Posted on Dec 20th, 2006
by 
sensei
from eckhart tolle's "a new earth" pages 1-5
evocation:
earth, 114 million years ago, one morning just after sunrise: the first flower ever to appear on the planet opens up to recieve the rays of the sun. prior to this momentous event that heralds an evolutionary transformation in the life of plants, the planet had already been covered in vegetation for millions of years. the first flower probably did not survive for long, and flowers must have remained rare and isolated phenomena, since conditions were most likely not yet favorable for a widespread flowerin to occur. one day, however, a critical threshold was reached, and suddenly there would have been an explosion of color and scent all over the planet -- if a perceiving consciousness had been tehre to witness it.
much later, those delicate and fragrant beings we call flowers would come to play an essential part in the evolution of consciousness of another species. humans would increasingly be drawn to and fascinated by them. as the consciousness of human beings developed, flowers were most likely the first thing they came to value that had no utilitarian purpose for them, that is to say, was not linked in some way to survival. they provided inspiration to countless artist, poets, and mystics. jesus tells us to contemplate the flowers and learn from the how to live. the buddha is said to have given a silent sermon once during which he held up a flower and gazed at it. afer a while, one of thoes present, a monk called mahkasyapa, began to smile. he is said to have been the only one who had understood the sermon. according to legen, that smile (that is to say, realization) was handed down by twenty-eight successive masters and much later became the origin of zen.
seeing beauty in a flower woulc awaken humans, however briefly, to the beauty that is an essential part of their own innermost being, their true nature. the first recognition of beauty was one of the most significant events in the evolution of human consciousness. the feelings of joy and love are intrisically connected to that recognition. without our fully realizing it, flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves. flowers, more fleeting, more ethereal, and more delicate than the plants out of which they emerged, would become like messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless. they not only had a scent that was delicate and pleasing to humans, but also brought a fragrance from the realm of spirit. using the word enlightenment in a wider sense than the conventionally accepted one, we could look upon flowers as the enlightenment of plants.
any lifeform in any realm - mineral, vegetable, animal, or human - can be said to undergo enlightenment. it is, however, an extremely rare occurrence since it is more than an evolutionary progression: it also implies a discontinuity in its development, a leap to an entirely different level of being and, most important, a lessening of materiality.
what could be heavier and more impenetrable than a rock, the densest of all forms? and yet some rocks undergo a change in their molecular structure, turn into crystals, and so become transparent to light. some carbons, under inconceivable heat and pressure, turn into diamonds, and some heavy minerals into other precious stones.
most crawling reptilians, the most earthbound of all creatures, have remained unchanged for millions of years. some, however, grew feathers and wings and turned into birds, thus defying the force of gravity that had held them for so long. they didn't become better at crawling or walking, but transcended crawling and walking entirely.
since time immemorial, flowers, crystals, precious stones, and birds have held special significance for the human spirit. like all lifeforms, they are, of course, temporary manifestations of the underlying one life, one consciousness. their special significance and the reason why human feel such fascination for and affinity with them can be attributed to their ethereal quality.
once there is a certain degree of presence, of still and alert attention in humans beings' perception, they can sense the divine life essence, the one indwelling consciousness or spirit in every creature, every lifeform, recognize as one with their own essence and so love it as themselves. until this happens, however, most humans see only the outer forms, unaware of their own essence and identify only with their own physical and psychological form.
in the case of a flower, a crystal, precious stone, or bird, however, even someone with little or no presence can occasionally sense that there is more there than the mere physical existence of that form, without knowing that this is the reason why he or she is drawn toward it, feels an affinity with it. because of it ethereal nature, its form obscures the indwelling spirit to a lesser degree than is the case with other lifeforms. the exception to this are all newborn lifeforms - babies, puppies, kittens, lambs, and so on. they are fragile, delicate, not yet firmly established in materiality. an innocence, a sweetness and beauty that are not of this worl still shine through them. they delight even relatively insensitive humans.
so when you are alert and contemplate a flower, crystal, or bird without naming it mentally, it becomes a window for you into the formless. there is an inner opening, however slight, into the realm of the spirit. this is why these three en-lightened lifeforms have played such an important part in the evolution of human consciousness since ancient times; why for example, the jewel in the lotus flower is a central symbol of buddhism and a white bird, the dove, signifies the holy spirit in christianity. they have been preparing the ground for a more profound shift in planetary consciousness that is destined to take place in the human species. this is the spiritual awakening that we are beginning to witness now.
integral art
April 2007 
Access: Public
