Forbidden Archeology
While I may not prescribe part and parcel to all of Cremo’s ideas, he is able to maintain a certain spaciousness around them. He doesn’t strike me as a fundamentalist, but as someone who encourages open mindedness and curiosity (I love that he got his first copy of the Bhagavad Gita at a Grateful Dead concert). Certainty gives way to a gentler belief in mystery. The Open Minds interview takes us on a journey with Cremo to answer three central existential questions:
Where do we come from?
Cremo says that modern evolutionary thought tells us that humans like us first appeared on Earth less than 200,000 years ago, having evolved from more primitive ape-like creatures. But his own research points out that from the time of Darwin until now, many scientists have reported in the professional scientific literature discoveries of human remains millions of years old.
What are we? Cremo, often described as a Vedic creationist, describes the universe as multi-leveled and inhabited by beings of different levels of consciousness that exist on a different level of reality. Evolution of the conscious self can occur through different kinds of bodies. The bodies do not necessarily change or evolve but the conscious self can evolve through the different kinds of bodies.
Where are we going? Cremo talks about how humans have devolved from a state of pure consciousness. By devolution, he explains, he means the process of consciousness becoming intertwined matters. What’s key? According to Cremo, the process can be reversed. Consciousness can be restored to its original pure state—this is the real purpose of meditation, yoga, and other spiritual disciplines, he says.
