LET THERE BE LIGHT

REFLECTIONS OF LIGHT ON THE JOURNEY

Edward R. Close

In the early evening of September 17, 1960, I made my way up the steep winding switchbacks of Mount Washington Drive, just north of downtown Los Angeles, much as I had many times before. Approaching the summit of this outlier of the Hollywood Hills, I turned right onto San Rafael Avenue just below the southwest corner of the beautiful, well-tended grounds of the International Headquarters of Self-Realization Fellowship. I was on my way there that particular evening for my initiation into the practice of Kriya Yoga. I found a place to park, and as I walked through the entrance gate of the SRF grounds and along the driveway beside the print shop toward the main building, I breathed in the subtle aroma of gardenias that were blooming somewhere nearby. I stopped and took a deep breath of the sweet fragrance. When I exhaled and relaxed, I felt the deep peace that pervades these hallowed grounds where saints have trod, filling my soul.

 

Kriya Yoga is an ancient scientific method designed to speed up the natural expansion of individualized consciousness and help wandering lost souls to reunite with the eternal reality of the Infinite Source. The gradual reuniting of your soul with the Infinite is accelerated when you choose to consciously focus on the life-sustaining energies that operate involuntarily in the respiratory and circulatory systems of your body. The practice of Kriya synchronizes these energies with the opposing energies flowing in the spine, and the outward flow of energy is slowed to the point of suspension, allowing the spiritual Light of Primary Consciousness to become directly perceptible in the spiritual eye. Over the past 64 years, I’ve found that the daily practice of the Kriya techniques that I began to learn that evening so long ago, have proved to be very practical, producing positive results that have greatly improved the quality of my life.

 

The initiation was being conducted that autumn evening by Sri Dayamata, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, who was the last of a revered lineage of Spiritual teachers originating in India. At the time of my initiation, Daya-ma, as we affectionately called her, had been President of SRF for five years, and I was living in Topanga Canyon, northwest of LA. I had been allowed to attend evening meditations with the monks on Mount Washington while I was studying a series of lessons that were written by Yogananda just before he entered Maha Samadhi, his final conscious exit from the physical world in 1952. Because I had been allowed to meditate and study with some of the most advanced kriya yogis alive at that time, I was able to finish the one-year preparatory course in just four months. I had passed the final exam, and I was prepared to be initiated that evening.

 

At the time, I didn’t fully understand what an honor it was to be accepted and initiated into this advanced spiritual practice by Sri Dayamata, the way I was. It wasn’t until years later that I realized that I had been involved in the effort to bring the science of Kriya Yoga into the modern world for a long time, especially during one of my previous lives in India and Tibet. There were indications of the importance of this initiation for me, and some of the other events in my life, That were accompanied by phenomenal bursts of spiritual light. The light I am talking about is not just the electromagnetic vibrations that enable us to see with our physical eyes, it is the total brilliance of the fundamental essence of light that emanates from the spiritual domain.

 

At one point in the ceremony, very suddenly, a fiery three-dimensional ball of light appeared, spinning only a few inches in front of my forehead, and I could see it with my eyes open or closed! I had never seen anything like this before, and I have not seen anything quite like it since. I accepted it as validation that this was the right spiritual path for me, but I didn’t know what it actually was. About ten years later, I described the initiation light that I experienced to one of the monks who was a direct disciple of Yogananda, and asked him what he thought it was, and why had it appeared to me? He said he thought it was an unusual blessing given to me by God through Dayamata, and that because I was a scientist, she knew that even a glimpse of the light emanating from the crown chakra would encourage me to embark on a study the spiritual eye and the source of spiritual light. Of course, she was right!

 

As I look back on my life of nearly ninety years now, I realize that the unusual spiritual light phenomena that I saw during many of the most important events of my life, including the spinning ball of light that I saw during my Kriya initiation, were glimpses of a much greater reality, perceived through the functioning of the spiritual eye, a feature of human consciousness sometimes called the “third eye”. Details about what the “third eye” is and how it functions is beyond the scope of this discussion, and I am constrained from discussing the details of the kriya initiation and the techniques taught by the SRF lineage of spiritual masters by policies that I agreed to long ago. It is still necessary to keep these policies in place to safeguard against the ego-based misuse of the consciousness-altering techniques of kriya. But I want to touch upon the nature of the eternal light of spirit and attempt to explain how it relates to physical light, the expansion of consciousness, and the all-important evolution of the human soul.

 

Individual realization of the true nature of reality is called enlightenment for a reason: The fabric of reality is light. Ultimate enlightenment is the realization that we are eternal beings of light, capable of expanding and contracting our bubbles of consciousness from one quantum to infinity. But when we choose to identify ourselves with physical bodies to experience physical pleasure and pain, we limit our growth and awareness to the space-time domain existing where the finite, quantized reality of the physical universe and the infinitely continuous multi-dimensional domain of spirit meet. Individual consciousness, as we know it, is a direct result of this intimate contact of the finite with the infinite. It is as if we have our feet planted in two different boats, each moving on the waters of existence at different rates of speed, in different directions. Unless we realize that we are beings of light, capable of expanding beyond space and time, then, at critical junctures, we must endure great pain and suffering as we are forced to choose just one of one of the two boats.

 

That evening in the autumn of 1960, I saw the pure light emanating from the multi-dimensional domain of Spirit for the first time in this life, and it certainly encouraged me to get to work on expanding my consciousness. And I have since come to realize that the narrow band of electromagnetic energy that we perceive shining through the limited space and time of the physical world, is only a faint reflection of the awesomely beautiful spiritual light that illuminates the spiritual domain of the soul.

 

Every life in the physical world provides us with opportunities to learn and grow spiritually, i.e., to become more and more enlightened. So, in case someone might be interested, I will attempt to summarize what I have learned as a result of using the kriya consciousness expanding techniques for 64 years, starting with some astoundingly profound truths. But first, I must clarify what makes a truth profound, as opposed to a less important, trivial truth. Danish physicist Niels Bohr explained this distinction when he said: “The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false, while the opposite of a profound truth is also true.” You may find this statement somewhat confusing, but it provides a way to distinguish between a profound truth and a trivial truth. Here are some important examples:

 

1.   There is no such thing as nothing.  This is a profound truth arising from the fact that there is something real that does exist. The undeniable truth that ‘something exists’ implies that the exact opposite statement, i.e.: ‘nothing does not exist’ is also true.

 

2.   A state of absolute nothingness never existed and will never exist. Profound truth #1 and its opposite, coupled with the law of conservation of mass and energy, verified by every scientific experiment ever performed, allows us to definitively answer the question that the German polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz called the first and most important question that science should ask: Why is there something rather than nothing? The profound truth that a state in which something presently exists, coupled with the universal law of the conservation of matter and energy implies that ‘a state of nothingness’ can never have existed, cannot exist now, and will never exist in the future. Thus, the popular big bang theory of the origin of the universe as an explosion of something from nothing, is pure science fiction. Something has always existed.

 

3.   Reality is the sum total of everything that has ever existed, exists now, and will ever exist. This profound truth is implied by profound truth #2 with the realization that space-time has no existence of its own.

 

These three profound truths verify Planck’s breakthrough realization that he described with the following statements: “There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind, and this mind is the matrix of all matter.” As we shall see, Planck’s realization leads to a picture of reality very different from the materialistic belief of mainstream science.

 

It’s very important to note that Albert Einstein agreed with his good friend and colleague, Max Planck. Einstein said: “Concerning matter, we've been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. Matter is spirit reduced to a point of visibility; there is no matter.”

