Modern Historical Consciousness

Modern Historical Consciousness

Excerpt from Modern historical

Consciousness, a seminar given
by Ravindra Svarupa dasa

Modern Historical Consciousness

The Evolution Paradigm

Overview of presentation
Part One: The standard Paradigm
Part Two: The modern Paradigm
Part Three: Standard for Progress
the Passion Paradigm
Part Four: The Paradigm shift

par-a-digm (par'uh diem , -dim) n.

1. an example serving as a model; pattern,
exemplar, pattern, matrix,
standard, criterion, yardstick.

A paradigm is a fundamental
framework for looking at
things; it establishes not only
the theoretical terms for
explanation, but also an
orientation which determines
in science what avenues are
worth exploring, what
problems are worthwhile
addressing etc.

Part One: The standard Paradigm

Part One: The standard Paradigm

What was the standard world

view until the 18th century?

Part One: The standard Paradigm

The central conception in this world

view is summarized in the expression
"the great chain of being." The history
of this important idea was investigated
by an American philosopher named
Arthur O. Lovejoy. He published his
work under the title The Great Chain of
Being: A Study in the History of an Idea
(Cambridge: Harvard University, 1936;
paperback reprint, New York: Harper
Torchbooks, 1960)

Part One: The standard Paradigm

The idea of the chain of being is

connected intimately with the
concept of what we will call here
the Absolute Truth, that is, the
self-existent ultimate source of all
there is. This conception is clearly
articulated, for example, in Plato's
dialogue on cosmology named the
Timaeus.

Part One: The standard Paradigm

The Platonic idea is that there's a
higher unchanging realm, a realm of
"ideas" or of ideal "forms.
The philosophical doctrine that the
essences objectively exist outside the mind
in some fashion or another is called
"realism"; the opposite doctrine is
"nominalism."
There is some truth to Plato's realism. The
realm of the forms does seem to
correspond closely to something the Vedic
traditions regard as existent, and that is the
Vedas themselves.

Part One: The standard Paradigm

It is also possible to find a correspondence
between the Platonic forms and the
creative potentiality latent in the
brahmajyoti. We know from the Vedas that
the brahmajyoti contains the bija, the
seeds, for all the species in the world, and
that Brahma creates by making the various
seeds manifest.
The bija seems to be like a Platonic form,
at least as these forms are understood in
later Neoplatonism, where they are
thought to possess a creative potency.

Part One: The standard Paradigm

In the Platonic scheme, the

impersonal Absolute
cannot of course at some
point make a free decision
to create; rather, the world
flows from it out of its
own necessity.

Part One: The standard Paradigm

In Hellenistic times an
influential Neoplatonic
school of thought arose.
In its hands the Platonic
conception of the
Absolute and its
emanations underwent
further development and
dissemination.
From there it entered
decisively into
mainstream Christian
thought through two
theologians:
St. Augustine and
Dionysius the Areopagite.

Hel-len-is-tic (hel uh nis'tik) adj.

1. of or pertaining to Greek civilization of
the Mediterranean region and SW Asia
from the death of Alexander the Great
through the 1st century B.C.,
characterized by the blending of Greek
and foreign cultures.
Au-gus-tine ('guh steen ,
1. <Saint> A. D. 354-430, one of the
Latin fathers in the early Christian
Church;
Di-o-ny-si-us (die uh nish'ee uhs, -nis'-, 1. <Saint> died A. D. 268, pope
259-268.

Part One: The standard Paradigm

The writings of Dionysius are
Neoplatonic: The structure of being is
hierarchical, a divine order, with God as
its origin and cause. From the Absolute
the rest of reality proceeds in the form
of ordered, graded steps falling away
from the One, each step further from the
origin bringing a unit decrease in being
or power. At the top, is the One--the
ultimate perfection, the most perfect
being. Then you move down, through
all gradations of being, to chaos at the
bottom.

The word
"hierarchy" comes
from two Greek
words: "hieros,"
which means "holy,"
and "arche," which
means "order."
Hierarchy is
"sacred" or "holy
order."

Part One: The standard Paradigm

The Great Chain

Everything has its proper

place within the whole. Those entities
higher up the ladder, closer to God,
partake more of the divine nature--have
more perfection--than those below. Yet
everything is perfect in its own place.

