Dear Robin (and other listmembers),
When I yesterday morning read what you wrote to Hugh (and the list) (BDNOW
Digest 1183), namely:
<< all of this is very exciting as I =
seriously believe (and here I'm certainly exposing myself to criticism =
by those who believe that they could never merge) that humanity is =
entering a period where people will be trying to build bridges between =
the hard and esoteric sciences. In a sense, when you say "We can use =
more science and less mumbo jumbo on this subject", I feel that some =
people are now trying to turn the mumbo jumbo into hard science. >>
,I was reminded of an essay wherein I try to "scientifically" describe the
"spiritual" nature of the so-called "materiality" of our Earth/world, and
posit the potential that this material/spiritual "identity" has for averting
what currently appears an ever-accelerating likelihood of inevitable global
ecological doom.+
At the risk of seeming hoggish of bandwidth, I attach that essay below, so
that I can thereby convey the reason for my own growing excitement as I read
Hugh's (and Barry's, Gil's, and Glen's) recent posts on radionics,
paramagnetism, ORMUS, and resonance/electriicity/vibrations (what little I
can understand of it all). All this mindblowing stuff on top of all the
other great biodynamic principles y'all have been discussing the past couple
years i've been reading here, has made me more optimistic that a global
ecological renaissance may be possible. Thank you, all, for your time,
efforts, spirit.
On a personal note, I have not contributed much (anything?) to this list
because I am hourly, nay, every few minutes, made very ill (dizzy, weak,
brainfogged) by frequent clouds of fabric softeners, gas exhaust, etc., that
blast thru my windows (which I must keep open to dilute the polyurethane
fumes from the floors, except when I am jumping up -- often -- to close them
against each new ingress). Such constant interruptions, and the recovery time
needed after each one (sometimes hours in bed) is not conducive to
conceptualization or expression -- let alone comfort -- to put it mildly.
Chemicals in even minute quantities that are quickly cleansed from the
bloodstream of a "normal" person, recirculate, undetoxified, in the body of a
person whose liver's ability to process and excrete chemicals has been as
badly damaged as seems to be characteristic of Multiple Chemical
Sensitivity-Chemical Injury (MCS-CI), which I have. The inability to "think
straight", breathe, even stand upright (due to dizziness and weakness), are
only some of the physical results of this inability of the body to properly
process and excrete chemicals even in very small amounts, and I get blasts of
them constantly, weherver I have lived in the past 12 years that I've had
this illness..
It took me weeks to write the below essay because most of the time I was too
dizzy to sit for more than a few minutes at a time, and almost all the time
was brainfogged such that writing a coherent sentence was an effort unlike I
never experienced before I got this illness due to of all the chemicals
constantly comeing through my windows.
I relate this not to moan about my pain and difficulties, but to explain --
as a prelude for asking your help with information -- why not only my health
but my ability to possibly contribute to Earth-healing through my writing
(perhaps the only way open to me given my need to avoid gatherings where
deodorants, detergents, shampoos,incense, etc., residues in people's clothes,
hair, skin, carry toxic-to-me fragrance chems), depends upon finding a
reasonably isolated house with some bufferzone of land (to distance me from
neighbors'/passersby's ordinary and everyday [to them] chemicals).
So if anyone hears of a modest (and modestly-priced) house/land combo of this
nature (esp., that hasn't been termiticided), that is for sale ANYWHERE in
the U.S. (but preferably in mid-TN/KY/or other thus-far rather drought-free
regions), I'd be everlastingly grateful if you would contact me backchannel.
In addition to hoping to publish the below essay somewhere in print media as
a stand-alone (if warranted)(publication venue ideas welcome), I also want to
adapt it into the first chapter of a book (thus, the copyright notice). But I
will *never* have the stamina and intellectual flow/capacity I will need for
that project, as long as I am in a place where incoming chemicals keep me
reeling and brainfogged (or flat-on-my-back and brainfogged) during most of
nearly every hour of every day.
take care, thank you if you can help, here's the essay
-Lily
"The 'Spiritual' Nature of 'Physical' Matter and, by Extension, of Our
Material World"
Evidence and logic indicate, that the way we "see" the world influences how
we "feel" about it, and from there, how we "act" towards it.
If that is true, then for what may be the majority of people who, it seems,
at least in their most "idealistic" reveries place greater value on that
which they would call "spiritual" than on that which is "material" (e.g., the
emphasis of so many on "doing good 'here on Earth' so we can go to heaven
when we die"), it could well be that if "matter" (the "material" world of
their own and animals' and plants' bodies and the ecological systems that
support those bodies) were understood as essentially identical with
"spirituality", such could be a first step toward perceiving (thus "imbuing")
the material world with greater "value", and hence "worthy" of agape love.
A *feeling* of cherishing for the "material" world, leads naturally to
refraining from *actions* that will seriously harm its coherence, and to
doing what we are capable of doing to protect it. Such would be the
corrective to conditions that historically and currently require a continual
losing battle to frame, enact, and enforce laws against polluting and
otherwise desecrating our Earth.
