God is a fountain flowing into itself St Dionysius
In the light of the mirror of you,
the universe observing itself through consciousness.
Roger Penrose
Who has prepared this evening meal? asks the seeker. A man, responds the sage.
Dost know his name? asks the seeker. Not I. His name is not spoken.
He is more silence than speech.
He is above name.
What food has he prepared for
this feast?
Himself, no less than himself, says Meister Eckhart.
The moral is that those who live the life of
the five senses never taste this
food.
Meister Eckhart
When consciousness turns
inward, there is a sensation of not-knowing.
When it turns outward, that which can be known is created. Nisargadatta Maharaji
What I describe here, everyone can check out for
themselves in their own inner lab. Just being quiet and focusing on one's inner self
can work wonders.
The primordial Pan-Consciousness versus the Concentrated Light
of Man Let me begin by outlining my intuitive understanding of
consciousness, aided by Occam's Razor: A primordial,
non-self-aware pan-consciousness appears to permeate time and
space. This ubiquitous consciousness is what I refer to as God.
However, God is not self-aware.
Consciousness is omnipresent, yet it lacks self-awareness. The
real journey begins with human beings, who possess the unique
ability to be aware of this God-consciousness. In my
interpretation, inspired by Meister Eckhart, this equates to
self-conscious awareness.
I am certain
as I live that nothing is so close to me as God.
God is nearer to me than I am to my own self;
my life depends upon God's
being near me,
present in me.
So is he also in a stone, a log of wood,
only they do not
know it.
If the wood knew of God and realized his nearness
like the highest of the
angels does,
then the log would be as blessed as the chief of all angels.
Meister Eckhart
C.G. Jung posits that after
the trials of Job, God chose to manifest as man. In this context, the Son of
God represents nothing less than the weak yet omnipresent light of God, focused
within the narrow pinhole mirror of the human brain.
In this vein, a human being can be seen as a reflection of God, yet,
paradoxically, this reflection surpasses the original in a specific sense: God
achieves a higher level of Himself through His Son.
The endless bewilderment of self-exploration At the forefront of the exploration of consciousness lies an endless expanse
of bewilderment. Every time we cross its frontier, we are met with a new level
of perplexity, a series of endless mysteries behind the mysteries. Yet, it is
precisely in this space of mystery that something profound can occur. When we
redirect our curiosity from its natural outward trajectory to an inward
exploration of itself, we may be able to develop an expanded state of consciousness.
This shift is not easy, however, as the
human mind is primarily designed to focus on the external world and ensure our
physical survival through the intake of calories. Our subjective 'I' is not
naturally programmed to look at itself, to observe its own inner workings.
Therefore, exploring the depths of consciousness requires utmost sincerity and
vigilance. We must commit ourselves to the task of inward exploration, even when
it is difficult, and when we are met with resistance from our own minds.
There are all too few who are fully ripe
for
gazing in God's magic mirror. Meister Eckhart
The restless and outgoing mind can however be
called inward through the process of meditation. When you close your eyes and
ask yourself, Who am I?, the
knowing of not-knowing
intensifies. Initially, a sense of bewilderment arises as the 'I' asking the
question dissolves through the very act of questioning.
When you look for yourself, you dissappear
There is nothing to understand. Papaji
Meister Eckhart suggests that to see God, we must
become blind. This may seem paradoxical, but it points to the fact that the ego
cannot look at itself without spiraling into annihilation.
When we direct our attention inward,
an unknown something observes itself. This activates an infinity function
where
the
solid conscious observer instantly melts into fluidity, so that the one asking,
Who am I?, ceases to exist. We are only our 'I' as long as we look away from
ourselves. Consequently, we vanish each time we try to catch ourselves directly,
and without a subject capable of understanding, understanding becomes
meaningless.
Not knowing is in this sense wisdom as opposed to knowing which creates
knowledge.
When Awareness is directed against itself,
a feeling of not knowing is created.
When Awareness is going out,
knowledge is created. Nisargadatta Maharaj
Thus, the question Who am I? dissolves, and we, like a rubber
band, snap back to our normal equilibrium of being a solidified 'I'. However, this
new 'I' is
different from the older one that just one second ago tried to get a glimpse of itself. As we know
from quantum physics, we cannot observe anything without changing it. We cannot
even remember something without changing our memory of it. Therefore, the
disappearance of 'I' during introspective self-examination creates a spiraled
transformation, where a new 'I' contineously replaces the old 'I'. The relay of "Who am I?"
is now in the hands of the next 'I' in the race towards a black hole of
continuous death and rebirth.
