What is Evolution Spirituality's Great News of Hope

At the level of Spirit, Universe, and Evolution Evolution Spirituality Holds That:

1.) A wisely integrated balance of objective science and subjective personal spirituality holds the most optimal potential for creating a better world for all, an effective personal spirituality, and the new Evolution Spirituality.

"The relationship worked out between science and religion will determine the destiny of the human race." ---Alfred Lord Whitehead

2.) The universe is engaged in a creative, grand and progressive evolutionary process (and adventure,) that is actually going somewhere. Over the past 13.7 billion years of evolution, the universe has continually repeated certain actions that cause certain parts and wholes within it to be sustained and thrive. When we know and creatively live these science discovered universe evolutionary principles of sustainability our lives, communities and nations will thrive and be sustainable, our lives will be as meaningful as they can possibly be and, we will most likely be living in an ethical congruity with the most life-affirming aspects of the moral codes of the religions existing today. 

"Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality." Carl Sagan

3.) At this time in human history, the single most important spiritual practice for all of us is "to creatively use the best of science to help us build sustainable lifestyles, livelihoods, and communities."

If we do this, we will preserve our planet so that all of the other challenges that we face can be resolved. If we fail to create sustainable lifestyles, livelihoods, and communities on a priority basis and as our key spiritual practice, the planet will continue escalating into deeper ecological catastrophe to a level that could become irreversible and evolve into an extinction-level event for all humanity. (Our program to help you resolve the number one ecological threat is called Job One for Humanity.) 

"Science is, at least in part, informed worship." Carl Sagan

4.) There is unity in the universe already existing. We are all embedded within one interconnected and inter-dependent universe and universe union.

Therefore nothing that is embedded in this one universe union is ever truly separate or excluded. When we understand and then act from this inherent physical universe truth of oneness and inclusion the separation and tensions of "us vs them" in our interactions with other people (as well as living and non-living things,) begins to dissolve to both the world's and our benefit. 

5.) It is your inherent birthright to self-organize and self-create your own personal spirituality by selecting from and integrating any and all of the facts of general science and progressive universe evolution with the life-affirming wisdom and tools from humanity's vast spiritual heritage (Religion 1.0 and Religion 1.5.) This combination holds the greatest promise for informing you about how to optimally live your life or what is Ultimate Reality.

"A religion that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by traditional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge." ---Carl Sagan

6.) The universe's spiritual prime directive is that the individual is the true and final free will authority for determining truth for their own spiritual life. This is solely the individual’s final spiritual right through the exercise of their own unfettered, sovereign free will and their independent investigation for truth. (Interfering with or attempting to supersede the authentic guiding voice and internal authority of the presence of the Ultimate Reality within the individual is never permissible by any exterior individual or organizational or ecclesiastical body. This is because all healthy-minded individuals are capable of discerning spiritual beliefs they want to hold for themselves by using their own direct experience(s) of the Ultimate Reality in conjunction with using the traditional spiritual validity tests and safeguards. These classic validity tests and safeguards indicate how to know when one is experiencing or "hearing" the authentic facts, meanings or "voice" of the Ultimate Reality within --- and not one’s own desire, projections, ego, or other inappropriate internal or external influences.

In addition to the above, the spiritual prime directive truth itself becomes more of an ever-changing probability, more uncertain and seen as an abstraction the more one develops wisdom over time. Truth is conditioned and qualified by dialectical context, perspective, process, relationships, and the fact that it is embedded in an evolving and living transformational process. It is not a static thing, but a dynamic thing which each individual has a right to continuously discover and rediscover for themselves. (Religion 1.5)

7.) It matters not in which religious denomination, scientific discipline, or other places you find it, but only that all authentic wisdom and knowledge about life and spirit in the universe once discovered should be included within your own form of personalized spirituality! (Religion 2.0)

8.) Science and spirituality are both compatible with and indispensable to each other. Over the ages, in one form or another, the following validity-testing principle for determining authentic spiritual truth or wise religious belief has repeatedly been made by the founders, mystics, and leading theologians of almost ALL religious denominations.

 (Religion 1.5)

“No encompassing, objective truth-probability of science can ever really be in conflict with authentic spiritual law, truth or subjective belief about the nature and purposes of the Ultimate Reality that interconnects, unites, and includes all things. The fruit cannot but indicate the nature of its seed! If there is a conflict, then it is the small, partial or limited view of the spiritual laws, truths, and beliefs that are wrong."

(We strongly recommend that you take the time to read our definition of Ultimate Reality in the previous link as it will be referred to repeatedly on this page and throughout this website.)

