Guest Blogger Duane Elgin on the Emergent Universe
After reading the latest Guru & Pandit dialogue between EnlightenNext founder Andrew Cohen and integral philosopher Ken Wilber in the current issue of EnlightenNext magazine, titled “Vertical vs. Horizontal Development,” author and evolutionary activist Duane Elgin wrote us a letter voicing his opinion on the subject. Elgin, who is the bestselling author of the eco-classic Voluntary Simplicity and the recently published Living Universe, has been a longtime partner of EnlightenNext (check out our interviews with him), so we wanted to post his response here on the blog to get a conversation started about the often confusing subject of human development. What do you think of his interpretation of vertical emergence? Share your thoughts below… –J.P.
Is the “Integral Project” Overlooking the Vertical Dimension of an Emergent Universe?
I would like to offer a reply to your latest dialogue between Ken and Andrew. In their extended discussion of the “vertical” dimension of existence, neither referred to the larger universe as an emergent system. Instead, the conversation focused exclusively on an “awakening self.” In turn, to focus on a “self” without conscious regard for the co-arising universe is to miss perhaps the most fundamental “vertical insight” of the world’s wisdom traditions; namely: We are participants in an emergent universe. Has the “integral project” been so engaged in describing the horizontal dimension of the four-quadrant expression of the unfolding of human awakening that it has overlooked the vertical dimension of a co-arising universe?
The theme of an emergent universe is fundamental to the world’s spiritual traditions. This is the meeting ground and common heritage of insight that we share. In my estimation, to overlook our participation in a co-arising universe is to miss the most profound wisdom that our spiritual traditions have to offer. Each of the world’s major threads of spiritual insight speaks to the reality of an ever-emergent or continuously regenerated universe (described in my book The Living Universe):
Buddhists state that the entire universe arises freshly at every moment in an unceasing flow of interdependent, co-origination where everything depends upon everything else. Hindus proclaim the entire universe is a single body that is being continually danced into creation by a divine Life force or Brahman. Taoists see the Tao as the “Mother of the Universe,” the inexhaustible source from which all things rise and fall without ceasing. Confucians view our universe as a unified and interpenetrating whole that is sustained and nourished by the vitality of the Life force or ch’i. Christians affirm that God is not separate from this world but continuously creates it anew, so that we live, move, and have our being in God. Muslims declare the entire universe is continually coming into being, and that each moment is a new “occasion” for Allah to create the universe. Indigenous peoples declare that an animating wind or Life force blows through all things in the world and there is aliveness and sacred power everywhere. And a stream of Western thinkers portray the universe as a single, living creature that is continually regenerated and is evolving toward higher levels of complexity and consciousness. Beneath differences in language, a common reality is being described—the universe is an emergent system of which we are an integral part. In turn, the “vertical” can be viewed as the flow of the co-arising universe.
Understandably, because the theme of a co-arising universe did not come up in your dialogue about the “vertical,” it was a noticeable absence. As I understand it, our spiritual journey is one of learning to live within a completely interconnected universe (interdependent) that is forever emerging as a unified whole (co-arising) while simultaneously growing ever more diverse expressions of its aliveness (evolving). In this view, the 4 quadrants are not the ever-emergent unity of the vertical dimension but rather are a useful division of that unity in order to describe the unfolding expression of the horizontal dimension as we grow in awareness of our participation in the vertical dimension of a co-arising universe.
What difference does “co-arising” make in our experience of existence? I regard “co-arising” or continuous creation as the “mother of all insights” because it is the foundation for all the world’s wisdom traditions. Although described in diverse ways, the stunning insight that a new universe is being regenerated at every moment is found in all of the world’s major spiritual traditions. To overlook co-arising is to miss the insight that clarifies teachings that are otherwise puzzling. For example, the Buddhist assertion that our identity is characterized by “emptiness” and that there is no permanent or abiding self makes perfectly good sense when we understand that the fabric of reality is being continuously recreated and, because we are integral to that dynamic process, there can be no unchanging “self.” We are flow-through beings in a flow-through universe. The totality of the universe is constantly in a process of flow-through manifestation and we are an integral part of that.
