Spiritual equations
Taking a mathematical approach to the spiritual realm, we seek spiritual equations with which we can express the dynamics of the system we are in. There may be a spiritual calculus which can be used to describe the interactions that is coherent. Just as mathematics described in well-defined symbols large portions of our interactions with the world around us, so this spiritual mathematics could challenge much of the flotsam that floats around the central lake, as well as making some of it more accessible to any who are willing to learn the language of such symbols.
This is what I believe forays like the Kabbalah, which I refer to as a spiritual science, are. It is a language, experientially explored, that is more capable of expressing much of the spiritual realm that we encounter and interact with.
Mathematics does not posit a self as fundamental to being, just a sense of self. We, however, have a false sense of self by believing that any meaningful understanding of this self can be separate from the environment in which it was and is experiencing itself.
Linear designation
Every continuous line has a beginning and an end - assuming no loops.
There are two ways to designate a straight line:
- by two points, its beginning point & end point, on the plane
- by a vector, which has a beginning point - known as the point of origin, and a distance.
- there is another way, which is known as polar co-ordinates, which uses the circle & pi. It describes the line by its angle from the point of origin (with a baseline) and its distance.
The latter two express the concept of movement in a certain direction indicative of goal & purpose. Male envisages movement as essentially linear. Thus, with power, he continues in a straight line to his goal, ignoring any collateral damage, and not knowing when he has crossed the line, except after the crossing. WIth discipline, and constraint, he can learn to know when to stop, when you have reached the "end".
However, that is not the topic of the moment, just note that this now has three aspects, or parts, that can be designated: beginning, middle and end. This partition can be found elsewhere too, as past, present & future, and inside, border & outside. One could also use this to describe a three-dimensional space.
This is often reduced further (by the effects of egotism, or narcissism) to a two-dimensional space of the border & what is inside - ignoring the actual reality of what is outside the "borders", however defined. For we "awaken to consciousness" inside the vessel that we call our bodies. Then begin to garner information through the skin of our vessels regarding the "outside". This "skin" is essentially defined by our senses. If that outside is exciting, and inviting, and safe, we are likely to respond to it, and open to it. If it is not, we are more likely to create a hard shell to protect ourselves from a hostile environment. This produces binary—us & them—polarised and conflictual way of relating and thinking about the world and ourselves.
In the beginning, on the outside all is unknown, containing the great adventure of life. Is not the Hero's Journey to venture out into the unknown, and, having overcome all the challenges of encounter(s) with the unknown, returns home a hero?
The third, polar fashion is an even more accurate representation of the dynamic of perception. Using sight as the example, our eyes are drawn to look at something. Light travels in a straight line, so what you see is in line with the angle/perspective that you are looking at it from. Thus we have angle and direction (and power). This angle is determined by the choice of the "observer" or participant, through his entanglement.
Line
When we envisage a line, we envisage a form of "linear momentum", which is a point moving along a specific trajectory (in this case, a straight line). However, to be more accurate, the line is actually a set of points, even though it seems continuous, just as our existence is made up of a set of points, the present moment. This collection we call a line.
Two ways to produce a line:
- As described above
- By moving the background (an old movie trick).
For the background gives the context of whatever "story" is occurring in the foreground.
Time
Time is the moving background upon which everything occurs, and in which our lives unfold. We spend much time trying to remain still, for things to remain as they are—even if only for a moment. We practice meditation, to still our minds, so that we can be more prepared for this constant moving background of time in which we exist. Of course, the other option is to try and "move faster than time", hopefully outrunning one's destiny. In other words, if I could fore-tell, prophesy, know the future, I could out-smart time. Or if I can avoid my time of "death" - perhaps the prime motivator for prophecy, which has spawned a whole industry whose main thrust is for you to live longer. We are constantly bombarded by all the ways to extend one's life and cheat death—by eating supplements, exercising, thinking positive thoughts; from fat-free to oxygen rich and everything inbetween.
However, when it is your time to die, according to the will of the Creator, it will happen, and there is nothing that can save you from that truth.
The truth is that time marches on inexorably—and to stop time would be to stop life! Time is actually necessary for the your life to be experienced. Your narrative unfolds in time... This is how one becomes entangled in the mystery of time which I would call conjugates.
How would you like it to end? Ideally, not in death, but having achieved your goals, "completed", so as to say, your life. That you will die is inevitable, but that you amy die fulfilled for most of us, a laudable goal. The drive to reach the place of fulfilment, of peace, of love, or success, is extremely strong, and entwined with the survival instinct. You become so intimate with you own story, that you "become" the story - and lose yourself in it. That becomes the drive for immortality. Which is absurd—why would you want to continue to live in frustration, in not having fulfilled anything, except to live a long life?
