4
The New Answers Re-Enchant Our Worldview
Kingsley L. Dennis
When we look up into the night sky and see the sparkle of stars, we are awed and enchanted. There is grace, there is wonder, and there is the excitement of the unknown. Everything comes alive with possibility. There is an enchanted world out there, and it beckons to us through a communal mystery. And we wish to respond to that call. For underlying all life is the urge for meaning. As human beings we desire, long for—need—a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives. An enchanted universe serves to entice us with a feeling of belonging. Yet somewhere along the way we lost the sense of communion.
Once, humanity experienced that sense of communion with its environment—both terrestrial and cosmic—and this encouraged a mode of direct participation. This merger between being and environment established a psychic wholeness in the human. Our ancient ancestors were not estranged from their sense of reality in the way that modern humanity has become. Human consciousness over the centuries has been undergoing a “discoupling” from the world around it, a distancing that has been referred to as disgodding from nature.*15 In short, humanity succeeded in taking itself out of the picture by creating a new and different picture of itself.
In the last few centuries especially, humankind has increasingly expunged itself out of its own mystery and thrown itself out of the realm of enchantment. The scientific, rational consciousness that has dominated our frame of reference for so long is an alienated consciousness. It views the world as if it is a separate observer, seeing a universe of objects that move in mechanical motion. This alienated consciousness has substituted the enchantment and mystery with a smear of artificiality. The cosmos of human “being and belonging” thus became infected with imposed and conditioned patterns of thinking that were restrictive and limited. For centuries we have been subjected to a reductionist, mechanical model of the universe that has dominated how things seem to us. Until now we have been as if in a form of mental quarantine that served to disenchant the human being from a living cosmos.
However, all this is going to change as we find ourselves on the cusp of an incredible revolution—a revolution in human thinking, understanding, and ultimately of human perception. And this is precisely what Ervin Laszlo is both discussing and spearheading in this book and in his latest writings. As Laszlo says, it is in such times of crisis and transformation, such as now, that more than ever we need to have a need to know, to remember, and to act on this new knowledge and understanding. During such times of change, the impulse for meaning and significance becomes more necessary. In such moments of social-cultural transformation, when bases of knowledge are revised, and our constructions of reality queried, the need to seek the fundamental questions of who we are and why we are here grows stronger.
The mainstream scientific paradigm, like the religious paradigm of the seventeenth century, now finds itself unable to be maintained. This is how things unfold; one set of structures, systems, and viewpoints eventually becomes outmoded and, through necessity (among other factors), gets replaced, or rather updated, by a new set. This new set then defines the dominant consciousness for the new era. New values also come to the fore to represent the new expression of consciousness. In such transitional times there is urgency, opportunity, and an interior push to reconnect with a sense of meaning and significance in life, both at an individual and at a universal level. In other words, there is a fundamental need to understand one’s self and its place in the larger scheme of things. The instability we currently encounter in the world around us only convinces us further of the need to find the roots that connect us with a more permanent stream of knowledge and meaning. And this is where Laszlo positions himself, at the forefront asking whether “who I really am is what my consciousness really is.” And if the human body-mind is a vehicle for consciousness rather than the producer, as Laszlo clearly shows, then we at last start to have a meaningful proposition. In other words, we begin to tackle the underlying belief that questions whether our conscious self is but a by-product of our brain.
The philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz noted that the nature of our consciousness reflects how we view the world. Leibniz referred to the term philosophia perennis in his own writings in recognition of the knowledge that reflected the fundamental reality underlying our existence. The questions addressed in this volume are part of this perennial philosophy that seeks a truer understanding of the cosmos and of our place as human beings within it.
What Is the World—What Is My Mind?
