Humans, as the most evolved species on earth, are constantly plagued with questions to which there seems to be no answers available. An example is the age old question, what is the purpose of life? Well one could say to procreate in order to ensure that our species remains in existence for as long as possible, but WHY? Why are we in existence at all? In other words, from a grand perspective, what is the purpose of the human race. Although this question seems too all-encompassing for us to answer, the answer is simple, and it has been in front of us for all of history. The purpose of humans, the most highly evolved animal on earth, is to evolve further. This has always been our primary purpose. When we developed the opposable thumb, we used that to our advantage and began using tools. Through the power granted to us by the use of tools we were able to evolve from a hunter gatherer society into an agrarian one. This gave us more time on our hands, and we began to evolve in the most important way...through our minds. Why did humans feel the urge to constantly strive to get better and better? Why did we want nothing but to be smarter, to be more knowledgeable, to have more power? Because of our natural instinct to evolve. The steam engine was developed for the purpose of making the survival of the human race more easy through faster communication and transportation. Man has always had only ONE intention, ONE purpose: to make life better. Whether it is by developing a society where everyone is seen as equal or by inventing new medicines and anti-biotics, man exists in order to make his own life perfect, or as close as humanly possible.

HOWEVER, a strange catch has come about. How does evolution work? Answer: The "survival of the fittest" theory. Well, survival from what, what exactly are we trying to survive despite of? In other words, in whose eyes are the "fittest" more fit than the "weak"? Answer: Nature. Man is now placed in a unique situation, for we have conquered nature! There is nothing nature can do that man can not protect himself from. The evolution of the mind has reached a stage where it has conquered the very essence of evolution! For example, we have people living very comfortably in places which celebrate Nature's wrath, such as Alaska, and northern Russia. If we didn't have domination over nature, then all humans in the north would die out except for the mutant who by pure luck happened to have developed a type of skin impervious to cold. The snow mobile makes it possible for anyone to live in snow bound cultures. The very fact that humans inhabit the entire earth, almost every region, proves are all-encompassing domination over nature. No other animal is as widely spread out as the human being. No other animal has greater powers than nature. Even a lion, a huge powerful creature, will never be found in any cold climates. So, if humans have conquered Nature, the essence of evolution, have we lost our purpose? By making life easier and easier by invention after invention, where are we heading? Are we ultimately searching for a state of evolution (or devolution) where we are simply vegetables with knowledge, no movement or work required because we are intelligent enough? Answer: No.

Humans today are naturally unsatisfied with the direction our society is heading towards because we inherently do NOT want to become an actionless species who never need to work. There has to be another direction for us to evolve! There is. Now, I personally think that no man should be listened to who simply proposes an idealistic goal without any practical insight as to how to reach that ideal. Although the solution about to be proposed might sound idealistic, please bear with me and allow me to illustrate its practical application.

The answer is spiritual evolution. Now the essence of evolution is striving for perfection. Are humans perfect? Answer: Not even close. But what makes us imperfect? We have conquered nature, so it has nothing to do with inability to survive...does the invention of machines to do our work make human life more perfect or simply easier? We must try and get to the essence of what makes humans imperfect. Lets see...we commit horrific crimes, we hate, we are unhappy, we kill, we are dissatisfied, there are some who have nothing and some who have everything...the list goes on and on. Could there concievably be one cause for all of these overwhelming weaknesses?
Answer: yes.

What causes one to commit a crime? What does the human mind go through before being able to murder thousands of people in one single "terrorist act"? The cause is mental imbalance. When one's mind is imbalanced, one loses the capacity to discriminate between what is right and what is wrong. When one's mind is not clear, but as cloudy as a stormy sky, one is incapable of truly comprehending ideas like love for humanity and peace. The root cause of a stormy mind is anger. An angry mind is never calm, tranquil, reasonable, or peaceful. It is dark, incapable of reason, out of control, impossible to contain. What are the conditions which produce an angry mind?
Answer: Frustration + Desire = Anger. Let us take a sensitive example to prove this point. What prompted Osama Bin Laden to commit such a horrendous crime against his own species? The answer is surprising: desire. Bin Laden desired the same thing a lot of us want: the success and prosperity of "his people" (followers of Islam). He desired it so desperately that when he saw that his desire was being thwarted (because of the Israel/Palestine conflict), when he saw Palestinian followers of Islam in dire straits, a horrific frustration was added to his desire. Frustration and desire breeds anger, and Bin Laden's frustration and desire were so desperately overwhelming that his anger took complete control of his already imbalanced mind, and he could no longer discriminate between right and wrong. Using the dangerously illogical logic so common among the angry, he came to the conclusion that the only thing he could do in order to maintain justice is to murder innocent civilians for every innocent civilian of "his people" that was killed. He percieved America as the soul reason for Israels power, and his imbalanced mind figured attacking America was essentially attacking the enemy. So there really is no such thing as an EVIL soul.
George Bush is guilty of the exact same desire. When President Bush (falsely?) linked The Alquida Terrorist organization with Iraq in his speeches, he automatically made the war about revenge, about the same thing that Osama wanted. Whether or not that was the real cause of the war is irrelevent. The fact that the American people were riled up by the call for unity for the sake of ending "terrorism" is proof enough that there is a general imbalance in the minds of most humans. Why? Because Terrorism involves the killing of innocent people in order to attain a larger goal. It is only the illogical logic of an imbalanced mind that can say that the only way to end terrorism is by killing innocent people while trying to achieve a higher goal. Violence really doesn't end violence - it simply creates more frustration which, when added to desire (of a more peaceful life even) results in anger, imbalance, and more violence.