Another way to see the importance of our relationship with an ever-emergent universe is through the Buddhist insight of “interdependent co-arising” or “interdependent co-origination.” The conversation between Ken and Andrew seemed to acknowledge an interdependent universe but did not address the co-arising nature of existence, and this has profound implications for how we regard the nature of reality:
-
* If the universe is co-arising but not interdependent, then what we have is a collection of fragments emerging moment by moment but without deeper connection. Independent pieces emerge in existential isolation without any underlying relationship.
* If the universe is interdependent but not co-arising, then we have a web of mutuality that is missing is the “power of now,” the immediacy, vibrancy, dynamism, energy, of continuous creation and, in turn, the opportunity for flow consciousness, reality surfing, tantra, and so on.
If one half is absent, this vital insight loses its potency and power. Together they mutually support one another. Is the “integral project” left without this support by overlooking the vertical dimension of a co-arising universe? A cursory review of the “integral literature” turned up virtually nothing about an emergent or co-arising universe, so this seems to be a fundamental omission.
We live at the intersection of the horizontal flow of evolution (unfolding ever greater diversity) and the vertical flow of continuous creation (the entire universe is emerging as a unified whole at every moment). It is the doubly powerful nature of life at the intersection of emergence and evolution that gives such intensity and span of meaning to life. The synergy of living at the center of the cross—energized by the dynamic meeting of the horizontal and vertical—gives vitality and meaning to the human journey. In my view, sacred regard for our cosmic home and our place within it will not flourish until we overcome the shallow materialism of the modern era and begin to think outside the box of biology and recognize our participation in the subtle aliveness sustaining the ever-emergent universe.
Filed Under: Consciousness • Culture • EnlightenNext Editors’ Blog • EnlightenNext magazine • Evolutionary Spirituality • Postmodernism • Religion • Spirituality
Let us make things clear – vertical development means spiritual development, the journey of the human soul towards its center being, the divine realization of the human being and its completeness with the divine attributes – truth, love, and bliss. Vertical development is not and cannot be a far distant or nearby development of the matter – its arising and degradation. Vertical development or spiritual development is the development of the mankind towards the higher ultimate realm of divinity. This divine realm has been called different names throughout the ages –God, Brahman, Tao, Shunyata (the English translation emptiness is quite incorrect because it is not the emptiness of negation, but the emptiness of aliveness, full of endless potentialities and it is better described if called No-Thing ness). To reduce this divine realm to an emergent universe is to claim that you know what God is! Yes, God is the Creator of the Universe, and God is also the Created, and God is also the process of Creating. God is Creativity. However, His Creativity will remain for ever a mystery for us, human beings. Because God is the Known, what we have already known, He is also the Unknown, what we still do not know but will know one day, and God is also the Unknowable – what we will never come to know. And that is the beauty of life – its mystery and its unpredictability.
Therefore, to describe God as a co – arising universe is quite simplistic attempt to limit the Unlimited, to define the indefinable and is a misinterpretation of all the spiritual traditions so far. Because all the traditions are categorically unified on one understanding – that the arising and interdependent universe has its center and source of existence – God. This center of the universe is also in us, this is our inner most core being. For me it is a misuse of language to call this inner core being of ours our authentic self. Self has another connotation of the one being separate from existence. While the inner center of our being is not separate from the Whole, from the Organic Totality, hence it does not need a self.
Unless we connect to this center of our very being, unless we know who we are we can never manage to know what the universe is. That is the paradox of the vertical spiritual development – you can know the universe only through knowing your inner being. The spiritual journey is in fact a journey inwards, whereas all directions and planes of existence disappear and dissolve.
” in the darkness of ignorance i saw the whole universe as reality, with the rise of the sun of knowledge i see nothing at all, this is wonderful indeed ” – Adi Shankara
I think the authors of these ancient spiritual traditions, the traditions which are seeing such a revival today, would be surprised and amused at this attempt to separate, to put at odds their approaches to individual and collective development, although perhaps they shouldn’t be; it has been done often enough. And I think the attempt must have elicited a similar smile from Ken and Andrew.
