Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Holy Life


There is something so incredibly life-affirming about the kind of joy and fellowship that emerges when many human beings, inspired by spiritual values and a higher sense of purpose, come together. The Buddha, when asked if association with like-minded people was a part of the holy life, is reported to have declared: "Association with like-minded people is not a part of the holy life, it is the whole of the holy life." The longer I have been teaching, the more obvious it has become to me that the Buddha was right—association with like-minded people is the whole of the holy life. And that is simply because the holy life, the spiritually enlivened and awakened life—if it's to have any real impact on the world—is about creating and sharing higher values with other human beings. When insight and revelation are being experienced as part of a shared higher state, something truly sacred begins to occur. The potential of a new, more enlightened world emerges here and now.
—Andrew Cohen

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Capitalism and Quantum Mechanics

The following article caught my attention in light of the series the Paris group has been studying regarding the tipping point we are rapidly approaching. It seems to me that as long as the human race continues to view reality from the perspective of greed and "not enough", we are caught in a cycle of conflict driven by these aspects of human nature. Once humanity evolves (and I believe it will if we don't destroy the plannet first) spiritually to the point that love and compassion are more important than material acquisition, we will truly experience heaven on earth.

Examining Capitalism Through Quantum Mechanics Saturday, 28 July 2012 08:42 By Michael Ortiz, Truthout