 

Einstein added to Planck’s enlightenment regarding the fundamental variables of physics by pointing out that proof of general relativity implies that the assumption that space is a uniformly existing background, in which all things exist, was also wrong. In June 1952, less than three years before his death in April 1855, in a special appendix to his popular book titled Relativity, the Special and the general Theory, a Clear Explanation that Anyone Can Understand, He made this point, stating that “Physical objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially extended. In this way, the concept of ‘empty space’ loses its meaning, and space can claim no existence of its own.”

 

From 1981 until 1986, while living and working in the Middle East, I had time between jobs to do some serious thinking about what these bombshell statements made by Planck and Einstein really meant. I reasoned that if the common assumptions about the most basic variables of our scientific model of physical reality, i.e., matter, energy, space, and time, that seemed so obvious were wrong, then our model of the nature of reality, being based on those assumptions was also wrong.

 

If Planck and Einstein were right, the concept of matter measured in units of mass mathematically equivalent to a huge number of units of energy determined by the equation E = mc², with the concept of energy measured in units defined by the amount of force required to move the mass of an electron through a unit of space in a unit of time, and all four variables are dependent upon the “existence of a conscious and intelligent mind”, then a new calculus, a new mathematical logic that includes a unitary measure of consciousness was needed. So, I began working to adapt G. Spencer Brown’s primary calculus of mathematical logic, as defined in his book Laws of Form, for application to, and analysis of the interface of consciousness with relativistic, quantized physical reality. No small task.

 

I realized that to create an internally consistent quantum calculus designed to deal with the infinite continuity of mind interacting with the finite quantized nature of physical reality in a mathematically and logically consistent manner, I had to define a basic quantum equivalence unit for all of the fundamental units of measurement. To avoid the inconsistency of the basic unit of consciousness turning out to be mathematically incommensurable with the basic units of mass, energy, space, and time, the basic quantum equivalence unit had to be based on the mass or equivalent energy and the volume of the smallest sub-atomic entity, which happens to be the free electron. To emphasize the unit’s dimensionality, I called this basic unit of the calculus the triadic rotational unit of equivalence (TRUE).

 

At this point, an important question arises: What if mind and matter are intrinsically incommensurable? If so, consciousness can’t be quantized in any logically consistent way. The obvious way around this conundrum is: If physical reality reflects the logical structure of Primary Consciousness, it will be internally consistent only if the logic of Primary Consciousness is internally consistent. The fact that we exist in a complex, highly structured physical universe that appears to conform to a set of cause-and-effect laws that we are able to discover, and are in the process of discovering, suggests that the logical structure of Primary Consciousness is internally consistent. The bottom line is that the way forward is to assume that Primary Consciousness and its reflection in physical reality are logically consistent and proceed to define the most basic quantum equivalence unit by setting both the mass-energy equivalence and volume of the free electron to unity and see what happens. In other words, the proof is in the pudding!  

 

When I applied the electron-based quantum calculus to the analysis of the logical structure of the most stable object in the universe, the proton, the quantized measure of organization linking the conscious intelligent mind with physical reality emerged as the third form of the essence of reality with no intrinsic mass or energy. We, Dr. Vernon Neppe and I, chose to represent this new variable with Gimel, the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

 

Converting the total mass and energy of the proton to TRUE units of energy, we found that without the presence of a specific number of mass-less, energy-less units of Gimel contributing to the total volume and angular momentum of the proton, it would not be stable. Including the units of mass-less Gimel allowed us to calculate the exact mass and volume of the stable hydrogen atom in TRUE units. The addition of units of Gimel in subatomic structure also allowed us to calculate the exact mass and volume of the neutron and explain how and why neutrons are formed in the more complex atoms of the periodic table. The success of this preliminary application of the new calculus was encouraging.

 

We found that every stable atom contains the specific number of TRUE units of Gimel that are needed to make it geometrically symmetric and stable. We were not surprised to find that the elements and compounds that have the most Gimel are the elements that support intelligent forms of life. Happily, the existence of Gimel also explains many, if not all of the paradoxical puzzles and the “weirdness” of quantum physics that physicists like to talk about. With dozens of successful resolutions of the logical paradoxes of particle physics and some predictions verified experimentally, we consider the theory we called the Triadic Dimensional Vortical Paradigm (TDVP) no longer hypothetical, and the original assumption of a logically consistent electron-based quantum equivalence unit has been verified.

 

The presence of volumetric quantum equivalence units (TRUE) of Gimel in atomic structure turns out to be mathematically related to the wave lengths and frequencies of light released by radioactive decay. The exact volume of TRUE units of the orbital electrons and Gimel existing in each energy shell explains the complex electron energy-shell geometry of atom structure. I want to use the rest of this discussion to focus on the knowledge of this intimate relationship of Gimel to consciousness and light at the quantum level because I  believe that a deeper understanding of this relationship can help us to understand how meditation techniques like Kriya can accelerate the growth of mental and spiritual virtue and affect positive results in the physical world that could very well save human civilization from self-destruction and extinction on this planet.

 

The discovery of Gimel and its role as the measurable organizer of subatomic structure, provides us with a new understanding that allows us to focus on ways that we can consciously connect with the infinite continuity of Primary Consciousness while occupying finite physical bodies. Visualizing the geometry of progressive unitary projection into hyperspace provides us with a way to project our individualized consciousness from the finite, quantized world of physical existence into the infinitely continuous domain of Spirit. This is possible only if the most basic phenomena that make up all aspects of reality, including mass, energy, gimel, and consciousness, is light.

 

The images of the reality that we are aware of through our senses, we conceptualize in our minds as objects interacting in space and time according to the logic and intent of Primary Consciousness, and we call our descriptions of the elements of that primary logic that we have been able to discover and formalize in the language of mathematics, the laws of nature. I am forever grateful for the realizations of the Spiritual Masters of all times and for the insights of Einstein, Planck, and Bohr, that led to the discovery of Gimel, the link between mind and matter, between the finite and the infinite, because otherwise, most of us alive on this planet today would only be able to imagine what it might be like to experience the perfection from which the divine light that forms all of reality radiates.

 

As conscious beings, we can never be satisfied with the forms that manifest at the low vibratory energy levels available to us as finite physical beings evolving toward the perfection of the infinite, timeless, all-pervasive expanding form of Primary Consciousness that we so imperfectly reflect. What we see and think of as solid matter and tangible energy in the form of objects and living beings in the dimensions of space and time, are really only incomplete images of perfect forms, vibrating and flickering like faint reflections of the divine light dancing in the multi-dimensional domain of Primary Consciousness.

 

Individual conscious beings in the physical universe are animated and motivated by an innate desire to live, feel, and experience progressively greater dimensional domains of reality. This innate desire for more awareness originates in the spiritual nature of the substrate of reality coming out of Primary Consciousness, and it drives the long-term physical, mental, and spiritual evolution of cosmological reality. Understanding this intellectually is the first, and unfortunately, the easiest step toward conscious positive expansion of individualized consciousness. The concrete visualization of a path from intellectual understanding to spiritual enlightenment is possible in one lifetime for any human being alive on this planet, but the road from imagination to actualization is very difficult. Thinking about enlightenment and actually achieving it are two very different things.

 

Fortunately, help is available from a few historical figures who have achieved ultimate enlightenment and in the teachings of others who have achieved high levels of enlightenment beyond that available to the average person. You will be able to find the enlightened souls, whether they are in physical form or not, when your urgent need to know the true nature of reality becomes greater than your desire for physical pleasure. If you seek them in earnest, and you develop the ability to see the divine light of the spiritual eye, then you will know them by the light that shines within them and by the fruits of their actions.

 

As we descended from the last highest age of mental and spiritual virtue into the dark age that reached the lowest point around 500 A.D., techniques for consciousness expansion were still being taught by a few individuals who reached the ultimate enlightenment as spiritual masters in previous lives. Small groups developed in the presence of these special beings to enjoy the loving fellowship they engendered, but when they were gone, the groups they established soon devolved into social organizations that we now call religions, as their teachings were subverted by political opportunists incapable of understanding the actual meaning and intent of the teachings, into ways and means to control people.

