The Process of Social Evolution: The Human Cycle

Abstract

This chapter examines the broader stages or cycles of social evolution based on Sri Aurobindo’s book ‘The Human Cycle’. Sri Aurobindo delved into the inner spiritual meaning of each social stage and their significance for evolution of consciousness and how it organised life in different periods in history. These unique characters of the stages, i.e. the symbolic, typal, conventional, individualist, subjective and spiritual stages respectively are detailed and there is an attempt to identify our current stage of development and our evolutionary next step. This chapter further looks at the nature of individual and collective change and the need to make progress in both these spheres at once. The dynamics of progress and perfection are examined as they guide both individual and social lives.

An endless spiral of ascent and fall,

Until at last is reached the giant point,

Through which his Glory shines for whom we were made,

And we break into the infinity of God….

(Sri Aurobindo 1997a, p. 24)