The creation is like the bridge...

December 25, 2008

Light and Love

Christmas is a time to be grateful for all the good that has experienced and also express gratitude for the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and obtain a new sense of optimism for the 2009 year.

"This creation is like the bridge which connects man with God. "I" is one hill. "God" is another hill. The bridge between the two is the aspect of creation. If you break and destroy the bridge, you can never reach the destination. I am hoping that you plunge into society and do service to society and thereby use the bridge to reach God" (Sathya Sai Baba).

Through service we will reach to the reality of the Self and Selves what all are the Great One. Pictorially it is as Swami's Cosmic Form creates reality through everyone us. But there is a need awareness and motivation for this activity and also to find the best for every person way to step on this bridge what connects the diversity into unity.

The Selves are not from dual world, they belong to the world of the Great One, but in the realm of the Maya the duality is everywhere.

Swami's Cosmic Form or the Great One is above whatsoever form of the Maya.

Humans task is to find their own and only own steps on this bridge, built by Swami.

Which kind are the causal manifestations in the world of Maya indicate to the deeper unity of creation?

Some all known examples:

Many great and not so great ideas do not occur in isolation. Sometimes the same idea strikes two or more thinkers, geographically far apart, around the same time.

Often in difficult times when group prayers are offered for a particular reason and the prayers are answered by its own, special, incredible way. (Many of us certainly have experienced helpful and sometimes joyful miracles created by Swami).

Near death experiences (NDE) are so common, so vivid and so life-transforming - survivors frequently become more compassionate, religious and serene as a result of what they experience.

NDEs are now to be scientifically investigated in a US and UK study involving 25 hospitals. This is co-ordinated by Dr Sam Parnia at Southampton University and is designed to find 1,500 survivors of “clinical death” who tell such stories.

These experiences are nearly the same over the world. (Christians don’t see Hindu gods, there is some kind of cultural overlay, but the experiences are similar).

One conclusion from this is we all have very similar brains, so when things go awry we are likely to have similar experiences.

If we can float out of our bodies, then the mind is separable from, and, perhaps not dependent on the brain.

Let's do a very brief outlook to the world of quantum mechanics what started the study of subatomic particles. These subatomic particles power computers techology, TV, anything dependent on electronics. It’s true enough to work, but it’s also weird enough to defy belief. Everything about the discoveries in this area turned out to be in defiance of reason.

First, particles can continue to be connected to each other even though separated by long distances - billions of light years, even: a phenomenon known in science as non-locality.

Second, quantum theory causally showed that the mind can affect the world. If, for example, you say that light is made of particles, then, obligingly, light will be particles. If you say it is waves, then it will be waves. The questions we ask of nature determine the answers it gives. (The principle of Uncertainty).

(Certain latest quantum experiments also give an indication that human expectations can change observable results).

Henry Stapp, a distinguished physicist at the University of California at Berkeley is convinced that quantum mechanics applies to large as well as small things. The world as a whole is just as weird as the inner workings of the atom. The truth of the world and ourselves is that the whole thing is a chaotic swirl of energy and particles.

The observer by Stapp is brought into quantum dynamics in an essential way not only as a passive observer but as an active part of the dynamics. He/she makes certain choices not specified by the physical dynamics which seem to come from the psychologically described realm rather than the physically described realm.

What happens when a person dies? Does this psychological part just fade away? That’s what most would think.

On the other hand, there are the experiments done by physicians in connection with NDE which seem to be evidence that brain death or total brain inactivity does not totally put out the psychological aspect. The relationship between the brain and the psychic experience is not as simple as one might have expected.

On top of that, quantum non-locality could mean the mind is capable of being non-local to the brain, of floating to the ceiling of the room. It can become, as Stapp puts it, “unglued”. .

This idea would, if widely accepted, end the reign of scientific materialism. It would mean the Universe is not a “causally closed” system, locked down since the Big Bang (when such event was at all), as mainstream science has always insisted it is, but open to freedom of choice by the autonomous, floating, matter-altering mind.

The mind is not just the little human being inside skull, but really is out there and everwhere in the world.

It is acceptable to accept that a lot of the things that now seem like products of charlatans and grifters - telepathy, spiritualism, even psychokinesis - will suddenly seem much more credible.

Consequently, we need not anticipate instant oblivion on death but a series of very weird and very illuminating experiences. (The Egyptian and Tibetian Books of the Dead have explored and ritualized this all 5000 years ago that we are spirts in the materal world).

This would be a revolution, but it would also be a return to the past. However, among scientists believers that there is anything more to NDEs than a psychologically interesting hallucination - are still in a small minority.

(But the believers in materialistic science would also consider the weirdness of the world revealed by Stapp and quantum theory).

On the whole there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in any of our philosophies. These things have revealed in Vedas and have interpreted, explained by Swami in His teachings in purpose to direct human beings to the bridge indicating the direction to Immortal Atma.

References:

The living dead, by Bryan Appleyard, "The Sunday Times," December 14, 2008

http://www.monroeinst.org

I wish a Joyful holiday season, wherever you are and whatever it means to you.

Namaste - Reet

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