Flowering of human consciousness

THE FLOWERING OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
EVOCATION
Earth, 114 million years ago, one morning just after sunrise: The first flower
ever to appear on the planet opens up to receive the rays of the sun. Prior to
this momentous event that heralds an evolutionary transformation in the life
of plants, the planet had already been covered in vegetation for millions of
years. The first flower probably did not survive for long, and flowers must
have remained rare and isolated phenomena, since conditions were most
likely not yet favorable for a widespread flowering to occur. One day,
however, a critical threshold was reached, and suddenly there would have
been an explosion of color and scent all over the planet – if a perceiving
consciousness had been there to witness it.
Much later, those delicate and fragrant beings we call flowers would
come to play an essential part in the evolution of consciousness of another
species. Humans would increasingly be drawn to and fascinated by them. As
the consciousness of human beings developed, flowers were most likely the
first thing they came to value that had no utilitarian purpose for them, that is
to say, was not linked in some way to survival. They provided inspiration to
countless artists, poets, and mystics. Jesus tells us to contemplate the flowers
and learn from then how to live. The Buddha is said to have given a “silent
sermon” once during which he held up a flower and gazed at it. After a
while, one of those present, a monk called Mahakasyapa, began to smile. He
is said to have been the only one who had understood the sermon. According
to legend, that smile (that is to say, realization) was handed down by twentyeight
successive masters and much later became the origin of Zen.