What I tried on several occasions to hint at, is that higher stages of consciousness not only bring more awareness about ourselves and the surroundings (which we can call consciousness expansion) but fundamentally change our understanding of what time is. And it's very difficult to bring to attention the fact how fundamental this change really is. Mainly because the direction where this change is to be found is located exactly in the blind spot of consciousness. This doesn't simply change our ideas about time but also what be-ing is, what consciousness is, what hierarchy is and so on. The moment when the true nature of time is penetrated in the course of development, is one of the most transforming experiences one could go through. The reason is that many of the seemingly disconnected aspects of existence (like the mentioned above) converge.
The pluralistic model envisions beings forever experiencing a metamorphosis through an infinite succession of conscious states. Higher stages of cognition reveal that what we experience in time, as successive states of consciousness, can be experienced from a higher perspective as something spread out in consciousness. In other words - time becomes space-like. It is enough to experience even only one such higher state so that we can become aware of a direction, an axis which leads to states of consciousness which encompass into wholenesses larger and larger domains of states which are otherwise experienced only in linear sequence.
When this is vividly experienced, the idea of hierarchy is conceived in completely different light. It's not simply that different peers take different government positions. It's more like the government itself represents a state of being which shapes the space-time-consciousness domain, containing the potential time-experiences for the different gov. positions, experienced as individual beings. This hierarchy has nothing at all to do with struggle for power between peers. I've already spoken about this - a human form of consciousness can't take the place of beings from whose standpoint, their consciousness create the whole space-time-consciousness matrix, as something whole, which we experience only in a much more fragmentary and sequential way.
We often hear about fractal patterns in Nature. Fractals are usually envisioned primarily in space-like fashion. But the more important aspect of this is the fractal structure of time, which is at the same time the fractal structure of consciousness and being.
It's an oversimplification but it makes sense to distinguish two axes of time - one is the 'horizontal', sequential flow of states of consciousness, the other is 'vertical', where the flow leads to higher orders of unity of the lower states. When we find ourselves within this vertical structure, as in spiritual-scientific meditation, we understand that at a point at infinity 'above' us, there's a potential state which encompasses the whole infinite potential of possible states of being as something existing all at once. This immediately brings into focus the general pattern of evolution that all beings follow. The beings not only experience endless metamorphoses of states but every next state brings them to a greater degree of integration. A faint projection of this integrative process we find in the phenomenon of memory. We not only experience sequence of states but every next state is such that integrates within itself every state that has been so far experienced. The critical point in evolution where we find ourselves, is for humans to find this vertical direction of integration of consciousness and not only the endless flow in horizontal time. The difficulty of this is that it's not simply an intellectual understanding that must be added but a whole inner transformation, the turning inside-out of the ego, which leads to understanding of what we are and what our place in the Cosmos is.
In this sense, the telos is not that the gods create arbitrary rules and regulations because they enjoy restricting humans. Every higher fractal level (being) shapes a palette of potential states of being that can be experienced independently and as such within time. The vertical aspect of time can be understood as two polar streams - one of expansion and one of contraction. Here's one of the traps modern spirituality falls into. The nondual movement recognizes only 'horizontal' dualities - oppositions within ordinary consciousness. It is thought that once these dualities are balanced, the mystery of the Cosmos is resolved. But there's also the vertical duality - the two flows of integration and fragmentation of the states of being. This is completely unrecognized most of the time. It's connected with the 'cross' symbol that David brought to attention. The two 'vertical' streams always exist together but beings experience themselves as being 'in phase' more with one than the other. The ancient Hindus described this as the inbreath and outbreath of Brahma. In modern terms the outbreath is known as 'involution', while the inbreath as 'evolution'. The ancient Hindus lived in the period of involution, they were 'in phase' with the outbreath, they were descending into more and more fragmentary states and this gave shape to their particular form of spirituality. Then follows the point of 'reversal' where the human "I" finds its own bearings and can synchronize itself with the inbreath, the evolution, the integrative process. That's why spirituality also evolves. The methods of the ancient Hindus were adapted for involution, they were still sinking more and more into the fragmentary outbreath of Maya and were aiming to balance it out, to avoid falling in complete degeneration. Today spirituality must become evolutionary. The hardest problem to resolve is how the ego relates to the higher orders of integration. As long as we focus entirely on 'horizontal' time, nothings seems to have changed in history. We only observe the flat space-time-consciousness and its endless metamorphoses. The outflow and inflow are always present. The event at the point of reversal made it possible to synchronize with the integrative flow but for every individual human this can only happen through personal choice and effort. It is true that collective consciousness as a whole is moving in that direction but the individual can only synchronize with the evolutionary flow in freedom, out of Love. It is by our own most intimate realization that we come to this. We understand that evolution of consciousness reaches its fullest potential not when we experience endless metamorphosis of forms but when these metamorphoses lead to higher and higher orders of integration. In these higher states we can look 'back' and explore as spread before us, the spiritual structure which we were previously probing only pixel by pixel in sequence. The integrative process leads the beings to higher orders of existence, where they participate creatively in the outbreath, to shape worlds where other beings will experience their unique evolutionary spirals. At the same time they continue their own inbreath integration which ultimately leads to the Fountainhead.
The insight into the deeper structure of time-consciousness-being is one of the most important things that humanity would have to comprehend more and more. And there's great resistance for this - we should be under no illusion about it. Not only humans but other beings too, have used the apparent disconnect between the horizontal and vertical, to create for themselves a 'private' realm, that is so to speak out-of-phase with the integrative aspect of the vertical flow. And these beings are not going to give up their earthly kingdom easily. Our whole modern civilization is utterly dependent on the horizontal aspect of time. The idea of higher orders of time-consciousness is deeply disturbing for most of present humanity - as for the scientifically minded, so for the religious. For the scientifically, because it shatters the view of a Universe evolving frame by frame in time, which gives the ego the comfort of 'there's nothing above me'. For the religious, because they expect that the Earth will be simply left behind and higher existence will be continued in a different realm. The idea that it is through the individual human being, that the bridge between the vertical and horizontal should be established, is still avoided with great force. We should be clear that even though the Macrocosmic point of reversal has been passed, the majority of beings are still attached to the outbreath, searching for their purpose in the ever fragmenting forms of being. And this is something we should get used to. There'll be a whole host of human beings in the far future who will refuse (quite unconsciously for most) to synchronize with the integrative flow and will form a kind of sub-human race. Yet the whole spiritual being of Earth is already on ascending path, since it has been 'fertilized' by the Sun Spirit. This will make the conditions for such a sub-human race more and more inappropriate, they'll force themselves into degeneration.
This is one of the most exciting topics for me - time - because there converge all the different mysteries that face us. It should be noted that the fractal picture of time is not without its merits. It doesn't reflect the full reality. For one, it presents an overly simplified tree-like hierarchy of the fractal states/being. It's not exactly like this but we have already gone too far in this post.
I'm trying to put something together that lays out these things in a more gradual and logical way but it takes 'horizontal' time