How to see God?
To see Him is to be consumed by Him
Ramana Maharshi
Ego cannot look at itself in God's magic mirror,
without spiralling into anihilation. However pure consciousness in its
essence can do so and even thrive. In the micro ego-death of self enquiry, a
more intense consciousness is born. The strange and wonderful thing is that as
the not-understanding and dissolution of solidified subjectivity intensifies
during this investigation, so does the abstract consciousness experiencing it.
Through the loophole of increasing curiosity-driven not-knowing, our consciousness expands
in both quality and quantity.
Atman and Brahman Let me in this context repeat the lessons from the chapter
What is
Consciousness.
Pure consciousnes in its abysmal essense does not expand, neither in quantity nor
in
quality. Consciousness belongs to another dimension where such terms from time
and space does not give any meaning. What expands in clarity and quality is the
part of the human brain that somehow is able to recreate a simulacra of of what
Meister Eckhart terms 'the
primordial ground'.
In India, since ancient times the individual human soul has been called
Atman. The universal soul was termed Brahman. In this context it
would give meaning to view Atman as a brain derived simulacra of ding an sich.
In this context, I envision Atma-consciousness as
a time-space 'copy' of the absolute space-timeless primordial abyss. Individual
human made consciousness can be compared to a soap bubble,
whose thin and ultra-transient membrane reflects the sky.
Atman in Brahman
The black hole of the Soul When the human created space-time created simulacra consciousness in such a loop begins to chase
its own tail, wakefulness accelerates in intensity. It can be illustrated by the
acceleration of gravity and breakdown of traditional natural laws that happens
in front of a black hole. I do believe this is more than a mere analogy. The
cosmos is consisting of reuse of mathematical algorithms on all levels from the
infinite small to the infinite big. We are in this sense a mini galaxy with a
black hole in our soul. We fear the hole as death and at the same time we are
attracted to its attraction. The brain-derived possibility of Atma-consciousness
in feed-back singularity falls in love with the grand attractor abiding in
ding an sich. This is the needle
point where death and life meet in a dance room beyond time and space as we know
it.
This is what Meditation is all about: to make Atma-consciousness aware of
Brahma-consciousness in an expanding self-referential loop with the potential capacity
to end in a singular state of explosive conscious not-understanding.
In this context, the following statement from Meister Eckhart gives 'sense':
In unknowing knowing shall we
know God.
Eckhart rarely uses the the term consciousness.
Among the Western mystics, the singular state of consciousness has been termed 'God'. God is
in my view nothing but a projective concept of a rare state of being within man's own event
horizon. God abides in a concentrated form in the complexity of the human brain as super consciousnes.
Let us sum up. The 'variability' of consciousness is, at its core
is a result of the human brains ability to enter an intensified state of self
referentiality. The first looped stage is when consciouness becomes aware of
itself in wakefulness.
Mystics from all times and places have
experienced something that so far have been out of reach of comon man, occupied
as he was with the algoritms of survival. Meister Eckhart states:
When the spirit turns from all
things
becoming into the not-becoming....
Then the void shines into void.
On the narrow
path of describing consciousness as experience, I would now declare that there
is a state of concentrated consciousness where it becomes self-aware
in being able to experience experiencing.
THE OUROBOROS STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS I call this state the Ouroboros state of consciousness.
The Ouroboros state can only happen in highly advanced and complex biological
brain structures with an extended capability of
self-referentiality.
The Ouroboros state of consciousness emerges when
the serpent begins to feed upon itself, symbolizing a sort of mental autophagy.
As Meister Eckhart eloquently puts it, in this state, man becomes his own meal.
This existential cycle resonates with ancient Indian philosophy, encapsulating
the ceaseless loop of Brahma's creation, Shiva's destruction, and Vishnu's
delicate balancing act between the two. In this state, there is neither a true
beginning nor an end—yet paradoxically, it consists solely of beginnings and
ends.
