Quantum to Cosmos – an expanding sense of place

14 Dec 2007, George G Clark

I have been chatting on the phone with a 91 year old lady about planting roses. This provided an interlude to watching videos about "Enlightenment 2.0 – Beyond Belief" from the Salk Institute[1]. I am thus keenly aware of other people's worlds. We live in such hugely different places. And the one thing our world views have in common is their smallness and parochiality.

Cosmic zoom – beyond the parochial
Cosmic	Universe	It
	Solar system	It
	Planet	It
Biological	Ecology	It
	People	Them
Cultural	Cultures	Them
	Tribes	Us
Psychological	Family	Us
	Individual	Me
Biochemical	Organs	It
	Cells	It
	Macromolecules	It
Physical	Atoms	It
	Sub atomic	It
	Quanta	It

We box ourselves in. Causes and conditions conspire to programme both the conscious and the unconscious aspects of our minds (cognitive and affective).

The good news is that our programmes can be tweaked and even dramatically revised[2]. The bad news is that, at the personal level, the revision takes effort and is essentially counterintuitive.[3] But it is not impossible!

The boxing is in layers like the skins of an onion and 'you' are on the inside. It is possible to dissolve the layers one after the other until you are no longer constrained. This leads to reunion with the Oneness – the ultimate boon – the great and fearless peace of mind that passes all (rational) understanding[4].

At a crude level your standard world view can be seen as centred around Me, Us, Them and It. (see the third column in the box).

'Me' is the selfish individual that characterises the 'modern' person in the developed world. But we are social animals and thus are 'Us' at the level of family and tribe where relations can be more or less convivial and altruistic. Given our territorial imperative[5] we can be largely antagonistic towards people in cultures, creeds and nations which are seen as 'Them'. Outside those parochial constraints there is 'It' - the physical world at both macro and micro levels.

We, or at least some of us, now have the knowledge, understanding and technology to visualise 'It' in its micro and macro perspectives. This leads inevitably to uncommon sense and counterintuition but this is OK – we are evolving as a species.

Various Cosmic Zoom type presentations are available on the internet[6]. An easy one to use is Powers of Ten[7] – try it and see if it takes your breath away and helps peel a few skins from your onion.

The 'Enlightenment 2.0' crew would presumably be at easy peace with this perspective – at least intellectually[8]. The 91 year old rose grower might have other things to occupy her mind!

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[1] http://thesciencenetwork.org/BeyondBelief2/

[2] Think for example of the paradigm shifts in science over the years – the world in no longer flat, and heavier than air machines can fly! And it was not all that long ago that we had the Divine Rights of Kings!

[3] This is why we have to 'practice' meditation for mindfulness

[4] Neural correlate = stimulation of the God Spot (or equivalent) – reference the brain scans of Olympic meditators.

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ardrey

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Zoom

[7] http://microcosm.web.cern.ch/microcosm/P10/english/P0.html

[8] being Enlightenment thinkers they are keen to be 'reasonable'

Towards the easy life

George G Clark, 17 December 2007

The mildly blue feeling evaporated as I took the refuse bucket to the back gate and felt the frozen grass crackling beneath my feet.  Then there was the low slung sun spreading its early redness around the garden. Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive[1]. What was going on in my head?

What are the causes and conditions that promote peace of mind and a sense of ease?.

The key thing is freedom from ego. The I-Me-Mine thinking is dropped. Thoughts about the past and future are also dropped. And what is lost is the illusion of an individuated self located in a particular place and time.

This leads to a freedom from emotions (eg craving or aversion). When there is  no self there is nothing for emotions to stick to. This also means that there is no restlessness or anxiety, no sloth or torpor, and no doubt[2]. This means that consciousness is unconstrained by cultural causes and conditions and functions naturally in its pure form.

And the good news is that pure consciousness is marked by Oneness, Interbeing and thus compassion. Where there is no self there is also no other – there is only the oneness which is everything. Everything is connected to everything else. Such at least is the testimony of the wise people from many times and places[3]. It is also the testimony of people gifted with the power of one-pointed concentration (eg top ranking scientists, athletes, creative artists) and even of ordinary housekeepers putting out the rubbish.

How might we win freedom from the self and its emotions?

The simple answer is by being aware of what is going on in the mind[4].  There are two sides to this.

On the one hand you can notice what goes on already  in your life – those fleeting moments or peace and ease while you mindfully put out the rubbish or get absorbed in a beautiful sunrise. Notice, value and label such moments and they will grow.

On the other hand you can develop a formal meditation practice[5]. This involves making time to lay down your burdens and  to sit in stillness. There are various 'schools' of meditation. The  most cut back version comes from Dogen Zenji (1200-1253[6]) – "just sit" – everything follows from that – you learn to "drop off body and mind".

The options can run in parallel and feed each other– the task is to tame and train the mind[7]. When you have detoxified your own mind then you will inevitably be a force for true peace in the world.  Novel forms of engagement and social activism appear[8]. With practice many things are possible.