Plo-ti-nus

1. A. D. 205? -270?, Roman philosopher, born

in Egypt: founder of Neoplatonism

"Since, from the Supreme God Mind arises and from Mind, Soul
[these are Neoplatonic ideas], and since this in turn creates all
subsequent things and fills them all with life, and since the single
radiance illuminates all and is reflected in each [the "single
radiance" is the Original Being] as a single face might be
reflected in many mirrors placed in a series; and since all
things follow in continuous succession, degenerating in sequence
to the very bottom of the series, the attentive observer will
discover a connection of parts from the Supreme God down to
the last dregs of things, mutually linked together and without a
break. And this is Homer's golden chain, which God, he
says, bade hang down from heaven to earth."

Pope 1. <Alexander> 1688-1744, English

poet.

One of the most elegant and concise descriptions of the great

chain of being comes late, in the eighteenth century. We find
these lines in Alexander Pope's poem called Essay on Man:
Vast chain of being! Which from God began,
Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, beast, bird, fish, insect,
what no eye can see [that is, microscopic], no glass can reach,
from Infinite to thee [that is, a human being], from thee to
nothing.

Part One: The standard Paradigm

The principle of plenitude.

The history and content of the

idea of the "Great Chain of
Being," is the paradigm of
reality that ruled European
thought from the 2nd Century
AD until the 18th Century.

Part One: The standard Paradigm

Everybody believed it implicitly or
explicitly. You may find a
convenient capsule description of
this world view in a small book
entitled The Elizabethan World
Picture, by the Cambridge don
E.M.W. Tillyard (Vintage Books:
New York, n.d.). This work has
been used in English literature
courses for a half a century to help
modern people understand writers
like Shakespeare, Christopher
Marlowe, John Donne and John
Milton.

Part One: The standard Paradigm

Thus we should understand
that the eventual collapse of
this world picture, the
destruction of the great chain
of being was an immense and
revolutionary change in
consciousness. That change
was so profound that modern
Westerners now have to
approach their own not-sodistant past as something
completely foreign and
strange.

Part Two: The modern Paradigm

Part Two: The modern Paradigm

The history of the Chain

ItItbegan
begandeveloping
developingininEurope
Europeduring
during
the
thelast
lasthalf
halfofofthe
the18th
18thcentury,
century,
reached
reachedfull
fullflower
flowerininthe
the19th
19thcentury,
century,
and
andofofcourse
coursecontinues
continueslargely
largely
unabated
unabatedtoday.
today.ItItisisimportant
importanttoto
recognize
recognizethat
thatthis
thisparticular
particularway
wayofof
viewing
viewingthe
theworld
worldhas
hasaahistory.
history.

Part Two: The modern Paradigm

The history of the Chain
Of course, the idea underwent a great deal of development and
modification over the centuries. Thinkers worked out various
implications of the idea (e.g., the principles of plenitude), and wrestled
with some inherent contradictions. For example, Christian thinkers who
tried to cement the Christian revelation of a personal creator onto this
Neoplatonic concept of an impersonal emanation met with mixed
success, as you can imagine. In orthodox Christian thought, creation has
to be an act of free will, yet whenever theologians tried to think about
creation, this idea of God inherited from Plato and Plotinus was always
in their mind, a God whose creation was an emanation out of necessity.

Part Two: The modern Paradigm

The history of the Chain
Part of the idea of the chain from its Platonic and Neoplatonic origins
was that even as the chain is a structure descending from God, it also
serves at the same time as one going back to God, a ladder of ascent. It
formed the path of the ascent of the soul to God. In the Christian context,
this path of ascent could be followed only in contemplation, as the mind
rose step by step to the summit. However, in the original Platonic and
Neoplatonic context, the chain was not only a path for contemplation,
but also it was the path of the ascent of the soul through the process of
transmigration. Christian thinkers retained the idea of the chain as a path
leading up to God, but the Church rejected the allied doctrine of
transmigration of the soul. One of the consequences of this rejection was
eventually an increasing sense of stasis, of frustration.