The research put forward by Laszlo explains that the world we inhabit is not furnished by bits of matter. The older Newtonian paradigm has run its course. The new understanding is that, as Laszlo says, the things that furnish the world are interconnected and ultimately one . . . they are clusters of “in-formed” vibrations. Space is not the wide open emptiness that our human imaginations and popular cultural images have led us to believe. It is a dynamic interconnected field filled with fluctuations and vibrations. It is only that these fluxes of vibrations often appear to us in the form of matter. The new scientific paradigm expressed in this volume posits an underlying vibratory matrix that in-forms the material reality that our senses are familiar with. This corresponds with other insights such as the implicate order of David Bohm, the universal quantum field of quantum mechanics, and with what Laszlo calls the Akashic field. In calling it the Akashic field, Laszlo is acknowledging the debt we owe to earlier cosmologies and creation myths—an acknowledgment that gives a nod of recognition to just how right they were.
The Hindu spiritual traditions of India speak of an underlying reality that is Brahman—a reality that is eternal and eternally unchanging—where the physical world is the playground of unceasing creative play. Western streams of philosophic thought also speak of a domain beyond space and time. According to Plato there was a realm of forms and ideas—a domain of Pure Forms—beyond our space and time, and our material world is only an image or copy of this real, pure world beyond. This pure realm was also spoken of by other Hellenic philosophers: Pythagoras referred to it as Kosmos, and Plotinus as The One. Similarly, the Chinese sage Lao-tzu spoke of all things originating in the Tao/Dao as the unseen root of all material things. The Tao is both the originator (the source) of all things and the destination to which all things eventually return. It is the unobservable and nameless no-space, no-time, no-form essence that our words fail.
And yet this no-space is not without meaning or significance for it is infused and in-formed with a conscious, cosmic intelligence. The new scientific paradigm extrapolated from the findings presented in this book reveals that consciousness is not confined to the human brain. That is, consciousness is not a by-product of neuronal brain activity. Rather than being a product, it is a gift—a quality of vibration that is decoded by the brain from a myriad of sensory data received externally. The human brain (mind-body) is able to both receive and transmit these vibrations that constitute consciousness. Our level of awareness corresponds to the degree to which we are able to receive, decode, and transmit the clusters of vibrations in the cosmic field. The clearer the channel to receive and decode, so to speak, the clearer is the perception—the picture—we gain. In a crude sense, it is similar to how a receiver is able to tune in to the broadcast. To use an analogy, when we first developed the television set they were small black-and-white screens, often with a fuzzy picture that needed constant retuning. Our perception of the broadcast was thus small, grainy, and without color. As our technologies advanced, we were able to produce color televisions with larger screens. As a result, our picture of the broadcast “out there” became more colorful, larger, and more involved. Now that we have high-definition, fifty-inch-plus widescreen televisions, for example, our sense of the picture is unprecedented—to the degree that we often feel we are participating in that which we are viewing.
The sense of participation in the reality around us corresponds to the level of frequencies that the brain is able to tune in to. As Laszlo notes, we can tune the brain to enter these states purposively, but we can also access these frequencies spontaneously. And the art of training the brain (or entraining it) to access and decode ever finer frequencies has been part of the wisdom teachings handed down for centuries. And yet access and decoding is only one part of this new understanding that is emerging. As a new perception set unfolds we begin to grasp aspects of the bigger picture, which is that in our known universe there is a directional impulse toward the evolution of mind/consciousness. Furthermore, since consciousness is not only received and decoded by the brain but also transmitted, the implications of this are that we can also consciously participate within the interconnected, vibratory consciousness field.
Until recently the concept of evolution within mainstream science was largely limited to generational biological inheritance. The understanding and the evidence for the evolution of consciousness was not forthcoming, owing to the fact that many scientists were not looking in that direction. This is similar to an old Eastern folktale featuring the inimitable Mulla Nasrudin:
A man is walking home late one night when he sees an anxious Mulla Nasrudin down on all fours, crawling on his hands and knees on the road, searching frantically under a streetlight for something on the ground.
“Mulla, what have you lost?” the passerby asks.
“I am searching for the key to my house,” Nasrudin says worriedly.
“I’ll help you look,” the man says and joins Mulla Nasrudin in the search.
Soon both men are down on their knees under the streetlight, looking for the lost key.
After some time, the man asks Nasrudin, “Tell me, Mulla, do you remember where exactly did you drop the key?”
