UNDERSTANDING
THE FUNDAMENTAL METAPHYSICAL QUESTIONS
By
Sensei Erwin L. Rimban
Who
are you?
“I
think, therefore I am.”
“You
are a child of the universe…”
“We
are all in a widowed state, and our task is to remarry.”
The first one is attributed to the
philosopher Rene Descartes. The second is from the poem Desiderata. And the
third one is from Louis Claude de St. Martin. Throughout the ages, the greatest
thinkers of humanity have endeavored to answer this most fundamental question
of human existence. Let us now explore how various paragons of the ages have
approached it and savor the insights we can glean from their thoughts.
“You are a creature of God,” pronounced
the Western theologians. But a sinful one, they admonish and thus continue the
argument by explaining how you can be saved in the form of the various theories
of salvation. “You are atman, a fragment of the Universal Soul,” asserted the
Eastern spiritual gurus. Sinfulness is not an issue in the East, compared to
the West, but ignorance of one’s true nature is. Therefore, the Eastern
spiritual traditions emphasize the need to know one’s true nature. Some would
say the East presents a much more cheerful prospect. “Man is rational,” said
the ancient Greeks. “Man is spiritual,” countered the ancient Eastern spiritual
teachers.
“You are a body”, intoned the
mechanistic Western physiologists. A lack of subtlety there, everyone can see
they have a body. “You are a mind existing within the confines of the body,”
championed the Platonian idealists. More subtle, assuredly. “You are a body with a mind that is full of
psychosexual dilemmas,” declared the Freudian psychoanalysts. The various
psychoanalytic paradigms all flowed from this concept. “Your psyche is rooted
to the Collective Unconscious, countered the brilliant Jungian archetypal
analysts. And their disciples have been searching for archetypes ever since,
uncovering every nook and cranny of the human psyche.
“You are a battleground of the forces
of light and dark,” lamented the dualistic-minded Zoroaster. Dualistic
religions and philosophies flow from this theological position. You are a
combination of Yin and Yang, but they are enemies on the surface only. This is
a paraphrase from the Taoist masters. For them light and dark, yin and yang,
are lovers beneath, whose eternal dance comprises the phenomenal world. “You
are nothing,” counseled Prince Siddhartha Gautama upon his ascendancy as the
Sakyamuni Buddha, perhaps with a twinkle in his eyes. Did he mean it literally?
Allegorically? Or was he thinking of something else. “You may be nothing, but
you create your reality by your free will,” added the pragmatists and
existentialists.
“You are a collection of atoms, obeying
the classical laws of physics, argued the mechanical Western scientists. For
centuries, this has been the norm of Western classical thinking. But
Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and other more super-intelligent quantum physicists
arrived on the scene. And they changed the landscape of science forever. “You
are a monad, a fragment of the universe, complete unto itself,” offered
Leibniz, co-inventor of the calculus. “And you are immortal,” echoed Vardhamana
Mahavira, champion of Jainism, thousands of miles to the East. Both of these
thinkers are separated by distance and time, yet show surprisingly similar
positions.
So who are you?
The best answer to this question comes
from the hieros gamos, the sacred marriage, of quantum physics and the mystical
arts. The most advanced quantum physicists are penetrating into the deepest
mysteries of space-time, nature, and the universe. They are beginning to behold
the Divine Wisdom, the wisdom of the ages, which has been shrouded in mystery
since time immemorial.
For centuries, the Divine Wisdom has
been in the hands of the mystics of East and West. Experiencing firsthand the
presence of Divine Intelligence, mystics are given a true experiential event
where they apprehend personally the nature of man and the universe.
Hieros gamos. The sacred marriage. More
and more quantum physicists and mystical philosophers are communicating,
sharing knowledge and critical insights. This conference of minds will help
usher the Golden Age of humanity.
This concludes our basic survey of the
first fundamental metaphysical dilemma. It logically now leads us to the next
question…..
Why
are you here?
“Something is doing we don’t know
what.” A legendary remark attributed to Sir Arthur Eddington. Let us continue our pilgrimage in wisdom by
studying the second fundamental question of existence, the question of origin
and purpose.
Two
great systems of thought contested the nature of man’s origin in the past:
creation and evolution. The diametrical opposition of the mechanical scientists
and the stubborn theologians dominated Western civilization for centuries. But
today, a new kind of thinking is emerging which is destroying the obsolete
paradigms of the past. In this paradigm, both viewpoints can be assimilated
into a new system of thought, one that synthesizes both creation and evolution.
The universe is suffused with energy.
And Einstein has demonstrated that matter is simply crystallized energy, a new
concept that was extended by the mystical quantum physicists. This position
correlates well with the viewpoint of mystical philosophers that matter is the
lowest form of energy. We can accommodate the creation theory by tentatively
accepting that the creation of this universe did exist as a point in time,
corresponding with the Big Bang of the Western scientists. That settles the
point of view of creation.
Observe the universe. Explore our
world. Open your eyes to your environment. The forms in our world exist as
hierarchies. But the hierarchies are inter-related. Atoms give rise to various
molecular arrangements. Molecules give rise to mineral categories. All the
various kinds of plants are composites of atoms, molecules and minerals. But
the whole is more than the sum of its parts. In other words, a plant is more
than a collection of atoms, molecules and minerals. It is something more! And
by extension, all the forms of life are more than the sum of their preceding
hierarchies. Plants exist as the subsistence of some animals. But animals are
entirely different from plants. In the same way, humans eat plants and animals,
but their forms are different. Humans are infinitely more complex than plants
or animals, although these forms are composed of the same fundamental building
blocks: the atoms, molecules and minerals.
