Contrary to the sense provided by the physical mind, which seeks to base everything that exists upon its narrow foundation of Matter, the worlds of Spirit, Mind and Life are not simply evolutionary developments starting from Matter and Inconscience, but are created from a higher plane and manifest powers and capacities of consciousness far exceeding those that are at play in the Material World. Sri Aurobindo describes it thus: “…there stands the fact that we find these higher worlds in our vision and experience of them to be in no way based upon the material universe, in no way its results, but rather greater terms of being, larger and freer ranges of consciousness, and all the action of the material plane looks more like the result and not the origin of these greater terms, derivatory from them, even partly dependent on them in its evolutionary endeavor. Immense ranges of powers, influences, phenomena descend covertly upon us from the Overmind and the higher mental and vital ranges, but of these only a part, a selection, as it were, or restricted number can stage and realise themselves in the order of the physical world; the rest await their time and proper circumstance for revelation in physical term and form, for their part in the terrestrial evolution which is at the same time an evolution of all the powers of the Spirit.”
It is axiomatic that something cannot evolve that was not previously involved, and thus, if we see a power of Mind or Life developing in the material world, we must look for how the involved capability got there and where it came from. It is useful to remember that the history of humanity frequently starts from the viewpoint that the physical world, the human awareness are at the center of creation, only to later determine as we expand our vision and insight, that the universal manifestation is far larger, more complex and more powerful than our physical consciousness; and that there are forces and powers that predominate and take a far more central role…the earth rotates around the sun rather than vice versa…
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Book 2, Part 2, Chapter 21, The Order of the Worlds
Sri Aurobindo Studies 