Nasrudin waves his arm back toward the darkness and says, “Over there, in my house. I lost the key inside my house . . . ”
Shocked and exasperated, the passerby jumps up and shouts at Mulla Nasrudin, “Then why are you searching for the key out here in the street?”
“Because there is more light here than inside my house and so it’s easier to see,” Mulla Nasrudin answers nonchalantly.
Like the character of Mulla Nasrudin in this tale, mainstream science may be guilty of spending too much time looking for the key to reality where there is more light, rather than the darkened Akashic no-time where the key actually lies. Now that we have ascertained the question, in which direction the key lies, the next question to ask is in which direction the evolution of consciousness strives.
According to Ervin Laszlo, the evolution of consciousness is a directional process, oriented toward a definable state. And that definable state is one of maximally evolved consciousness. The path toward such a maximally achieved state of consciousness is an aspect of the evolution toward ever-greater coherence. Laszlo outlines very clearly how all systems within the known universe strive toward supercoherence. The universe is quite literally coherent beyond our wildest imaginings. I don’t need to repeat here the cosmological findings already presented, which show how the parameters of the universe are finely tuned beyond any possibility of randomness. There is nothing else to be said except that the matter-reality construct that is measurable shows an extreme proclivity for coherence. From the perspective of the latest scientific findings, it can be said that living forms in this universe are clusters of vibration in a universal field that is in-formed by a conscious, cosmic intelligence. While this may represent the fundamentals of our world, it is only the beginning in regard to who we are and our purpose. According to Laszlo, this purpose is to transmit higher consciousness into the universe. And this compels us to embrace the values and qualities of understanding, empathy, compassion, unconditional love, and unity. And it is these values and qualities that lend meaning to our existence as human beings. To strive toward attaining these qualities is part of the coevolving process that we each participate in between ourselves as human beings as well as within the larger cosmic order. And in this striving we grow in our understanding of who we are and why we are here.
Who We Are—And Why We Are Here
To leave the dead dinosaur at rest, let it be stated clearly here that life on this planet is not an accidental, random anomaly that emerged on a rock hurtling through dead space. Although in more recent times some scientists have come to the conclusion that there is an order to the universe—a form of intelligence—they fall short in positing a purpose. That is, they stay clear of stating that evolution is a directional process toward any definable, purposeful goal. This book declares otherwise, and posits a different outcome acquired from the latest in scientific research. Rather, that the intelligence behind the known universe informs its evolutionary processes with coherence, consciousness, and unity. It is not a new worldview so much as a new view of the cosmos—a new cosmoview, if you will. And this new perspective views existence not through the duality of “other-object” but through a receptive mode that sees all reality as inherently interconnected and interrelated. This view is similar to that which we possess, as babies, when we first arrive into the world.
According to many child psychologists, such as Jean Piaget and Arnold Gesell, children are not born into the world with an object self. It is only around three years of age that children begin to recognize and be interested in other children. That is, they begin to recognize the distinction between self and other. The receptive self then shifts into the objective self, and the world expands enormously for them. Yet at birth the receptive mode is dominant, but through gradual maturity it is replaced by the objective mode that guarantees survival. We need the objective mode in order to navigate the obstacles we encounter in our lives, and in order to successfully deal with the challenges of a physical existence. Yet this useful survival mode has, over time, taken the role of being the dominant feature of the human self. In large part this is because such a behavioral mode was further reinforced by a materialistic, scientific (and later social) framework that emphasized duality and mechanism. We should not forget, however, that the receptive mode is an important part of the psyche of the human being. It enhances our capacity for communication, interrelation, collaboration, understanding, caring, and empathy. It helps to keep a healthy balance between self and service, and forms a coherent perspective between that which is solid and those things more ephemeral and sensual. The receptive mode emphasizes the C values of Connection ~ Communication ~ Consciousness ~ Compassion.