As human beings, we don't just construct social realities and social systems, but we literally help construct the physical universe of which we are a part. Therefore, understanding the relationship between human beings and the quantum reality of the universe becomes paramount if we seek to truly understand and transform the social and structural systems of inequality that we have created for ourselves.
According to quantum mechanics, the subatomic level of reality exists in an undifferentiated state of dynamic flux until a conscious observer measures it (or looks at it), thus, giving that matter a particular form. In other words, an atom is spread out all over the place as a wave of potential until a conscious observer localizes it as an actual particle through that very act of observation.
The famous double-slit experiment actually captured this protean nature of the quantum world. The double-slit experiment essentially launched particles through a single slit, whereby each particle left a residual mark on the back wall where it landed (creating a single band pattern). However, when particles were launched through two slits, they left a residual interference pattern on the back wall (which can only be created by waves that interfere with each other). Even when particles were launched through the two slits one at a time, they still created an interference pattern. (This occurrence is impossible according to classical quantum physics.) So, in order to figure out how this interference pattern was occurring, physicists placed a measuring device by the slits to observe the particles after they were launched. Astonishingly, when the particles were launched with the measuring device in place, they actually created a residual mark of a double band pattern (which was expected in the first place). What physicists determined was that, prior to being observed, each single particle actually existed as a wave of potentials that simultaneously went through both slits at the same time; thus interfering with itself and leaving a residual interference pattern. So in essence, conscious observation then collapses the quantum wave function of particles and thus localizes them at a fixed point.
Moreover, quantum superposition "holds that a physical system - such as an electron - exists partly in all its particular, theoretically possible states (or, configuration of its properties) simultaneously; but, when measured, it gives a result corresponding to only one of the possible configurations (as described in interpretation of quantum mechanics)." The more we look at elementary particles, the more we realize that there is actually no such thing as one electron or one photon on its own. A particle exists only in relationship to the state that it finds itself in, with no generic or concrete form. So, the more we examine "solid matter" in great detail, the less solid it actually becomes.
Earth with cogs and wheels(Photo: Earth with cogs and wheels via Shutterstock)Now, contradictory to contemporary quantum mechanics is the traditional conception of solid matter as the "substance" of the universe. Why is this important? Because "belief that the substance of the universe is matter (or physical material) sets the precedent for people to accumulate as many material possessions and riches as possible [especially under the system of capitalism]," says UK author David Icke. Most of us in contemporary Western culture have been socialized to view the world through a consumerist lens (among a plethora of other social lenses) which implies that a solid, material realm objectively exists. Furthermore, the system of capitalism creates the conditions necessary for more and more people to actively participate in practices that perpetuate the misconception that a solid, material world inexorably dictates our perceptions and belief systems. Maximized material conquest and material gain becomes the modus operandi of a capitalistic system.
Further illuminating the nature of capitalism, Chris Hedges states:
"The quest by a bankrupt elite in the final days of empire to accumulate greater and greater wealth is modern society's version of primitive fetishism ... When the most basic elements that sustain life are reduced to a cash product, life has no intrinsic value. The extinguishing of 'primitive' societies, those that were defined by animism and mysticism, those that celebrated ambiguity and mystery, those that respected the centrality of the human imagination, removed the only ideological counterweight to a self-devouring capitalist ideology."
Here we see some of the characteristics of neoliberal capitalism which subscribe to the notion that the world be defined in "material" terms. The ruling ideology of capitalism has sought out to extinguish any alternative thought or knowledge that understands the world in immaterial terms and replace it with the narrow ideology of materialism, consumerism, commodification. The more people who are complicit in capitalist ideology (among other forms of dominant ideologies), the stronger the possibilities become to fetishize and develop the concept of "the material." all while the expropriation of vast forms of land, wealth, resources and capital become normalized and accepted. Furthermore, once all "material" resources have become accessed (or more importantly not accessed by the majority of people), exploited and exhausted, then the majority of people become even more subjected to the harsh and misleading conditions that capitalism inflicts upon them.
So, as far as quantum mechanics is concerned, capitalism is based on the (false) assumption that an absolute "material" world actually exists "out there." Traditional criticisms of capitalism typically focus on the exploitation of labor and human bodies, as well as massive class inequalities and social injustice; however, they leave out one crucial aspect in it all: that capitalist ideology and capitalist operation mislead us about the nature of the universe (which includes the nature of ourselves since we are part of the universe, as well). With that said, we can actually use our knowledge of quantum mechanics to transform our perceptions about the world around us, thus alleviating some of the conditions that capitalism creates for us. Even Einstein alluded to the idea that we can utilize science to "potentially change the world itself" by using "rational thinking and technology to improve the conditions in which we live."(1) As Peter Dreier states:
"Einstein criticized capitalism's 'economic anarchy' and the 'oligarchy of private capital, the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by democratically organized political society.'"
If Einstein could apply his knowledge of science and the quantum reality to social injustice and systemic inequality, then there is no reason that we cannot do the same here and now.
Given the fact that the underlying premise of capitalism acts in opposition to the principles of quantum mechanics and, therefore, the nature of the universe itself (as understood through quantum mechanics), then we should not be confounded in the least when we experience the destructive consequences of a system that is based on prodigious wealth and material accumulation. This systemic discord or imbalance is bound to perpetuate the likes of environmental devastation and vast human suffering. Furthermore, one of the unspoken consequences of capitalistic operation is the alienation from one's humanity and from nature. Not only are we inundated by a social and economic matrix of domination every single day, but that very matrix detaches us from the universe (or nature) in a sense. So, we should not just look to eradicate the deleterious conditions of capitalism, but rather, we should look to understand and work in accordance with the universe, so that destructive systemic conditions do not even come into existence in the first place.
Consequently, when we look at the world through the lens of quantum mechanics, we see that the economic systems of capitalism, socialism and communism actually have more in common with each other since they all are based on material acquisition and distribution and on the assumption that our world is a fundamentally material realm. However, we can use quantum mechanics to create an entirely new way of viewing and operating inside of the world, which would require a drastic philosophical and ideological change of epic proportion. Epic change, perhaps, is a concept that we may need to start entertaining.
Lastly, as if world hunger, poverty, class inequality, sickness and disease, permanent war and ecological ruination weren't enough to present a critical case against capitalism, then consider the following. In relative terms to the rest of the entire universe, quantum mechanics shows us just how narrow, constrictive and destructive the system of capitalism actually is.
References:
(1) Dreier, Peter. 2012. "Albert Einstein: Radical Citizen and Scientist." Truthout, June 25.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Problems

