Time, it is
thing that we cannot grasp, but marches on, an unending line of present
moments, with ourselves at the head of the procession, towards our certain and
known end, death. Some see time as a
grand illusion we created to deal with the complex wider reality, even Kant
mentioned the possibility that space-time dimensions are just a construction.
Physics sees time as a one directional constant, related to movement with a
maximum in the speed of light. I always suspected, that time in all those
formulas and theories could also run in both directions, most formulas use time
squared anyway, the plus or minus would make no difference. But this would mean
that the future influences the present, quite a step away from the causality
paradigms of the materialists.
The clock
time stretches or bends I dare to suggest, in both directions, meaning any
event is a function of past, present and future (and of the consciousness of
the inner or outer (observer) resonances). So the outcome of any
event/experiment is dependent on its future tail, this explains why changing
paradigms is such a hard task. It requires so much change, so it’s future tail
is so heavy, that it becomes nearly impossible. Only occasionally some great
mind can cause this, people like Giordano Bruno or Einstein were great
magicians in this sense.
Predicting
this deterministic future is therefore not only knowing the past (the Laplace
approach), but also figuring “in” the future, a teleological feedforward approach, far beyond the feedback approach now
so prevalent in society and science.
Going
beyond what we call life, every existence has these two time dimensions, the
drop of rain over a watershed can make the quantum-decision to go either way,
that's why watersheds are so holy. Some elements or forms offer a better bridge
between the time dimensions and into the meta-dimension(s) like crystals and
especially gold (in fact an isotope of gold) has special qualities there. Crowns, gold clothes, jewelry, they are
functional devices for thought wave protection or manipulation.
We
experience time in different ways, the French philosopher Henri Bergson has
written extensively about time, differentiating between clock time and inner time.
He pointed out that only the inner time, the really experienced moment stay
with us, the automatic things we do in clock time are easily forgotten. I
believe that his distinction also hints at the possibility, that there are
really two time dimensions, piggybacked on each other and that we can be in
either one. One is the logical, causal, rational, deterministic time of the
clock, and I suggest it’s not necessarily unidirectional, the other is the
magical, creative, free will dimension, the Bergson inner time. Both are real,
but the free will is limited by our self imposed worldview, it's like the curly
eddies in the river bed of beliefs.
Accepting
two time dimensions is not a very common idea, although in the new physics one
talks about 11 dimensions and those could include more time dimensions, very
few philosophers have looked at this. John G. Bennet
was one of the few, he actually described three time dimensions, adding
eternity to what I would call clock time and magical time.
I suggest
Plato hinted not only at the structure and task of our psyche in Phaedrus, the
charioteer with his two winged horses (one obedient and one wild) but also knew
they refer to the two dimensions of time, as expressed in our thinking and
actions. The free will dimension complicates
matters, but is essential, as everything would become static and would
eventually petrify without this dimension of change, creation, freedom. It is in this dimension, the wild horse of
Plato, that life and progress manifests, it is the life-force itself and we
only limit it by sticking to the beliefs that include our human laws of nature.
Any true sorcerer or believer (or psychotherapist) will tell you about the
miracles that are possible and happen when we let go of our beliefs (or create
new ones).
When Plato
spoke about Phusis, now commonly translated as
nature, he didn't mean the static image of the measured and determined now, but
nature as a process, not only including the past but also the future, a far
more dynamic image. His fascination with prophets and augurs wasn't
superstitious, I feel, he realized the bidirectional nature of time.
We think
that the mind (or imagination) is the great tool to change our beliefs and
situation, but what reaches our cognitive levels is just a filtered and twisted
representation of what our primary sensor/actuators pick up. Our "primes" are the real interface
with energy, time, truth, love, danger, procreation, spirit, the fundamental
categories or dimensions that matter beyond matter. Archetypal, bodily,
emotional and cognitive filtering and mixing mechanism, both on the in and out
influence the real message or actions. Only rarely do we contact those primal
capabilities, where true creation and magical power resides and go beyond the
prison we created. Personality, body, emotions, beliefs, the world around us
(tat svam asi) all are part
of this prison.
Our notion
of causality, even with the criticism of Hume and Berkeley, is still very
unidirectional, the past influences the present and the future. However, if we
assume, as I do, that we can know the future and that prophets and sensitives do a better job at transmitting, that the future
also influences the present, things change dramatically. Our whole system, our
whole society, legal system, healthcare and what not has to change. Evolution
is no longer a chaos thing, but remembering the future, far beyond Sheldrake’s
morphogenetic field. DNA not a mere data-carrier, but an antenna into the
future. The laws of Nature (as physicist believe they know) have to be
rewritten, philosophy reinvented. Or maybe just the old cyclic notion of Vedic
thinking re-asssesed.
The main
antenna for time in living beings (on this planet) is DNA, that tells the seed
to what plant it will grow, evolution is remembering the future. DNA again has
an existence in both time dimensions, this is really what epigenetics
means, we can escape the deterministic part by venturing into the free will
dimension.