The receptive mode is more prominent in acts of selfless service, yet such perspective and understanding may not be a customary one, especially in Western societies. An old tale reflects this:
His Own Suffering
Whenever the rabbi of Sasov saw anyone’s suffering, either of spirit or of body, he shared it so earnestly that the other’s suffering became his own. Once someone expressed his astonishment at this capacity to share in another’s troubles. “What do you mean ‘share’?” said the rabbi. “It is my own sorrow; how can I help but suffer it?”*16
Contrary to this, the object mode emphasizes the alternative C values of Competition ~ Conflict ~ Control ~ Censorship. Because the object mode/object self has had the dominant role in our recent history, these alternative C values have become the norm. They have subsequently been reinforced and adopted into modern materialistic lifestyles so that now each complements and reinforces the other. To step outside of this worldview has previously meant ridicule, harassment, and even possibly death. However, the tide is now turning, and this focus on control and competition is at variance with the new paradigm understanding of an interconnected, unified reality. The incumbent paradigm is now defunct and can no longer serve as the default form of perception and cognition. It is for this reason that we are likely to see in the years ahead great change sweeping through our diverse human societies.
It is my own view that the twenty-first century will witness the equivalent of the dramatic “flat Earth to round Earth” shift that transformed our human understanding—and our societies—centuries before. Some commentators refer to our current time as witnessing a Third Industrial Revolution; others say it is a Fourth Industrial Revolution.†17 Yet rather than referring to this transition as an industrial one, I consider this profound shift as a Revolution in Human Being—or rather as a Revolution in Human Becoming. The possibility of a genuine planetary civilization, with unity through diversity, was never in the cards—until now, that is. I propose that we have entered a phase where there will be new forms, new arrangements, new structures, new perspectives, and new emerging states of being.
The understanding provided by the new answers will serve to re-enchant our worldview. As such it will assist in the birthing of a new era with its attendant values and qualities of connection, communication, consciousness, and compassion. However, at this present time those of us caught up in the disruptive wave of changes sweeping through our societies need to remain grounded, balanced, and work with the disruptive changes rather than against them. Change on this planet will come through us, the people, and the attitudes, awareness, compassion, and sincerity that we embody and manifest. This is the real stability that can be passed on to those around us: our family, friends, communities, social networks, and so on. It is imperative that those of us working toward betterment and change maintain a focus on the great opportunities emerging now and not become disheartened by disruptive forces. People’s minds are changing all over the world, and with this can come remarkable and inspiring potential and opportunity. Things can no longer go on as they have been; this is now plainly obvious to most observant people.
The new paradigm of reality represents a stage in which the energies of coherence and harmony will be recognized as being principle drivers behind human, planetary, and cosmic evolution. The understanding that is unveiled through the answer given in this book will ultimately bring renewed meaning to the question of who we are and why we are here. We are each of us striving for self-significance, which in the end will come through greater participation with a reality that is greater than each of us and yet contains us all. To participate effectively—to transmit higher consciousness into the universe—we require the qualities of empathy, understanding, compassion, unconditional love, and above all, service. Through service to our fellow human beings and to our societies we are simultaneously serving the drive toward maximum coherence. The beginning step on this path is to accept, adopt, and utilize a coherent view of reality.
The Implications of the New Paradigm Understanding
By the time we look back on this age from a new phase of human civilization, historians will see the Cartesian-scientific paradigm as a relic. It will be viewed as a curiosity of mind that created rapid industrial expansion and scientific knowledge, yet failed to bring real progress within the essence of the human being. Its spurt that lasted several centuries may be likened to a primitive rocket booster that propels a spaceship into orbit only to be spent and cast off, to fry up and dissolve as it falls back down to Earth. The last few centuries were a single evolutionary episode that ran its course. In anthropological terms, it was a mere blink of an eye. And in that blink, humanity brought itself to the brink of collapse. Yet, at the very last step, it will be seen that humanity pulled itself back on the path, as a new evolutionary epoch pushed its way through with disruptive labor into planetary birth. We are in the midst of that birthing transition now. We have the discoveries of new science mingling with new technologies. The digital/virtual worlds are augmenting our sense of material reality, and the deep cosmos is exploding into revelation and being revealed. The great sacred mirror of the human self is reflecting back to us every known atom that ever sprang out of the creative matrix of existence. It is the age of momentum, acceleration, exposure, disclosure, invention, innovation, exploration, and self-understanding as never before seen on such a widespread scale. The new map of reality will assist in this momentum to give us meaning and to empower the individual within a grander unified whole. Where once a higher state of consciousness was first developed through exceptional individuals, it is now on course to be developed through the masses by receptive individuals and communities connecting together across physical and temporal boundaries.