 

Fortunately, the essence of the knowledge and technologies developed during previous ages of enlightenment are stored in stone structures around the world both by technological means and natural processes. Such storage comprises the planet’s memory and preserves information that might have otherwise disappeared along with most of the evidence of the last post-materialist civilizations, destroyed by natural weathering, cataclysmic volcanic eruptions, and platonic subduction. We should also be thankful that practical methods of consciousness expansion like the kriya techniques mentioned here have been preserved by a few advanced souls reincarnated for the specific purpose of helping humanity survive. Thankfully, the knowledge and wisdom needed for spiritual evolution is never completely lost. But, because of the great disparity between the slow progress of cosmic time and the brief endurance of human life, the efforts of individual lives may seem tragically futile unless effective consciousness-expanding spiritual techniques like kriya are known and practiced diligently.

 

Research and application of the mathematical logic of the quantum calculus has proved that the structures of energy and mass that comprise physical reality are stable only because of the existence of Gimel, and total mass as energy and Gimel are conserved in every experiment and observable natural process. Therefore, Gimel and the consciousness its existence implies have always existed and will always continue to exist, even if human beings foolishly destroy themselves during the dark ages of mechanistic materialism.

 

Primary Consciousness is expanding into and back out of the infinity of itself in hyper-dimensional reality, but the individualized bubbles of consciousness that we possess as human beings in the four dimensions of space-time, are capable of expanding and contracting. This is what makes practices like the kriya techniques so useful. To understand how and why an energy focusing technique like kriya can be very practical and effective as a spiritual practice, it is helpful to think of reality, from electrons to atoms, from molecules to living cells, from plants and animals to human beings, and everything else that exists in the universe, as consisting of light.

 

By simply beginning to concentrate on the sensations of your breath flowing in and out of your lung as light, you can gradually increase your awareness of other deeper, more subtle movements of energy in your body that are associated with consciousness, and become aware of the movement of consciousness itself, as light.

 

There are some venerable traditions hidden within the major religions of this world, discounted by modern science as arcane and mysterious at best, that are remnants of the original teachings of fully realized spiritual masters from previous cycles of enlightenment. These venerable spiritual traditions include Sufism in Islam, Tibetan Yoga, Zen Buddhism, Jewish and Christian Mysticism, Sikhism, Jainism, various forms of Raja Yoga in Hinduism, and other cultural traditions now forgotten and/or hidden in the illusions of space-time and matter. All of these traditions contain some form of concentration on the spiritual light of the soul, similar to the kriya techniques. For example, Sufi Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan advises the advanced seeker to “fashion a body of light and become a being of light”.

 

Everything is ultimately made of some form of light, and every conscious entity has a radiant aura of light associated with its existence. Subtle spiritual bodies exist, whether you can see them or not. But, if you see no light within yourself, don’t be discouraged. With some determination and effort, you may be able to tap into the spiritual structures manifested by some of the various traditions mentioned above. Jesus, as a Rabbi teaching his followers how to pray and how to live, is quoted in the Book of Matthew saying, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” I can attest to the truth of this, having experienced it personally on occasion while focusing on the light of the spiritual eye.

 

Based on experiences with the higher-dimensional phenomena of spiritual light like the one I’ve discussed here, I conclude that physical vision is a dim reflection of spiritual vision, and I believe that “if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” was a metaphor that an enlightened man named Jesus used to direct spiritual seekers to turn their attention to the spiritual reality within. If we consciously withdraw the energy normally wasted on distractions and focus it on the spiritual eye and the light existing within, then we can allow the whole spectrum of the light of Primary Consciousness to fill our minds and bodies, and God’s healing Love will begin to manifest in our lives.

ERC 8/23/2024

TO BELIEVE OR NOT TO BELIEVE

 

THE SECOND COMING

In my last post I focused on the importance of making the right choice between good and evil. In this post I want to talk about why it is so difficult to sort out good from evil and know what to believe and what actions to take. I will focus on one specific very extraordinary belief of the Christian and Muslim religions: That is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. But first, let’s look at what we mean by belief. Every belief system, whether it is thought of as science, philosophy, or religion, is a conceptual model based on a set of a priori assumptions that must be accepted without proof, and the most basic of the assumptions of any model is almost always in some way fantastic beyond belief when taken by itself alone! In this sense, every belief system is, in effect, a religion for those who believe in it.

You may think that modern science is an exception to this, but it is not. Experimental science is based on the observation, measurement, and interpretation of empirical data. But the interpretation of observations and experimental data depends on the acceptance of certain unprovable assumptions. At the bottom of the current mainstream scientific belief system we find the unprovable metaphysical assumption of atheistic materialism.

Most scientists have accepted the assumption that everything can be explained in terms of materialism, and that thus there is no need to suppose that there might be a conscious intelligence behind the existence we experience. These assumptions are materialistic and atheistic, pure and simple. That’s why we hear mainstream scientists and students these days saying things like: “I am a scientist, so of course I’m an atheist!”

Scientific atheistic materialism leads to logical contradictions that cannot be resolved within the belief system that created them.  The Standard Model of particle physics and the Big Bang Theory, the major parts of current scientific materialism, both exhibit such internal contradictions. Assuming that everything is made up of nothing but particles and physical forces leads to contradictions like massless and dimensionless particles. And assuming that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of physical evolution, rather than a primary aspect of reality, leads to the belief that a violent explosion could create something as exquisite as a butterfly or a rose!

Those who believe that materialistic science holds the answers to all questions, are actually idol worshipers and scientism is their religion. The unprovable assumptions of particle physics and the big bang theory are their litany, and the celebrated physicalist scientists of mainstream science are their priests.  All finite belief systems fall short of the transcendental elegance of Reality – i.e., the Glory of God! With this understanding that all belief systems are based on miraculous assumptions, let’s turn to one of the miraculous ideas underlying Christianity: The Second Coming.

There are more than 20 Biblical verses mentioning the Second Coming, and there have been at least 50 publicized  predictions since the time of Jesus, made by as many different individuals, including some well-known people like Emanuel Swedenborg, Joseph Smith of the Mormon Church of Latter-day Saints, brilliant Educator Rudolph Steiner, Edgar Cayce the Sleeping Prophet, and Alice Baily of the Theosophical Society. A spectacular reappearance of Jesus of Nazareth, has been predicted for a number of specific dates, ranging from 500 to 2057 AD. But most of these predictions have been wrong. Only a few of them are yet to be determined. For example:

In 1946, Alice A. Baily, a major leader of the Theosophical Society, predicted the return of Christ sometime after 2025.

Some Christians believe that the second coming will be preceded by a “rapture” and a seven-year “tribulation” period  This view was popularized as “Unsealed World News” by the Site Unsealed.org. In 2016, they predicted that this seven-year tribulation would begin with the total solar eclipse in America in August 2017, and end with a similar solar eclipse in 2024.

In theoretical physicist Frank J. Tipler’s book The Physics of Immortality, he claims to have proved the existence of God as part of his Omega Point Theory. In a follow up book, The Physics of Christianity, published in 2007, he says the Second Coming of Christ will occur within 50 years, i.e., by 2057, and will be coincident with the technological “Singularity” defined by mathematician Vernor Vinge as a time when artificial intelligence (AI) will supersede human consciousness, triggering unpredictable changes in human civilization around the year 2030. Futurist Ray Kurxweil has also written about the singularity, and predicts it may occur around 2045.

