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Non-locality and Omnipresence

June 24, 2015 by Paul Ellson

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Non-locality and Omnipresence

Non-locality and Omnipresence
The first of three articles by natural philosopher, Paul Ellson, author of The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion.

Introduction

I sometimes call myself a natural philosopher, an unusual title for the present day, but I have my reasons. Having spent 35 years in research both broad and deep, I felt prompted to share it with the world. However, I realised that this world requires labels; hooks to hang knowledge on: scientist; theologian etc. Nowadays, knowledge gathering tends to be specialised, the participants usually educated and certified to work in a particular channel and to approach the work in a specified manner. Objectivity is advocated. This presents great problems where the study of consciousness is concerned and, it is the study of consciousness that holds the key to so many scientific conundrums.

My work embraces and also transcends all of the modern labels and so I sought a more suitable title. Prior to the industrial age, those who had the time and money were educated in natural philosophy, usually by monks or clergy. In addition to religious instruction, this curriculum featured mathematics, geometry, astronomy and music. Its basic function was to give a firmer grasp of the underlying nature of life and to provide intellectual and intuitive tools with which to further one’s own work. It became apparent to me that, throughout the ages, natural philosophers were those involved in the broadest, deepest and least fettered research. I am therefore happy to use the title natural philosopher. The role of a modern day natural philosopher is to work outside ‘the box’. Therefore it is fortuitous that natural philosophy has not been institutionalised in some academic package.

As a result of findings from my own research of 35 years, I am sure that science, philosophy and religion can, and will, work together, harmoniously, in the not too distant future. To see how this can occur one needs to strip down each of the three approaches and rebuild as one integral edifice. This is what my book The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion undertakes. In the process, it questions many assumptions; a key one being that consciousness somehow evolves. The theory of evolution is based around functionality – something evolves because it has practical value. This demands a relative quality for that which evolves, for something can only evolve due to its relation with something else – in the broad scheme, its environment. But, my own research indicates that consciousness does not have a relative quality. Lack of serious research into subjective states has resulted in misunderstandings regarding what consciousness is and here help is to be found within ancient scriptures that can be interpreted in the light of subjective consciousness research. As my book explains, scientific research, i.e., repeatable experiments with measurable data, can be undertaken in this more subjective field. Through this research, we find that consciousness itself is the absolute, silent, witness. Other attributes of mind, such as the intellect, have relative functions, but there is some confusion over this.

Our language is ill equipped for explaining experiences beyond the material. We have terms such as being and soul which are vague in definition, and in the more often used consciousness, ego, intelligence, intellect, and mind we have a number of closely related words that, even in worldly matters, tend to be used in imprecise fashion. This is due to imprecise knowledge. In an attempt to avoid confusion, I define these terms in the following way:

Consciousness: Pure, universal, intelligence; non-relative, pure awareness; beingness.
Soul: Consciousness as the non-relative witness of the relative through a vehicle of expression.
Ego: The sense of self or being; the appreciator of relative experience. How the expression recognises its identity as an expression of the universal: When it ceases to identify with the universal and identifies with the relative, it becomes small self. In natural philosophy, the individual’s ideal relationship to pure, universal, consciousness and the relative is to remain in the universal, witnessing, whilst engaged in the relative i.e. be in the universal whilst witnessing (Soul) and appreciating (Ego), the relative.
Intelligence: Directs the relative being through intellect, the discriminating faculty that directs the flow of thoughts in the mind.
Mind: The localised consciousness of a being; the whole of its general mental space.

The majority view of natural philosophers is that consciousness constitutes the fundamental basis of existence, it being present even before creation began. One of the clearest explanations comes from the Yoga Vasistha.¹

Jiva (the Soul) is the vehicle of consciousness, ego sense is the vehicle of Jiva, intelligence is the vehicle of egos and mind it is the vehicle of intelligence, prana is the vehicle of mind, the senses are the vehicle of prana, the body is the vehicle of the senses, and motion is the vehicle of the body.

In Vasistha, the order runs opposite to that of science where the material body comes first, with the senses, ego and consciousness evolving from the material. Indeed, most scientists will tell you that consciousness is distributed too unevenly and is too ’special’ to be a fundamental property, but they are looking at data from a fixed, human, standpoint, limiting the remit, limiting their vision to ‘life like us’. The tendency is to relate consciousness to intelligence, as we know it and use it. This is unsatisfactory; those who are considered to be the most intelligent are doing the choosing (Intellect: from L ‘inter’, between and ‘legere’, to choose), in that the more intellectual amongst us actually come up with the definitions, many of which are based upon the intellectually biased work of modern science. It is possible that, at least subconsciously, there are tendencies to choose definitions which place humankind in general, and the choosing scientists/academics in particular, at the top of the intelligence range. But what if it were the same, pure intelligence expressing itself in different ways throughout the entirety of creation – some ways recognisable and others, to date, unrecognisable? Could a head lice be aware that its provider of regular meals – the human head – facilitates an intelligence which can express itself to a vastly greater extent than any blood sucking pediculus capitus? Even if it were proven that head lice were intelligent we should say that the systems were too different in size and in complexity to allow such an awareness.

If consciousness is non-relative – and my book The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion cites much research that, taken together, supports this – it would accord with the scriptural term omnipresent, and the scientific term non-local. In its rebuilding aspect The Beautiful Union looks at many links between science and religion. One of these is non-locality and this is what this, the first in a series of three articles, will focus upon using text from the book.

Non-locality and entanglement

There are many areas where scientists and natural philosophers are in almost complete agreement, where just a change in the terminology may suffice. But the dispute over consciousness is where the natural philosophers and modern scientists are at their most distant. If, at least as a possibility, the idea of an underlying, pure, non-local, consciousness is accepted, the reason for natural philosophy’s terminology becomes clearer. The terminology of the early natural philosophers is largely based upon hierarchical, vertical, systems rich in the potential for analogy and for linking the microcosm and the macrocosm through the same term (These systems hark back at least 5,000 years). However, new terminologies are arising in the world of science that natural philosophers can easily relate too. Non-locality is one such term.

Non-locality is an effect demonstrated in the realm of quantum mechanics. The concept of non-locality is based upon evidence that, in quantum physics, particles can be influenced instantly from a great distance. Many experiments have shown correlations in the behaviour of widely separated particles. The concept of non-locality does not, in itself, explain how these correlations might occur. However, scientists find some explanation in quantum entanglement, a phenomena which was discovered by Erwin Schrodinger.³ Examining the mathematical descriptions of two particles that had collided, he realised that from the collision onwards, the original properties of each did not remain discrete. All of the information now lay in their joint properties. He showed that if the quantum state of one were to be affected, the other would also be affected no matter how distant it was. Later, Thomas Durt of the Free University of Brussels, used equations that Schrodinger had considered, to show that almost all quantum interactions produce entanglement.⁴ Further to this, mathematician Benni Reznik of the University of Tel-Aviv, Israel, has demonstrated mathematically that all of ‘empty space’ is filled with entangled pairs of particles.⁵ Pairs of entangled quantum particles are now created routinely by scientists for use in such pursuits as cryptography. Incidentally, quantum entanglement is not confined to pairs, in 1999, John Rarity and Paul Tapster of the UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency entangled three photons⁶ and in 2004 a Chinese-led team entangled five photons.⁷ This work continues apace.

