The whole idea of a nonmaterial consciousness that changes through the ages is best explained in Steiner's cosmic evolution. Starting from an Old Saturn when matter didn't exist along with a dull deep consciousness that continues evolving until a stage when the ego, inspiration, and intuition turns back to Old Saturn. Theosophy also held a very similar idea with its belief in the unity of everything by consciousness.
Today when we look at anything we see it through our own modern rationalist view never realizing that theres possibly a whole other world out there. A world that cannot be isolated from it's whole and contains the nature of reality itself. But "reality" isn't actually the reality we normally consider reality. The world we inhabit is a product of selectively eliminating the whole of reality so the mind can focus on necessities of the everyday type. The mind reaches out and shapes matter in the best medium that allows consciousness to be expressed. Consciousness drives the creation of "reality", which includes humans. With the ages humans become more aware of themselves eventually leading to cosmic consciousness that allows awareness of the universe.
Perhaps the ancients had a very different awareness than us with them being dominated by the holistic, feminine "right-brain". They had an intuitive knowledge of the world around them. They perhaps had an intuitive knowledge of the world around them, allowing for the construction of cosmic-aligning building projects like Stonehenge. Their inner world and the external world were one. Then with a break in consciousness that led to a devaluation in eternal world came war and unrest due to a logical, masculine "left-brain" domination.
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So are we living in a transient time thats evolving toward a higher consciousness? Yes, it seems if you can tell by the emerging paradigms and ideas. The mind, long relegated by modern science to the realms of superstition, is becoming central to the paths humanity is to go to in coming ages. Though we live in a prosaic time that in of itself is a part of the evolution of consciousness. It's a living thing itself that comes from the inside to the outside world.
For a long time theres been muttering of a great epochal shift from the New Age crowd and esoteric traditions. Indeed, the vehement denial of subjective experiences is a sign of this shift and its transition into a holistic, cooperative age. Perhaps I hesitate to take great changes in human consciousness completely seriously yet. I'm still new to this. But I've been reading alot lately about such topics. Theres been the idea that perhaps life is "designed" to evolve into a higher, more expansive consciousness. The transitional time period will be pretty rough with energy and resource shortages leading to social unrest. Such events can be linked to the sustainable movement by finally bringing forth the idea that ecovillages and homesteading are the way of a sound future. By sound I mean bringing us through upheaval to a new lifestyle that works with nature and creative universe instead of against it.
Many of the currents of our time are working against a furthering of higher awareness. The postmodern "joke" of a worthless material world is a view of going about life without looking beyond established notions.