While I find Tipler’s work, Vinge’s work, and Kurzweil’s writings interesting, the “Singularity” is a complex concept that raises a plethora of questions far beyond the scope of the present post. AI researchers and enthusiasts think that the singularity will bring about a fantastic merger of living human bodies with AI mechanisms through chemical and electronic nano-technology. But AI enthusiasts are mostly materialists, who believe that consciousness is simply an epiphenomenon of physical evolution, and they do not consider the Second Coming as a real thing.

On the other hand, my research and mathematical analysis leads me to believe that Christ Consciousness is real, and that the singularity fantasy is a Frankenstein nightmare likely end in death and destruction, much like the chemical and pharmaceutical industries “better living through chemistry” dream ended in the unleashing of waves of pain, suffering and death from all kinds of disease and dependence on synthetic drugs. So let’s look at some of Biblical references, coming from Origen of Alexandria’s translations of the original Jewish and Christian scrolls to help us understand more accurately what the people who lived during Biblical times were talking about when they used the term.

"For the Lord Himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever." – Thessalonians 4:16-17

“While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven." - Acts 1:10-11

“So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.” – Hebrews 9:28

“Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” - Matthew 24:42-44

“Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” - John 5:28-29.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.- Titus 2:11-13.

“Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.” – James 5:7

The concept of the second coming really cannot be separated from the prophecy of the Messiah (Mashiach in Hebrew) in the pre-Christian Bible, because, based on a number of specific statements made by Jesus, he declared himself, in fact, to be the fulfillment of that prophecy. Here are two scriptural verses identifying him as the Messiah:

Once when Jesus was praying with his disciples, he asked them, “Who do they say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others say that one of the prophets reincarnated”. “But what about you? he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

 Jesus admonished them not to tell this to anyone. 

“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” - Luke 9:18-21

So Jesus confirmed Peter’s answer that he was indeed the Messiah, but commanded the disciples to tell no one, because the ancient prophecies were not yet fulfilled.

Another time, when Jesus and his disciples were passing through Samaria on their way from Judea to Galilee, he encountered a Samaritan woman at a well, and after he revealed knowledge of things no ordinary person could not have known, she said to him:

“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. … a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

The woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” John 4:5-26

Except for his disciples and a small following however, the majority of the Jewish people of the time, down to the present time as well, have not thought that Jesus was the Messiah for a number of reasons, but primarily because they expected the Messiah to be a Warrior-King in the lineage of King David, who would defeat the Romans and all their enemies, rebuild King Soliman’s Temple, and rule the world from his capitol in Jerusalem. My purpose in this post is not to argue either side of this debate or present analysis of arguments about who may or may not be the Messiah, but rather to make the point that such arguments are irrelevant, based on a deeper understanding of the real nature of spiritual evolution and consciousness.

The source of most of the books of the Christian Bible is found in the writings of Origen of Alexandria, who translated most of the scrolls attributed to the disciples of Jesus from Aramaic into Greek around 200 AD. My research suggests that because of certain deletions and changes in the original works of Origen, forced upon the Catholic Church by Roman Emperor Justinian I for political reasons, statements about the second coming became confused with the End Time and Judgement Day predictions Jesus shared with his disciples.

The model of reality presented by TDVP with the application of the transcendental physics and the mathematical logic of the calculus of distinctions is a reflection of reality manifested by, of, for, and about consciousness. When the consciousness of an individual is temporarily expanded beyond the physical body and mind, as in NDEs or any other type of OBE, it glimpses the potential of Christ Consciousness. This is why Jesus called himself the “Way-shower, the truth and the light”. A glimpse of Christ Consciousness or Cosmic Consciousness is tantalizing and compelling, but real enlightenment is the direct experience of the higher states of consciousness.

In my opinion, the experience of human existence is for the sole purpose of the expansion of consciousness from the finite to the Infinite. There are many levels and types of awareness on the path to ultimate enlightenment, variously called insight, illumination, Transcendental awareness, Spiritual Ecstasy, Satori, Sabakalpa Samadhi, Nirbakalpa Samadhi, Transfiguration, Kutastha Chaitanya, Christ Consciousness, Ascension, Cosmic Consciousness, etc., … all the way to Absolute Oneness with God. Any sudden awakening to a level of awareness beyond your current state, whatever it may be, is an experience of enlightenment that may seem like the Ultimate experience. But the ultimate awareness of the holistic nature of reality is beyond the comprehension of most of us at this point in Earth’s planetary time cycle.

One Spiritual Master said it this way: “The experience of the Ultimate is not an experience at all – because the experiencer is lost. And when there is no experiencer what can be said about it? Who will say it? Who will relate the experience? … The knowledge is there, but the knower is not. That has been the problem for all mystics.” – Bagavan  Sri Rajneesh in Only One Sky.

Or, as philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein put it: “That about which we cannot speak, we must remain silent.” But volumes can be communicated in the communion of silence. This is why those who are propelled on the spiritual path seek the company of Saints. The touch of the Master can enlighten, and even touching his garment can heal.

So who was Jesus, what is Christ Consciousness, and when is the Second Coming? In my opinion, to answer these questions, one must first understand the nature of consciousness in its various forms.

I agree with physicist Erwin Schrӧdinger, who said in What is Life? his book of thoughtful essays, that consciousness has no plural. As sentient individual manifestations of consciousness experiencing reality by identifying with sense-limited organic life forms, we are all connected at the deepest level of our existence with the all-pervasive field of Primary Consciousness. Most of the current consciousness research, including mine, suggests that consciousness is a fundamental, if not primary, aspect of reality, linking all sentient beings. It is in consciousness research and the analysis of belief systems, that science and spirituality really come together to reveal what consciousness is, and how human beings relate to it.

As explained in previous posts, ultimately, Primary Consciousness is the only Reality. Its form is multi-dimensional, self-referential, and infinite, expanding out and convolving back in upon itself, like a nine-dimensional Mobius strip. It is the ultimate logical system in which all forms arise from the conscious process of the drawing of distinctions. My understanding, arrived at through the development of the Triadic Dimensional Vortical Paradigm with application of the Calculus of Dimensional Distinctions to the vortical combinations of quanta, is that in order to put the basic concepts of the existence, appearance, and Second Coming of Christ into the proper perspective, the primary assumptions of human belief systems, the concept of spiritual advancement as a species and as individuals, and the expansion of individual consciousness are important factors that must be considered.

The existence of Primary Consciousness is what makes our physical reality possible. Without the organizing action of Primary Consciousness through the non-physical effects of gimmel, there could be no physical universe to begin with, and without the continuous action of Primary Consciousness in finite form, the parity expressed by Newton’s third law and the entropic nature of matter expressed by the second law of thermodynamics, would cause any quantized physical structure, accidentally formed, to decay as radiant energy and expand to infinity and a state of maximum entropy almost immediately. So the obvious existence of conscious beings in the expanding universe and the law of conservation of mass/energy, implies the impossibility of absolute nothingness. In plain English, there is no such thing as nothing.

Consciousness, as we experience it on this planet, is evolving from the first spark of simple awareness to Cosmic Consciousness, which includes complete awareness of all things. Christ Consciousness manifests when human consciousness combines with God’s Holy Spirit to become a bridge between finite human consciousness and the Infinite. Jesus of Nazareth spoke as the embodiment of Christ Consciousness when he said: “I and the Father are One.” And “I am the Way-shower, the truth and the light” and “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The first coming of Christ Consciousness occurred just before the darkest time in the dark age of Kali Yuga, with the birth of Jesus as a fully enlightened Son of God. So what is the Second Coming? Because there is no plurality in Consciousness except for its temporary partial confinement in finite physical forms, the Second Coming happens when Christ Consciousness enters and expands the consciousness of a sentient being. This is why Jesus, his disciples, and others, like the Apostle Paul, told people who chose the spiritual path in those times, that some of them would see the Second Coming during their lifetimes.