At the Level of Spirit, Universe, and Evolution We Hold That:

9.) An Ultimate Reality or Total Reality exists and you get to decide for yourself what that means. Within Religion 2.0, Ultimate and Total Reality also implies "That which originates the universe(s) including as a totality all absolutes and potentials within that Origin as well as all universes originated by that Origin." Ultimate Reality also has been defined in many other ways by other spiritual organizations. (Click here to see the other nuanced Ultimate Reality definitions to see which one resonates with you most.) (Religion 2.0)

10.) We hold a necessary humility and awe because Ultimate Reality will never be fully knowable to us in our current form. All efforts to fully know or disclose the nature and purposes of Ultimate Reality will at their very best be nothing more than partial maps, myths, or metaphors. No matter how much we can know about Ultimate Reality and how much we can do that reflects Ultimate Reality, it will always be a partial and incomplete representation of the theoretically infinite potentials and infinite realized aspects of Ultimate Reality.

The spiritual humility derived from our awe and wonder regarding this incompleteness of knowledge and the continual unfolding of the infinite and endless Great Mystery and Origin also implies that we as individuals and as an organization(s) are always in a state of continual openness to the continual surprise of learning more about Ultimate Reality from every possible source and circumstance, to further evolve our current spiritual ideas and ideals about what Ultimate Reality is within a global spiritual commons.

From the above, it follows logically that we hold that no individual or organizational spiritual effort to know or disclose Ultimate Reality has any inherent special exclusivity or any absolute or final completeness, authority or importance above all or any other individual or organizational effort to know or disclose the unending mystery of Ultimate Reality. Any science-and-spirituality integrated cooperation and collaboration between any of the partial individual or organizational efforts to know or disclose the unending mysteries of Ultimate Reality holds the promise of adding to humankind’s knowledge base of Ultimate Reality or of being complementary and therefore also revealing a greater vision of the inherent wholeness of the nature, purposes, and states of Ultimate Reality. (Religion 2.0)

11.) In spite of the challenges presented in the item just above, the direct observation of the physical universe as a whole system is currently the best, most direct, and objective way to obtain and understand more reliable information about Ultimate Reality. The universe can be seen as the fruit of the seed that originated it. The universe's fruit can not help but be highly reflective of the nature and intentionality of the universe's Origin. (Religion 2.0)

12.) Service to forwarding the evolution of life on our planet and in our universe is essential to a fulfilling and meaningful life. This is true in part because each of us comes into being because of and from --- the procession and existence of the Origin of the universe(s,) the universe's evolutionary process and the evolutionary processes of our planet. We are embedded within a far greater and more important evolutionary procession than just the self-chosen goals of our own short lives. To not also know and serve that greater evolutionary procession of life would be an individual life out of touch with its own origin process and the evolutionary context of its own being as well as the river of forces maintaining it and moving it towards some greater common good for the whole system. (Religion 2.0)

"We do not belong to ourselves, even mostly. We belong to the universe." Buckminster Fuller

13.) At this very moment you are fully capable of doing your one seven billionth part to responsibly co-evolve a just, sustainable and equitable world for all in a serving partnership with others, the unstoppable forces of progressive evolution and with Ultimate Reality.  This is because you are and can be a truly co-evolutionary, co-responsible partner with the Ultimate Reality in the universe's progressive evolutionary process toward the universe's core directionality, which in part is (ever-increasing novelty, complexity, cooperation, union, integration, order, harmony, learning, greater personal consciousness and self-reflection, truth, beauty, goodness and increasing consciousness of the oneness and wholeness of the union of Ultimate Reality in all its forms, states and qualities.

One creates this future first by creating a sustainable and appropriate lifestyle and livelihood and by self-organizing themselves and being an active steward and advocate for all of earth's life-sustaining ecosystems! This is best achieved by finding alignment with the universe's core processes of progressive evolution, one's own consciousness/spirit/soul/highest essence, and by your conscious and intentional co-creation with the progressive evolution of the universe. Because of the evolution of our current level of consciousness, it now appears that we have passed an evolutionary milestone. Humanity has finally reached the evolutionary transition point where our conscious co-creation with the Ultimate Reality in the progressive evolutionary process is now fully appropriate and spiritually essential for the optimal future unfolding of all life and relationships in the universe.

"Will the Universe Be the New Religion?"---Carl Sagan

For as long as progressive evolution shall continue, the future of evolution is now more than ever truly up to us! Ultimate Reality will fully co-act with those in partnership who embrace this co-responsibility to co-evolve this great adventure of progressive evolution in life-affirming ways.

