Conscious Evolution and Temporal Cycles
evolution a conscious evolution, if these are aware of the evolutionary principle itself we will define it as self-conscious.
Time, Cycles and Evolution
In the previous paragraph we said that it was necessary to define a duration of evolution. This notion implies the idea of time, but this term involves two notions often confused with each other, which however are part of two different types of evolution.
If for a mechanical evolution we can define a quantitative mechanical time defined on the basis of a phenomenon external to the system itself, such as the vibrations of a cesium atom or other, in the case of an organic evolution it is certainly more useful to consider the time determined by a phenomenon internal to the system itself, which, although variable and dependent on the system, provides us with a meaningful reference rhythm for the system itself.
In the case of human life, for example, it will be more meaningful to consider the number of breaths or heartbeats, rather than the number of vibrations of a cesium atom. Similarly, it makes little sense to describe stellar evolution in seconds, that is, with a unit of measurement that approximates human heartbeats. Rather, it may make sense to define stellar evolution in relation to rotations around the Galactic Center, or to its phases of activity or inactivity.
That said, the definition of time we have given so far is based on a periodic cycle that we have considered significant to the development of the phenomenon itself. However, we must distinguish three related but not equivalent realities:
- time: is that reality that allows a substance to evolve;
- cycle: is the organization with which time is structured to allow organic evolution;
- evolutionary phase: is the time circumscribed by a cycle and in which it is possible for a substance to pass from one state to another of evolution.
In the case of mechanical evolutions it is possible to simply consider the linear development of time and therefore confuse the notion of time, the reality that allows evolution, with the notion of cycle, the instrument used for its measurement. Conversely, in the case of organic evolutions such confusion is no longer possible because, since the system itself must make a choice and set resources in motion to advance on the path, the evolutionary phase in which the system finds itself can take more and more time cycles.
The terms of a choice or the occasions for evolution can present themselves again and again and an organic system can remain in the same evolutionary phase for more and more time cycles before operating a change. An animal can go through various fertile cycles and not reproduce, then instead reproduce. Similar cycles present themselves in the same evolutionary phase of a system with similar conditions, giving the opportunity for a passage in one direction or another.
The Four Phases of an Evolutionary Cycle
Cycles are an organization that time assumes to provide a system with the opportunity for evolution. If evolution does not occur within a certain temporal cycle, this presents itself similar to itself, again providing similar conditions, even if not identical.
As long as a system remains in a certain evolutionary phase, that is, as long as the system does not put its own resources into action to change its evolutionary state, the cycle presents itself in a similar form. Each evolutionary phase can last a variable number of temporal cycles.
Each cycle can be subdivided into four fundamental phases (Fig. 1) to which we can give the names of:
- sowing
- birth
- climax
- death
To these are linked four actions or impulses that allow the passage from one phase to another of the cycle: gestation, which starts from sowing and brings the system to birth; growth, which regulates the system from birth to climax; aging, which brings the system from climax to death and, finally, the disintegration of the forms adopted in the cycle and their re-elaboration, which is the prelude to a new sowing.
An important and often misunderstood note is that, unlike the case of a mechanical temporal evolution, in the case of organic evolution the forces that act and, consequently, the actions that can be made in each of these four phases are not the same. Let us analyze a vegetative cycle that is...