The meta-
or super-dimension (this might even be the free will time one) that holds us
and everything together can be called love, chi, nature, God, but I like to
call it information. "A bit is only information if it bytes" is my keyphrase here, and can be read as "there is only
existence if the quantum probability functions resonate (collapse)". Resonance is the basic mechanism of creation
(which in turn is the union of love and truth, reality is the shadow of God's
love is a great image here). Resonance, correspondence, we would call it links in
cyberspace terms, the old vedic core message "Ya evam veda" makes the
connection between power and wisdom, he who knows has the power, but (and here
the rational West missed a major part) also he who has been given the power
(initiation/crowning) will have the wisdom/knowledge. If we accept that thought (ideas) are part of
this information dimension (and alas beyond the tangible except when it is
transformed in our cells and becomes electrons and chemicals) we live in a
universe full of information waves/streams and are nothing but a cocreator in a cosmos that exists but is framed as
illusory.
Information
is really the main issue in philosophy and maybe even theology, it goes beyond
(cyber)-space and time, and infotheism or information
philosophy should be the main focus of science. Until we understand or grasp
how information (and consciousness is a part of information and therefore of
existence) underlies everything we are just like in Plato's cave.
This brings
me to the question who we are. That most of us have an inner child or self and
an outer layer of ego/personality that we think is our "I" is no
news, that understanding runs through all the traditions. Letting go of that
"I" as in detachment, meditation, bhakti-yoga,
devotion, is necessary to get in touch with the deeper layers, connecting with
the self. Not an easy process, as we have many defense layers and clicking back
into ego is the natural defense we have developed. For a while I believed that
getting to know and living the inner child was the ultimate way to reach
Samadhi or whatever we call the higher states, but that image has changed. We
have chosen this life, this body, these parents and this DNA, so our persona or
mask is also a choice we made, and as I believe in guidance and direction
beyond the dimensions, we better accept our mask as part of the great lesson.
Without the mask we wouldn't create these circumstances, would not face the
true lessons, we would all be like God's children, living in paradise. So hail
the mask, even as the glimpses of the inner or supersoul
we perceive in mystical moments, with the help of psychedelics, sacred
encounters, meditation or misery, are so enormous and overwhelming. Integration
is what is called for, understanding and respecting the necessity and mutual
fertilization of our mask and inner child.
The
structure of our psyche, reflected in our body down to the tiniest limb, organ
and cell, is of course a mirror of the universe, the old hermetic understanding,
as above as below.
If we just
take the number seven correspondence (but any number would do), there are seven
major celestial bodies, seven layers of existence, seven temples including the
one we build in our mind, seven chakra's and each of them giving rise to unique
experiences. Religions are usually mirroring our energy chakra's, the Hindu
focus on truth and power relates to the 3th, the Christian blood/love focus to
the 4th, Islamic and Jewish rules and
regulations to the 5th, Buddhist visualization to the 6th. The more esoteric
are tantra (2th chakra) and the nature/earth focus of
pagan and pantheistic religions for the 1st chakra. The 7th
chakra religion is not very clear, Sufism comes close.
We, as
humans, usually have a specific focus, translated and carried by our body
posture and most of all our breath patterns. Typologies like the enneagram are basically models of the way we move the
chi/breath energy in our bodies. That is
different for our mask (or masks) and our inner child, we share the hardware
but the software differs, there are thus different modes we can recognize,
although others are sometimes more aware of what mode we are in, this is the
blind spot(s) phenomenon. The more
interesting events in our lives, like falling in love, healing, transformation,
are rooted in our inner child mode. I actually believe that ignoring the
messages from the inner child will lead to malfunctioning, diseases and
eventually death, it's the misunderstood and wounded inner child that kills us.
Understanding the development of the inner child and the mask by the way
illuminates the old nature/nurture question quite well.
We develop
our awareness/consciousness in each of the energy nodes (and in the different
modes or subpersonalities to complicate the whole
deal the level might be different), but in our rational worldview we value most
the cognitive awareness, intelligence. Spiritual awareness comes next and can
even be measured, we sense the holiness, especially if it centers in the inner
child. The most common mystical
experience (at least in the West) is the unity feeling of the heart, when all
is love and one. Mystical experiences in other chakra's, like the lucidity and
all-knowing experienced when the mind exalts, the tantric orgastic
or the magical power experience are less known. There are awareness levels in
each mode and node, together a rather complex image of one's being and
potential, and definitely not used as criteria for getting a job in big
business. These levels can be measured, maybe with some projection variations,
but this has not been the subject of any scientific research as far as I know
(excuses to Bovis, Tomatis
and the few who tried). My analysis in this respect shows me time and time
again, that we are all equally endowed with talent, but these differ in how and
where they manifest. The Down syndrome child may lack a suitable persona or
mask, but offers to us an insight and access to our own inner child and is
therefore as valuable and gifted as anyone.
Our place
in the universe, or where we are as a race, who cares? Whether we are just the
epitome of life or a mere but grandioso experiment in consciousness with the
sun as our energy source, the planets as our protection against cosmic
distortions (hail astrology) and solar heating as a way to protect us from
incoming cosmic debris, who cares but the fearful. We live here and as we don't
even understand the basic tenets of what happiness is, why bother with the
celestial questions. Who let the sun in (Sam's koan)
is also about everyday life!
Sept 2012
Luc Sala