For decades the entanglement effect remained confined to the microscopic realm of quantum particles but in 2001 a team of scientists at Imperial College, London, led by Vlatko Vedral, predicted that the effects of entanglement would be found on macroscopic levels. Sure enough, in 2003, Sayantani Ghosh of the University of Chicago reported quantum entanglement effects that could be measured on a macro scale.⁸The magnetic orientation of holmium atoms⁹ in salt was analysed. These atoms behave like magnets and naturally adjust their orientation in response to one-another’s magnetic field, however, their alignments can be modified by introducing an external magnetic field. The degree of adjustment to this new field is called ‘magnetic susceptibility’. The University of Chicago team analysed how much this susceptibility changed subject to temperature. At very low temperatures they reported more coherent alignment than would have been predicted at normal quantum energy levels. They cited quantum entanglement as the explanation.

Having predicted this event, Vlatko Vedral said, “What would really be interesting would be to find a material that exhibits the effects of entanglement at higher temperatures”.¹⁰ Look no further than the mirror: Humankind. Many people have read of Cleve Backster’s research involving humans and plants. His book The Secret Life of Plants was a bestseller in the 1970s.¹¹ Subsequent to this, in the 1980s, Backster, by now heading his own research foundation in San Diego, California, demonstrated another related wonder: single cells can respond to thoughts and feelings. One of the processes that he had developed was to take white blood cells (oral leukocytes) from the mouth of a volunteer. Whereas the volunteer might return home – perhaps a distance of some miles – to watch the television, the cells were put into a test tube that stayed in the lab with EEG monitoring equipment attached. Whilst the volunteer watched TV, the lab also tuned into the TV programme. There were cameras focused on the TV screen, on the face of the volunteer at home, and on the chart which was driven by the monitoring equipment in the lab. Together with a date and time display all of these elements were recorded onto video using split screen technology. Details of the equipment and the procedure are given in the book The Secret Life of Your Cells¹² Backster’s extensive research showed that when the volunteer’s thoughts and feelings were stimulated by what they saw and heard, these stimulations were also recorded on their cells – ‘entanglement’, even though the cells were ‘non-local’, often miles away.¹³

For decades, psychologists and parapsychologists had been observing similar occurrences between individuals during psi research. Amazingly, their researches are all but ignored by scientists working in very closely related areas. After over 100 years of psi research, in 1992 renown neuroscientists Francis Crick and Christof Koch wrote, “For many years after [William] James penned The Principles of Psychology (1890) …. most cognitive scientists ignored consciousness, as did almost all neuroscientists. The problem was felt to be either purely “philosophical” or too elusive to study experimentally. . . In our opinion, such timidity is ridiculous.”¹⁴ [Author’s parenthesis] Thankfully, timidity is on the wane. Professor Brian Josephson, a Nobel laureate of the University of Cambridge, links non-locality to telepathy – the ability of individuals to communicate without using the five senses.¹⁵

In May 2004, psychologist Dr. Stefan Schmidt and a team from the University of Freiburg, Germany, published the results of more than 1000 experiments where two people were put into two different rooms. In these experiments one of the volunteers could see the other over a close circuit TV system. The volunteer in view had electrodes attached to the skin and and when this person was being stared at by the other participant, a meter repeatedly registered a prickling in the skin. Other experiments demonstrated that the starer could make the other volunteer feel either relaxed or uncomfortable. Again this was confirmed by monitoring equipment. The study, ‘Distant Intentionality And The Feeling of Being Stared At’, was published in the May 2004 issue of the British Journal of Psychology.¹⁶

Not all of the convincing research has been undertaken by psychologists and parapsychologists, important work has been undertaken by Princeton University’s PEAR (Princeton Engineering Anomolies Research) Group and published in The Journal of Scientific Exploration (1997).¹⁷ Over two decades of research comprising thousands of experiments, millions of trials and hundreds of operators, the PEAR Group has identified anomalies in human/machine interactions “that can only be attributed to the influence of the consciousness of the human operator”.¹⁸

Led by Robert Jahn, the Princeton team have developed a number of different acoustical, electronic, fluid, mechanical and optical devices that, without human involvement, produce random outputs. In the experiments, operators attempt to influence the machines by pre-stated intention only. This is called micro-PK (Psycho-kinesis) research. No physical means are employed yet the results show increases in information content that are only attributable to the operator’s influence.

“The observed effects are usually quite small, of the order of a few parts in ten thousand on average, but they are statistically repeatable and compound to highly significant deviations from chance expectations.

“These anomalies can be demonstrated with the operators located up to thousands of miles from the laboratory, exerting their efforts hours before or after the actual operation of the devices.”¹⁹

In a reflection of the concepts of non-locality and entanglement in the quantum world, these results clearly indicate the influence of consciousness over great distances in the world of human beings. In the quotation I have underlined a further remarkable result that promotes the concept of entanglement over time. This phenomena is also to be found on the quantum scale.

In February 2004, a team led by Caslav Brukner at Imperial College, London, published evidence that moments of time can be entangled.²⁰ They demonstrated time-entanglement between successive actions. The report gave an example where there were successive measurements of a photon’s polarisation: Measure it once for a result and measure it again later, for a second result. It was found that “the very act of measuring a second time can affect how it was polarised earlier on.”²¹

Parapsychology

Many parapsychological experiments have shown that consciousness can influence events over time. For example, in the 1970s, physicist Helmut Schmidt conducted experiments where subjects were asked to predict which of four different coloured lamps would light up. The lamps were controlled by a random number generator. The results showed that some subjects could predict the outcome with a success rate far greater than chance. Schmidt then modified the experiment so that the random number generator was not activated until after the subject had made their prediction. The results were the same. The subjects were able to predict the future, even when the future had not yet been determined.

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Ideas Come From God

February 27, 2015 by Paul Ellson

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“Ideas come from God” – Einstein

The second of three articles by Paul Ellson, author of The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion.

Introduction

It is widely recognised that the best scientists are intuitive and that the ‘feel’ for the subject is important. This would not be apparent from reading formal scientific papers where the role that any intuition might play is omitted. Intuition is a subjective quality and yet an oft-stated goal of science is objectivity. I find this interesting, especially as, at the 2005 Hay Festival, I was present to hear Lord Rees, President of the Royal Society, and Sir John Maddox, former editor of Nature, agree that scientists cannot be truly objective. It is ironic that the detached and dispassionate tone required by scientific institutions and journals are part of the structure that supports the illusion of objectivity. True scientists are driven and passionate and they are as experimental and intuitive as any artist. Says Carlo Rubbia, Nobel laureate and former head of the prestigious CERN laboratory, “Scientific discovery is an irrational act. It’s an intuition which turns out to be reality at the end of it.” ¹

The successful scientist has a passionate and persistent character often fuelled by a childlike exhilaration in the quest for knowledge. The scientist becomes completely involved in his or her subject and, over time, gets a feel for the patterns behind the facts. The full absorption of information and the individual’s aspirations within the particular discipline primes the mind for revelation. But these revelations tend to come when the mind is at rest and when there is room for something new, a space for some new influence to enter into. Sometimes it is after, perhaps in despair, the mind has stopped trying. Also, periods of relaxation and recreation, or periods of sleep, when the mind is more fully rested are common times of entry for the new. The solution, however contrary to the line of thought held before, seems to suddenly appear in the mind. Max Planck, the German physicist who framed the Quantum Theory in 1900 seems to have acquire the idea in this way. He said that he could never fathom why he thought such a thing. His discovery marked the beginning of quantum physics – a major turning point for science. However, ask any scientist what was the greatest scientific breakthrough of the 20th century and the reply would likely be Einstein’s work on relativity. Significantly, this major leap forward involved sleep related revelations.