Just as laws attempting to protect people from polluting their own bodies'
ecology with drugs do not serve to reduce addictions in those who will find
some way to get their drug of choice, so, too, laws attempting to protect
Earth's ecology from people whose fear-based greed promotes the chemical
pollution and other forms of desecration that are leading us to ecological
doom, can never more than temporarily forestall those laws' evasion or
subversion by the greed-gripped.
Experience shows, laws will never be anything but (essential but temporary)
stopgap measures.
Just as pharmaceutical drugs which address only symptoms of disordered
physiology and not those symptoms' root causes do not serve to rebalance the
system or redress its injuries, but serve only (perhaps) as stop-gap measures
while (ideally) we search out the true cause of the illness, so too, then, if
ongoing unsustainable poisoning of the earth is a symptom of humanity's
illness, what then is the root cause whose healing will effect a cure?
It is musings along these lines that made correspondence with an email
acquaintance, in which I had commented that people often are thoroughgoingly
cruel to, and/or indifferent to the suffering of, others, evolve into seeing
that demonstrating "The 'Spiritual' Nature of 'Physical' Matter and, by
Extension, of Our Material World", might be an essential step in reversing
its accelerating destruction. The process went like this:
My correspondent's reply to my comment about suffering, was that <<on other
levels of consciousness, for instance the buddhic level (A Theosophical term
which refers to the same stage of consciousness as the Buddhist term
"Nirvana") the negativity we experience in the physical world does not exist.
I know this point is invalid to a materialist ...>>
To my inquiry he defined, <<A materialist - in my view - is a person who
thinks the whole world can be reduced to consisting of physical matter - and
the forces which are presently known to academic science (electro-magnetic,
gravity, weak and strong nuclear forces), and who therefore considers the
existence of higher levels of consciousness and matter as fantasy and
imagination. (smile) - and since I don't know you, I can't tell if that's
your view - my guess is it's not.>>
As it happens, though, I do indeed essentially equate "spirituality" --a term
nebulously defined in most places I've seen it used (this correspondent's
<<higher levels of consciousness>> serves as a rough equivalent) -- with
physical matter.
"Spirituality" may (at least in the dimension we all can directly experience,
life on this earth in our human bodyminds) not only: (1) only be _possible_
by virtue of, "physical matter" (I had abbreviated this in an email to him as
<<material expresses spiritual>>); but also (2) literally be _inherent in_,
"physical matter" (abbreviated as <<material IS spiritual>>).
Taking <<material expresses spiritual>> first, I'd like to approach it by
suggesting that the destruction of the "material" of the Earth -- its rivers,
oceans, air, soil, food, plants, animals, and humans -- presents to humanity
the "opportunity", driven by our biological survival imperative, to learn the
ultimate "spiritual" lesson.
(In this sense, Christ may be seen as Christianity's symbolization of the
inherent ("spiritual") sacredness, of all "material" life upon this Earth.
Christ had to be "embodied" -- take the physical *form* and *matter* of a
(hu)man -- to "save" (at least Christian) humans --from destruction -- of
their humanity/bodyminds. Also, we are told, "The body [all bodies, human,
animal, and plant -- and, one might also say, the Earth-body (ecology)] is
the Temple of the Holy Spirit." Other religious traditions may present
similar ideas, but I am not familiar with other traditions as I am with the
one of my youth.)
Now to define "spiritual": "That which promotes or permits evolution of
consciousness toward compassion." This concept is inherent, I believe, in
Christ's words: "and the second [Great] Commandment is like unto [the first]:
LOVE..." -- aka <<higher levels of consciousness>>).
As I think is suggested by a similar quote from another religious tradition
-- <<"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them,
humanity cannot survive." - His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama>>
-- although there are many forms of "love", *compassion* is the form of love
that is most needed now for humanity's survival.
How might "compassion" be differentiated from other forms of love? Perhaps
by suffering, the seeing of which evokes empathy (in those who are capable of
such). But compassion, also potentially evoked by seeing suffering, is more
than empathy, which is a "feeling". Christianity's "By their fruits ye shall
know them" would suggest that compassion's most defining characteristic is
*action* that *bears visible "fruit"* in the material world. Or: "The
(spiritual) proof is in the (material) pudding."
When we re*act* to suffering (and "scientific" evidence exists that
ecological destruction does cause suffering not only to the humans but also
to the animals and even plants it affects***) with concrete *actions* that
effectively alleviate it, THAT is when we know we are compassionate. If we
do not act where we are able to do so, and/or we do not do so appropriately
(i.e., *effectively*, which requires *accurate perception* of the source of
the imbalance of which suffering is the symptom), this is our evidence that
we are behind in our evolutionary potential ("spiritual development"). Thus,
(our action in) the material world is what lets us see our spiritual
progression or lack thereof, and seeing, we have the clue we need to seek
help to develop it if we are lacking it.
