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Issue 00492 |
October 27 - November 2, 2007 |
issn 0856 - 9135 |
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Meditation |
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Resolving the ‘Riddle of Man’ From Martin LeFevre in California As I see it, human consciousness is an unexplained contradiction in the infinitely dynamic order of the universe. Consciousness is not ‘evolving,’ and things are going from bad to worse. Is there an understanding of the relationship between humankind and the universe that offers genuine hope? Blurring the distinction between human consciousness and the natural order just makes the human mind more confused. Given that consciousness is not evolving, but rather growing more and more disordered, there is a great urgency to understand consciousness and radically change. But can we really find out what humankind’s place in the universe is? If one believes the universe is a completely random interaction of energy and matter, then cosmic intelligence beyond thought (without implying any kind of personal God) is just an invention and illusion of the human mind. Religious beliefs previously served to give meaning to the many, while enabling the few to have control. But belief systems in recent decades have become increasingly reactionary, whether in the Judeo-Christian or Islamic worlds. Nevertheless, there is an experiencing of something ineffable, having nothing to do with belief. With the negation and quieting of thought, there is an experiencing of the living order, mystery, and sacredness that permeates the cosmos. But as it is, human consciousness is a great contradiction and conundrum. It used to be called ‘the riddle of man.’ This mystery cannot be resolved by science, or by mushy appeals to the ‘oneness of our deeper selves.’ Evolution is working out something significant in human consciousness. (Not that Earth, much less 'man,' are the center of the universe; just that consciousness is obviously coming to a head here, apocalyptic theology notwithstanding.) No other life form on Earth operates as we humans do using thought. And symbolic thought is generating unsustainable levels of fragmentation and disorder on this planet. The central question to my mind then is: How did our extraordinarily powerful human brain, dominated by conflict-ridden 'higher thought,' evolve from the infinitely dynamic order and wholeness of the universe? Given the right conditions and enough time, evolution, in its random way, apparently produces brains capable of symbolic thought. That doesn’t imply a hierarchy of dominion, much less ‘man being created in the image of God,’ but rather an enigma, and growing crisis for the species in which conscious thought evolves. Though it's an incredibly powerful adaptation, symbolic thought rests on a principle that is the antithesis of the wholeness and order of the universe. Simply put, whereas the universe operates in seamless unity, thought separates things. That is its essential nature and function. But not understanding the mechanism of thought within us, we have fragmented the earth to the breaking point, Al Gore’s traveling road show of global warming notwithstanding. Thus on one hand, the ability to mentally and physically remove ‘things’ from the environment has given the human species immense powers of manipulation and control over our environment, even down to the molecular level now. On the other hand, using thought without insight into its nature and limitations is fragmenting the earth, cultures, and people all to hell. Consciousness as we usually know it is a growing momentum of useful knowledge and useless accretion. Without insight, the net result is increasing division, conflict, and fragmentation. In other words, the accumulation in consciousness of useless content (for example, hurts and hate on the individual level, ethnic division and nationalism on the collective level) is the source of darkness and evil in the world. Despite the growth in scientific knowledge, human consciousness is not, essentially, an ascending spiral of progress, but a descending spiral of chaos. Thought-based consciousness has reached a point where the fragmentation it is generating threatens the very viability of the Earth’s ecosystems. There have been other opportunities to change our basic direction throughout history (Jesus embodied one of them), but how many chances does a sentient species have to change course? The great paradox is that symbolic thought is both a necessary precondition for conscious, silent awareness of the Intelligence that permeates and transcends the universe, and the greatest impediment to that awareness. Therefore self-knowing has become the indispensable requirement for the survival of our species.
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