Part Two: The modern Paradigm

The possibility of evolving up the chain through one's improved karma is
absent--you are stuck where you are. The hierarchies of human society
are, after all, seamlessly part of the cosmic universal hierarchy.
Gradually, then, the whole system began to seem enormously oppressive
to many people. The idea of transmigration having been ruled out,
individual progress within the world system was ruled out. The concept
of the great chain naturally supported a thoroughgoing social and
political conservatism; the perfection for each person consisted in
conforming to the requirements of his own place, and not in striving to
rise to another's (this idea is also found in Bhagavad-gita). Yet people
still need some sort of hope for betterment, some prospect for progress.
The loss of the notion of transmigration, once an integral part of the idea
of the chain, turned the social conservatism of the hierarchy into
oppression, and when common people in frustration sought to overthrow
kings and nobles in order to advance themselves, they brought down
around them, as it were, the whole cosmos.

Part Two: The modern Paradigm

The temporalizing of the Chain
Vol-taire (vohl tr', vol-) n.
1. (Franois Marie Arouet), 1694-1778,
French writer and philosopher.

Part Two: The modern Paradigm

The history of the Chain

Nie-tzsche (nee'chuh, -chee) n.

1. <Friedrich Wilhelm> 18441900, German
philosopher.

God is death!

Part Two: The modern Paradigm

This
Thisconsciousness
consciousnessisisnot
notaa
result
resultofofthe
thefacts
factsofofbiobiological,
logical,sociological,
sociological,oror
psychological
psychologicaldevelopment
development
discovered
discoveredby
byDarwin,
Darwin,
Marx,
Marx,and
andFreud:
Freud:rather,
rather,this
this
consciousness
consciousnessproduced
produced
those
those"facts."
"facts."
Dar-win (dr'win) n.
1. <Charles
(Robert)> 1809-82, English
naturalist.

Part Two: The modern Paradigm

Faust (foust) also <Faus-tus>(fou'stuhs, f'-) n.

1. a magician in medieval German legend who
sold his soul to the devil in exchange
for knowledge and power.
Schil-ler (shil'uhr) n.
1. <Johann Christoph Friedrich von>
1759-1805, German poet, dramatist, and
historian.

Part Two: The modern Paradigm

The history of the Chain

Omega: God is at the end of evolution

the future

o-me-ga (oh mee'guh, oh may'-, oh meg'uh)

1. the 24th and last letter of the Greek
alphabet (O).
2. the last of any series; the end.

Historical
Historicalconsciousness
consciousnessisisthe
theinstinctive
instinctivehabit
habit
ofofthe
themodern
modernmind.
mind.ItItisisthe
thecharacteristic
characteristicofof
historical
historicalconsciousness
consciousnesstotounderstand
understandeverything
everything
genetically,
genetically,ininterms
termsof,
of,development,
development,progression,
progression,
evolution.
evolution.When
Whenyou
youattempt
attempttotounderstand
understand
something
somethingininthe
theworld,
world,you
youautomatically
automaticallyask
ask
how
howdid
didititcome
cometotobe
bethat
thatway,
way,how
howdid
didititevolve
evolve
orordevelop
developfrom
fromsimpler,
simpler,more
moreprimitive
primitive
units.
units.This
Thisisishistorical
historicalconsciousness.
consciousness.

Part Three: Standard for Progress the Passion Paradigm

Original

vs.

Historical

CONSCIOUSNESS

The evolutionary, historical

perspective is the shared,
unquestioning assumption of modern
scholarship. Go into a department of
religious studies and say "I believe
this text was revealed by God, and was
transmitted intact. I believe that a
tradition can preserve its original
teachings intact in spite of all kinds
of..."--nobody will believe you for a
minute. Not just that: they will know
you are not worth taking seriously. For
the premise is that such things just
doesn't happen, and the matter is not
up for discussion. To suggest
otherwise is not merely to make a
wrong claim; it is to step outside of the
very rules by which they operate.

Standard for
Progress:
The Passion
Paradigm

The academic study of religion (Religionswissenschaft)

looks at every aspect of our tradition as a human
product, the result of social, cultural, economic,
psychological forces interacting in history. Scripture-sastra--is especially subject to the same considerations.
It is a human construct that grew and developed over
time, and critical analysis shows how a text thought to
be "revealed", entire and complete at one time and
place, contains within the traces of the submerged
histories of its parts.

