Soul Explosion

Since time immemorial, souls have been coming to earth to play in the Cosmic Game.  The souls are God's agents.  Their mission: to enter into matter, the realm of inconscience, and transform it into full God-self-awareness.   Their means: the light of consciousness.   The process: evolution. Just as a droplet is one with the ocean, so each soul is a portion of God, its Source.  As droplets evaporate they seemingly depart from the ocean and enter into the sky where they group into clouds, forming again into droplets to fall to earth and pass through myriad forms - not only the obvious forms of rain, ice, snow, streams, lakes and rivers, but every organic substance and living thing consists in large part of water - merging eventually into ever-larger rivers which bring them ultimately to their destination: the ocean from which they came. So it is with souls. At the start of their journeys they seemingly disappear from God, their Source, 'falling to earth' and entering the deepest abysses of inconscience.  Starting from the mineral consciousness, effectively devoid of self-awareness, through life after life the soul 'evolves' through the plant and animal realms to human consciousness, from which it progresses to the divine consciousness and ultimately reaches the Ocean of God-realisation. Through thousands and thousands of lives the souls journey, each time taking a step, a stumble, a lurch or a leap toward their ultimate Goal. This has been happening since time began...

... so historically the human population of earth has comprised a mixture of some souls fresh from the animal consciousness and still carrying many animal propensities; a majority of souls somewhere in the process of their human evolution, between the animal and the divine; and some spiritually mature souls approaching their goal of liberation. The human population on earth has grown steadily but slowly over the course of recorded history.  As there are many more animals on earth than there are humans, and souls would yearn to advance beyond the animal consciousness after a while, the pressure from souls in the animal stage seeking human births must be immense.  Yet the available human births had been limited by the relatively slow increase in human population, and even lower rate of souls gaining their "Exit Diplomas." This pressure of souls seeking entry to the human realm has greatly eased with the 'population explosion' which has seen a threefold increase in the earth's population  in 60 years, the span of just one generation. Presumably, as the human population increases at a previously unimaginable rate, with births far outstripping deaths, the greatest proportion of new births are souls progressing from the animal to the human realm for the first time, thus increasing the ratio of 'new' humans relative to 'mature' souls in the population. This offers plenty more opportunities for souls in the animal stage to progress to the human consciousness.  Ultimately this is a good thing: all these souls must play their human roles before proceeding to their destined goals, and the potential for these souls to realise and express their unique qualities and capacities and thus contribute to the world's progress will be far greater in a human life. In general terms, conventional wisdom holds that human consciousness is 'higher,' in the sense that it is more evolved and closer to the divine, than animal consciousness; and that those who have had the benefit of more human births are more likely to have evolved to a higher consciousness than those more recently arrived from the animal realm. The new arrivals have not yet had ample opportunities to refine the higher qualities associated with spiritual 'advancement,' such as selfless love, wisdom and compassion.  Indeed, they are inherently more likely to be influenced by such destructive 'animal' qualities as fear, aggression, lust and greed. The consciousness of humans has a far greater impact on the state of the world than that of animals or plants: so the state of the world as a whole at any given time is predominantly determined by the collective consciousness of its human inhabitants. In theory then, in the absence of a remarkably powerful elevating divine force in the world, such a massive influx of 'new' and hence less-developed souls into the human realm would lead to a significant, perhaps catastrophic descent of the collective world consciousness... ... and since every human embodies the spectrum of qualities from animal to divine, the pervasiveness of animal qualities in the world at large would exert a magnetic pull, tending to strengthen those qualities in every human, including the spiritual seekers. The present age is then both potentially calamitous for the world, and perilous for those attempting to live the spiritual life. Should we then despair? This unprecedented negative influence in the world demands an unprecedented positive response. "When righteousness declines and unrighteousness prevails, Myself I embody and manifest from age to age" - thus proclaimed Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. in Nature, every poison has its antidote and in God's Cosmic Game, every challenge has its solution.  The denser the night, the brighter is the light required; the heavier the load, the greater the strength must be summoned. Just as the elder members of a family carry a greater responsibility for the family's wellbeing, so the 'mature' or spiritually awakened souls have the opportunity and responsibility to maintain and raise the world's consciousness, especially at such critical times.  As an army is mobilised when the nation is threatened, so the alarming threats to the world's consciousness are a clarion call to the aspiring souls. Such a powerful downward force has a polarising effect.  Complacency is not an option.  Aspiring souls are forced to make a stand, as inaction inevitably succumbs to the downward gravitational pull of the animal forces: in order to overcome, transform and illumine their own undivine propensities and hence those rampant in the world, an all-consuming exertion is called forth, a sincere prayerful aspiration awaking powerfully the divinity from within, propelling the seeker forward and expediting the world's progress. Thus the gravest threat blossoms into the greatest opportunity - personally for the God-lover and collectively for the world. How blessed are those selected to play in this challenging, thrilling, decisive phase of the Game!