The implications of the new paradigm are that we come to realize the known cosmos acts as a whole nonlocal, unified consciousness field, of which sentient life-forms are localized manifestations. It has been inferred through various religious and sacred texts and traditions that the universe (material reality) came into being as a way for its Source “to know itself’”; “I was a hidden treasure and wanted to be known.” This is reminiscent of “Know thyself,” the famous maxim from the Delphi oracle. Or, as in the words of philosopher Henryk Skolimowski, “We are the eyes through which the universe contemplates itself. . . . We are cosmologizing the human.”*18 Self-consciousness is ascribed to those sentient beings at the peak, or greatest actualization, of mental development. Self-realization is something we credit to each attained individual consciousness. A realization of the self is part of the path of human actualization; it is a path in which purpose and meaning are core drivers and potentials to be achieved. It is an inner knowing that defies the orthodox scientific view of “selfish genes.” Human beings—as human becomings—are naturally driven by a longing, a purpose. A part of that purpose can come through the knowing that we, as manifestations of human consciousness, are localized expressions of the greater unified cosmic consciousness.
As sentient beings we receive aspects of the cosmic consciousness that pervades our spacetime—we are animated by it—and we then manifest this through our own socialized minds and cultures. Our individual expressions of consciousness in our reality matrix also reflect back into the unified cosmic consciousness, thus serving to enhance the consciousness of the cosmos beyond space and time. The sacredness of being human is that we each have a role in bringing the unfinished material reality into greater coherence, and thus completion. If enough localized consciousnesses awake on this planet we can catalyze a localized planetary field into conscious awareness. That is, a planetary matrix field is sufficiently prepared to receive, “bring in,” the greater consciousness pervasive in the cosmos (comparable to the “immanence of the Supermind,” in Aurobindo’s terminology). In this case, we are each a conscious agent of cosmic realization and immanence. We each have an obligation in our existence on this planet to raise our individual, localized expressions of consciousness. In doing so, we both infect and inspire others in our lives to raise theirs, as well as reflecting back our conscious contribution into the source That Is. In this way, we can act as both citizens of the cosmos as well as caretakers for the sacred cosmic order.
This sacred cosmic order informs us that our reality is not a static state but an active, fluid realm that makes demands on us. We are on a path of completion—of conscious completion and communion—that is the eternal path of the sacred. Through this sacred journey of completion we connect and commune with everything else in our reality matrix—and beyond. We can achieve this through our small acts of conscious participation, and regain our communion with the cosmos. The emerging technologies and social change on this planet may well be part of this process, in-forming an extended mind and empathic embrace across the face of the Earth. Everything is ultimately a technology of the soul—and all understanding, all science, and all human expression is a tool for moving closer to soulful communion with a grand conscious and sacred order.
The new answers put forth in this book give us hope that one day we may witness a grand awakening, unprecedented on this planet—and this may very well be the purpose for sentient life, as conscious agents of the sacred cosmic order. This is likely to be more reality than fantasy. The hidden treasure that is at the very core of our existence wishes to be known—for us to be known—by our individual journeys of self-realization.
To summarize, the new paradigm understanding will catalyze new value sets, systems, and institutions on this planet—in alignment with the drive toward coherent, conscious evolution. Our responsibility now is to fully engage and be a part of the human becoming that we truly wish to see in the world. This requires that we spearhead the transition at hand and that we show, through our behavior, the new models for change. We have the opportunity, and capacity, to do this for ourselves and, more importantly, for those to come—and this shall be our true legacy.
As proof that we are regenerated, we must regenerate all around us.
LOUIS CLAUDE DE SAINT-MARTIN