From a site visitor: “When Christians say that an inanimate object, such as a rock, has no soul, or you say consciousness manifests itself in anything with a nervous system, we are limiting the Absolute or God to only what we can understand—right?”
F.: Your question calls for numerous pointers to clarify several misunderstandings. To begin, do not confuse (a) the most basic understanding regarding this universe with (b) the teachings about the current cyclings of consciousness that happen via plants and the spaces called “humans.” The cyclings via plants have been happening only in the most recent history of this 14.5 billion-year-old universe. (Do not be misled by religious groups using a table dreamed up by a man named Bishop. He used the “begats” to calculate that the creation of this universe happened around 3:30 in the afternoon on October 27, 4004 B.C. How did the universe make it to October 27th before it was even created? Were the first nine+ months the “in the beginning there was darkness”-gestation period? Don’t even ask. Never waste energy trying to fit a square-peg-of-nonsense into a round-hole-of-reason.)
One jnani said decades ago that science would one day catch up with the ancients’ understanding and prove that the teachings are fact. Such has happened. Do not be confused: the facts are that (1) awareness/consciousness is all there is and (2) awareness has been functioning on this planet for billions of years, and that continued for billions of years (3) before the cyclings of consciousness via plants began. (Plants evolved on earth only about 700 million years ago, though fungi may have been around for 400 million years prior to that.)
So before clarifying the manner in which consciousness currently cycles, hold onto the basic understanding: consciousness is all there is. Here’s the explanation from the editor’s interview in The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders
F.: Your question calls for numerous pointers to clarify several misunderstandings. To begin, do not confuse (a) the most basic understanding regarding this universe with (b) the teachings about the current cyclings of consciousness that happen via plants and the spaces called “humans.” The cyclings via plants have been happening only in the most recent history of this 14.5 billion-year-old universe. (Do not be misled by religious groups using a table dreamed up by a man named Bishop. He used the “begats” to calculate that the creation of this universe happened around 3:30 in the afternoon on October 27, 4004 B.C. How did the universe make it to October 27th before it was even created? Were the first nine+ months the “in the beginning there was darkness”-gestation period? Don’t even ask. Never waste energy trying to fit a square-peg-of-nonsense into a round-hole-of-reason.)
One jnani said decades ago that science would one day catch up with the ancients’ understanding and prove that the teachings are fact. Such has happened. Do not be confused: the facts are that (1) awareness/consciousness is all there is and (2) awareness has been functioning on this planet for billions of years, and that continued for billions of years (3) before the cyclings of consciousness via plants began. (Plants evolved on earth only about 700 million years ago, though fungi may have been around for 400 million years prior to that.)
So before clarifying the manner in which consciousness currently cycles, hold onto the basic understanding: consciousness is all there is. Here’s the explanation from the editor’s interview in The Twice-Stolen Necklace Murders
[www.floydhenderson.com/twicestolen.htm ]:
Editor: I know that modern science is confirming this teaching, as in the new revelations regarding the ‘Field of Consciousness.’ But is this understanding compatible with the newest teachings in physics, such as the ‘strings theory’?
Editor: I know that modern science is confirming this teaching, as in the new revelations regarding the ‘Field of Consciousness.’ But is this understanding compatible with the newest teachings in physics, such as the ‘strings theory’?
Response: Absolutely. Since strings are the lowest common denominator of EVERYTHING, smaller than atoms, smaller than electrons, smaller than the mass of protons and neutrons at the core of electrons, then the understanding of the science of strings shows us that the only thing which makes you appear to be different from me—or from a piano, or from a tree—is the vibrational pattern of the strings. And since the strings are simply energy in movement, and since the strings know automatically what to do when they are manifested in a human as opposed to in a piano as opposed to in a tree, then the teaching of strings proves this Understanding, scientifically. We are consciousness-energy. We are all THAT, all the same, all one, with only appearances leading us to believe we are separate or different. We are not. Physics now proves that we are THAT, that We Are All One. We ARE the strings, so to speak. Use whatever name you choose to refer to that one ‘thing’ from which all is composed when manifest. More recently, the strings theory had been modified by some who now claim that the ‘sparticle’ might be even more basic than the string. No matter. What is Real is whatever that most basic, singular, non-dual ‘thing’ is, period. Now call That what you want, the truth is that Easterners have known for about 40,000 years that everything in the universe that is manifested or not is nothing more nor less than a manifestation or not-manifestation of That, of the one True That-ness. Call it ‘strings’ or ‘That’ or ‘sparticle’ or ‘energy with consciousness.’ That is All, and That is All there Is.
Never forget that everything you see or that you think you see which is on this planet can be traced back to ONE single atom. Never lose sight of the original unicity. [See the 7 August 2005 posting for more.] Here’s the way that Hans Moravec explained it in 1998:
"Everything on this planet and in this universe came from one atom originally. Perhaps the most unsettling implication of this train of thought is that anything can be interpreted as possessing any abstract property, including consciousness and intelligence. Given the right playbook, the thermal jostling of the atoms in a rock can be seen as the operation of a complex, self-aware mind."
More will be offered about the manifestation of consciousness via plants (which is, as noted, a fairly recent occurrence on planet earth) but it is far more significant as far as Advaitan pointers are concerned that you first grasp the basic fact: consciousness is all there is, and that truth applies equally to all that Is—to rocks as well as to a space called a “human” that is currently walking about on the earth. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]
TOMORROW: The Creation of This Universe (One of Countless Universes) and the Infinite Aspect of Consciousness
