The Status Civilization

The Status Civilization is a short science fiction story written by American author Robert Sheckley and was published under the title Omega in Amazing Science Fiction Stories, published by Ziff-Davis.

Excerpts:

His return to consciousness was a slow and painful process. It was a journey in which he traversed all time. He dreamed. He rose through thick layers of sleep, out of the imaginary beginnings of all things. He lifted a pseudopod from primordial ooze, and the pseudopod was him. He became an amoeba which contained his essence; then a fish marked with his own peculiar individuality; then an ape unlike all other apes. And finally, he became a man.