As T.S. Eliot articulates:
"We shall not cease from
exploration,
and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive
where we started and know the place for the first time"
This encapsulates the enigmatic nature of
consciousness within spacetime: it both exists and does not exist, and it is in
this paradoxical state that it mirrors the Kantian 'thing-in-itself,' of the
primordial ground, a state that transcends even the diffuse, omnipresent form of
God. Human Consciousness as a
Fedback Loop The ouroboros snake is a perfect methophor for
consciousness going into a feed back mode. Where the attention goes, the prana flows. In introspection
consciousness is becoming aware of consciousness in a loop. This
is why the introvert question of who am I, is devoid of answers.
It creates a feedback loop where the entity that puts the
question eats itself before an answer can be made. However,
instead of the answer there is a knowing of the process as such. In this state
one basically loses the connection to the outside known world in the same way
that a microphone in feedback is not able to amplify what it normally is
designed to do, like a speech or a song. When information dissolves behind the
event horizon of the black hole of consciousness, an abstract
subject-object-less consciousness as
such arises.
A healthy soul in a healthy body
If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.
W.Blake
In this context, I would define the term,
enlightenment, as a singular feedback of Consciousness into Consciousness. Here
Rumi's polishing of the mirror becomes mandatory. Consciousness and it's
time-space correlate in the form of the capability of high quality experiencing
is necessary for Consciousness to reach a point of no return in order to enter
the state of a singular feedback.
A dull and low quality of attentive consciousness, will not be able to reach the
point of no return.
The first Loop: Being Conscious about Consciousness The possibility of being conscious about being conscious is most probably a
feature that only can evolve in grown-up humans and some of our primate
relatives.
The child pictured above is conscious, but it is
still not being conscious about being conscious. A trained meditator will often
be conscious even in the phase of slow wave sleep. However, only when he wakes
up into being conscious of being conscious he can have a glimpse of the fact that he was
conscious all along. The meta-consciousness of being conscious will emerge
gradualy as we grow up. A human being is, in this respect, a concentrated rabbit
hole of self-awaring Consciousness. We are self conscious oases in the vast delicious dessert of primordial unconscious
Consciousness.
What is the mirror of consciousness made of seen
from the Atma level? It consists of neural feed back connections between brain
cells. A mirror is a feed
back mechanism.
The human sensory PA system A phenomenon that can illustrate introverted attention in
singular feedback is an amplifier connected with a microphone
pointed at itself. When the microphone is busy sensing extroverted sounds
like a singers voice, the system fufils the purpose it was
created for. However, if a sensitive microphone comes too close to the
loudspeaker it is connected with, an explosive sound like a howl will emerge.
The singularity of sound feeding into its own
output radically
overwrites the normal functions of the system. As sensory bio-feedback we
function quite similar to this
self-oscillation process.
Actually a professional PA system is
designed not easily to go into a feed back mode. Even professional stage
microphones for live concerts are designed with a certain dullnes towards
subtler weak sounds in such a way that
a feed back is prevented already in its birth. Evolution has for sure made the
same mechanism for our senses, in order to prevent us from the stand and
stare mode when we were supposed to hunt for calories.
Creating a feedback loop between a microphone and speaker requires three key
components that are similar to a meditative feedback loop:
•
Firstly, the microphone needs to be placed near or pointed towards the speaker.
Similarly, we need to get close to ourselves and direct our attention inwards by
shutting out external distractions.
• Secondly,
the input sensitivity of the amplifier must be turned up. Similarly, our senses
need to be sharpened and attuned. We can only achieve this heightened inner
sensitivity through intimate and vulnerable honesty. • Thirdly,
when the output volume of the amplifier is turned up, there may be a sound
feedback. The greater power outlet of the amplifier is comparable to the outlet
capacity of a healthy and strong person. When we have an excess of healthy
physical energy, with an abundance of chemical-firing neurons, we may find
ourselves in various states of flow, even in external situations like running or
dancing. This form of feedback is more prevalent in young people.
Within this spectrum, there are basically
two meditative extremes. One pole
consists of sensitive introvert people, and the other of people with lots of
outgoing
energy.
Visual feed back Another type of feedback loop can be observed when a camera is pointing at itself through a monitor screen.
Below is a video clip that illustrates a
dynamic version of an accelerating introverted loop. The loop in the video is
created simply by pointing a video camera at the TV screen it is connected to.
The fractal, singular, and kaleidoscopic patterns are created by the handheld
camera constantly amplifying its own signal. Tiny movements in the camera create
unpredictable and dynamic changes, all leading towards the Great Attractor of
infinity.
Isn't it thought-provoking that such a simple act as pointing a camera
at oneself can create such surprising and complex phenomena?