The classic example of a paradigm

The whole material world is more or less in the mode

of passion. Modern civilization is considered to be
advanced in the standard of the mode of passion.
Formerly, the advanced condition was considered to be
in the mode of goodness. (BG 14.7)

Part Four: The Paradigm shift

From the very beginning, Prabhupada

indicated that evolution is the weakest
point in the edifice of modern
consciousness. If that theory goes,
then it would seem that the whole
mind of modern humanity is up for
grabs. The evolutionary paradigm
puts a frame around people's lives; it
tells them "this is who I am and this is
how the world came into being, and
this is how I got here." If the theory of
evolution is abandoned as discredited,
people are going to say, "Here I am,
here you are, here's this world around
us--and I have no idea of how I or you
or this civilization or this world got
here."

Knowledge is not a simple thing: It depends on what

you love and what your expectations are.

What is the underlying cause for the acceptance of a

paradigm?

What is the cause of knowledge?

We know what we are interested

in..and what we love.

te satata-yuktn
bhajat prti-prvakam
dadmi buddhi-yoga ta
yena mm upaynti te
SYNONYMS
temunto them; satata-yuktnmalways engaged;
bhajatmin rendering devotional service; prtiprvakamin loving ecstasy; dadmiI give; buddhiyogamreal intelligence; tamthat; yenaby which;
mmunto Me; upaynticome; tethey.
TRANSLATION
To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with
love, I give the understanding by which they can come to
Me.

sarvasya cha hdi

sannivio
matta smtir jnam
apohana ca
The director of the buddhi is Supersoul.
"I am situated in everyone's heart [as the Supersoul]
and from Me comes
remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness" (matah smrtir jnanam
apohanam ca).
Apohanam means literally "shoving aside." Shoving aside what?
Shoving aside
Krishna. Prabhupada explained this phenomenon by saying that if you
want to
forget Krishna He will give you the intelligence to forget, and if you
want to
remember Krishna, He will give you the intelligence to remember.
Prabhupada
asked once where do all these arguments come from--that there is no

Thank you

Thank you
Thank you

Epilog

Much of the medieval world-picture, with its transcendent eternal source

that is perfect and complete, with its production of a structured world of
iterations of hierarchies, with its systems of correspondences, with its
notion of perfection as the fulfillment of one's own--well--dharma, seems
familiar to ISKCON devotees because what devotees are getting from
our tradition, even though it seems an exotic import from far-off
mysterious India, is in fact astonishingly close to the world-picture of
medieval times.
Our ways of thinking and acting are near kin to what was the European
standard until a few hundred years ago. Thus, Srila Prabhupada may then
be said to be restoring to us as Europeans our own lost cultural heritage.
Restoring it, I should add, in a form free from defects in thought and
action that lead to its abrogation a few hundred years ago. In the future,
we may look back at "modernity" as merely a nasty interruption in the
true advance of Western civilization.

We know through sabda, through proper

hearing, that the theory of evolution is
wrong. Now we want to help bring about a
total revolution in human consciousness. If we
don't do that, Krishna consciousness will not
survive. Krishna consciousness is so
incompatible with the modern temperament
that if we don't eradicate it, it will eradicate
Krishna consciousness. That's my conviction,
and I think Krishna will give us the tools and
show us the way, on the condition that our
faith is unflinching.

One
Onewho
whoisisengaged
engagedininthe
thepractices
practicesofofKrishna
Krishna
consciousness
consciousnesscould
couldjust
justwait
waitfor
forthat
thathistorical
historical
consciousness
consciousnesstotogo
goaway,
away,along
alongwith
withother
other
forms
formsofofacquired
acquiredmaterial
materialconditioning.
conditioning.
However,
However,one
onediscovers
discoversthat
thatwhen
whenhistorical
historical
consciousness
consciousnessisisexamined
examinedhistorically,
historically,one
one
discovers
discoverssome
somethings
thingsabout
aboutititthat
thathelp
helpus
usfree
free
ourselves
ourselvesfrom
fromits
itsgrasp.
grasp.Srila
SrilaPrabhupada
Prabhupada
compares
comparessuch
suchaaprocedure
proceduretotofelling
fellingaatree
treewith
with
an
anax
axwhose
whosehandle
handleisisfashioned
fashionedfrom
fromthe
thetree's
tree's
own
ownlimb.
limb.