A second coming happened when Jesus appeared to his followers after being crucified. The Bible says that Jesus returned multiple times after His death, appearing to a number of people over a forty-day period. The Bible specifically says that on Easter Sunday Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, as well as the women who came to his tomb (Mary the Mother of James, Salome, and Joanna), Peter, and two other disciples on the Emmaus road. He even invited the disciple Thomas to touch his wounds, to prove that he was real. Some of the Biblical references to Jesus coming in the clouds could be describing the way believers experience his coming into their consciousness.

Although technically it should not be called a second coming, the Bible does predict an eventual return of Christ as a benevolent King to reign over a long period of peace on Earth. When will it happen? The Bible is pretty clear that no one can predict the date, because it will only happen when so many people have been deceived by the dark forces of evil, that Divine intervention is necessary to prevent us from completely destroying ourselves. Why should we have to go through all this confusion, pain and suffering? The main theme of the Bible, and Christ’s teaching is that it is all of our own making. As images of the Infinite, like Adam and Eve in the Biblical story, we were given free will to choose our own path through the dualities of physical existence. By learning to make the right choice, we eventually progress from mere sparks of awareness to Oneness with the Infinite,

ERC-July 2, 2021

 

ENLIGHTENMENT: and THE EXPERIENCE OF ILLUMINATION

 

 

ENLIGHTENMENT: THE ANSWER FOR WHICH THERE IS NO QUESTION

Here is my declaration of the simplest Truth that I can say about myself:

I am.

Anyone saying “I am”, seems to be stating an obvious truth. Existence as a conscious being is the beginning of all cognition. If the existence of consciousness as “I am” were not a given, then nothing could be said. There would be no one to say it. It is a declarative statement, i.e. a sentence with a subject and a verb, but no object. Logically, therefore it is an answer, not a question. But to what is it an answer? It is easy to say I am, but there is no adequate question to evoke the declarative answer “I am!” Yet, to function as a human being, I must assume that I exist. I must also assume that you exist, and we will both agree, I think, that we are living human beings and that there are a great number of other human beings on this planet somewhat similar to us. but, if we accept the fact that I am, and you are, i.e. that we exist as conscious members of a group of physical beings called human, who can be identified with certain physical features and activities, then we have a logical framework within which to function and interact with the world of other people and things.  

Potential answers to the question “What or who am I?” are legion: “I am a man; I am a woman; I am a human being; I am a teacher; I am a parent, I am a politician; a used-car salesman, ; etc., etc., …” But none of these substitutions for “I am”, or “you are” really answer the important question: “What is the essence of conscious existence?” Those answers only describe what you might be busy doing, not what or who you are.  No, the statement “I am” is a declaration: It is an answer for which there is no adequate question. But we must find a way to ask it. Why? Because unless you know who or what you are, how can you possibly know how you fit into reality and what you are supposed to do? “I am” is a declarative answer, but most of us are too occupied with the ever-changing challenges of daily life, to even begin to wonder about what the proper question is.

Personally, I have busied myself over the past 84.5 years imagining that I was an infant, a boy, a salesman, a farm laborer, a student, an inventor, a musician, a woodsman, a speleologist, an amateur anthropologist, a physicist, a student, a husband and father, an actuarial mathematics technician, a computer programmer, an academic mathematician, a math teacher, a writer and poet, a professional hydrologist with the National Institute of Hydrology, a geologist, a geophysicist, a philosopher, a student of Eastern religions, a Kriyaban Yogi, a logician, a linguist, a systems analyst, a mathematical modeler, a PhD environmental engineer, a husband and father again, an environmental planner and project manager in the US, Puerto Rico,  and Saudi Arabia, a university professor and continuing education instructor, a professional mentor in math and science, a hydrogeologist for a nation-wide consulting firm, a professional engineer (PE) a staff hydrogeologist and director of business development for a large company in the Middle East, an entrepreneur, an alternative healthcare practitioner, a research scientist, a bio-psycho-physicist, a guest scientist on talk shows, and an invited speaker at conferences across the US and internationally, with varying levels of success at each of these attempts at having an object to the “I am” statement.

The point is that none of these descriptions explains what it means to say ‘I am”. If and when I stop doing every one of these activities, I’m pretty sure I will still exist. After ceasing every activity I have ever participated in, I could ask: “Am I a  _______?” filling in the blank with any of the activities listed above, and the answer would be “No”. But I will still exist. So who, or what am I? Perhaps the real question is: How do I ask this question in a way that will produce a meaningful answer?  We can agree on what it means to be a human being, but what does it mean to be conscious? Can I explain my awareness, expressed by the statement “I am”, as a result of  any one of the roles mentioned above? Maybe by being a scientist? After years of applying the scientific method, would it be possible for me to say: “I am a scientist.” and “I have discovered the theory of everything!”?

I am pretty sure that you know, or have heard of someone who has made these statements, or perhaps you have even made one or both of them yourself. But I think you will agree that these two statements, taken together, on face value, imply a lot of things that may or may not be true. But first, before we can find out whether or not they contain information that is meaningful in relation to the assertion “I am”, we must understand the language in which they are written. Unless you are familiar with the English language, without translation, any information these statements may contain is not available to you; the statements are completely meaningless for you. They are just strange marks on a piece of paper, or in this case, images created on your computer screen by electronic impulses coming from another computer. Interestingly, even our methods of communication reveal how remote our connection with the reality of being is!

Behind the images on your computer screen there is one, or a series of computer programs, composed of a series of algorithms that are translated from another language, a simple binary code, composed entirely of strings of zeroes and ones. Behind that is another computer program that interprets statements written or spoken, into the binary code; and behind that there is a conscious English-speaking being who formulated these statements as thoughts. But how do you know this is true? You may actually be communicating with a computer program.

If you are active on social media, or if you have attended online seminars, then you have communicated with robotic computer programs that are designed to interact with you in a human-like, conversational manner. The fact that computers can be programmed to appear to talk with you, like, e.g., asking you questions and following up with specific responses depending upon your answers, is why programs have been devised to determine whether a communication originates from a conscious human being or some form of artificial intelligence (AI). Such tests are called Turing Tests, after the British mathematician Alan Turing. Let’s assume that the two statements in question “I am a scientist” and “I have discovered the theory of everything” originated in the mind of a conscious being, and try to analyze them.

Both of these statements begin with “I”, the first person singular pronoun, followed by a verb that specifies a relationship between the person represented by “I”  and typically, some other person or object. The verb in the first statement is “am”, the present-tense form of the verb “to be”, indicating the current existence of a conscious being who thinks in English. I think nearly everyone agrees that conscious beings, including oneself, do exist. But how can you prove to me that you exist? You could be a holographic computer simulation, an AI android, or you might be a figment of my imagination. Can I prove that I exist, in some meaningful way? The second statement tells us that the “I” is identified as a scientist who thinks he or she has a conceptual and/or mathematical model describing “everything”. But if this scientist happens to be a mainstream physicist, then “everything” only means physical things. Even such a limited model is evidence of complex thinking, and thus implies that there is probably a conscious being who made the statement, or at least a computer program written and initiated by a conscious being.

Rene Descartes’ famous statement “I think, therefore I am” might sound like an answer to the question of what it means to be a conscious being, but the idea that thinking implies existence does not imply that thinking and existence are the same thing. If it did, then I would cease to exist when I am not thinking,  In deep sleep, e.g., with no dreams, do I cease to exist? That famous statement, however clever it may sound, raises more questions than it answers. We have to ask additional questions like: what exactly is thinking? And, if thinking implies being, then does being imply thinking? I think most of us would agree that it does not. Thinking and being cannot be equated unless inanimate objects can think. For example, most people agree that furniture exists, but, in general, we don’t believe that a table or chair can think. So, if thinking implies existence as a conscious being, as Descartes claimed, then we need to ask: exactly what is thinking, and does it imply consciousness? Descartes’ famous statement might have been based on the belief that thinking is the defining function of “I am”,  – But is it?