Desire is the root cause of all human imperfections. Unhappiness only exists when one desires to reach a certain state which would create more contentment. Unhappiness is an illusion, for once you achieve your goal, if you achieve your goal, which would supposedly make you happy, you invariably find several other causes for your unhappiness...the grass is always greener on the other side. But all of us have desire...why is it that we all don't go out killing innocent people? Because of human evolution! As we evolve, our desires get less and less powerful. Bin Laden is a prime example of a human that is not as far evolved. His desire was uncontrollably high. What does that have to do with evolution? Remember, evolution involves striving for perfection. As long as his desire was high there would be no way his mind could reach the calm, tranquil state required in order to love and reason and use logic.

Ok, says the reader, what is the point of a desireless life? Why sacrifice few pleasures we do have just to get rid of the pain? Isn't that living a practically vegitative state?
Answer: NO! Desire is what prevents us from tapping into the true power of our minds. A powerful mind is one without distractions. When Picasso painted his pictures, he wasn't thinking about what he was going to get financially as a result. When Einstein developed his maginficent theories, he was only able to do so because of his ability to focus, to forget all distractions. So by ending all superficial, sensual (in order to satisfy the senses) desires, we gain a feeling of peace in our bosoms, and our minds, with new, practically unfathomable powers of concentration and single pointed focus, is able to remain balanced in all situations life throws at us. An example of this is Mahatma Gandhi. Because of his lack of desire, for wealth, for pleasures, even for his own life, he was able to dedicate himself to the betterment of mankind. When he was brutally beaten by South African police for no reason other than his skin color, he didn't get angry, he didn't get imbalanced. He REFUSED to testify against them! He REFUSED to desire revenge! He REFUSED to do anything to hurt his fellow man! How does a man gain such love, self-control, and perfect balance in his heart? Answer: through the end of desire. Imagine a world where everyone had attained this level of love and balance in their hearts! There would no longer be any need for police, war, or crime! If everyone had the desireless, balanced mind and heart of Mahatma Ghandi, we would all have unconditional love for each other. If this is an idealistic, impractical dream, then it is natural for us as an intelligent, questioning species to question it. Thinks the reader: "Oh c'mon! Can we realistically eliminate all our sensual desires?!"

We CAN attain a desireless life! The only way to do this is selfless action. Have a goal, have an ideal which has nothing to do with your personal, sensory desires, and selflessly dedicate all your actions towards this ideal. Never have anxiety about the personal results of your actions. If you remain unattached, desireless, then your actions themselves, untainted by the distrations produced by the weak mind, will take on a new, fresh vitality, and you will take one more step to human perfection.

What does this have to do with Spirituality? Spirituality (all spiritual religions) involves faith: a growing belief based on understanding. It involves faith in the idea of a being more perfect that humans are. It provides that ideal towards which to selflessly dedicate all of your actions. However, never blindly follow any dogma or scripture! Always use your most powerful tool: your mind! Use logic, use reason! These are qualities inhearent in every human. There is no human on this earth who can sincerely follow a code of life blindly. That is, since we all have reason in us, if the scripture is not logical, there will always be a part of us questioning it, no matter how hard we try to convince ourselves otherwise. If even a small portion of our subconsious questions our faith, then our faith is undermined, essentially insincere.

Our purpose in life has not changed. It is to evolve, to become more perfect. Only by eliminating sensual, ego-centric desires - the root cause of an imbalanced mind - can we have the calm and tranquil heart required to love all humans with equal sincerity. With this constant, unconditional love in our bosom, we will have a feeling of constant, unchanging contentment and society will evolve to a magnificent state of crimeless, painless, peaceful perfection.

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