New Age movement collective transcendence - ascension etc). Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga was a radical departure from this, in teaching the Divinisation of the world. Even today many of his admierers (who are not totally conversant with his teachings) still haven't gotten it; e.g. the Integral Movement under Wilber still teaches the world-negating monistic ideal of individual realisation. For me however transformation has to be fully integral, it has to involve not just the individual alone, or even just all sentient beings (Mahayana Buddhism) but the divinisation of the Earth and the cosmos (tikkun olam) as a whole.
Collective Transformation - throughout the history of civilization, reformers, idealists, revolutionaries, spirituals, mystics, and gnostics have sort out like-minded souls, or gethered at the feet of a Master, in order to further progress towards God- or Self-Realization. It is much easier to be a member of a group, ashram, esoteric society, or intentional community then it is to be on one's own. But it is also harder to transform such groups, if they are not aligned with your own principles or creative initiative. At their best such groups can be empowering and inspiring. At their worst conservative, rigid, and bound to the dead letter of the past, or the personality and mental limitations of the guru. There are many groups in the world today working to bring about a change in society, or even a totally new and more progressive society (the cultural creative / postmaterialistic revolution). But so far, there has been no such group higher than the Esoteric grade.
Social and Cultural Transformation - the evolution and transformation of society, which will always lag behind individual transformation, because of the greater inertia and lesser consciousness in the collective. So far, the highest aspect of this is holistic/Postmaterialism.
Global/Planetary Transformation - In our current global age, the social and cultural merges with the Global Transformation, pertaining to Gaia or the Earth as a whole. This leads in turn to Cosmic Transformation. Ironically, Collective and Global transformation is much more difficult than Cosmic Transformation. The real resistance is not from inanimate matter, or from simple nature, but from the deliberate intransigence of human ignorance this is the most difficulty of all.
Cosmic Transformation - the transformation and Divinization of the cosmos as a whole, including inanimate matter, and life on Earth and in the rest of the universe. This is only possible once global transformation has been achieved.
Using an Aurobindonian perspective, the following stages could be assumed, from ordinary dualistic consciousness to complete divinization.
| Evolution | Transformation | Transmutation/Metamorphosis |
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