But rather than the usual effort, common especially in India, to excise, to carve out and focus on the growth of the individual at the expense of the whole, the same approach this letter accuses Ken and Andrew of, it errs in the opposite direction, in emphasizing, in focusing on the collective development to the exclusion, or at least neglect, of that of the individual.
And while the letter certainly reflects the modern resurrection, the contemporary recognition of the collective aspects of these spiritual traditions, aspects which have been overlooked or neglected for much of human history, its author seems to me to misunderstand the nature and importance of the individual development so crucial and central to these traditions, and to fail to understand its role in the collective development. He is merely replacing one error with an even greater one.
The primary focus of all of these traditions, without exception, was on the development of the individual consciousness, some even exclusively, contrary to the assertion of the author. Surely Siddhartha Gautama, who viewed the entire manifestation as hopeless, and whose sole concern was to escape from it, would be quite shocked to see Buddhism used as a justification for human efforts at ecological improvement of the earth, except incidentally to his path. Even the later movement of Mahayana Buddhism towards a collective development was that of teaching others this same path of escape, not of improving the existing world for its own sake. Any efforts of modern Buddhism along those lines are the result of what others have put into it. But of course what Buddha’s attitudes would be today is another question. Truth is eternal, but the human expression of it certainly isn’t.
The reason all of these traditions focused on individual development, gave such a central, almost exclusive importance to it, was that they recognized that the evolution, the real improvement of the world in any way was dependent upon the development of the individual. From it all else flowed, and without it nothing else was possible. Without a shift in individual consciousness, no fundamental aspect of the activity of life on earth could change, even if the activity were only to escape from it; it would merely be a repetition of essentially the same behavior in different forms. Of course their concern was with the development of human consciousness, because only man has the capacity to significantly change it, but that development is merely a repetition at a higher level of the same evolution of consciousness that has occurred throughout the history of the earth, reflected in its various life forms.
The vertical development in these various traditions, the one discussed by Ken and Andrew, with perhaps the exception of Confucianism, was that of a movement of consciousness beyond that of the human level, using certain psychological techniques developed in those traditions, towards one or more aspects of a universal consciousness, a Supreme consciousness in and behind everything, expressing and experiencing itself in the constant re-creation of itself in the myriad of forms in the manifest universe. Although these traditions describe some of the characteristics of this consciousness, by its nature it cannot be fully know to humans, any more than the consciousness of an animal can be known to a plant, or the consciousness of a human be known to an animal.
The author of the letter regards the knowledge of this unfolding, this constant re-creation, as a stunning insight. And it is, or should be, to those unfamiliar with it, even though it is one of the oldest insights in human history. It is one still unknown to most of the world. But it is merely the result, the outer expression of the vertical development described in these ancient traditions, expressed on earth as the constant evolution of the consciousness of individual life forms towards the manifest expression of that Supreme consciousness.
Without this vertical development, the spiritual journey described by the author, a journey of learning to live within a completely interconnected universe that is forever emerging as a unified whole while growing ever more diverse expressions of its aliveness, would be no journey at all. Or rather it would be an endless turning round in the same circles, perhaps superficially different, but essentially unchanged.
What the author describes as horizontal evolution, the unfolding of ever greater diversity, and vertical evolution, the entire universe emerging as a unified whole at every moment, are merely two aspects of the same thing. They are two aspects of the collective evolution of this Supreme consciousness, increasingly able to manifest itself in forms based on their individual capacity to do so, the same capacity in humans which was of such concern to these ancient traditions, and of which the author and much of the world seem to be largely unaware.
And this is the meaning to life that humanity needs to understand, without which its efforts to create a co-arising world will only produce, in the same or another form, more of the chaos it has already made. Man will continue to be the perennial Sorcerer’s apprentice, producing multiple problems for each one he solves, casting seeds of destruction in every creation he makes. He will never become the Sorcerer.