View all problems as challenges. Look upon negativities that arise as opportunities to learn and to grow. Don't run from them, condemn yourself, or bury your burden in saintly silence. You have a problem? Great. More grist for the mill. Rejoice, dive in, and investigate.
- Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

Friday, July 27, 2012

The Infinite Depth of Your Own Self


In order to discover the infinite depth of your own self, you must find a way to enter into a very deep state of meditation—such a deep state that your awareness of thought moves to the background and eventually disappears. When awareness of thought disappears, the awareness of the passing of time disappears along with it, and so does the awareness of the world and all the objects within it. If you keep penetrating into the infinite depths of your own self, eventually your awareness even of your own physical form will disappear. It is enlightening to discover that when thought, time, world, and even your own body disappears, you haven't gone anywhere! Even without the movement of memory, you will find that the most intimately felt essence of your own self—who you always are at the deepest level—remains intact. That self that remains when time and form disappear is eternal and unchanging. It has never been born and will never die. That self is the deepest ground of your own being, in each and every moment, whether you are aware of it or not. Everything that is born, the entire evolving cosmos, arose from that empty ground, and everything that dies will return to it. In that no-place, that zero point, where there is no birth and no death, nothing ever happened and the cosmos never existed. When we discover this dimension of our own self, we find only nothing at all: desirelessness, the fullness of Being, and indescribable peace, without end.
—Andrew Cohen

Grace is Rooted in Us

Grace is constantly present, and is rooted
in us, and worked into us like leaven, from
our earliest years, until the thing thus
present becomes fixed in a person like a
natural endowment, as if it were one substance
with the person. But, for one's own good,
it manages one in many different ways, after
its own pleasure."

- Pseudo-Macarius, "Homily I," 5th C -

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

You Alone, my God, are Stable

The power to appreciate and to open the
heart is indispensable to the awakening
and the maintenance of the mystical appetite.
But all the raptures they bring put together
are not so effective as the icy chill of a
disappointment in knowing that you alone,
my God, are stable. It is through sorrow,
and not through joy, that your Godhead
gradually assumes, in our sentient faculty,
the higher Reality it possesses in the
nature of things."

- Teilhard de Chardin,
Writings in Times of War -

Monday, July 23, 2012

Compassion

In our relationships with others, there is both benefit and harm. We could concentrate on the harm that has been done to us by other sentient beings, but there really is not much profit we can gain from that if we focus exclusively on the harmful relationships that we have...

But conversely, if we focus on the beneficial connections that exist between us and other sentient beings, then that is something that can bring a profit or benefit to us. It can help us increase our appreciation in our heart, increase our loving kindness and compassion.

"Compassion and the Nature of Mind" Teachings at Hunter College, NYC - June 29, 2011

Friday, July 20, 2012

The Word Reveals Himself, Visibly

The Word both hides and reveals himself in
visible forms as much as in the words of
Scripture. The visible is the invisible
written down. The divine idea, the logos,
which produces, develops and attracts to
itself every creature, is both silent and
self-revelatory in it."

- Olivier Clement, "The Roots of Christian
Mysticism" -

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

At that Moment, Conversion Occurs

To pray is to walk in the full light of God,
and to say simply, without holding back, 'I am
a human being and you are God.' At that moment,
conversion occurs, the restoration of the true
relationship."

- Henri Nouwen [20th C.], With Open Hands

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Resurrection Body,a Reflection of the Holy Trinity

The relationship between spirit, soul and
resurrection body should be conceived of as
a reflection of the Holy Trinity, i.e. as
the re-establishment of the image and the
likeness of God. This means to say that the
relationship between spirit, soul and body
will correspond, at the resurrection, to the
relationship which exists between Father,
Son and Holy Spirit.

Meditations on the Tarot, Tarot Judgment,
p. 576 (bottom of the page)

Beauty Draws Our Intellect

God attracts our minds to himself by his
supreme beauty and incomprehensible goodness. . .
So God, Father of all light, supremely good
and beautiful, by his beauty draws our
intellect to contemplate him, and by his
goodness he draws our will to love him."