 

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[1] William Wordsworth http://www.bartleby.com/100/337.108.html

[2] The five  hindrances to meditation as listed by the Buddha are – craving, aversion, anxiety and restlessness, sloth and torpor, and doubt. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel026.html

[3] See Aldous Huxley (1945) the Perennial Philosophy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perennial_Philosophy

[4] The practice is called Mindfulness (Vipassana) – for an easy intro  see http://www.vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_english.php

[5] Jon Kabat-Zinn offers instruction in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) suited to people of Western cultures. This has been taken up by mainstream medicine. http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/whatMBSR.php

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogen_Zenji

[7] http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/training.htm

[8] Thich Nhat Hahn, the Vietnamese Zen Master, has practiced and written extensively about Engaged Buddhism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh and poignantly at http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/engaged_buddhism.htm 

Belief without the middle men - second version

Belief without the middle men

 George Clark, 29 Nov 2007

We are social animals and thus ruled by 'shoulds' and 'oughts'. There are various options for the source of these. Some of the possibilities (mainly relatively recent euro-american) are briefly outlined in what follows. This leads to a broad mapping of future possibilities which may be with or without a God.

 

1	God è	Pope è	King è	Elite è	People	Catholicism
2			King è	Elite è	People	Divine Right of Kings
3				Elite è	People	Protestantism with an elect
4					People	People's Protestantism
5					çPeople	Mysticism
6	No God				People	Anarchy
7				Elite è	People	Humanism
8			Leader è	Elite è	People	Tyranny
9		UN è	Leader è	Elite è	People	World Government

 

The God options (1-5) - our Father who art in Heaven

1. Catholicism

God tells the Pope (and his priests) who tells the King (and his nobles) who tells the people what the Bible says (and therefore what God's intentions are). The abuses to which such a system lends itself (eg the selling of indulgences)  triggered the Protestant Revolution.

2. Divine Right of Kings

After the Protestant Revolution (and especially after Henry VIII's spilt with Rome in 1534) the Pope was often cut out of the picture. The king and his archbishops, bishops and priests tell the people what the Bible says (and therefore what God's intentions are). Trying to convince people led to much burning at the stake and blood on the streets.

3. Protestantism with an elect.

In 1649 Cromwell executed the King and although the Royalty made it back it was with greatly reduced powers. The state was now run by society's elite. The Bible was available in the languages of the common people but the elect (there were still church officials!) had a large say in its interpretation. Also in 1649 the Levellers were butchered for objecting to this new form of authority. These days in the US we have the rise of the evangelical conservatives.

4. People's Protestantism

Cut out all middle men and make people aware that, through the Bible, they have a personal hotline to God. There have always been freethinkers and non-conformists amongst the faithful. Gentle people like the Quakers, Mormons and Mennonites. These days in the US we have the rise of the evangelical conservatives.

5. Mysticism

Cut out all middle men and even the Bible. Encourage people to be mindful and to meditate such that they experience the indivisible Oneness and thus the peace that passes all understanding. This allows an embrace of the perennial philosophy which has existed in all times and all places. This is arguably the best option if we are to give peace a chance. The mind sciences begin to point to exciting new possibilities in this area.

The no-God Options (6-9) – power to the people

6. Anarchy

Cut out the middle men, the holy books and all thought of a divine force that intervenes. Subsidiarity, devolution and decentralisation put power back in the hands of the people such that they manage their own affairs at the local level. Civil Society has a greater say in what goes on especially through community based organisations. This free market line of thinking is popular in mainstream development rhetoric at the moment.

7. Humanism

This is similar to anarchy except that there is a vanguard of the intellectual and political elite to make sure that the people make the 'right' decisions. 'Reason' must prevail and policy must be evidence based. Much use is made of independent consultants and technical experts.

8. Tyranny

We are social animals and thus might be programmed to be  led by leaders. In the old days there were kings; these days we have charismatic leaders whose ideas may be more or less benevolent.  Many feel that they have been elected to make decisions on behalf of the people (the lumpen proletariat).

9. World Government

Some national leaders go overboard and need to be held in check. An evolved UN system might come to serve this purpose. There is also a need to deal with transnational issues such as corporate power and various environmental problems. This begs the question of who supervises the supervisors.

Notes:

Stages 1 to 3 allow hierarchies of shepherds which of course suggest that people are servile sheep who are dependent and childlike rather than mature and independent.

Stages 1 to 4 involve top down patriarchy and the belief that God is 'other'.

Stage 5 embraces the possibility of experiencing the Unitive state and thus of transpersonal interdependence and interbeing. These have neural correlates.

Stages 6 to 9 are based on 'reason' rather than on divinity. The ultimate authority is thus said to be the people – especially if they are 'well informed' (hegemonised) by the intellectuals, the politicians and the business community.

Stage 6 sees the w ithering away of all external authority other than that of your small, native community. This is an ideal of both Protestants and Marxists. It is perhaps unrealisable in its pure form but might enlighten thinking about decentralisation.

Stage 7 – "Be reasonable, do it my way". Hegemony and elegant power – brainwashing.

Stage 8 – "Do it my way, or else". Brute Force and totalitarianism.

The Future?

It would be nice if, in the future, there was less violence, more social justice and better stewarding of the environment. Much thought is needed to figure how this might come about. There is a continuum of options –

Predetermined, blueprint approach	A middle way	Organic, emergent approach
Top down		Bottom up
a global, super elite (democratically selected?) figures things out and causes the masses to go along with their plans (sacred and/or secular?)		the masses are empowered to change how they themselves think and feel about the purpose in life and the best way to live (sacred and/or secular?)

 

Whichever option is chosen there is the question of 'agency'. Who acts and for what reason? How might the people and their elites develop appropriate 'shoulds' and 'oughts'?