I don’t think any of the authors of these ancient traditions, would disagree on the need for humanity to give up its shallow materialism. That was one of their basic precepts. Nor would they disagree on the need to think outside the box of biology and recognize our participation in the subtle aliveness sustaining the ever-emergent universe. But I think they would disagree with the author on what that means.
Hi Aliya, re: “vertical development means spiritual development, the journey of the human soul towards its center being, the divine realization of the human being and its completeness with the divine attributes”
If I understand what you say, I believe that the physical and the metaphysical are intrinsically bound and what is and has transpired is part of a trajectory that continues our path of evolution. As Ken Wilber attests that has so impressed me, evolution is not static and the omega point of humanity is eventual Enlightenment. In that the prospect seems so in the future is daunting but also hopeful since it is also implying that it is our destiny. To view existence and all of Creation holistically I believe is necessary and useful in keeping things in perspective. Seeing reasons for what transpires, no matter how counterintuitively they may seem, and to accept it as a part of evolution is how I try to personally comprehend existing.
Best regards, aloha,
Dear Frank,
What you call “our path to evolution” is in fact your returning back to yourself, to your inner reality, to your eternal home. It is not a common path, a superhighway followed by many, by the crowd, no. It is your very seeking which becomes your path. And there are no maps designed for finding yourself, no highways. You have to make it on your own, your own path.
It is not that Enlightenment is your “omega point” and your destiny. Enlightenment is your very being; the only thing you have to do is to remember it, to remember who you are, to connect to your center of being. But you have to choose for it, Enlightenment is your own individual responsibility, it is not part of our natural development as human beings. As human beings we can continue existing lives after lives, producing children and following the biological development of nature. Biology has done its role for our development so far.
But enlightenment is not part of this natural horizontal development of us as human beings. Enlightenment is your vertical growth towards your divine nature and this can only happen if you take over the responsibility for yourself. It in no way means that you have “to carve out and focus on the growth of the individual at the expense of the whole”, as John Shim says it here. Because in the spiritual world there is only the Oneness, there the division between individual and whole is not real, it is a division from the mind only, non existential.
Enlightenment is your personal choice, the longing to reach your true nature, your innermost core of being. And unless we dare to follow this longing of ours we will remain in misery, split and unrealized, living in tension and suicidal behavior.
Hi, Aliya,
All respects, I believe that the thrust of EnlightenmentNext is that Enlightenment is a collective effort and that though individuals are indeed involved, it’s clearer to more and more that humanity is involved in a collective way. It’s not to say individual self-realization is not part of that but if that is solely the understanding of enlightenment, I believe it’s rather limited. Anyone dispute this?
Dear Frank,
There is no such a thing as a “collective” enlightenment. Enlightenment is the very state of your inner being; enlightenment is your inner nature. And you are the only responsible to have not awaken to your enlightenment up to now. Of course, it is much easier and more comfortable to dump the responsibility for your enlightenment on the collective somewhere there, outside of you, to keep staring at suns, stars and far away cosmos in stead of looking inside of you.
The intelligent person will begin his search from his inner being–that will be his first exploration–because unless I know what is within me how can I go on searching all over the world?–it is such a vast world.
Unless you come to know who you are, all that you seek is futile, because you don’t know the seeker. Without knowing the seeker how can you move in the right dimension, in the right direction? It is impossible.
The first things should be considered first. If all seeking has stopped and you have suddenly become aware that now there is only one thing to know–”Who is this seeker in me? What is this energy that wants to seek? Who am I?”–then there is a transformation. All values change suddenly. You start moving inwards. And those who have looked within have found it instantly, immediately. It is not a question of gradual progress, it is a sudden phenomenon, a sudden enlightenment.
There can be no political revolution, no social revolution, no economic revolution. The only revolution is that of the spirit; it is individual. And if millions of individuals change, then the society will change as a consequence, not vice versa. You cannot change the society first and hope that individuals will change later on.
