The “evolution” of man means the development of certain inner qualities and features which usually remain undeveloped, and cannot develop by themselves. If man does not want it, or does not want it strongly enough and does not make the necessary efforts, and get the necessary help, he will never develop.
The irony is, that before acquiring any new faculties that man does not now possess, he must first acquire qualities that he thinks he already possesses but about which he deceives himself.
The following experiment will show how consciousness may be studied. Take a watch and look at the second hand, trying to be aware of yourself and concentrating on the thought, ‘I am now here’. try not to think about anything else, simply follow the movement of the second hand and be aware of yourself, your name, your existence and the place where you are.
Most people soon find themselves drifting into imagination and thought asssociations, demonstrating that man is not conscious of himself for most of the time. The illusion of his being conscious is created by memory. We actually remember only moments of cosciousness, although we do not realise that this is so. In retrospect we remember those moments and assume we were fully awake the whole time.
Man does not know himself. He does not know his own limitations and possibilities. He does not even know to how great an extent he does not know himself. So he assumes his mental state to be `conscious`, fully aware and self-determined, when in fact he is acting to a very great extent on automatic responses and continuously dramatising all the influences of his past.