Thus, there exist hierarchies in
nature. Preceding wholes give rise to new kinds of wholes. The building blocks
remain the same, but the configurations are entirely different. All these
permutations in nature display the fact that energy configurations are evolving
from one context to the next, from one level to the next, from one hierarchy to
the next. Visualize smaller circles of life giving rise to larger circles of
life. Smaller energy configurations giving rise to higher energy
configurations. This, then, is the new paradigm that accommodates both creation
and evolution. In this way, we see evolution manifesting as the development of
energy configurations in different environmental matrices, each building on the
preceding whole. And creation is the original impetus that gave rise to the
universal primordial archetypes of these forms.
Fascinating!
If energy configurations are evolving,
then the level of awareness of these energy systems are evolving too! The level
of awareness of an atom is limited to energy interactions that maintain its
nuclear shape and integrity and insure its ability to form molecules with other
atoms. The awareness of a monocellular organism is something else entirely. Its
biological activities revolve around the maintenance of homeostasis and the
capacity to reproduce. Thus, its awareness of itself has reached a different
level, not necessarily higher in essence than the preceding system of an atom,
but perhaps richer in context. Because the necessities of homeostasis and
reproduction will cause the organism’s awareness of its environment to be on a
higher level of context, richer, and more detailed.
Which leads us to human awareness. The
consciousness of the human has reached a level where he begins to inquire on
the fundamental questions of existence. His awareness of himself is not
necessarily higher than molecules, plants or animals. Rather, it is richer
relative to the environmental matrix. Because if the human is to survive, he
has to assimilate and conquer more of its environmental variables as compared
to the lower hierarchies.
Therefore, we can see that evolution is
proceeding level by level, whole by whole, context by context. This is a secret
that used to be shared only by the best quantum physicists and the most
enlightened mystical philosophers. This is the fact that evolution means not
only the development of outer physical forms but it is actually the enhancement
of consciousness as a form experiences its pilgrimage through the levels of
complexity in the nature of the universe.
Creation means the inception of a
universe. Evolution means the development of awareness or consciousness in that
particular universe as its levels of complexity deepen; thus revealing their
inherent beauty.
And now, we are ready to tackle the
final fundamental dilemma…..
Where
are you going?
“The journey of a thousand miles begins
with a single step.” This is a mystical saying attributed to the semi-legendary
figure of Lao Tzu, reputedly the author of the Tao Te Ching, and considered the
nominal founder of Taoism.
We have been exploring the fundamental
questions of existence. We began with the question of fundamental nature: “Who
are you?” Then we continued with the question of origin and purpose, “Why are
you here?” Now let us study the question of destiny and finality: “Where are
you going?”
We have seen how the forms in nature
are evolving into more complex forms, hierarchy by hierarchy. This process
pervades the entire universe. And while matter is the outer form or clothing of
this process, it is the evolution of consciousness which is the engine that
drives it.
There have been many allegories of this
process. Some mystical writers compare life on earth in particular and life in
the universe in general to a school. In this allegory, all beings are enrolled
in some kind of school where skills are gained, lessons are learned and
insights assimilated. In mystical Hindu philosophy, the tempering forces are called
karma, dharma and samsara, among others. When a particular insight is learned,
developing beings go on to the next level, where there are fresh lessons and
new insights. Another allegory worth considering is that of a pilgrimage or a
journey. In this particular allegory, the beings of the universe are on a grand
adventure. The goal is perfection in evolution as well as the joy of
exploration. I find this allegory to be a perfect educational tool for
aspirants in the spiritual path.
From the point of view of a single
individual, life is so complex with its attendant problems and vicissitudes.
Anyone can be overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of it all. Yet, all the great
spiritual traditions of mankind have maintained that life has a purpose far
more magnificent than our mundane existence. The trick is to discover the
higher meaning of life. For this, all spiritual aspirants since time immemorial
have been challenged to open their eyes to the wider world.
Expand your consciousness. Inquire
more. Reflect more. Contemplate more. Meditate more. Discover more
perspectives. Get out of your shell, psychologically speaking. As the forms of
the universe evolve into higher and higher modes of expression, so you too are
invited in the great banquet of eternity. We have seen previously how the forms
of life seek to produce more wholes, each more complex than the preceding one.
In the same way, the journey of evolution is a pilgrimage of wholes. Let us see
how this journey plays in the dance of the universe. Reflect very deeply as we
essay the next few statements.
You are a whole.
Yet, you are incomplete.
This incompleteness is not your fault
(paradigm shift in Western religious thought). Rather, it is the product of
inexperience. Why is this so?
As you have journeyed in the planes of
existence, you have assimilated experiences from your own perspective. Since
you are a fragment of the greater whole, this perspective is necessarily
incomplete. You can gain a better understanding of the infinite universe by
increasing the quantity of your travels in awareness. This means experiencing
more of the whole from your vantage point. More lives. More experiences. Thus,
the wheel of time, the cycle of reincarnation.
Meanwhile, you are a whole that seeks
to enhance its wholeness. You seek perfection, but think it unattainable. Well,
good news, your lower mind cannot attain perfection by itself. It must use
other weapons at its disposal; some of which are known only to the Collective
Unconscious. Waiting to be discovered, of course.
You are a whole.
Yet, you are incomplete. A fragment of
the Greater Whole.
And
this is the reason why there is a pilgrimage.
You
are bound to evolve, into greater and greater Wholes.
Your
coherence increases as your pilgrimage deepens.
Your capacity
to process information shall increase!
And
you shall evolve, more and more, expanding higher and higher!
Let
me conclude by offering this saying of Teilhard de Chardin for contemplation:
“We are not human beings on a spiritual
journey; we are spiritual beings on a human journey.”
Sensei Erwin Rimban (See Bios page for more information)