“Ideas come from God”

In writing Einstein – a life,² Denis Brian brought in recollections of Einstein and his close associates, delving deep into the process that brought about the groundbreaking Theory of Special Relativity – perhaps the greatest leap in the history of science. It was early spring 1905 and Einstein was aged 26. He had spent an evening going over his ideas with a friend; they were looking for the missing pieces of the puzzle:“….. he returned home in despair, feeling he would never discover “the true laws, based on known facts’. There is no record of how late he went to bed that night. . . . . . He woke next morning in great agitation, as if, he said, “a storm had broke loose in my mind”. With it came the answers. He had finally tapped “God’s thoughts” and tuned into the master plan for the universe.”³

Einstein told his assistant and biographer Banesh Hoffman that “‘Ideas come from God.’” Hoffman was aware that Einstein didn’t believe in a personal God and explained that, “This was his metaphorical way of speaking. You cannot command the idea to come, it will come when it’s good and ready. He put it those terms: ‘Ideas come from God.’” ⁴

Einstein’s sudden revelation as he woke that morning was transcendent. His ideas, or shall I say, the ideas received by him, reshaped the world and continue to have a huge impact on the whole of society. ⁵

In the weeks following his revelation, using every spare moment, ‘as if possessed’ he put the ideas on paper, filling thirty-one pages. Denis Brian tells us that the final paper“..was strangely free of footnotes or references, as if the inspiration had indeed come, if not from God, from some otherworldly source.”⁶

Groundbreaking mathematician and author Gregory Chaitin of theIBM Watson Research Center explains it this way: “I don’t know where ideas come from. I can only look at my own experience creating a new mathematical theory and say I don’t know where it comes from. I don’t do it mechanically . . . my mind seems sharper and I seem more perceptive about everything. I seem to be in some kind of energized or more perceptive state and it’s a wonderful state to be in. It doesn’t last long. It feels wonderful.”⁷

In The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James wrote of the four qualities ecstasy: ineffability, passivity, transience, and noesis.

Noesis comes from the Greek nous, relating to reason, intellect and understanding, particularly regarding to the understanding of basic principles or absolutes.Nous, along with gnosis can be traced back to the Sanskrit jna:to perceive, apprehend and understand.⁸From jna through gnosis and nous we have come to our word “knowledge,” originally referring to knowledge experienced directly; an enlightenment accompanied by a feeling of certitude. James wrote of the “noetic sense of truth” and the sense of authority implicit in these states, which he classified as mystical. “Although so similar to states of feeling, mystical states seem to those who experience them to be also states of knowledge. They are states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance, all inarticulate though they remain; and as a rule they carry with them a curious sense of authority for after-time.”⁹

Such an authority without a material basis may seem unreasonable, for nowadays, when we speak of reason we tend to think only in terms of forming an opinion. However, for the ancient Greeks, and for those before, there were two levels of reason. The higher reason is the reason that knows – gnosis, a state where the reason is given; experienced. The lower reason is the one that theorises and forms opinions, – doxa. Further back in time we find the Sanskrit jnana, which Monier-Williams defines as“the higher knowledge (derived from meditation on the one universal spirit)” and daksha: expert, clever; strengthening the intellectual faculty.

Regarding the word reason itself; I find it interesting that, in the Sanskrit, ‘ri’ is the word for heaven. When we look for ‘the reason’, we look for the ‘cause that explains something’. In the light of the ancient natural philosophy dictum ‘as above, so below’, this makes sense. Also we have the Sanskrit ‘rita’; true; enlightened; divine law, ‘rishu’: knowing, and ‘rishi’: saint; knower; seer– the one who directly experiences. Here again, at root, we see reason related to direct cognition. This broader understanding of reason and gnosis persisted for millennia, the Gnostics championing direct cognition well into Christian times. Perhaps they found inspirationfrom St John 14:17 where Jesus tells his Disciples: Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not; neither knoweth him: But ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. However, since the Church domination of the West and its hostility toward Gnosticism and its attendant nomenclature, the deeper meanings of gnosis and reason have become lost. Reason now only refers to the opinion forming, lower, reason.

Beyond the veil

Of late there has been recognition by scientists that ancient natural philosophers, up to and including Aristotle, acknowledged abilities to know the laws of nature through direct cognition. In A Brief History of Time, Hawking puts it this way: “The Aristotelian tradition also held that one could work out all the laws that govern the universe by pure thought: it was not necessary to check by observation”.¹⁰To the western mind, such ideas now seem a world away, but from ancient times to the present day, eastern philosophers have continued to address this subject frequently: The following is an example from China, found in stanza 62 of the Tao Te Ching [c.500BCE], where the Tao is ‘the unproduced producer of all that is’.¹¹

Why did the ancient masters esteem the Tao?

Because, being one with the Tao,

When you seek, you find. ¹²

A clue to the process involved is given in Stanza 10:

Can you step back from your own mind

and thus understand all things?¹³

Stepping back from your own mind is crucial to gnosis. Of course, this stepping back takes place naturally during sleep and those, like Einstein,whose minds have been primed can, on occasion, take advantage of that process innocently. This may seem bewildering, after all, even for the gifted student, understanding Einstein’s work can be difficult enough, let alone understanding how it could have been cognised in the first place. Understanding requires humility. The word means ‘to stand under’. One cannot rise to greater knowledge when one already assumes superiority. The ‘beginner’s mind’ advocated in eastern philosophy speaks of the innocence required for success.

A similar stance is recommended by leading scientific thinkers. In their book, The Matter Myth, taking Einstein’s theories as an example, Paul Davies and John Gribbin give advice on how such knowledge, which defies everyday notions about reality, can come to be understood by students. They recommend ” . . merely inquiring about what is observed and not trying to formulate a mental model of what is, in some absolute sense.”¹⁴Regarding the envisaging of Einstein’s ‘closed but unbounded’ universe, the writer says: “I remembered my resolution not to try to envisage an absolute reality, not to struggle for some sort of God’s-eye-view of the whole universe from the outside. Instead I would take the humbler perspective …..”¹⁵

Natural philosophers tell us that real humility releases us from attachment to all prior concepts; attachment to our own ideas or those of others. With this level of humility we discard all of our thoughts and imaginings. It allows us into the realm of impersonality where the non-relative, Absolute, can be contacted. Here, in essence, all things are found to rest.The Gnostics knew that any attempt at an intellectual construct of a big picture would be flawed because the intellect, which deals with the parts, would obstruct appreciation of the whole. Instead Gnostics used the mind as a receptacle. By this stage of mental development the use of the imagination has expanded the capacity of the mind, priming it for further use. Now the mind must be emptied and an innocence must be present, a state which allows the bigger picture to enter. As J B S Haldane said: “The universe may not just be queer to imagine, but queerer than we can imagine.”¹⁶And so, to sure-footedly approach the truth behind phenomena, use of the imagination is suspended. Rudolf Steiner explained: For the point is not that I arbitrarily create visions for myself, but that reality creates them in me.¹⁷ In order to help take this statement seriously we must acknowledge that successful natural philosophers such as Steiner were most sincere, thorough and scientific in their approach.