Job One for Humanity is an important example of what doing our 1/7 billionth part means in tangible terms. At the current time, due to the growing challenges of catastrophic climate destabilization and its potential for biocide that both we and all future generations will face, there is no greater or more current, more relevant, or more embodied great spiritual work and daily spiritual practice than that of learning and following the practical steps of living sustainably and actively stewarding the Earth's ecosystems for both ourselves and future generations. (If you would like to see an amazing short video on the logic of why this has to be the Job One for Humanity, click here

14.) When you are learning about Ultimate Reality and evolving toward harmony with others using the Universe Principles of Sustainable Prosperity, you are on the greatest and most rewarding spiritual and secular partnership AND adventure found within the progressively evolving physical universe. It is the most primal, purposeful, and only adventure in all of existence that will:

  1.  create every single thing that is worthwhile to be or become,

  2. help you to do every single thing worthwhile that could be done and,

  3. eventually, create every single thing that is worth having --- both now and throughout the future!

Practicing the Universe Principles of Sustainable Prosperity is one of the most effective ways to become more effective in doing your part to evolve our world for the better. (Religion 2.0)

"Forwarding the progressive evolution as taught by Evolution Spirituality is the way to most optimally live the will of God and make the will and way of God real in the world. It is actively and consciously working toward creating heaven on earth." Lawrence Wollersheim

15.) You are vital to the universe's evolutionary goals, which include the unstoppable and ever-increasing truth, beauty, goodness, and consciousness of the Ultimate Reality which has emerged the universe, has involved into it and is in direct partnership with you to progressively co-evolve the universe towards even greater levels of truth, beauty, goodness, and consciousness within both the individual and Ultimate Reality in all its forms, states and qualities. (Hegel was partially right when he said that, "the direction of evolution in the universe was more and more matter becoming conscious." The deepest direction of evolution in the universe is more and more matter becoming both conscious of itself and of the Ultimate Reality in all its forms, states and qualities.) (Religion 2.0)

16.) When you continuously live from your most authentic self (the self that most accurately expresses the wholeness of yourself and Ultimate Reality) and when you consciously hold and stay connected in union to Ultimate Reality as you understand it, and when you connect to the most authentic, highest self in others in a simultaneous tri-union your challenge resolving creativity in the moment will be optimized and maximized. Even polarizing dualities will break down and the future will work out far better than you ever dreamed or expected! (Religion 1.5)

17.) Being in the present and being aware of its feedback while making your life an expression of artful creativity, joy, humor, delight, generosity, kindness, forgiveness and gratitude are your highest forms of life-affirming worship and are the best ways to empower yourself and to serve life and others. (Religion 2.0)

18.) Your greatest real wealth during this life is:

a.) your creativity,

b.) your willingness to experience what actually is,

c.) your relationships,

d.) your experiences and

e.) the willingness you create within yourself or that you engender in others.

The single most commonly accepted trans-denominational community validity test for manifesting an authentic spiritual life is demonstrated by the evolving quality of your current life relationships. Another way to say this is that your current relationships are continuing to evolve toward greater truth, beauty, and goodness and are also continuing to demonstrate within them an increased consciousness of the Ultimate Reality that includes and interconnects all things. These four things are often abbreviated to their most simple result, which is acting with authentic love, experiencing more delight in your relationships, and being continuously grateful. (Religion 2.0)

19.) As a great and unique expression of the evolutionary process of Ultimate Reality, you too are naturally and abundantly creative and artistic. This means that each of us is an artist that can empower art, beauty, truth, and goodness to flow into every part of our life. As an inherently creative and artistic individual, you are also capable of creating both a sufficiency and abundance of solutions for the challenges of your life and the world. (For more information about the major role of and importance of art and creativity in our community, click here.) (Religion 2.0)

20.) Because you are a great and unique expression of the Ultimate Reality,  you too are also fully capable of having the same or similar direct spiritual experiences that the saints, prophets, mystics, scientists, great poets, inspired social leaders or founders of the world's great religious traditions have experienced and have any or all of the following:

  1. knowing more about Ultimate Reality's, qualities, states, nature, directionality, and purposes through integrating both objective universe sciences and subjective spiritual experience drawn for the wealth of humanity's life-affirming spiritual heritage, (When we say science we especially mean science from the new progressive evolutionary and universe whole systems perspectives)
  2. finding qualities or a presence or "the" presence of the Ultimate Reality within oneself (even as them or it)
  3. a direct relationship/connection with and/or to the Ultimate Reality,
  4. experiencing living in better union and alignment with the Ultimate Reality,
  5. having a visceral, numinous, transcendent, ecstatic, or awe-inspiring personal or non-personal experience of the Ultimate Reality,
  6. having a personal renewal in the form of feeling energized, motivated, inspired, and having a rekindled hope and confidence in life and the future from these experiences, and
  7. finding the transformational wisdom, empowerment, and healing needed for an expanded living of the virtues in a balanced way from these experiences. So that in your personal and social behavior and your attitudes you are being like (congruent with) what the Ultimate Reality is authentically like --- in classic spiritual terms you are acting with authentic joyful love in your relationships. (Religion 1.5)