Thinking consists of the formation and manipulation of symbolic images that are assumed to be more or less accurate representations of certain aspects of reality that have meaning in the mind of the one who is doing the thinking, or perhaps in the logical circuitry of a computerized robot. But if a robot, or any form of AI can in fact think, at least based on this rudimentary definition of thinking, then it raises questions about the relationship of AI to consciousness, and that is something I can address, but, in fact, one has no basis to discuss how AI is related to consciousness, unless one knows what consciousness is. And the most basic experience we have of consciousness is the awareness of “I am”. So let’s return to the investigation of the statement “I am”. To do this properly, one must go beyond what is currently considered to be science. That does not mean abandoning the scientific method, but it does mean going beyond the limits of materialistic assumptions and applying the scientific method to consciousness and its interface with the physical universe.

When we investigate this openly and honestly, we discover that there is ample empirical evidence that non-physical aspects of reality are as real as the physical aspects of reality, and that the rules of logic apply to both. This suggests that the known laws of physical nature need to be adapted to apply to the non-physical. This should not be a surprise. If reality is defined as everything that exists, then there is only one reality, and it contains everything that exists very nicely, including life and consciousness. The contradictions we see are in man’s theories, not in the nature of reality.

I have been tempted to say: “I am a scientist”, and since consciousness is included in my model of reality, I have a “theory of everything”, but one critic who identifies himself as a physicist, has said that I may have been a physicist once, (he was impressed with my application of relativity to sub-atomic dynamics) but, in his opinion, I am no longer one. – Actually, he’s right!.-  I learned mathematical physics as part of my formal university training, but I progressed beyond being a physicist a long time ago. Physics as we know it is just one of many academic specialties, not a comprehensive study of everything we experience as human beings. Because no one with a finite mind can hope to know everything about everything, there is a real need for specialization. And if you specialize, you can certainly learn more and more about less and less in our colleges and universities; but it’s pretty easy to show that much of the ‘more and more’ we are taught, does not really describe the reality we experience, and is therefore wrong, incomplete, or at least subject to being replaced in the future. Contrary to what most people believe, science is not the final answer to questions about the nature of reality. Some aspects of today’s science will be recognized as failed hypotheses tomorrow, and some ideas rejected as unscientific today will be recognized as scientific facts  tomorrow  Science is forever a work in progress, proposing hypotheses and testing them against reality. By definition, that is exactly what the scientific method is.

Dr. Vernon Neppe, MD, PhD and I have developed a comprehensive model of reality known as the Triadic Dimensional Vortical Paradigm (TDVP) that incorporates both the physical and the non-physical aspects of reality. Notice that the title does not contain the word “theory”. Application of the mathematical logic of TDVP has resulted in the discovery of a measurable form of non-physical reality that explains more than 50 things either poorly explained, or not explained at all by the current standard model of mainstream science, and it has been verified by predicting a number of quantifiable results that are in exact agreement with meticulous experimental data from highly respected empirical sources, including the Large Hadron Collider and the Hubble Space Probe. Having been tested and verified, TDVP is no longer a theory.

Admittedly, TDVP has been accepted by only a small number of highly qualified scientists, and it is still rejected by most mainstream scientists simply because it dares address non-physical phenomena as real. One Nobel Prize winning physicist who agreed to review our work, when speaking of my paper laying out the basic mathematical logic of TDVP, said: “Your paper reads more like the writing of a magician than a mathematician! And you  seem to see some deep meaning behind the equations; and math just isn’t like that!” These were not intended as compliments, of course. He even claimed to have “refuted” our theory, but when I pointed out a blatant error in his reasoning, he became angry, saying: “Th]s is about reviewing your work, not criticizing my math.”

I still maintain that the math and physics behind the proof of the existence of a measurable non-physical form of reality is simple and straight-forward enough for a bright high school student, or entry-level physics major to understand, and it might even be understood by a PhD physicist, if he or she actually tries to understand it, instead of just looking for a reason to reject it. But this post is not about responding to critics of TDVP, or presenting the reasoning and empirical evidence proving the existence of gimmel, the non-physical form, and the validity of TDVP, We have done that multiple times over the past decade in a number of published books and peer-reviewed papers that are readily available in the archives of this blog, or on the website www.BrainVoyage.com, on Amazon, and from other book sellers. This post is not about argument, it’s about the deep meaning behind the math and science of TDVP and the nature of consciousness.

Taking the Non-Physical Leap

In this post I encourage you to take a leap, much like the way quantum physicists asked everyone to take a “quantum leap” 50 or 60 years ago. That was a leap from a deterministic scientific paradigm to the probabilistic paradigm of quantum mechanics. I am asking you to take a leap from the current materialistic paradigm to a more inclusive post-materialist science. TDVP tells us that every aspect of reality is connected at the quantum and sub-quantum level, - especially consciousness! As Nicola Tesla predicted, science has made more progress in one decade of TDVP than was made in the entire previous history of modern science, by opening the door to the study of non-physical phenomena. It just hasn’t been recognized by mainstream science yet. Max Planck explained why mainstream science resists paradigm shifts, saying: “Science doesn’t progress by convincing the old guard, it progresses from funeral to funeral”, and we have discussed this problem of paradigm-shift resistance in several published books and papers. So now let’s turn our attention to the “! Am”, the answer for which there is no adequate question.

Experiencing the I am

The sense of self, or the first conscious distinction of self from other, is the primary distinction of reality, separating finite, quantized reality from Infinity. In notes I made in 1958, and expanded upon in an essay in 1968, I stated: “The essence of existence is differentiation.” Part of this essay was published in my first book, The Book of Atma, Libra Publishers, New York, 1977, page 58., where you will find the following: “…through the act of differentiation, the whole universe, as we perceive it, follows.” This is essentially the same concept expressed by G. Spencer Brown in Laws of Form, George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. London, 1969, in a Note on the Mathematical Approach, page v: “The theme of this book is that a universe comes into being when a space is severed or taken apart.”, I elaborated on this further as the basis for including consciousness in the calculus of distinctions in Infinite Continuity, C and C, Los Alamitos, California, 1990, pages 8 and 13, and again in Transcendental Physics, Paradigm Press, Jackson, Missouri, 1997, pages 120, 181,192, 317, and 322, where the quantized calculus that I call the calculus of distinctions was introduced and used in an infinite descent proof of the existence of a non-quantum final receptor in the conscious process of perception. This brings us to the threshold of the possibility of solving the mystery of conscious being, the “I am”.

The mathematical proof of the existence of gimmel, the quantifiable non-physical aspect of reality, in every quark, proton, and atom of the universe, illuminates, at last, the deep fabric of reality: Within the multi-dimensional fabric of reality, gimmel is the subtle bridge between the finite and the infinite, between quantized physical reality and the infinitely continuous extent of consciousness and spiritual reality.

The vortices spinning in the expanding fabric of reality (quarks electrons and protons), mistakenly perceived as particles by physicalists, would decay quickly back into the uniform entropic state of the conscious substrate, without the stabilization provided by gimmel. But the difference between intellectually understanding the necessity of the existence of gimmel as the organizer and stabilizer of physical reality, and seeing beyond it into the self-effulgent heart of reality, is like the difference between seeing a picture of a delicious meal, and actually eating that meal. It is also beyond the difference between thinking about light, and seeing a light bulb or the sun; it is more like the difference between seeing light and being light.  