I appreciate the comments and have the sense that at least two different conversations are underway–and they may not be related. To restate my concerns briefly: A profoundly valuable insight found in all of the world’s wisdom traditions seems to be missing from the “integral project;” namely, that the universe is a completely dynamic system that is being continuously regenerated in its totality. In different ways, spiritual leaders through the ages and across traditions have awakened to this same remarkable observation about the universe:
“My solemn proclamation is that a new universe is created every moment.”
–D.T. Suzuki, Zen Buddhist
“At the heart of Buddhist cosmology is ….the idea that [world systems] are in a constant state of coming into being and passing away.”
–Dalai Lama
“Every moment the world is renewed but we, in seeing its continuity of appearance, are unaware of its being renewed.”
–Rumi, Persian poet and Sufi
The Tao is the sustaining life force and the “Mother of the Universe;” from it, all things “rise and fall without cease.”
–Taoist thought
“God is creating the entire universe, fully and totally, in this present now. Everything God created . . . God creates now all at once”
–Meister Eckhart, Christian mystic
An emergent or continuously regenerated universe brings vitally important qualities into our journey of awakening:
–The ‘power of now’ as the entire universe is arising this moment.
–Insight that flows from the intelligence of holographic creation pouring through us.
–Flow consciousness, riding the wave of continuous creation, and reality surfing.
Given the importance of an ever-emergent universe to our understanding of the spiritual journey, I encourage the integral approach to include this vital dimension.
Yes, it is true, dear Duane Elgin, what Rumi says that: ““Every moment the world is renewed but we, in seeing its continuity of appearance, are unaware of its being renewed.”
It is so because matter is energy. Modern physics has discovered one of the greatest things ever discovered, and that is: matter is energy. Matter has been found not to exist at all. This insight into matter brings modern physics very close to mysticism, very close. For the first time the scientist and the mystic are coming very close, almost holding hands.
Existence is energy. Science has discovered that the observed is energy, the object is energy. Down through the ages, at least for five thousand years, it has been known that the other polarity ? the subject, the observer, consciousness ? is energy.
Consciousness is energy, the purest energy. The mind is not so pure; the body is still less pure. The body is much too mixed, and the mind is also not totally pure. Consciousness is totally pure energy. But you can know this “flow consciousness” only if you make a cosmos out of the three, and not a chaos. When you are tremendously happy with yourself, happy as you are, blissful as you are, grateful as you are, and all your energies are dancing together, when you are an orchestra of all your energies, the divine is. That feeling of total unity is what the divine is. The divine is not a person somewhere, The divine is the experience of the three falling in such unity that the fourth arises. And the fourth is more than the sum total of the parts. It expresses itself through the parts but it is more. To understand that it is more is to understand the divine. ultimately you have to feel the dance in your body, mind and, soul. You have to learn how to play on these three energies so that they all become an orchestra. Then the divine is ? not that you see it; there is nothing to be seen. The divine is the ultimate seer, it is witnessing.
Learn to melt your body, mind, soul. Find ways in which you can function as a unity. Because “the power of now” is not “as the entire universe is arising this moment” somewhere there; “the power of now” is you. (with excerpts from Osho talks)
I can’t thank Mr. Elgin enough for providing EnlightenNext with a correction to its fixation on the vertical. He stated the case beautifully. However I don’t think it’s necessary to try and incorporate the wisdom traditions of the past–much as spiral dynamics would object. Who cares how people viewed the world when they had no understanding about how it worked and thought that Man was the center of it all? In most cases we’re left with ignorant concepts and practices. If we end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater, we won’t be the worse for it. One of those concepts is the pervasive idea of an individual self that has a vertical, spiritual destiny. This is pure androcentric narcissism. There is only one self and it exists everywhere–no one has any claim on it, we simply SHARE IN IT. It is no more inside us then outside us. That is the mother of insights. Everything else is pure navel gazing, self-absorbed, twaddle.
What must be given up here is the idea that Man is something special. That concept misses the boat entirely. Man is just as much Nature as any other manifestation. In fact, we are Nature, not this separate, categorical “Man” that we like to think of ourselves as. Do you not see the difference? Nature is IT, all we can do is be conscious of IT. The whole androcentric conceptualization of Man as existing somehow in contrast to the rest of Nature and Existence is a lie. That is the real ego problem that must be addressed, not the individual ego which is only an extension of it.
