There used to be dinosaurs; now, there aren’t any. There used to be countless species that no longer exist because this is the nature of evolution. If this is so, will we, too, become extinct at some point in the future?
Evolution moves ever forward. Even though we do not see it, everything in nature follows a very rigid dictate. The final form to which evolution is moving is already set, and determines every form that precedes it. Therefore, when species become extinct, they don’t really vanish; they continue to exist but in a more advanced form. Were it not for the prior form, the current form would not evolve, as well. In that sense, every species that has ever existed exists within the species that inhabit the world today. Moreover, it enables the existence of the current forms of life on Earth.
When something completes its development, it morphs into a new form, and it seems to us as though it vanished, but it hasn’t, it has only progressed. Therefore, we must not forcibly eradicate any form of life, so that all life forms can complete their cycle, but we must also not regret it when a species becomes extinct. The important thing for us, as humans, is to see to our own development.
Today, we’ve come to a stage in our development where we should rise above the physical level and begin to study the purpose of our existence. This stage is the beginning of our spiritual development, when we begin to discover how we are connected to the entire universe, and that our purpose in life is not to secure our physical sustenance, but to reveal the interconnectedness of all of nature and experience it firsthand.
In the spiritual stage, we begin to feel how all of nature operates. We begin to feel nature’s “inner program” and understand “nature’s logic.” As we begin to sympathize with it, we stop feeling our own bodies and begin to feel nature as a whole. And since nature is eternal, this is the point where our physical existence no longer limits our spiritual one, and we transcend time and space as we acquire the qualities of nature itself: connectedness, balance, and harmony.
Once we rise to this level, we realize that this is the purpose of our existence. We find that when we “think” and operate like nature, we become one with everything. At that time, there is no end to our existence. We transcend personal interest and become loving toward all beings, as all beings are parts of us, and we of them. This is the eternal, spiritual reality, and it is the future of each and every one of us, as soon as we transcend our narrow egoism, which caters only to our current, fleeting selves.