Our human organism is not a disembodied spirit in some ethereal heaven, but an embodied Soul in a material world. Most of the spiritual traditions of the past viewed this material reality of our body and the material world as an illusion and a snare which has to be cast off or abandoned for realizing the freedom of the Soul. But a more integral spiritual vision views this material reality as an expression of the Spirit. If this higher vision is accepted, what then is the spiritual significance, purpose and destiny of Matter; matter in our own body and the terrestrial matter as a whole? In this series of articles we examine this question in the light an integral spiritual vision. It will be an exploration of the future possibilities which lie ahead for the evolution of Matter in the light of Sri Aurobindo's vision and the Mother's experiences in her own body.
This will be a sequel to our earlier series "Future of the Human Potential" in which we explored some of the unmanifest potentialities of human consciousness which may unfold in the future. In this series we will examine some of the higher potentialities hidden in Matter which may be revealed during the future evolution of our planet, giving birth to an entirely new science of Matter.
A new principle emerges from the old and then there is an integration of the consciousness, energy and substance of the new with the old, creating the next higher principle in evolution. Consciousness emerges from the "dump" Matter as the principle of Life and this new vitally responsive life-energy is integrated with the substance and energy of "dump" matter in the stone, creating the living matter of the plant. Again, consciousness emerges from the living and "unconscious" matter of the plant as the sense-conscious and instinctive mind of the animal, and later as the self-conscious and thinking mind of man. Here also, there is again an integration of the energy and substance of the Life with the energy and substance of the Mind creating the living, sensing or thinking matter or substance of the animal or human brain. If we extend this evolutionary logic further into the future, when the consciousness emerges in its original form as of the Spirit from the Mind, there has to be a still further integration creating a living and conscious Matter, conscious with the consciousness of the Spirit, or in other words a spiritually conscious Matter. This transformation of matter has to happen first in the matter within a human being that is a human body.
But is such a thing possible? Matter and Spirit seem to lie at two opposite poles of existence? Can they unite and become one? To answer this question, we have to look deep into the spiritual source of Matter in the light of Sri Aurobindo's vision.