21.) From your direct spiritual experiences with the Ultimate Reality in the physical universe, you can expect to experience a new and expanded sense of:

  • delight,
  • identity,
  • purpose and meaning,
  • autonomy, freedom, and dignity,
  • awareness, compassion, empathy, and peace,
  • emotional and mental balance
  • physical well being,
  • feeling younger in heart and energy as you paradoxically get older (a major life revitalization),
  • personal effectiveness (being able to implement wise and balanced applications of the virtues to resolve life’s problems,)
  • service to life manifesting in life-affirming and balanced ways,
  • connection to the Ultimate Reality, self, and others, as well as all other life and,
  • interconnectedness in a dynamic and growing global Evolution Spirituality community within a new type of networked open global spiritual commons. (Religion 1.5)

22.) By using your own inner spiritual transformation, empowerment, and healing, as well as the fruits of your direct spiritual experiences with the Ultimate Reality, you are also fully capable of doing your part to help break the chains of the world's reciprocating pain and cruelty that pass from person to person and generation to generation through your delight, generosity, kindness, love, wisdom, service, forgiveness and balanced living of the virtues. (Religion 1.5)

23) The unfolding adventure of discovering and attaining spiritual growth and states and stages of enlightenment on a journey of wonder and awe is a continuous process that appears to have no final or complete level of spiritual growth or enlightenment in this reality. This is due to primarily the potential or actual infiniteness of Ultimate Reality to be discovered and experienced on many levels of reality. This expanding great spiritual journey becomes easier, more stable and successful at the deepest levels of personal experience with each new and additional level of spiritual growth and enlightenment attained. (Religion 1.5)

24.) Spiritual growth and states and stages of enlightenment will take as long as it takes for that particular individual. It does not inherently take vast amounts of time (or even lifetimes) to experience powerful spiritual growth, enlightenment and spiritual transformation and empowerment. Your spiritual desires and your decisions followed by practice and congruent actions are the most important personally controllable factors that maximize your spiritual growth. (Religion 2.0)

25.) All authentic spiritual paths are inherently both physically and mentally safe to the spiritual adventurer due to the inherent nature of the Ultimate Reality and its relationship to the individual. For more about what makes a spiritual path or religion authentic click here. (Religion 2.0)

26.) We hold that Ultimate Reality embraces both the immanent and transcendent. It is both fully in and engaged in the world and also beyond it. It is panentheistic. (Please note this is not pantheism.) (Religion 1.5)

27.) You are always connected and part of our open, trans-denominational spiritual community through both our common origin in Ultimate Reality, our common science-informed genesis story, the universe's progressive evolutionary directionality and our shared highest spiritual intentions. Our trans-denominational meta-spirituality community fully supports you in developing your own personalized version of Evolution Spirituality for we hold that it is the future and essence of all religion! Our organization is also fully dedicated to supporting you as a fellow spiritual co-adventurer in expanding your direct spiritual experiences with the Ultimate Reality and in supporting your search for new spiritual wisdom to improve the world. (Religion 2.0)

28.) Awakening to and presently being in union with more of your Spirit/Consciousness. This and or breakthrough new technologies may eventually preserve your highest spiritual Essence and potentially even transcend the death of the physical body. Just as the material elements of the body will return to the planet and universe at death it is rational to postulate that any non-materials elements of individual life such as the consciousness (or non-material parts of the mind,) the soul, spirit, essence, or personality will return at death to their non-material source. (Religion 2.0)

26.) As a spiritual co-adventurer, sharing your wisdom (when asked) and supporting others on their unique personal spiritual journeys is one of the greatest ways to build a better world and a Collaborative Commons. (Religion 2.0)

27.) If you see the value of our movement, you are welcome to join us and self-organize the sharing of its ideas where ever you live. (Religion 2.0)

(Please note: Unless stated at the end of each item above that this item is part of Evolution Spirituality many of the sections of our great spiritual news of hope also have been included as things we also hold valuable from Religion 1.5 and traditional Religion 1.0.

The above "Great News" was derived in significant part from the perspectives and facts of Evolution 2.0 and its new Universe Evolutionary Worldview. It is not provided as a final or special authority, but a support resource for your individual contemplation, evaluation, and eventual use. You are always the final authority who will decide upon the wisdom, value, and usefulness of anything we present.)

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