To one who has caught even a glimpse of the self-effulgent source of “I am”, and consciously moved beyond the threshold, even for an instant, into the radiance of Love emanating from that source, everything perceived and believed to be real before that experience, is seen to be ephemeral and evanescent by comparison, like clouds of whirling mist trying to hide the sun. I have described my experience of seeing this internal illumination before. The first time was in my first book, The Book of Atma, on page 53 and 54, published in 1977, 17 years after I experienced it on September 17, 1960. The second time was 20 years later, in Transcendental Physics, on page 205, at the beginning of Chapter 8, “The Doorway of Light”. During my initiation into the practice of Kriya Yoga, performed by the President of Self-Realization Fellowship at the Headquarters of the organization on Mt. Washington, just north of downtown Los Angeles, I beheld within my consciousness a spinning ball of light, the color of fire. It was three-dimensional, and as real as any object I have ever seen. But no verbal description can convey the striking transcendental reality of the experience. Its like trying to describe the taste of an exotic fruit to someone who no taste buds, or trying to describe the beauty of a fresh blooming rose to a blind person, - only more so!

I am not the first to try to describe the experience of seeing the innate radiance of the soul. A number of other writers have described this experience in various ways. I will mention a few of them. E.g., In his book: Choosing Reality, a Contemplative View of Physics and the Mind, B. Alan Wallace, while describing Buddhist meditation techniques, says:

“As one continues to apply oneself to the practice, there eventually arises an acquired sign. To some, this sign appears to the mind’s eye like a star.”

 Dr. Richard Bucke, MD, in his book Cosmic Consciousness, The Classic Investigation of the Development of Man’s Mystic Relation to the Infinite, describes his own experience of illumination, as part of his investigation of 50 cases of individuals awakening to the next major step in the evolution of human consciousness. He calls this next stage “Cosmic Consciousness”. The book is filled with descriptions of experiences of inner illumination, some written by the subjects of his investigation themselves. Those Dr Bucke considered as examples of Cosmic Consciousness include some well-known names like Moses, Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, Paul, Mohammad, Socrates, Spinoza, Sir Francis Bacon, William Blake, Walt Whitman, William Wordsworth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Alfred Tennyson, Emanuel Swedenborg, and Ramakrishna Paramahansa.

It is very important to note that the fact that Dr. Bucke’s examples are mostly men (only 4 women were included) should in no way be taken to imply that he thought women did not experience spiritual illumination. It simply reflects the state of the world’s spiritual virtue in the 1800s affecting the information that was available for analysis. (See the discussion of the cyclic nature of planetary time in Secrets of the Sacred Cube, a Cosmic Love Story, Part X: Cycles of Consciousness and Time, pp 364-382.) In my opinion, it is likely that as many, or perhaps even more women experience the inner spiritual light, than men, because women are in general more sensitive and more likely to experience Spiritual Love, and the essence of Spiritual illumination is Love. One of the people in Dr. Bucke’s study who was a woman, identified only by her initials: C.M.C, wrote such a wonderful account of her experience that I want to quote her here. I would like to include every word of her beautiful, open and honest account of what she experienced, but it is too lengthy. I encourage the reader to get a copy of this classic book and read her whole story. Here are a few excerpts from pages 323-330 in Cosmic Consciousness:

Case of C.M.C. in her own words

“I was born in the year 1844. I have been told that as a child … along with my youth there was an air of thoughtfulness that belongs to more advanced years… I went to church and Sunday school, listened attentively. … The sermons were old-time presbyterian – the day of judgement, the sinner’s last condition, the unpardonable sin, and all those things so dreadful to a serious, imaginative child. The older I grew, and the more I thought, the more puzzled and bewildered I became. I wept bitter tears over the suffering of Jesus, grieving that my sins should have nailed him to the cross! How could he be God? I could not understand…. How terribly I felt when I learned that without the Gospel the heathen could not be saved. The cruelty and injustice of it made me almost hate God for making the world so. I joined the church, however, thinking that it might bring me peace and rest. But, though feeling more safe, I was just as far from satisfied…. The vastness and grandeur of the God which I felt in nature I could never reconcile with the God of the Bible, try as I would, and of course I felt myself a wicked skeptic in consequence…. At twenty-two I was married. Ten years later, a change of place broke up the old routine of my life, giving me new associates and interests…  Tyndall’s ‘Belfast Address’ was the first really thoughtful book (from the point of view of modern science) I had ever read, and it was a revelation to me. The question of design or purpose in nature, of individual mortality, etc., was left for scientific research to discover, if to be discovered at  all. My attitude was that of an agnostic.”

After this change of location, friends, interests, and attitude, while still struggling to understand the meaning and purpose of life, CMC suffered a serious illness along with what sounds like a psychological crisis, commonly called a nervous breakdown. After recovering, she continued:

“But now, into this life, past its meridian and apparently fixed for good or ill, was to come a new element which would transform me, my life, and the world to me. The soul, the deeper self, was to awake, and demand its own!  An irresistible force was to be aroused, which should, with mighty throes, rend the veil behind which nature hides her secrets. …Passing over the interval between this time and September 1893 as unimportant, except for the constant struggle within me, I proceed to describe, as well as may be, the supreme event of my life, which undoubtedly is related to all else, and is the outcome of those years of passionate search. I had come to see that my need was greater even than I had thought. The pain and tension deep in the core and centre of my being was so great that I felt as might some creature which had outgrown its skull, and yet could not escape. What it was I knew not, except that it was a great yearning – for freedom, for larger life – for deeper love. There seemed to be no response in nature to that infinite need. The great tide swept on, uncaring, pitiless, and, strength gone, every resource exhausted, nothing remained but submission…I let go of myself! In a short time, to my surprise, I began to feel a sense of comfort … never before had I experienced such a feeling of perfect health, - I wondered at it. And how bright and beautiful the sky! I looked at the sky, the hills and the river, amazed that I had never realized how divinely beautiful the world was!. The sense of lightness and expansion kept increasing…. The life and joy within me were becoming so intense…that all objective phenomena were shut out. I was seeing and comprehending the sublime meaning of things. The great truth that life is a spiritual evolution, that this life is but a passing phase in the soul’s progression burst upon my astonished vision with overwhelming grandeur. Oh, I thought, if this is what it means, if this is the outcome, then pain is sublime! Welcome centuries, eons of suffering, if it brings us to this! And still the splendor increased. Presently, what seemed to be a swift, oncoming wave of splendor and glory ineffable came down upon me, and I felt myself being enveloped, swallowed up….Now came a period of rapture so intense that the universe stood still, as if amazed at the unutterable majesty…Only one in all the infinite universe! …In that same wonderful moment …came illumination. I saw with intense inward vision the atoms or molecules, of which seemingly the universe is composed …material or spiritual – rearranging themselves, as the cosmos (in its continuous everlasting life) passes from order to order. What joy when I saw there was no break in the chain – not a link left out – everything in its place and time, World systems all blended in one harmonious whole. Universal life, synonymous with universal love! How long that period of intense rapture lasted, I do not know – it seemed an eternity – it might have been but a few moments. …In the morning I woke with a slight headache, but with the spiritual sense so strong that what we call the actual material things surrounding me seemed shadowy and unreal. My point of view was entirely changed. …The ‘subjective light’ (it seems to me) is magnetic or electric – some force is liberated in the brain and nervous system – some explosion takes place – the fire that burned in the breast is now a mounting flame.”

She goes on to describe in stunning detail how her life was totally changed, all her fears dissolved, all her desires satisfied in that moment of illumination! And she ends with:

“That which we seek with passionate longing, here and there, upward and outward, we find at last within ourselves. ’The Kingdom within! The indwelling God!’ are words whose sublime meaning we never shall fathom.”  