If we look at this overly regarded, vertical consciousness development of the self, what kind of consciousness do you surmise would be the point of it all? Consciousness of the God that we are? That is my point–it’s all about one’s self and, by extension, human beings. What about the God in everything? When, by your estimation, would you ever become aware of that? 20,000 lifetimes? Why don’t we start becoming aware of it today by simply dropping this duplicity?
The problem lies in our conception that matter is dead and that only life, as manifested in MAN, is really alive. What about the fact that each cell in our body is alive and conscious? Our entire world civilization is built on the premise of the androcentric man. It is a lie to Nature and to what we really are. The I AM of ourselves is no different than the I AM of the microbe, the I AM of the Tree, the I AM of a shared culture, the I AM of each individual protein, the I AM of the atom…. Oh, but I’m on the spiritual path! HA, What a narcissistic joke!
So much is made here in these blogs about the ego and the mind being major obstacles to enlightenment. The actual obstacle is the androcentric world view. Nothing needs to be destroyed, suppressed, rather, nothing of the sort. It’s true that androcentrism and the individual ego are expressions of Nature, just as is everything else. But, what the whole Cosmic movement is about is growth, growing beyond limitations. That is when we begin to be aware of the God of Existence, when we grow beyond the narrow confines of the separate self and see the WHOLE.
I only hope that EnlightenNext will someday dispense with such schemes as the stages, states, quadrants and spiral dynamics. These are all androcentric categorizations that really do not aid us in gaining understanding. Let’s start by looking outside of ourselves towards the Cosmos, the wonder of that! How, through nuclear fusion the stars create the atoms which comprise the planets as well as all life that inhabits them. And then how the mother Suns feeds these living planets with everything they need. What kind of a world is it that atoms can eventually develop into self-aware life? The entire Cosmos is colorless, odorless, mute, numb and blind without biological life transmitting its vibrations into sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. How is this possible? How can it be that the senses are inherent in Existence, albeit through long periods of development? The senses, as well as Life, are obviously inherent in a trajectory of cosmic development. It makes me think that the Cosmos blossomed from a seed that carries the pattern. Thinking on this is more real to me than anything else. It’s the big picture that informs my understanding of the pieces. How can we understand ourselves if we don’t have the proper perspective?
Dear Caroline,
You say: “Thinking on this is more real to me than anything else”.
There is one remark here – thinking is never real, otherwise it would not be thinking.
Aliya, you wrote:
The first things should be considered first. If all seeking has stopped and you have suddenly become aware that now there is only one thing to know–”Who is this seeker in me? What is this energy that wants to seek? Who am I?”–then there is a transformation. All values change suddenly. You start moving inwards. And those who have looked within have found it instantly, immediately. It is not a question of gradual progress, it is a sudden phenomenon, a sudden enlightenment.
I respond by saying that “what is this energy that wants to seek?” is not a wit different in me than in you or in any other life form–and, going back further, no different than in the proton, atom, molecule or protein. The entire Universe is seeking–that is the forward thrust of evolution, Life wants more life. It gets more life by linking up with others of its kind where it can SHARE in the augmented energy.
I’m not saying that you don’t pose an interesting counterpoint. It’s certainly a legitimate practice to question who the seeker is. But understand by it that you’re still seeking, seeking for more life. It’s as simple as that. Also, please understand, that your method does not have a monopoly on empathy and compassion.
Aliya, you wrote:
Consciousness is energy, the purest energy. The mind is not so pure; the body is still less pure. The body is much too mixed, and the mind is also not totally pure. Consciousness is totally pure energy.
This is nonsense. Consciousness, by definition, is only “of” something; it’s the interface between the undifferentiated whole (the infinite) and the finite moment in space and time. Its business, so to speak, is in collapsing this infinite wave of probability into a singular moment, a slice of the whole. Calling it pure misses the mark, it simply shines a light on one aspect of the infinite at any one time and all aspects are relative. There is no pure and impure energy.