Self referential Amplification through the five
Gates of the
Senses The mirror and the microphone provided
us with illustrative examples of light and sound feed back.
In the human body the awarenes of inner sensations and feelings
is the first to get activated. Once you close your eyes, there
is an instant and automatic rise of abstract sense based
awareness within the body. Sense amplification is the first step
into the meditative self-referential space.
An Indian Saint once shared with me that his first
groundbreaking enlightenment experience began
with an itching sensation on the top of his head. As he sat in
front of an enlightened Master and looked at him, the feeling
grew until it consumed him and he lost all sense of time, space,
and body.
As a general rule introspective self referentiality happens
first through the close and intimate registration of body
sensations. From there on it can happen through all the five
sense circuits. One can in meditation commonly hear sounds and
observe light phenomenons. Even taste and smell can in rarer
cases get activated.
Thoughts are sounds Even the thinking mind can be triggered into a self-referential loop.
Repetition of a mantra, where a syllable, a word, or a sentence
is repeated mentally or even loud ad libitum, is a sound-based
meditation. In this repetition, the cognitive meaning in the
thoughts vanishes, leaving the meditator with pure sound.
Thoughts, in essence, are sounds. Even the initial "Who am I?"
meditation is essentially a thought-based technique that
collapses the cognition of thoughts.
It's important to note that the quality of self-referential
amplification depends on the quality of attention given. Dull
and low-quality concentration cannot reach the point of no
return, which is necessary for consciousness to enter the state
of singular feedback. An attention interface that is too
obsessed with chasing external objects will only meet with
boredom when looking inside.
This state of singular feedback, which I define as
enlightenment, occurs when consciousness is amplified into
consciousness in such a way that it comes close to the
singularity. The capability of high-quality experience in
consciousness and its correlation with time-space is necessary
for consciousness to reach this point.
Two forms of meditative feedback In a regular meditation session, most of us will only experience a
full-blown explosion of pure consciousness in rare cases.
However, less can also do. When turning inward, the level of
feedback intensifies, not enough to go into a singularity but
enough for us to feel blissful and relaxed. The Indian called
this state Sat Chit
Ananda.
The synaptic dance of the
Ouroboros
The ancient symbol of Ouroboros, the serpent eating its own
tail, represents the cyclical nature of life, and in the context
of neurochemistry, it can also represent the continuous feedback
loop of signaling chemicals in the brain. When we meditate, we
can experience a range of feelings from relaxation to ecstasy,
which can be explained by the activation of the brain's
signaling chemical circuits. In this sense, life's purpose could
be seen as the pursuit of a cocktail bar of signaling
substances, each with its own unique effect, such as serotonin,
dopamine, GABA, acetycholine, DMT, and many others. With up to 200 different
chemical neurotransmitters keeping the party of life going, the
possibilities are endless.
Psychedelics and sense-feedback Interestingly, people who use entheogenic substances often report profound experiences of eternity and
divinity. This is because these substances increase the
sensitivity of the brain's five input circuits, resulting in an explosion of
a multitude of self-referential feedback loops. The similarities
between meditative and psychedelic experiences is rooted in the
world of feedback interfaces. In both cases, sensory impressions
are intensified to the point that a singular feedback loop is
inevitable, leading to visions and experiences beyond the
ordinary.
NOTES
Two types of meditators Within this spectrum, there are basically two meditative extremes. One
pole consists of sensitive people, and the other of people with lots of
excess energy. Usually, the sensitive meditators will be introverted,
and the energetic meditators will be more extroverted. Both of these
types can go into meditative supervigilant self-swing, but despite this
important common gift, they often do not thrive in each other's company. The
sensitive meditator's challenge is to avoid narcissistic sensitivity. She
must be able to accommodate her vulnerability without going into reactive
defense. The energetic meditator's challenge is sometimes a lack of empathy,
and his challenge is not to use his abilities as a supervigilant energy bomb
for selfish purposes. In a gross generalisation we find the sensitive
meditator on the New Age scene and the outgoing meditator in extreme sport,
yoga and scientific set and settings. They tend to quantify their
meditation, telling themselves and others to count breathing on in and
exhales.
This new outgoing meditator is slowly replacing the old new age introverted
and sensitive meditator and this devellopment in a way showing how our
society embraces spirituality through the process of quantification and
commodification.
My ideal for a
modern meditator would be the ambiverted type on top of the bell
curve.
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