There is significant evidence that our stage development shows no signs of slowing down as we move into the new millennium. Let’s look at technology, economics, morality, and spirituality:

Technology.  Ray Kurzweil (“The best at predicting the future of artificial intelligence” says Bill Gates ) has shown that technology innovation is doubling every 10 years — and he claims it will grow faster in the future — so by 2050 we will experience more technology progress in four months than we are experiencing in all of our whirlwind 2000-2010 decade.
    Faster communications seems to be a key. For example, a scientist recently announced a superconductor breakthrough on the web and then rushed to prepare a paper for an upcoming conference. Arriving at the conference a month later, he was astonished to find a dozen other research papers based on his web announced discovery.

Economics. Technology and increased global communication — together with increased political and economic freedom and fairness, have unleashed the creative power of the world’s people to vastly increase our economic production. There are nearly 2 billion internet users and 4 billion cell phones in use today — one cell phone for every adult on the planet!. Cell phones not only help high powered entrepreneurs, but can greatly increase the market sales of a village fisherman by cutting out middlemen and locating the best market.

By 2050 the average world income per capita (in current dollars) is projected to increase six fold — more than a current European’s income. Globalization has fueled this recent increase — with workers in Asia and Latin America starting to see the same opportunities as those in Europe and the US saw in the last century. [But change engenders pain. See the “Challenges” section below for the major problems of inequality, conflict, and environment.]

Morality. Higher technology and economics seem to still be driving morality upward. As the fall of the Iron Curtain dramatically showed, to compete economically, countries need to nurture the creative energy of all their citizens by establishing a fair playing field of democracy, justice, fair economics, and a free press. In another positive shift, for example, companies in the 1950’s paid management consultants to improve efficiency, then in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s to respect, value, and benefit from the creative energy of women and minorities.  Now, in pursuit of the new Asian markets, companies pay hard money to change their internal cultures in order to learn how to respect and value distant people as their equals. If a company today does not change and widen its value of others, it will lose out to the companies that do.
    A recent competitive trend for companies is “transparency” – where a company has no secrets from its customers or employees — but works with them for the mutual benefit of all. This amazing trend is being forced by the bright glare of internet communications and shows happy signs of spreading to governments as well.  A second positive trend is “corporate social responsibility” where companies voluntarily try to improve the quality of life for employees and society at large.

Globalization and instant communication is forcing, or rather allowing, all of us to see all the earth’s human beings as equals who are deserving of respect and compassion. It is my contention that we have always been touched by this compassion, but only in recent times has the economic base been established that can nurture and stabilize it at a higher stage.

Spirituality. The Rational stage began some 500 years ago with a rebellion against control of the Mythic stage priests and Church with its “Big Daddy God.”  Luther proclaimed their misbehavior, Galileo their misconceptions, Machiavelli their un-Godliness, and Guttenberg helped spread the word. But in our rebellion, we conceded true spirituality — the connection we all feel to our Source (or God) — to the priests and books of the Mythic religions.
    The rift has been deep and long lasting. Ordinary folk have often felt forced to choose Rational Science and lose Spirit — or choose Religion and lose Rational Science.

The great wealth in places like the US has shown us how a surfeit of material things can alleviate material suffering, but does not provide emotional peace and happiness. While a few Americans have sought that sense of peace in a direct experience of the ultimate in meditation or contemplation, many more have turned back to the fundamentalist Mythic church (and some even further to tribal era shamans).

Today, as we ratchet our way slowly to the mature or Integral level of Rational, there are signs of the healing of this century’s old rift. UCLA scientists are researching the impact of mindful-awareness meditation on the brain. Neuroscientists invited the Dali Lama to keynote their conference. And on the other side, Father Keating is teaching Catholics a meditation called Contemplative Prayer to directly experience God’s love.

Integral by 2050?  Spiritual by 2100?  Based on the projected huge increases in technology and economics — and the increasing number of people moving into more mature Rational levels — it seems possible that we could mature to the Integral-Rational stage by mid-century.

Integral is the first stage of consciousness that values all stages. The Mythic stage is quick to kill all infidels (tribal or scientific), and even the Pluralistic-Rational condemns other stages (i.e. The “politically correct” atmosphere of many universities scathingly marginalizes any divergent views.)

The Integral Stage values all levels. For instance: Magic for their imagination, Mythic for their needed rules (like stop lights), Individualistic-Rational for their technological prowess and energy, and Pluralistic-Rational for their diversity of viewpoint.

If Integral achieves world power, we will finally have a chance for world peace. We will have a good chance to avoid global meltdown and we will have a chance to eventually move on to the Spiritual levels — individually and culturally.

But it will take continued technological and economic progress. Only when we tear down border fences because developing countries make enough money at home, will we have a chance to move into an Integral-Spiritual era of peace.

We will need the experience of global wealth to realize that things and power are not a lasting source of happiness. Only when we experience this dissatisfaction can we let go of our craving for wealth and pass thru biblical “eye of the needle” to true spirituality.