You categorize things according to your androcentric bias. “The body is mixed”, how so–because it doesn’t sit on top of your neck? Again, the truth is that your writing is the expression of concepts, just as everyone else’s is. The following is a concept “when you are an orchestra of all your energies, the divine is. That feeling of total unity is what the divine is. The divine is not a person somewhere, The divine is the experience of the three falling in such unity that the fourth arises. And the fourth is more than the sum total of the parts. It expresses itself through the parts but it is more.”
The only problem I see in your writing is your lack of honesty; you reject the mind when everything you think, feel, taste, touch, believe, see, hear and smell is of the mind. Take responsibility for how you are collapsing the infinite wave instead of insisting that your way is the ultimate truth; especially when it’s not even a product of your own activity but of Osho’s.
Dear Caroline,
One thing is sure – misinterpreting my words will not help your understanding. I can clearly see your failure to come up with the real existential experiencing of the divine as “an orchestra of all your energies”, as a perfect balancing and harmony of you. For you it is a mere concept and it cannot be otherwise for a person for whom thinking is more real than existence itself. It shows a disbalance of your energies and their concentration only in the head. I have warned you already about it in one of my previous posts.
Divine can never be perceived through concepts and mind projections for the simple reason mind is too limited for the infinite. Divine can be perceived only from the realm of your inner being, which is called in the East the state of No – Mind or Beyond – Mind. Divine is the Truth and can be reached only by the true, not by the false; only by your being, not by your mind concepts. Mind concepts can theoretise about “the infinite collapsing in the momentum”, the being knows the infinite is love, truth, bliss and It creates out of Love, it never “collapses” in anything.
The infinite creates the energy also – your body is energy, your mind is energy, your soul is energy. Then what is the difference between these three? The difference is only of a different rhythm, different wavelengths, that’s all. The body is gross ? energy functioning in a gross way, in a visible way.
Mind is a little more subtle, but still not too subtle, because you can close your eyes and you can see the thoughts moving; they can be seen. They are not as visible as your body; your body is visible to everybody else, it is publicly visible. Your thoughts are privately visible. Nobody else can see your thoughts; only you can see them ? or people who have worked very deeply into seeing thoughts. But ordinarily they are not visible to others.
And the third, the ultimate layer inside you, is that of consciousness. It is not even visible to you. It cannot be reduced to an object, it remains the subject.
If all these three energies function in harmony, you are healthy and whole. If these energies don’t function in harmony and accord you are ill, unhealthy; you are no more whole. And to be whole is to be holy.
Aliya,
You have no knowledge of what the body or the mind actually is. You do the Divine a great disservice in laying out your petty, authoritarian dogma. I know for a fact that you do not experience any of these so-called inner states of love, truth and bliss. You’re just a mother hen, cackling in her hen house, laying these eggs for your Osho.
Everything is Divine, it resides everywhere–you don’t make anything so by doing this and doing that!
If you acknowledge that everything is divine, why do not you connect to it, Caroline?
You cannot talk about the divinity of everything if you yourself refuse to accept the divinity and beauty of existence and instead you prefer encaging yourself in the ivory tower of your negative opinionated mind, judging and abusing people. To judge others and label them with your own created ugly labels for the only purpose to convince yourself in your imagined superiority, shows a deep inferiority complex in you.
P.S. And an inferiority complex is the sure sign for someone missing the divine. Because the divinity is love while an inferiority complex person is just the opposite – lack of love. A person with an inferiority complex does not consider herself worth, does not accept herself the way she is, does not love herself. And here lays the mother of all the problems in the world. Because if you do not love yourself how can you love others, if you are unloving person from where the love for the others will come?
Loving him/herself is the very nature of every human being. Each child is born with tremendous love for himself. It is during his growth that we, family, society, school, priests, unlearn him this divine love. Because if he loves himself, who is going to love the mother and father, the nation, the flag, the church, the institutions, the illusory concepts and sugared ideals? If a man loves himself who is going to fight with the other human beings, to make wars for those same pink rosy ideals and slogans, cleverly set in front of us by cunning vested interests, who will evolve the world then in the preplanned by others direction?