Henry David Thoreau, another of Dr. Bucke’s examples of cosmic consciousness, asks:

“With all your science can you tell how it is, and whence it is, that light comes into the soul?”

Here is part of a description of Dr. Bucke’s personal “illumination” experience:

“All at once, without warning of any kind, he found himself wrapped around as it were by a flame colored cloud. … he knew that the light was within himself. Directly afterwards came upon him a sense of exultation, of immense joyousness… followed by an intellectual illumination quite impossible to describe.”

One of the best descriptions of the experience of enlightenment comes from The Collected Works of Ramana Maharishi, on page 19, in the chapter titled “Enquiry into the Self”:

“The purpose of all the scriptures is this enquiry into the Self. It is declared in them that the annihilation of the ego-sense is Liberation.” He advises: “Do not even murmur “I”, but enquire keenly within what it is that now shines within the heart as “I”. Underlying the unceasing flow of varied thoughts, there arises the continuous, unbroken awareness, silent and spontaneous, as “I-I” in the Heart. If one catches hold of it and remains still, it will completely annihilate the sense of “I” in the body, and will itself disappear as a fire of burning camphor. Sages and scriptures proclaim this to be Liberation.”

The importance of the experience of the inner light is also mentioned numerous times In the book The Holy Science, by  Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, the Guru of Paramahansa Yogananda. Here are a few examples:  

Page 25: “Atoms…are the throne of Spirit, the Creator, which shining on them creates the universe. They are Maya, the Darkness, as they keep the Spiritual Light out of comprehension.”

Page 34: “Man, turning toward his Self and advancing in the right way, perceives the Spiritual Light…”

Page 39: “Any advanced sincere seeker… becomes able to direct his (or her) organs of sense inward to their common center – the sensorium, … the door of the inner world – where he comprehends the voice … and sees the God-sent luminous body …”

Page 40 – 41: “The 2^nd birth. Through this luminous body,… believing in the existence of the true Light – the Life of the universe – (the seeker) becomes baptized or absorbed in the holy stream.”

Page 53: “… the heart becomes perfectly purified and, instead of merely reflecting the spiritual light, actively manifests the same.”  

Page 60: “Philosophers (serious truth seekers) being able to comprehend the internal electrical Light that shines within them, find their hearts’ love flowing energetically toward the Light that relieves them of all causes of excitation, cools down their system to a normal state, and invigorating their vital powers, makes them perfectly healthy, both in body and mind. They accept this Light as their Divinity or Savior.”

Page 76: “Thus perceiving, (the seeker) naturally believes in the existence of the true Spiritual Light, and withdrawing self from the physical world (repenting), concentrates… on the sensorium. … This entrance into the inner world is the second birth…”

Page 94: “When Ego, the son of man, comes to the door, comprehends the Spiritual Light, and becomes baptized therein… passing through this door … entering into the spiritual world, receives the true Light and becomes the son of God.”

Concluding Remarks:

Self Inquiry, mentioned in previous posts, is the intensive investigation into the “I am” experience of consciousness, and beyond. This investigation can begin with the practice of religious focus and prayer, or meditation techniques developed and taught by those who have actually made the journey from the limiting quantized world of the physical senses, all the way to the infinitely continuous world of Spiritual Enlightenment. At this time, there are such a precious few real Spiritual Masters who have been, and still are the guiding lights helping suffering humanity to make it through the last 4000 difficult years of relative spiritual darkness, but their influence is the only thing that will save our species from fear, suffering, and self-destruction.

 

For those who ask: “Why do some people, (like CMC, quoted above) have such wonderful transcendental experiences, while others see nothing, or have horrible experiences during NDEs?” The reason is quite simple: We are all at different points on our cosmic journey. That’s why different teachings speak to different individuals. If the ultimate goal of life and existence were easy to attain, there would be no need for this physical universe! But if you can see or feel nothing beyond the physical world with its mixture of pleasure and pain, take heart and have hope, and please realize that there are such wonderful experiences in your future!

 

At this time in the 24,000-year planetary cycles of periodic increase and decrease of mental and spiritual virtue, we are only about 1530 years into the current 12,000-year era of increase, so the average human being alive today will not understand much of what the amazing Spiritual Masters of this world have to say. Since, as human beings, souls have a measure of free will, the teachings of the Masters, fossilized in the religious dogmas of many religions, are often misunderstood and sometimes even deliberately misinterpreted by those who do not understand. Most inhabitants of the planet at this time do not realize that the purpose of existence in general, and the complex organic life forms in which we find ourselves confined, in particular, is to afford billions of individual souls endless opportunities to learn and grow spiritually.

 

The good news is that an increasing number of people are having meaningful glimpses of the spiritual guide-posts, and even the ultimate goal of existence in voluntary and “spontaneous” cases of enlightenment like those studied by Dr, Bucke. Some are the result of many years of serious study and investigation into the nature of reality, culminating in either deliberate or divinely guided Self-Inquiry, while some are the result of traumatic near-death experiences (NDEs) or momentary out-of-body experiences (OBEs). There is additional  good news in the fact that during the last 50 years, more scientists are investigating these occurrences of expanded consciousness.

 

TDVP, as we have indicated, represents the much-needed paradigm shift to provide a fresh, much more comprehensive framework for the scientific study of consciousness expansion into higher-dimensional domains. This paradigm shift may seem painfully slow in coming, especially to those of us who have experienced even a nano-second glimpse of the reality behind all phenomena, but once the light of spiritual illumination breaks through the barrier of ignorance called materialism, the flood of Truth will overwhelm the world!

 

To bring this long post to an end, I want to briefly address three questions related to my interpretation of TDVP as the science of the future, that I am often asked in some form:

 

Question: Why do you stress Indian (Hindu) and Tibetan (Buddhist) Yoga meditation techniques? Answer: Those were the paths to God that spoke most clearly to me early in this life. But the Yoga meditation techniques taught by most Western teachers, are not actually real meditation. I explain this in The Book of Atma, page 7: “What is meant here by meditation must be absolutely clear. The various techniques and mental processes for concentration and relaxation (as taught by yoga instructors in the West) is not …meditation as used in this writing. These are preliminaries to meditation… what is meant here is the actual …coming face to face with the naked reality of Soul – or Atma. … A recent writer on the subject of meditation said ‘Of course meditation is not a cure-all …’” In the Book of Atma I went on to say that actually, real meditation (in the form of Self-Inquiry leading to direct experience of God) IS a cure-all, a cure-all, once and for all time! CMC’s story, and others documented in Bucke’s book Cosmic Consciousness attest to this. A direct experience of Cosmic Consciousness eliminates the irrational fear of death, because then you know, without any doubt that your soul is immortal.

 

Question: Why didn’t Jesus talk about meditation in the Bible? Answer: Actually, he did. A central element of his teaching was that “The Kingdom of Heaven is within.” And the word meditation is found many times in the Bible. Translators often thought of prayer and meditation as very similar, or even the same thing. Also, the wording of the scriptures has been changed many times over the years by those with the power to do so, for personal and political reasons. See Part VI, page 177-230, Secrets of the Sacred Cube.)

 

Question: Why mix science and spirituality? Answer: There is only one reality and therefore, one truth about the nature of reality. The organized search for truth was artificially divided up during the Dark Ages because of lack of understanding and lack of mental and spiritual virtue. Unified Monism is the proper metaphysical basis for the investigation of the nature of reality.

In periods of higher mental and spiritual virtue in the time cycles of both past and future, the roles of priest, scientist and physician often were, and will be again in the future, combined in one enlightened being. (See Secrets of the Sacred Cube for a brief description, and  The Holy Science for a full explanation of planetary time cycles.) It is time for more to see the Light of the soul and re-unite the search for truth.

 

ERC – May 15, 2021