Another good example of this level of excellence would be Alice A Bailey. She was a well-known 20^th century natural philosopher who claimed extra-sensory skills. She advocated White Magic: the use of hidden (occult) knowledge for the benefit of humanity. In A Treatise on White Magic she lists five things that those who choose to tread that path need to cultivate.

“1. Consecration of motive. 2. Utter fearlessness. 3. The cultivation of the imagination, balanced wisely by the reasoning faculty. 4. A capacity to weigh the evidence wisely, and to accept only that which is compatible with the highest instinct and intuition. 5. A willingness to experiment.” She continues: “These five tendencies coupled with purity of life, and regulation of thought will lead to the sphere of achievement. Remember too that it is not purposed that you should find out all the knowable, but only just as much of as it may be employed wisely for the illumination of the race and of those whom you can each, in your own place, influence.”¹⁸

Anyone who has studied the life of Einstein will recognise that he applied all of the above. The appellation, ‘philosopher-scientist’ was well deserved. The evidence points to the fact that leading scientists, albeit unconsciously, use the attributes of the most mystical of natural philosophers as their aspiration for knowledge enlivens deeper cognitive talents. I believe that in the future, as science develops an understanding of consciousness, seekers after truth will use these attributes consciously.

Some 20^th century philosopher-sages have been particularly helpful in relating their knowledge to that of modern science. Sri Aurobindo (1872 – 1950) explains the forces at work ‘beyond the veil’: “The wall between consciousness and force, impersonality and a personality, becomes much thinner when one goes beyond the veil of matter. If one looks at a working from the side of impersonal force one sees a force or energy at work acting for a purpose or with a result. If one looks from the side of being one sees a being possessing, guiding and using or else representative of and used by a conscious force as its instrument of specialised action and expression…. . In modern science it has been found that if you look at the movement and energy, it appears on one side to be a wave and act as a wave, on the other as a mass of particles and to act as a mass of particles each acting its own way. It is somewhat the same principle here.”¹⁹

Aurobindo’s biographer, Satprem, explains further: “A Christian saint, who has the vision of the Virgin, say, and an Indian who has the vision of Durga²⁰may be seeing the same thing, they may have contacted the same plane of consciousness and the same forces; but quite obviously Durga would mean nothing to the Christian, and moreover, were this force to manifest in its pure state, that is, as a luminous impersonal vibration, it would not be accessible to the consciousness of either the worshiper of the Virgin or the devotee of Durga, or at any rate would not speak to their hearts.”²¹

These two quotations touch upon fundamentals of perception, the possibilities of viewing frequencies in either wave or particle form and, furthermore, the interpretation of frequency in order to create a narrow but meaningful ‘reality’. In the previous article ‘Non-locality and Omnipresence’, I mentioned research that showed that the mind may affect outcomes in scientific research, and therefore we must ask: How then can direct cognition be trusted? This is where Alice Bailey’s prescription, “…. purity of life, and regulation of thought will lead to the sphere of achievement”, enters in. As with any experiment, the quality of the apparatus and the quality of control are of the highest importance. In this case, body and mind are the apparatus and the means of control. Neurophysiologically speaking, the apparatus requires pure foods and drink because it must not be distracted by discomfort or illness, and the mind requires the Great Peace, a mental equilibrium where, due to innocence and humility there is no agenda. To the deeply religious and the natural philosopher alike, access to the soul is the link to the Great Peace of pure consciousness. Here religion begins to reveal its original motivation. Satprem wrote on the phenomena of religious visions and their subjective nature but there are links here to the scientific world, starting with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. It was established by German physicist Werner Heisenberg, and gave a theoretical limit to the precision with which a particle’s momentum and position can be measured simultaneously the more accurately the one is determined, the more uncertainty there is in the other.

Writing in the New York Times Magazine, Daniel Menaker homed-in on the subjective implications. He put it this way: “When Heisenberg threw this stone of hard mathematical physics into the pool of philosophy, its ripples required us to see ourselves, each of our own selves, as interferers with whatever we run across. Such ideas of the conscious human self as an automatic interferer, a changer, a polluter of reality, may have always been a part of philosophy or even art, but it was Heisenburg who for the first time scientifically demonstrated that our very own efforts fully to understand what surrounds us must defeat their own purpose.”²²

The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion²³ gives further, ample, evidence of the mind’s ability to interfere in all it perceives. What then can be the true significance of religion in all this – are religious practices a distraction or do they have a purpose? At its root, buried deeply beneath a historical veil of politics, sophistry and intellectualisation, religion is a science, a science of consciousness. And, after shaking off the dust of obfuscation, it may be recognised as complementary to modern science with both disciplines finding their home within the embrace of natural philosophy. Natural philosophy seeks ‘knowledge of the causes of the laws of all things’²⁴ and religion, from re-ligio – ‘to bind back’ – has the potential to take the practitioner in consciousness ‘back’ to the cause which natural philosophers cite as the home of all knowledge. It is a route to gaining knowledge through direct experience of the creator, the creative force.

Transcendent experience is facilitated by great peace of mind. But rare is the individual who, without training, achieves great peace of mind. Therefore, a major goal of religious techniques such as meditation, repetition (such as rosary use), and certain prayers, is to cultivate a stillness of mind wherein, unlike deep sleep, the mind remains conscious and attentive. Here, one may note that, to the Pythagorians, who were a deeply religious group, mathematical knowledge itself derived from contemplation.²⁵ But only when meditation has done its work can true contemplation take place. Meditation stills the mind, contemplation uses the stilled mind to wonder in an innocent, subtle and yet focused fashion, thereby inducing the knowledge of the part in relation to the whole.

Binding back

Based upon a profound grasp of psycho-physiological processes, various systems were developed in order to ‘re-ligio’ – bind back – the practitioner to the Great Peace. For the body, a pure diet and exercises were advocated to encourage abundant health and energy – if the body is ill or fighting illness then it is likely to be distracted in contemplation. For the mind, imagery was advocated for particular stages of development as were meditations of various kinds. Many such practices are still extant but not widely understood. This needs to change.

I believe that, through identification with the best of leading scientific thought and with the integrative work of natural philosophers both ancient and modern, an opportunity is now arising for religion to return to its rightful place. Study of the ultimate cause by whatever name: big bang, pre-big bang (cosmologists), unified field etc., (physicists), The Lord, Jehova etc., (religious) or consciousness, the creative force etc., (natural philosophers) brings all of these groups together and a realisation of their mutually supportive nature is long overdue. How many western scientists have taken the reports of Christian mystics seriously? Despite Church doctrine, the most dedicated devotee can experience gnosis and throughout history this has occurred numerous times.