Hope you don’t mind if I just give you a hug.
Sincerely.
You are most welcome:) I hug you, too. And yes, hugs are much better and worth doing than any world view imaginations.
Caroline, Aliya,
The exchanges going on resemble a cat fight and becoming very uncivil for those discussing something like the subject of Enlightenment. If you both could adopt a more dignified civil tone and frame your remarks in a manner less demeaning to others remarks and opinions, no matter how you both may differ, it would be more worthy of you both. Please cool it!
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2, For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you” Jesus
Frank,
Take heart! Creative friction was never promised to be a rose garden. Transformation leaves no stone unturned. We will be made like new when finally stripped of all our baggage.
Transformation of the Inner, the Outer, the Higher through Vertical Development. My experience of Vertical Development has come through meditation. It brings cohesive harmony between the the body, mind and emotions, establishing a quiet space to become aware of the Self. The self becomes refined, losing density and attachement to the physical world and allowing itself to open up to other forms of consciousness. Encounters in other Realms and Dimentions brings about encounters with higher forms of consciousness that are transformative energetically and spiritually, by providing new perspectives and realizations. The experience of interacting with Higher Beings is simultaneous: to see, to feel, to hear, to know, to understand all at once. It develops faculties beyond the physical senses. When in the presence of a Higher Being, we can experience vibrational states and insights that allow us to further realize the depth and breath of the divine. As we experience progressively finer qualities of our soul we also become aware of unmanifested states of being and the beauty of our eternal divine nature. When returning our focus to our dense, material world we still carry within the Soul, and now withing the mind, body and heart this multi-dimentional vibration into our life experience on Earth. These finer vibrations transform not only us but also our physical surroundings and all that come in contact with us, radiating outward into the world. That is true vertical, horizontal transformation and evolution. Namaste.
Well said, thank you, dear Paola.
Elgin writes, “The theme of an emergent universe is fundamental to the world’s spiritual traditions.” I don’t think Wilber or Cohen would disagree. In fact, Cohen says, “When I speak of vertical development in the context of Evolutionary Enlightenment, I really see it as pointing to emergence. It means something enters the picture that is undeniably new. (Italics are his) I believe both men acknowledge an emerging universe.
It isn’t that the universe isn’t emerging freshly in each moment as Elgin points out. The point is that our awareness of this process tends to emerge in stages or levels. That’s Wilber/Cohen’s point.
Elgin writes, “As I understand it, our spiritual journey is one of learning to live within a completely interconnected universe (interdependent) that is forever emerging as a unified whole (co-arising) while simultaneously growing ever more diverse expressions of its aliveness (evolving).” This awareness, is itself a level of awareness, perhaps what might be called in integral circles “Global Mind”. The point, I think, is that one must go through a series of developmental steps to realize “Global Mind”. This structural development to higher levels of awareness is the vertical development. And there is always further development ahead and it is always emerging and fresh (Cohen’s emphasis in his quote above.)
What I imagine Elgin wants to emphasize is that the whole universe is arising moment to moment, a flow through of stupendous energy and we are moment to moment part of that amazing display. To connect with this vertical flow (as he describes vertical) creates the possibility for fresh insight, newness, and energy for a new vision and possibility for global transformation. Wilber/Cohen are making a different point.
Thanks for the clarifying comment Steve. You are correct. We are looking at the “vertical” in two different ways. One way is to regard this is as the “spiritual” dimension that measures the degree of opening to the totality of existence. Another way is to see the “vertical” as a literal description of the universe continuously coming into existence. In the words of cosmologist Brian Swimme, “The universe emerges out of an all-nourishing abyss not only 14 billion years ago but in every moment.” My point was that it is important to include both aspects of the vertical in our spiritual inquiry and I was noting the absence of a “continuous creation cosmology” in the presentation of integral by Ken and Andrew.