Now this background upon which your particular life-story unfolds is a background that has a dynamic and momentum that is its own. For you are just like a leaf floating on the river, or a feather floating in the air, buffetted by the currents around you. You are born into the background, you will live in it, and die in & from it. It is, and you are but just a moment in it.
Thus you can
- Ego: Fight this background. Attempt to bend it to your will.
This is the alpha personality. The big person, who will make his stamp on history. - Submission: Accept this background
This is the one who is disempowered, and submits to his fate. It is also a spiritual position, if taken from a place of humility. - Flow: Merge with it.
This is the one who will engage in a spiritual quest to find harmony and balance in their lives and with those around them.
Flow
This is the ideal. It is to live as a servant to G-d, and try to understand His Will. That sounds so Biblical, doesn't it? Let's translate that into the much more complex modern vernacular. There are certain laws and principles of Nature and the Universe that if we don't obey, we will find ourselves in trouble. Try to ignore the law of Gravity, etc.
What we don't take into account, that those areas that we are unable to measure or unable to perceive or are not even aware of still continue to affect the system and our lives. This is the question that the Zen koan asks: "What sound does the tree make in the forest when it falls, if there is no-one to hear it?" Put more simply, even though it is unknown, it still can have a huge effect on the outcome.
Think of it from the perspective of a child. As an adult, you know things that the child does not. You are aware of influences and effects and outcomes that the child is not. Hopefully he will in time, but that is not guaranteed.
So it is with us and our Father. This is the scenario we are struggling with at present.
Let us keep the focus on the individual as it is easier to comprehend—and perhaps more useful. Encountering this background through a patchwork collection of interactions, we create our taperstry—which I call my story. This story becomes who I am in the world. This is what I do. This is my name. This is my profession. I am a doctor, worker, employee, president... We differentiate and separate ourselves by our narratives. Do you agree with my version (thesis), or not (antithesis)? This makes you are a potential threat to who/what I am, or a friend/accomplice.
If I seek conflict, or reject your version, we remain stuck in this perpetual cycle of thesis vs. antithesis. For synthesis is a choice, and often requires an effort of will!
Similar is my relationship with this background. I can submit, which is the synthesis, and the, even if not the easiest, it is the most beneficial in the long term. Alternatively, I can try and fight it. If I lose, I pay the price for rejecting it. If I win, I am successful*mdash;but estranged from it. Both will require that I surround myself with a bastion of others who will benefit from my/our success, or will support me in my constant fight against the reality I have created. Both require us to create and maintain our version of the what is really happening in this background. Inevitably, we build a "system", a society, in which we can hold onto this narrative, which has in some way benefited me and my supporters. The end result is that you believe so completely in this narrative that you relate to it as if the narrative (and not the actual event) is real - and made of real things that cannot be changed.
This is the Wisdom Mantra:
G-d grant me the Wisdom to change the things I can, to accept the things I cannot, and to know the difference.
This is why it has been called an "ego trip", as your ego needs to identify (and be nourished) by this story. The more completely you accept it, the more you begin to fully live it—and thus perpetuate it, sothat it does become "real". Real laws, real prison, real weapons, real killing.
The success of this venture will always depend on how accurate its depiction of the reality is.
As mentioned, the most balanced and productive relationship with this background within which we exist would be to synthesise with it. To "dance" together with it. Like a surfer riding a wave to the shore. This is called "Being in the Flow". It is attuning yourself to the current of time you are in. As we often say: "It is not the right time" or "It is time for you to...", etc.
Formlessness
What do we have? We have the background. We have the point—which we called the "beginning"—that exists somewhere inside this background. This is the only point of reference we have, which we also refer to as "the point of origin". This is a "static" point, in relation to whatever line is formed. If the line is continuous and coherent—that is, it can be tracked or measured—then we can always find the beginning... But, that point is not real anymore. It happened, and it could take billions of years for you to realise that. And the only place you can realise it from is your present point of awareness—which the moment you are currently aware of— which constantly changes! The only solution to this conundrum is to enter a state of formlessness and merge, becoming One with this constantly flowing background, like a fish in the water. So that you can dance with the currents of time, holding your self, not your position or your place in the story.
Memories
Like when reading a book, you remember your place so that you can return to that story and continue where you left off. But once you continue, you no longer need the bookmark. To remember every bookmark along the way, returning constantly to this one or that one, would be foolish, seldom allowing you to continue with the story.
These bookmarks, we call memories.
Are these memories that you hold to real? Do they not also merge and meld in the flow of time, till what really happened is vague. Even the feelings associated with that event will morph, and become more basic—as in good/bad, pain/pleasure, etc.
For we must remember that history is seldom a true rendering of events and how they unfolded, always being only the stories by the victors and sometimes the survivors.