From a multitude of available accounts, let us first look at the words of the German, Jacob Boehme [1575-1624]: “In this my earnest and Christian Seeking and Desire”, he wrote, “the Gate was opened to me, that in one Quarter of an Hour I saw and knew more than if I had been many years together at an University, at which I exceedingly admired, and thereupon turned my Praise to God for it.” The reader should be aware that the date of this revelation is 1610 and that the terminology is that of a devout Christian. Nevertheless, the summary that follows embraces the realms of chemistry, biology, physics and cosmology: “ For I saw and knew the Being of all Beings, the Byss and the Abyss, and the Eternal Generation of the Holy Trinity, the Descent and Original of the World, and of all creatures through the divine wisdom. . . And I saw and knew the whole working Essence in the Evil and the Good, and the Original and Existence of each of them; and likewise how the fruitful bearing Womb of Eternity brought forth . . .Yet however I must begin to labour in those great mysteries, as a Child that goes to School. I saw it as in a great Deep in the Internal. For I had a thorough view of the Universe . . “²⁶

The Englishman George Fox [1624-91] became the founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers) but a remarkable experience at the age of twenty-four almost led him into a scientific path: ‘The creation was opened to me; and it was showed me how all things had their [divine] names given them, according to their nature and virtue. And I was at a stand in my mind whether I should practice physic for the good of mankind, seeing the nature and virtue of the creatures were so opened to me by the Lord . .”²⁷(Author’s parenthesis)

The above quotes are broad in scope. They indicate the magnitude of gnostic experience but offer nothing that can be easily crosschecked. Let us now look at something a little more specific

The History of the Moon

For some time scientists have been looking into the history of the Moon and its relation to our planet. Furthering work on a widely accepted theory first proposed in 1975,²⁸ J. Richard Gott III and Edward Belbruno, both of Princeton University,²⁹ posted a paper on arVix.org in May 2004.³⁰It refers to a time billions of years ago when a small planet shared Earth’s orbit. Their research and computer simulations show a scenario where this planet eventually became engaged with the Earth in a horseshoe-like orbit. Furthermore, around 4.5 billion years ago, being drawn in, this planet glanced off the Earth not once but twice. Gott and Belbruno have named this planet Theia. It is postulated that its collisions with the Earth created the moon. Theia’s iron core sank into the Earth whilst its lighter elements, rocks from its mantle, spiraled off into space. They estimate that 80 percent of Theia is now the body of the moon. Their paper is one in a growing body of work which points to this kind of Earth-Moon relationship and it has gained much credibility amongst fellow astrophysicists.

Many years prior to this work, a British seer, the Reverend John Todd-Ferrier [1855 – 1943], cognised strikingly similar activity; Todd-Ferrier authored a number of books and additionally, many of his Services, Sermons, Letters and Talks were gathered up in a series of volumes called The Herald of The Cross. References to the history of the Moon (or Luna) are scattered amongst these works. Amongst them he says, “The Moon was not a satellite, she was a companion and planet. She moved with the Earth round a given centre.”³¹ “And the Moon was a companion planet giving balance and aid to the Earth in her ministry . . . . But in order to help the Earth at a very critical period, the Moon gave up her own glory . . . She gave up her atmosphere, she also gave up her magnetic plane.“³² Clearly, because an estimated 80% of the companion planet is now known as the moon, Todd Ferrier sees no reason to call that original planet by a different name. He also said that this giving up occurred at a second interaction and that, “Her atmosphere as well her inner seas were drawn down, and her higher magnetic elements are mingled with the atmosphere and seas of the Earth. In addition to that her magnetic plane was also drawn down, and is mixed in with its elements with the magnetic plane at of the Earth. This is the reason for the moon’s tremendous leverage power of the seas, . . .”³³

Like many natural philosophers, the Reverend Todd Ferrier related all Celestial activity to an omnipotent divine power. “Luna, lent to the Earth, at Divine command her magnetic plane.”³⁴Perhaps it is this perception and terminology which scientists find alienating. I can only recommend open-mindedness, it is a fundamental of good science as is the ability to comprehend the big picture.

Scientists are learning that it is not enough to ‘prove’ the value of something in relative isolation. All of nature is related. Such isolated ‘proofs’ are temporary indicators that will shift as the knowledge horizon expands. This expansion can be safely hastened by practices that lead to gnosis. Packets of knowledge can only be fully understood by their relationships to the whole. If you look at the whole you can also see the parts that make it up. If you look at the part alone, you cannot see the whole. As with a jigsaw puzzle, the best practice is to pick up a piece and, prior to positioning, review the whole picture. We place the piece and, if it requires further consideration, we step back and review the whole picture along with the pieces in place and those yet to be used. If we can consider it all in one scan, we can know more easily if our choices of pieces and positions have been correct. The early natural philosophers knew how to do this with nature itself and today aspects of that knowledge are, albeit unconsciously, used by many of us, including scientists. The key moment of inspiration will often come outside of the lab, without focus on the problem. Something in nature will prime the mind to receive the answer. One may be dreamily contemplating the movements of a river or of clouds in the sky, or looking at a leaf. A period of sleep may do the trick or, when the rules are known and adhered to, one could even ask out loud to be enlightened regarding a certain matter. Knowledge through direct experience will result.

We have already seen how personal mental activity is strong on interference. True direct cognition is gained beyond the realm of the personal; that is the value of being able to empty oneself. Operating within discernable laws, these experiences are natural occurrences available to all of humankind through knowledge of the mechanics of consciousness.

This is indicated in ancient language. In Sanskrit, Manah is mind. Here we have a clue to the meaning behind “So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him.”³⁵ When man is made in God’s own image, scripture is telling us that, in essence, humankind is made of mind, the body being mortal and simply a temporary vehicle for universal consciousness. The Kena Upanishad [c.500 BCE]³⁶puts it this way, “Therefore He (God) is the Mind of the (human) mind too”.³⁷ [Author’s parenthesis]

Recall the words of the scientists: Carlo Rubbia: “Scientific discovery is an irrational act. It’s an intuition . . .” Gregory Chaitin: “I seem to be in some kind of energized or more perceptive state and it’s a wonderful state to be in.” And, Einstein: ‘Ideas come from God.’ To the seasoned seer, God is the font of all knowledge. Hence the words of John Todd Ferrier: “It would fill me with unutterable sorrow if in trying to help you by revealing something of my own experiences, you thought of them only in a personal way, and lost that which lies behind them, and consequently failed to attribute them to their right Source, even as my Lord from Whom everything comes to me. As I have nothing of my own, everything in my experience is related to Him. I could not live and work for you, apart from Him.^”³⁷³⁸

______________________________

The above text features extracts from The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion. In the next article I shall use further extracts from the book to look at how re-ligio researchers into consciousness can add an extra dimension to the art of theorising.

Paul Ellson.

Paul Ellson is a natural philosopher. The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion is available via his website www.paulellson.com and other outlets.

Notes and References:

Quoted in Leaping Over the Gates of Logic: The best science is always inspired. Published in New Scientist 8^thAugust 1985.
Einstein – a life, Denis Brian, John Wiley and Sons Inc. 1996. p60-61
Ibid.

Ibid.