- St. Francis de Sales, On the Love of God -

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

God's Life Within Us

The process of purification and sanctification
through which we grow in participating in the
nature of the Divine admits of a continual
growth unto infinity. The very nature of grace
as God's life within us presupposes growth.
To accept the divine energies as grace, therefore,
is to accept the necessity of constantly
moving toward God."

- George Maloney, Uncreated Energy

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Love, Directs your Course

When you love you should not say, 'God is
in my heart,' but rather, 'I am in the heart
of God.' And think not you can direct the
course of love, for love, if it finds you
worthy, directs your course."

- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet -

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Creative Act of our Existence

The human spirit is much more than ego-
consciousness and our everyday awareness.
It has ontological depths that are like
a deep sea underlying the wave-tossed
thoughts and feelings that make up our
reflexive self-awareness. It is in these
depths, at the very root of the spirit,
that we receive and continue to receive
moment by moment our existence from God,
which creative act remains unknown to
our ego-awareness.

- Jim Arraj,
From St.John of the Cross to Us

Death, the Great Initiator of Life

The person who does not live every day with
his or her death does not live at all, and
does not know what the fullness of life is!
This is where we experience how this accepted
humility is the foundation of life. . . Christ
has transformed death into the great initiator
of life."

- Alphonse and Rachel Goettman,
Prayer of Jesus, Prayer of the Heart

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

A Point of Nothingness

At the center of our being is a point of
nothingness which is untouched by sin and
by illusions, a point of pure truth, a
point or spark which belongs entirely to
God, which is never at our disposal, but
from which God disposes our lives, which
is inaccessible to the fantasies of our
own mind or the brutalities of our own will.
This little point of nothingness and of
absolute poverty is the pure glory of God
in us. . . It is like a pure diamond, blazing
with the invisible light of heaven.

- Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

Monday, July 02, 2012

A Utopian Idealism


When one's own self evolves, deepens, becomes more whole, then one naturally begins to seek for that same depth and wholeness in one's relationships with others. As we awaken to higher states of consciousness, as we begin to see our own presence here in this unfolding process in a larger context, and especially as we awaken spiritually, there seems to be an idealism, what we could even call a utopian idealism, that is an inherent characteristic of the evolutionary impulse itself. It's an urge toward greater wholeness, greater fullness, and greater relatedness. Of course, we can't forget that some of the worst mistakes that have happened historically have been a result of this kind of idealism, but the drive toward utopia itself is part and parcel of the evolutionary impulse. I know I've felt that way from the very beginning of my teaching career. I actually think that this evolutionary impulse is part of the human experience at all levels, the minute we evolve beyond mere survival needs. It is part of what it's like to be deeply in touch with life and the creative drive in the universe, and I think it has really always been part of what's compelling humanity forward. Of course, it's led to a lot of wrong turns and catastrophic consequences at times; nevertheless, it's objectively important to realize that that's part of what drives us in our best moments.
—Andrew Cohen

God Is Everywhere

Whatever takes form is false. Only the formless endures. When you understand the truth of this teaching, you will not be born again. For God is infinite, within the body and without, like a mirror and the image in a mirror. As the air is everywhere, flowing around a pot and filling it. So God is everywhere, filling all things and flowing through them forever.
- Ashtavakra Gita 1: 18-20

Mistaking Self-realization for God-realization

One who has come to the earthshaking realization
of the true self can easily think that he or she
has come to the realization of God. In other words
one can mistake self-realization for God-realization. . .
Never think that you have reached journey's end.
Remember that the true self is opening out to the
beyond, and that your journey goes on and on and on.
It goes beyond the mystery of the self to the mystery
of One Who knows no limits. Even in eternity we shall
never arrive: we shall never exhaust the mystery of God.

- William Johnston, Being in Love -

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Pairs of Opposites

The servile earth and the lofty sky: without this opposite the sky would not be so high. The low and high of the earth are winter and spring. The low and high of time are night and day. The low and high of the body are sickness and health. By means of these opposites the world is kept alive; by means of these doubles souls feel fear and hope.
- Rumi