Hi Chuck and All,
I too like your way of expressing it humorously :-) it is actually a great question.....
Well, I just like to add my 2 cents to this -- far from thinking it is the whole answer! - but this is how I perceive it:
There are many different planes of existence...so incarnation on planet earth is but ONE particular way within creation relative to souls and their evolution...
There is expansion (as well as contraction) ONLY within the manifested creation....there is evolution/involution only within the manifested creation...so your question (to me) applies to that part of the ‘absolute’...
To me (how I can understand the bottomline of what you asked for, or what I UNDERSTAND you are asking about) is the fact that the time and space reality which has to do with what we call 'linear' (so order as what came before and after and evolution of course is a PART of that) is only one aspect of creation....there is what we call 'transcendence' which is above what is linear, including time and space....so to understand that what is above time and space and linear we need detach from all that is linear....including the 'what came before' etc....for manifesting something within the linear time and space reality doesn't APPLY to that which is above it....
For what isn't within the time and space reality can NOT BE measured in a linear way...let say in the causal universe something (everything) has been created at the creation point...yet something may be 'timely' to manifest WITHIN the time and space reality (either on planet earth or elsewhere) at a particular POINT for some particular purpose.......meaning something that eternally exist IN THE CAUSAL UNIVERSE will manifest only at a particular point ..not because it was earlier or later simply because it is the divine plan.....that is above time and space but AFFECT AND ACTUALLY DEFINE the manifestation of that time and space reality.....it’s part of it....part of the divine plan.....
For us within the time and space reality there is linear order (appears to be at least) ....but that part of us which is connected to the Source is connected eternally transcendently.....so that part doesn't change.....so while we live and evolve within the time and space reality our essence remains changeless within the Source....in the same ‘time’....what evolves is the self-conscious part....embracing ever more the ‘other part‘ which remains intact within the Source....‘there’ is no level, no time and no differentiation.....while ‘here’ we evolve struggle and all the rest....that’s the job, the service, the role we play....
Within that ‘role’ here are many many reasons for the different consciousness levels between souls, NOT ONE OR THE OTHER reason......those reasons are part of the things that can't be understood via linear thinking simply because it is not based on linear occurrences.......reasons that are far beyond that....
I can only explain this in a way that creation is NEITHER and yet also EITHER at the same ‘time’ (for no better word) continuous/unending and yet 'done'......it is a matter of where are we looking at it? So it depends on the point of VIEW.....for if we look at it from the time and space reality it is continuous and unending....yet if we look at it from a transcendent (so above time and space etc. limitation) it is already 'done' and always have been.......meaning whatever will be and ever can be and was, or could have been etc. has ‘already’ BEEN CREATED....it all exist on the plane of the so called ‘causal universe’.....where everything that exist come from.......simply because otherwise it can not BE...it is that simple (or that complicated
again depending on where are we looking at it )
The nature of the absolute (symbolized by neptune, pisces 12 house astrologically speaking) is not linear......therefore our linear existence is based on that which isn‘t linear, it includes the linear and all ‘logics’ of it but it is far more than that...........yet we are within the time and space reality mostly think within linear terms......from here to there, what came before and after etc....and yet there is NO before and/or after above time .....there is NO here and/or there beyond space and so on....
There is only manifested order (which becomes the time and space measure) looking at it from WITHIN the time and space reality....but the reasons and causes reach far beyond the limitation of that reality.......
Hope this makes sense?
So compare to the ‘absolute’ expansion is not possible you are right Chuck....however the manifested creation is less, or just a part of that ’absolute’ therefore expansion within the manifested creation is possible even more it is the goal or purpose of it......expanding consciousness from within the limited self-consciousness brings the consciousness back to it’s origin point- and that is the absolute ....
As for the difference between souls’ consciousness levels etc. there can be many reasons...not one OR the other....again we need to let go our need to identify this from the time and space reality....what is TIMELY to manifest according to the divine plan is not necessarily because something was created ‘earlier’ or ‘later’....
So what I am trying to say is that there is of course the free will and choice making within the souls and yet there are other reasons that are so far above our ‘grasp’ within the time and space reality and the resulting linear perception....it is I think very important to be aware of this even if we don’t understand it fully....
Meaning we can NOT assume that consciousness-level differences are BECAUSE one soul wanted to evolve and the other didn’t....there are many other reasons within the mystery of the divine plan...would we assume for example that all animals are ‘lazy’ for they didn’t evolve yet to human form? So they are inferior to us....and so on....
there is a NECESSITY within our created world to a certain number of DIFFERENT life forms THAT ENSURES THE LIFE OF THE PLANET AS A WHOLE UNIT....well, just imagine what would happen to the planet if all forms of life all of a sudden manifested in human forms at the same ‘time;?
Maybe there are life forms who appear (for us) in a far lower evolutionary state and yet they are fulfilling the necessary service that has been asked from their soul from the Divine....so I personally think it is not our ‘job’ to try to identify what could be the reason/cause for whatever soul/form of life to be where they are at...our ‘job’ is to simply try to do the best we can relative to where we are at.....no matter where is that at the end it is all equal.....totally and absolutely equal in the transcendent aspect of creation.....there is a ‘role’ within the divine drama that we are playing at any point of so called ‘time and space’......it is neither a punishment or a privilege.....the only thing that we can really know is just that relative to the consciousness what we have did we try to do our best or not...that’s all.....
And as the overall aim of creation: well as Wolf said it is 'god's way of perfecting itself'...I personally feel that this again is true from the aspect of the manifested creation...and from there it is very true....as from the ‘point of view’ of the absolute well..... that's not an easy subject
...
To me at least it feels the EXPERIENCE itself is what the 'goal' is.....the infinite possibilites that exist within the 'dream'......the divine dream... that the ‘dreamer’ identifies itself with the dream and it’s objects and subjects........which at the end (to me) is to reach (experience) the ecstasy of love and compassion in it’s highest level in infinite ways.......as a particle as part of the dream and yet realising that at the end it is both the dream and the dreamer.....to me the goal appears to be the experience of that ultimate happiness of ecstasy and bliss........that the soul feels it was worth to go through the ‘dream’ (evolution) that it worth it all at the end......that experience soaked in the highest aspect of unconditional love is what ‘worth’ the participation ....meaning what worth the ‘separation’ at the first place is the homecoming at the end....
Well, of course this is only my view, my understanding -- and I might even add: at this point of time, in the here and now
So I just offer it for what it is; my own intuitive perception which may (or may not?) help others to formulate their own perception......
Blessings,
Lia