In a special ‘Beyond Einstein’ issue (September 2004), Scientific American celebrated 100 years of his ideas and influence. In an article entitled Everyday Einstein, Philip Yan noted Einstein’s influence regarding digital cameras, DVD players, GPS units and solar powered devices.
Ibid.
Soul Searching: The Undiscovered Country, C4 Television 2003. Produced and directed by David Malone.
This and all Sanskrit terms sourced from A Sanskrit – English Dictionary, Sir Monier Monier-Williams, 1^st edition, OUP 1899.
James, W. (1901/1990) The Varieties of Religious Experience, p 343. New York: Vintage books.
A Brief History of Time, Stephen W. Hawking, Bantam Press 1988. p15.
The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, ed. John Bowker 1997.
Tao Te Ching: The Book of The Way by Lao-Tzo. Translated by Stephen Mitchell Pub. Kyle Cathie 1990.
Ibid.
The Matter Myth, Paul Davies and John Gribbin. Pub., Penguin Viking, London 1991.
Ibid.
John Burdon Sanderson Haldane 1892-1964 British Geneticist who was a founder of population genetics.
Rudolf Steiner, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds: How is it achieved? Rudolf Steiner Press, Bristol 1993. Page 69.
A Treatise on White Magic, 5^th edition 1951, Alice A Bailey. Pub. Lucis Publishing Company, New York p343-4.
Sri Aurobindo, On Yoga, Tome Two.
A Hindu Goddess.
Satprem, Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness. My thanks to the Institut de Recherches Evolutives, BP9, 14380 Hermouiville, France.
Daniel Menaker writing in The New York Times Magazine, 17^th Oct. 1999, p96.
P H Ellson, The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion. Pub. AASB Media, Ireland.
A definition of philosophy from The Chambers Dictionary.
P H Ellson, Ibid., p32.
The Life of Jacob Boehme, p xv, in volume I of his Collected Works, English Translation, London, 1764-81, as sourced in Mysticism: The Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness by Evelyn Underhill. p 257. Pub. Oneworld, Oxford. 1993 Edition.
The Journal of George Fox, volume i. Cap. ii., Edited from the MSS. By N Penney. Cambridge, 1911. This material sourced in Mysticism: The Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness by Evelyn Underhill. p257-8. Pub. Oneworld, Oxford. 1993 Edition.
William Hartmann at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz. USA, and independently by Al Cameron at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge Mass. USA.
Gott is at the Dept. of Astrophysical Sciences and Belbruno is Visiting Research Collaborator, Dept. of Applied and Computational Mathematics.
“Where did the moon come from?” by J Richard Gott III and Edward Belbruno, published online at www.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0405372.
The Herald of The Cross XIX. p146. published by The Order of The Cross, London 1945
Ibid.
From an address given in London on March 12^th 1933, printed in The Herald of The Cross IX. p.17. published by The Order of The Cross, London 1957]
From an address given in Hertfordshire, England on August 2^nd 1933, printed in The Herald of The Cross XXXIV. p.102. published by The Order of The Cross, London 2004.
Genesis 1:27.
Kena Upanishad forms part of the Upanishad Brahmana of the Talavakara branch of the Sama Veda.
From Shankara’s commentary on the Kena Upanishad: Page 45, Eight Upanishads, volume one, with the commentary of Shankaracharya. Translated by Swami Gambhirananda. Second edition January 1989. Published by Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, India.
Dreams, Visions and Recoveries in The Herald of The Cross Volume XIII 1940 p31. Note: In keeping with the times (early 20^th century), John Todd Ferrier tended to couch his terms in the masculine but explained that Deity was both masculine and feminine.

Filed Under: Knowledge, Philosophy Tagged With: Book

In Theory

September 2, 2012 by Paul Ellson

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In Theory

The final article of a series of three by Paul Ellson, author of The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion.

Introduction

Although we are merely one tiny element in one star system amongst millions of stars that reside in just one galaxy amongst millions of galaxies, whether looking for signs of life out there in the cosmos or for the secrets of life around us, we quite naturally look from a human perspective. But why believe that our expectations, our methods of investigation, the ‘objective’ techniques, our limited senses and limited intelligence, are able to define what life is? The signs of life that we recognise may be too narrow in definition; we may be missing the real thing, right here. Conversely, it may even be that life on this planet, right down to the building blocks, is a local mutation so different from the real thing, the universal norm, that we can neither seek that norm nor know it. Nevertheless, driven by our innate curiosity, we advance our anthropocentric enquiries across the board.

Worldwide, many scientists are working towards a common goal: a ‘theory of everything’, in scientific parlance: a unified field theory. Einstein created that term. To date, he is the most successful scientific theorist. However, theory is theory and nothing more. Published in 1915, Einstein’s General Theory focussed upon gravity. In this theory, the geometrical properties of space-time are conceived as modified locally by the presence of a body with mass such as a star or a planet. It has been a mainstay of scientific thought and has given far-reaching predictions that are close to a wide range of experimental results and discoveries made since that time. However, it is important to note that in a number of cases the predictions are far from perfect.

Questioning theories

One would expect a successful theory of gravity to explain the laws that govern the movement of pendulums, but Einstein’s theory entirely fails to explain certain anomalies, particularly their behaviour during an eclipse of the sun. In 1954 French economist and engineer, Maurice Allais of the School of Mining in Paris, undertook a number of pendulum experiments. It has long been accepted that a free-swinging pendulum will always trace the same path. Under lab conditions it can be shown that the plane of this path will rotate slowly, this is due to the rotation of the planet. These results correlate with Einstein’s theory which gives an explanation of the geometry governing the situation. But Allais’ thorough research showed that the pendulum’s rotation rate varied during the course of the day and that during a partial eclipse of the sun on 30th June 1954, the pendulum behaved very differently. The plane of its swing began to rotate backwards. The timing of its behaviour showed that it had been affected by the eclipse. Something was going on in the relationship between the Sun, Moon and the Earth that was not explained by Einstein’s theory. Over the years, further experiments by Allais and a number of others have confirmed the anomaly.1

Allais, the 1998 Nobel prizewinner for economics, believes that the pendulum evidence points to the existence of the ether, cited as the prime element by natural philosophers through the ages. It certainly shows that General Theory, whilst giving a great boost to the advance of science, is flawed and that there is more to the workings of gravity than most scientists currently accept. There are further questions regarding General Theory, including frequent debates as to the constancy of the speed of light; a pivotal element. In fact, Dr Lijun Wang of the NEC research institute at Princeton University has shown that, under special conditions, pulses of light can be accelerated up to 300 times their norm of 186,000 miles per second.2 Beyond the lab, serious questions as to the consistency of the speed of light have been raised through observations of very distant objects, particularly a quasar – a distant star-like object – that seems to be some 10 billion light years away. I say, ‘seems to be’ because there is evidence that, in this case, either the electron charge3or the speed of light has changed. This is problematical because both are supposed to be constant. Professor Paul Davies of Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia believes that, of the two, the speed of light is more likely to have changed. “Its entirely possible that the speed of light would have got greater and greater as you go back (through time) towards the Big Bang and if so it could explain some of the great mysteries of cosmology.”4 Such questions over the constancy of the speed of light undermine the basis of much that science espouses.

As is better known, General Theory does not to fit with the behaviour of particles in the micro world of quantum physics. This fact, above all, brought home the realisation that if there is one guiding law for the universe, General Theory does not describe it. Consequent work by quantum physicists has led to the emergence of a number of unified field theories.

