Dear friends,
I wanted to share an interesting story this week…
My uncle was a full professor in the Engineering department at Columbia University in NY, and later became Dean. He was obviously a smart fellow, but he also had a natural philosophical bent. He and I would often wind up chatting at large family events. One time at such an event, he sought me out quite actively and pulled me aside. He said, "I just read something really crazy, so of course immediately thought of you!” Thanks for that—I think. A bit of background before diving into why my uncle sought out his crazy nephew…
Hundreds of years ago we used to think matter was the basis of reality. But we came to see that energy was the basis on a deeper level. That is, a chair is an infinitesimal amount of actual matter, and is mostly the atoms being kept spaced apart by the energy fields that surround them. Einstein’s famous E=MC² means energy (E) and matter (M) are intimately connected and in fact changeable one to another given the right circumstances (like moving at amazingly mind-boggling speeds, since the “C" is the speed of light. I didn't say it was easy to change matter into energy!)
One of the most brilliant physicists of our time, Sir Roger Penrose, wrote an interesting and very deep book that was at least in part about computers’ inability to replicate consciousness. In fact, Penrose suggested that it might be that consciousness is the more fundamental reality, perhaps underlying both matter and energy. “What the heck does that mean?” was the question my uncle posed to me, knowing that consciousness had been my major area of study for many years.
We had a long and spirited talk about consciousness, and I hopefully made things a little clearer. At the end of our chat I said, "But you know, there is something even deeper that underlies even consciousness. Do you want to know what it is?” And he said, “No!” and walked briskly away.
The ancient yogis have always understood the levels of reality. They even predicted millennia ago at what time man would progress from matter-based understanding, to energy-based understanding, to consciousness-based understanding. And what is next, according to these ancient sages, is Spirit/God-based understanding. Everything is a manifestation of that Spirit, but that deep knowledge will come a long time in the future for humankind as a whole. For now it is only the deepest of sages that can see and know the ultimate truth.
This world is never what it appears to be. Let us remember that when we are so firm in our opinions that new thoughts cannot take root.
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the Gang at East West