(I thank A Course In Miracles for the insight that Accurate Perception is
both a basis for and a goal of, "spiritual" development. "Above all else I
want to see [accurately].")
Thus, if there is any "ultimate purpose" of suffering (whether the illness of
individuals or of the global ecology made sick by pollution, or the
starvation of people without access to natural resources, or the torture of
political prisoners, or the despair of abandoned/neglected/abused children,
or even for ourselves in our addictions to the "highs" of money, tobacco,
alcohol, other drugs), what more likely might that "purpose" be, than to
evoke the compassion that is potentially within us; to give us the occasion
to learn the principles, feelings, and actions of it?
Even if there is no "purpose" in the sense of
Intentionality-with-a-capital-'I', to the suffering or other experiences we
have in our human embodiment (which embodiment itself may or may not be the
end of our learning "journey"**), nevertheless: (1) our ("material")
biochemistry "hardwiring" is ready for both the feelings AND action-ability
of, compassion; and (2) our enlightened self-interest due to the imperative
of biological survival requires that *compassionate ACTION* to address the
imbalances that cause the "symptom" of widespread suffering, be widely
implemented.
The "spiritual" service the "material" world thus does us by its ecologically
downwards spiral forcing us to a recognition of our enlightened self-interest
in developing compassion, is one facet of this jewel: "The world doesn't
need to be saved, it just needs to be loved."*
However, it seems the essential "identity" of the "physical" (material) and
"spiritual" realms is more literal even than as sketched above. Not only
does "Material expresses spiritual" (by way of the material world we learn
compassion) but also "'Material' *IS* (one form of the) spiritual".
The interrelation of matter and energy (represented by e=mc2) was my first
introduction to the idea that what appears to our sense perceptors as
physical matter, also can take the form of/be composed of, energy. From
there (and after reading The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, and The Dancing
Wu Li Masters), it was short distance to understanding that what appears to
our sense perceptors (unaided by analytic and sensory tools such as quantum
physics and electron microscopes) as physical "matter", can "scientifically"
be "proven" to be composed of space and light/energy.
If "matter" is "proven" by "science" to be forms of "energy", "space" and
"light" -- all relative intangibles -- might not "matter" be (a form of)
something that many would call "spiritual" (even as defined more "nebulously"
than I have done)? Might not compassion (an intangible, yet whose path in
the world can be traced (only?) by way of manifestations in the "material"
world) be yet another natural "force" under which the universe operates, that
cannot *presently* be "explained" according to the laws and forces *that we
have so far discovered* with our necessarily limited sensing apparati?
Also, the molecules that are composed, ultimately, of (irreducible?) forces
of "subatomic" nature and which compose our physical bodies, enable --as
explained by Candace Pert, Ph.D. in her book Molecules of Emotion-- all the
biological operations of our neuroimmunoendocrinal bodyminds. "Material
molecules" thus become the basis for being able to experience the "spiritual"
exaltation of a Chopin Ballade, or of help extended to a person or animal in
need. Further, without the bodymind (a term I use because body and mind are
one inseparable entity; Pert's book helps explain the biological truth of
this), we have no tool for compassionate (and not-so) actions, the commission
of which gives us feedback concerning our "spiritual" development or lack
thereof.
Thus, it seems to me, a "materialist" who sees the world as operating
according to forces such as EM, gravity, weak and strong nuclear forces,
etc., could be one who also is realistic enough to see (and I think any truly
scientifically-minded person would acknowledge) that not all the laws and
forces under which the universe operates have yet been discovered or
theorized/proved. And therefore that, perhaps so-called "spirituality" --aka
<<higher levels of consciousness>>-- will one day be explained, and/or
described as operating in accordance with heretofore-undiscovered forces that
also energize/organize material forms (aka, "embodiments") found in the
physical, "material" world.
I hope I have effectively made a case that it may well be accurate to state
that "spirituality" is to be found in the "materiality" of the world.
(c) 2002 L. Maxwell. All rights reserved.
*--Tsipi Mankovsky
**In which case, humans' journey of learning or development would not
necessarily involve a "soul" that would continue after death, but could
"simply" consist of learning how to effectiively meet the challenges of
living while hopefully sharing the available joys of existing "only" in this
bodymind. Of course this does not contradict the possibility that there *is*
a "soul" that continues on in some form.
*** viz. The Secret Life of Plants
=============
+ this article, found after I wrote this essay, underlines the point:
http://ads.guardian.co.uk/html.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&location=middle&spacede
sc=07&site=Observer&navsection=1362§ion=102275&rand=2414188
The world's ticking timebomb
Earth 'will expire by 2050'
...
Mark Townsend and Jason Burke
Sunday July 7, 2002
The Observer
...
A study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), to be released on
Tuesday,
warns that the human race is plundering the planet at a pace that
outstrips its capacity to support life.
...
The report, based on scientific data from across the world,
reveals
that more than a third of the natural world has been destroyed by
humans over the past three decades.>>
[snip]
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