Currently the consensus amongst scientists is that the most likely candidate in the race for a successful unified field theory would be a ‘superstring theory’ or string theory for short. Actually there are a number of string theories, in common, they suggest that incredibly tiny, one-dimensional, vibrating strings, a billion, billion times smaller than a proton,5 are active at the basis of creation. A universe based upon vibrating strings lends itself well to musical analogy and has something in common with early theological teachings where ‘the music of the spheres’ was a frequent topic. The leading superstring theory, known as M theory has managed to unify a number of earlier string theories. It resolves problems that they encountered by theorising multi-dimensions in terms of membranes. Each dimension is likened to a universe in parallel to our own. There are eleven of these membrane-like dimensions. It is imagined that these eleven dimensions curl up into one vibrating string. In his book Parallel Worlds, physicist Michio Kaku posits that eleven membranes might curl up into one sphere-like dimension that collapses in on itself, leaving its equator as a vibrating closed string.6

Despite the persuasive fame of string theory, it should be noted that even on the purely mathematical level, twenty years of work by many brilliant minds has failed to give convincing mathematical proof of any string hypothesis. Einstein, who questioned much of early quantum theory, would smile; it was he who said, “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”As regards the experimental level, no physical scientific equipment has been developed that could handle the ultra-minute elements theorised. Nor could it be developed, Nobel prize-winning physicist Sheldon Lee Glashow has pointed out that: “No experiment can ever be done at the distances that are being studied. The theory is permanently safe.”7 By the same token, the theory would forever rest on very questionable ground.

When to theorise

Theory is an ancient word, one that F M Cornford interpreted as ‘passionate, sympathetic contemplation’.8 Coming from the Greek, theos: God. The word relates directly to the study of the divine. In my previous article, note was made regarding the use of contemplation in the quest for knowledge. Today, contemplation is viewed as a religious pursuit: subjective, and therefore seen as imprecise in its result. But past records tell us otherwise. Luminaries such as Pythagoras used contemplative techniques to extend the boundaries of knowledge. Using contemplation, the scientists of old would gain experience through both physical and mental experiment and, having done so, would then theorise upon what was beyond. In Sanskrit we have a clue to the root of theos in the word tiras meaning ‘beyond’. Certainly, string theorists are needing help from beyond: “We don’t know what we are talking about“, said Nobel laureate, David Gross, when summing up at the December 2005, Solvay Conference, ‘The Quantum Structure of Space and Time’, in Brussels. Gross, a former leading advocate of string theory, now believes that physicists are missing something absolutely fundamental in their search for a successful unified field theory.

There is nothing wrong with theorising, there has to be theory, but it needs to happen at the appropriate time: when all of the available information, both objective and subjective, have been pulled together and a final answer is still found wanting. String theorists talk in terms of parallel worlds and multi-dimensions but as yet they still approach these possibilities in three-dimensional, materialistic point of view. The one thing that we all have ready access to that is truly multi-dimensional is consciousness; mind-stuff. It sleeps, it dreams, it imagines, it conceives well beyond the three-dimensional. Do the theorists ask themselves, what is this that spurs us on our path of inquiry in the first place? What is it that enables us to conceive of these multi-dimensions? Nowhere in their theories is consciousness featured and yet it is fundamental – a word that through the Latin, fundare – to found, and mentis – the mind, indicates that the ancients taught that the basis of all is founded in the mind.

Scientists are seeking a theory of everything but how can their search come to fruition until every parameter has been investigated and taken into account? It is evident that none of the prevalent scientific works take consciousness and the role of the subjective seriously enough. Whilst a small number of scientists are tentatively venturing into the ‘consciousness problem’, they still attempt to explore it through objective measurement and continue to avoid the subjective element; the person taking the measurements, the observer; the human self – us! Their narrow, pseudo-objective, approach will prove impossible. Why jump to theory when not all of the experimental avenues have been taken? Where there is another source of information, a related but as yet un-investigated field, then surely, it should be investigated with great rigour prior to theorising. A greater understanding of the relation between science and religion will help enable this investigation to truly begin. Clues to the past closeness of that relationship are coming to light.

In the spring of 1985, NASA researcher Rick Briggs wrote an article in A.I., Artificial Intelligence magazine.9 He wrote about NASA’s twenty-year attempt to develop a truly scientific language as precise as mathematics, natural languages being too cumbersome and ambiguous to work with the clarity and efficiency required in the computer oriented world of artificial intelligence. Briggs explained that almost all languages deviated from the precision required – all except for one: NASA researchers had realised that “there was a language spoken among an ancient scientific community that has a deviation of zero.” Still in use, that language is Sanskrit, the world’s most ancient spiritual language is now recognised as a scientific language too.

Our scientists use mathematics extensively but do not have a spoken language to match. This leads to problems regarding the understanding and take up of science by the general public: the knowledge is restricted to the few who are well versed both in the mathematics and in the specially created terminology that goes with the subject. As a scientific language Sanskrit had the potential to transmit a deeper understanding of the workings of nature to a wider public,

It is a vertical language enabling a well-structured exposition of the ancient law of ‘as above – so below.10This law does not mean that the micro and the macro and every level in between are exactly the same. It is more a guide to patterning. From the visual perspective, modern scientific confirmation of this comes through the application of microscopic and telescopic technologies that have enabled the investigation of fractals. A fractal is an entity created through diminishing subdivisions of a given shape. Often associated with geometric form and computer graphics, fractals present themselves all around us in the natural world. An oft-quoted example is the image of a rugged coastline pictured from above. Zooming in on a subdivision of that image we find a similar image; zooming in again to a yet more detailed scale, we find another similar image, and so on, right down to the tiniest grain in close focus. A more universal exposition was published in the book The Powers of Ten11 where consecutive images are shown subdividing by powers of ten. The baseline is the everyday human scale where a man is seen sleeping on a picnic blanket in a park in the city of Chicago. The picture shows an area of one square metre. From this point, at the rate of the power of ten, the images zoom in to the human body through the skin to the cellular level, on to the atomic level and further to the sub-atomic level; similarly a set of images zoom out from the human level, through to the planetary level, the solar level, the galactic level and further out into deep space, always looking back toward the park in Chicago, the sleeping man and his subatomic structure. At www.wordwizz.com/pwrsof10.htm I found these stills displayed, moving from the outermost to the innermost and accompanied by a commentary by Bruce Bryson. Whether galaxies, solar systems, suns, cells, electrons, or protons etc., the similarities in patterns of distribution are striking. We live in a fractal, as above – so below, universe. A moving image, zooming in from outer space to inner space, would show even more clearly, how nature moves in a patterned, rhythmic fashion from the spacious to the dense, back to the spacious and so on. Were the people of long ago who coined ‘as above – so below’, aware of this? It is recorded that Sanskrit was cognised by Seers and that Seers were also the writers of the Veda. We cannot dismiss the inference that they cognised these patterns through the art of contemplation for they were revered in scripture as experts in the art.

