Just finished reading this book. ' The Universe In a Single Atom : The convergence of science and spirituality ' by His holiness the Dalai Lama. Found the book quite interesting so wanna share some excerpts from it :)

" The buddist cosmos consists of three realm - the desire realm, the form real and the formless realm- the last being progressively subtler states of existence. The desire realm is characterized by the experience of sensual desires and pain, this is the realm that we human and animals inhabit. In contrast, the form realm is free from any manifest experience of pain and is permeated principally by an experience of bliss. Beings in this realm possess bodies composed of light, Finally the formless realm utterly transcends all physical sensation. Existence in this realm is permeated bu an abiding state of perfect equanimity and the beings in this real are entirely free from material embodiment. They exists only on an immaterial mental plane. "

" The evolution of human life on earth is understood in terms of the "decent" of some of these celestial beings, who have exhausted their positive karma, which provided them with the cause and conditions to remain in these higher realms. There was no original sin that precipitated the fall, it's simply the nature of impermanent existence, cause and effect that cause a beiung to change states," to die"

When these beings first experience their "fall" and were born on earth, they still possessed vestiges of their previous glories. These humans of the first era were thought to have godlike qualities.. They are said to have came into being through " spontaneous birth" , they had attractive physiques, their bodies had halo, they had certain supernormal powers like flying and they subsisted on the nourishment of inner contemplation. They were also thought to be free from many of the features that serve as the basis for discriminating identity, such as gender, race and caste.

over time, it is said , human began to lose these qualities. As they took nourishment from material food, their bodies assumed coarser corporeality and thus five rise to a great diversity of physical appearances and this gave rise to a great diversity of physical appearances. This diversity in turn leas to feelings of discrimination, especially animosity towards those who appeared different and attachment towards those who were similar, resulting in the convergence of the whole host of gross negative emotions. Furthermore dependence on material food lead to the need for the disposal of waste from the body and - I am not quite sure of the reasoning works here - this led to the emergence of male and female sex organs on the human body. The story continues with a detailed account of the genesis of the entire range of negative human actions, such as killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. "

"Why does modern biology accept only competition to be the fundamental trait of living beings? Why does it reject cooperation as an operating principle, and why does it not see altruism and compassion as possible traits for the development of living beings as well? "

" The idea of the "survival of the fittest" has been misused to condone and in some cases justify, excess of human greed and individualism and to ignore ethical models for relating to our fellow human beings in a more compassionate spirit."

I guess the greatest thing I realized from this book is the idea of using compassion as the operating principle for the evolution of human kind. I've always been a strong believer of the Darwinian theory of evolution after having read much about it. This book gave me an insight to an idea that never came across my mind.

So yar... If these excerpts got u interested. Do look for the book and read it. Its interesting :)