Throughout nature, the relationship between form and function is implicit. In the above paragraph we focussed on ‘as above – so below’, regarding visual form, but the Sanskrit language naturally used its vertical attributes to describe function too; the similarity of administrative patterning throughout the universe. In such a scientifically precise language, metaphor is a potent force. With this facility, one could gain an appreciation of the laws that guide life beyond the earthly senses. A striking example is the word bhurij. It has three levels of meaning, relating to the body of the universe, the human body and the objective world of humankind. The linking theme is ‘things that come together’. Reflecting the three levels, bhurij can be translated as, ‘heaven and earth’; ‘arms’, hands’; ‘scissors’ or ‘a carpenter’s vice’. 12

Throughout the language, the rules of metaphor are grounded in practical, worldly terms. The Vedic culture was largely agrarian where domesticated animals were put to work, therefore that spirited creature, the horse, is a symbol of power and spiritual strength. The Sanskrit word for ‘cow’. go´ or gau´s,is noteworthy, it also means ‘light’ or ‘ray of light’. Light, as the sustainer, the giver of life and energy, was reflected in their understanding of the role of the cow in their way of life. To this day, in the high Himalayas, human life is utterly dependent upon bovine herds. The vertical meaning rises through to the ultimate: in Hymns To The Mystic Fire,a translation of many Vedic texts, Sri Aurobindo explains that “The cows of the Veda were the herds of the sun . . . the rays of Truth and Light and Knowledge”.13

We know that, millennia ago, Sanskrit was in broad everyday use over a significant area of southern Asia. It is also the root language for all of our major western languages. These facts should prompt us to take a closer look at the work and methods of the scientists of old. Whilst taking in the subjective, their standards were comparable to scientific standards of today. New information was not simply accepted. Mentoring was a fundamental part of this tradition, and there was the ability to check one’s experiences against thousands of years of expertise leading to an accretion of knowledge in coherent fashion. This scientifically oriented tradition can be tracked from the early Vedas through to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali14 where numerous subjective experiments and their results were logged in detail. Patanjali’s reputation has stood the test of time. This is because when the experiments are properly prepared for, the results are consistent. As noted previously, this preparation is at the heart of re-ligio. Recall that Pythagoras utilised contemplation as a scientific tool. In this he followed the ancient tradition where, utilising a stilled mind, simple questioning with an open sense of wonder brought results. A stilled mind helped ensure that interference by one’s personal expectations and agenda did not take place, the best conditions being where the researcher was not repressing their expectations but did not actually have any; this is one reason why the power of innocence and humility is promoted in scripture.

Re-ligio Research

Rare is the individual who, without straining, has great peace of mind. Therefore, a major goal of religious techniques such as meditation, japa (repetition) and certain prayers is to cultivate a stillness of mind wherein, unlike the stillness of deep sleep, one remains conscious. Only when meditation has done its work can true contemplation take place. Meditation stills the mind, contemplation uses the mind to wonder broadly, yet in a focused fashion, thereby inducing the knowledge of the part in relation to the whole.

Based upon a profound grasp of psycho-physiological processes, various re-ligio systems were developed. Techniques used in the process of ‘binding back’ are still to be found in the religions of today. Usually, the initial focus is the body and its relation to the mind; the localised consciousness. Here pure diet and detailed exercises are often prescribed to help balance bodily energies thus avoiding illness. If the body is ill, it is likely to be an obstacle to contemplation.

Some religions use a great number of symbols and images in order to inculcate psychological growth and balance. There is more imagery in pantheistic systems. This is not to say that a pantheistic religion is not focused upon one God. The varied imagery is used to balance inner resources and the images usually relate to the worldly experience of the participant so that a meaning can be grasped through an understanding of natural relationships. In India, the half human, half elephant god, Ganesha represents patience, persistence, inner strength and wisdom. It is held to be the remover of all obstacles especially of obstacles in the way of spiritual progress. The idea is that, step by step through identifying with Ganesha, the devotee develops their latent qualities of patience, persistence etc. thus balancing a flighty or quick tempered nature. Pantheons may use humanlike forms and creature-like forms but they have high attributes. They enable the aspirant to move from the earthly toward the divine, progressively being taken from a knowledge of the material world to a knowledge of the subtle and cosmological worlds. This is possible on a consistent basis through a simultaneous regime of physiological and mental purification. Guidance from a more experienced practitioner is also part of the package.

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras are still in use and continue to deliver consistent and verifiable results to the well-prepared and earnest enquirer. Patanjali’s works are seen as ‘mumbo-jumbo’ by the sceptical, and mystical by believers. But there is no need for continued scepticism or blind belief in mysteries that can actually be unravelled. As the word infers, experiment gives experience, not simply intellectual understanding. With real experience comes a more complete understanding. As a result, knowledge replaces belief and its bedfellow, theory. Here lies the potential to unite religion and science and also philosophy.

It is time that science understood why re-ligio is closely associated with ritual. Any experiment needs to be repeatable and, in the repeating, to gain consistent results. This is the usefulness of ritual; prescribed format; standardised approach, the fixed rules for experimentation. The English words right and ritual come from the Sanskrit rita meaning right, proper, worshipped, respected, enlightened and luminous. And, a main key is the quality of the equipment used. For re-ligio research, the main equipment is the human being. It must be cleared of impurities, hence the rigorous systems of care and cleansing of both mind and body, found in yogic practices. This is reflected in modern scientific research, where with the right equipment and the correct approach, consistent results can be obtained.

Science is a methodology that aims at precision. It aspires to clarity through thoroughness and with this approach it aims to discover even the ultimate truth. But precision should not mean narrowness of mindset and dismissal of other means of knowledge acquisition. The perceived limits of the human mind must be transcended. Subjective research will reveal the secret of science’s greatest challenge, consciousness. What will follow are the gifts that transcendent states can bring including the fullest union with the heart of religion and philosophy.

Paul Ellson.

_________________________________

The above text is based upon extracts from The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion.

Paul Ellson is a natural philosopher. The Beautiful Union of science, philosophy and religion is available via his website www.paulellson.com and from other outlets.

Notes and References

Notes and References

Shadow Over Gravity, by Govert Schilling, New Scientist magazine 27^th Nov 2004.
The Sunday Times, June 4^th 2000.
Electrons are negatively charged elementary particles occurring in all atoms. The electron charge at 1.6 x 10^-19C is held to be a constant.
BBC News Online, 8^th August 2002.
A proton is an elementary particle of positive charge and unit atomic mass, the atom of the lightest isotope of hydrogen without its electron.
Michio Kaku, Parallel Worlds, p198. Pub. Penguin, Allen Lane, London 2005.
The Theory of Everything: Einstein’s Dream, C4TV, 2^nd November 2003.
Frances McDonald Cornford From Religion to Philosophy: A Study in the Origins of Western Speculation pub., Princeton University Press 1991.
Rick Briggs, Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence. AI Volume 6(1); Spring 1985, 32-39.
Perhaps the best known reference to this law is found on The Emerald Tablet. This tablet, thought to be of Egyptian origin, is accepted as the source of Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy and has been known to scholars and philosophers since the 10^th century.
The Powers of Ten by Philip Morrison and Phylis Morrison. Pub., W H Freeman & Co. (revised edition) September 1994.
A Sanskrit – English Dictionary, Ed. Sir Monier Monier-Williams, 1^st edition, OUP 1899. p 425. Note: All Sanskrit definitions are taken from this source.
Hymns To The Mystic Fire, Trans. Sri Aurobindo, p11. Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 6^th impression 1998.
bce, dates unclear.

Filed Under: Knowledge Tagged With: Book

Non-locality and Omnipresence

Introduction

Non-locality and entanglement

Parapsychology

Ideas Come From God

“Ideas come from God” – Einstein

“Ideas come from God”

Beyond the veil

Binding back

In Theory

In Theory

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