CHAPTER TWELVE
MIND AND MATTER
Man's
concern for eternity has always aroused his curiosity about the nature of mind
and matter. Are they mutually opposed principles or are they two aspects of the
same reality? This debate has raged over centuries leading to divisions and
subdivisions which have lowered the standards of humanity, yet man's search for
eternity, which is connected with the solution of this problem, has remained
unabated. Attitudes of the modern scientist are even more puzzling; he thinks of
man as a mammal whose only purpose is to eat and drink for a few decades and
then happily walk into his grave for ever. This is surely not the natural end of
man because extinction is man's greatest fear, and existence is his sweetest
dream. This is why he condescends to the most frivolous, freakish and futile
attitudes. Thus in the hope of preserving himself, he prevaricates, perseveres
and willingly suffers the brunt of such persuasions which would ordinarily
insult his intellect and torment his conscience. Since man's entire
psychological conduct is based on self-preservation, death as we know it,
contradicts the whole purpose of life.
Human dream of eternity is most
sincere and constitutes the cornerstone of existence. Fear of death can turn
love of life into an ever-rising obsession. It is this psychological condition
of the mind which is preyed upon by gods and gurus, messengers and messiahs and
prophets and *pirs. These merchants of holiness portray themselves as saviours
of people, not to deceive them intentionally, but to save themselves. Their
obsession for self-preservation is much greater than that of the ordinary folks.
By projecting themselves as the object of total fidelity, submission and
adoration, they aspire to create a class of men and women who dedicate
themselves to obey their commands and worship their memories. Thus they preserve
their identity through the imagination and behaviour of their followers! In
doing so, they achieve their ambition but at a very high cost to the believers
whose conscience, which is the only hope of securing eternity, they distort
through the destructive force of blind faith and bigotry.
* A Pir is a personal Spinuai
mentor in the Islamic World He guides his Mureed or follower to paradise
Is cosmos a machine?
The goal of life is eternity but
this assertion is true only if the cosmos itself has a goal. If the cosmos is
just a machine, then man being its product, albeit the highest, is also a
machine and therefore, can't have any purpose. It is on the Strength of such an
assumption a biologist declares that eyes are not for the purpose of seeing, we
see because we have eyes! This is an attempt to replace the view of final cause
or purpose with the concept of function which holds that function is the
activity of a part in a whole and plays a necessary or beneficial role for that
particular whole.
Cosmic purpose
This mechanistic view cannot be
true because, for instance, the human race without eyes shall constantly wallow
in a sea of darkness without ever appreciating the beauty or realising the
wonders of nature. Again, eyes are an integral part of the perceptual system,
and consciousness, which is the apex of evolution, cannot emerge without eyes.
Since consciousness means cognition or knowing, there must be something worth
knowing. Therefore, eyes have a multiple purpose; firstly to play a definite
role in the evolution of consciousness, and secondly, to know the world around
us. From this conclusion, it also follows that the world or cosmos has a
purpose: it wants to be known; it aspires to be conscious of itself. This seems
to be the entire purpose of consciousness. Since man is the cosmic baby, he
happens to be the medium for the universal consciousness.
Principle and purpose
That man is not a machine but a
living-being is quite obvious from the fact that the entity of everything is
based on an underlying principle. For example, the underlying principle of water
is H2O. It means that if there were no H2O, there would be no water because
irrespective of any process that may produce water, its underlying principle is
always the same, that is, it requires two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of
oxygen to bring about water. The same truth can be described thus: every
underlying principle has a purpose which is its integral part because where
there is H2O, there will be water. In simpler terms, principle and purpose have
mutual existence. This is the reason that when the principle H2O is decomposed,
water disappears as well but when the atoms of hydrogen and oxygen combine
according to their natural relationship (the underlying principle) water must
come into existence. Surely, the cosmos cannot exist without an underlying
principle. Therefore, it must have a purpose. However, the modern trend amongst
scientists is to think of man as a machine because according to their
interpretation, purpose implies predestination and the existence of a creator.
This thought annoys them the same way as the presence of a policeman irritates a
thief, the sight of a mongoose maddens a snake or the chase by a dog saddens a
drake. They deny the cosmic purpose to inflate the evolutionary dignity of
chance, and to deflate the value of purpose.
Role of chance
If we look into the operation of
the universe, we cannot allot the sole evolutionary role to chance because
chance is something which may or may not happen but the universe has a definite
existence, and is thus, way above the evolutionary capacity of chance. The
cosmos is the manifestation of a certain and clear principle whereas certainty
and clarity are no parts of chance which is always based on ambiguity. It does
not mean that chance plays no part m the process of becoming. It does, but its
role is secondary.
The Planet Earth
A glance at our own planet can
settle this issue. Without the planet earth, as far as it is known, the
existence or non-existence of the universe would not have mattered, because it
is the earth that has mothered man, the only (known) species with consciousness
that can tell the difference between existence and nonexistence and appreciate
the magnitude of being. Is the earth a product of chance?
The scientists declare that it is
so. I find this statement a glorious part of science-fiction because to be able
to produce life the earth has to be a marvel of planning, engineering and
operation. As we know, these things are not part of a chance no matter how
prodigious, but a consequence of cogitation and seasoned deliberations. Again,
the earth cannot be the product of one chance but trillions and trillions of
homogeneous chances - all aiming at the same thing, all heading in the same
direction and all having the same purpose. It is well known that chances of
happening the same thing twice exactly the same way are only fifty-fifty.
Therefore, it is highly likely that if something has been done by one chance, it
may be undone by another. But when it requires trillions of befitting chances to
produce something such as the planet earth, then such chances cease to be
chances and count as natural links of a planned chain.
Direction and earth
The earth cannot be a product of
chance; it is the consequence of a direction and a direction has always a
purpose. This assertion is borne out by the fact that the earth is at exactly
the right distance from the sun to receive the correct amount of sunlight;
otherwise it would be too hot or too cold to serve as the cradle of life. The
magnetic field of the earth is also made to measure for deflecting back to space
the lethal radiation of the sun whose severity would otherwise destroy life. Its
miraculous engineering is vouched for by the spin at its axis at just the right
speed which enables the day time side to warm in sunshine and the night time
side to cool. The precise gravity of the earth ensured by its calculated mass is
the product of a brilliant mind, and not of a dreamer dependent on chance,
because without this gravity the molecules of such a vast variety, instead of
holding together as they do, will drift off into space.
These facts which I have described
above, constitute what is called biosphere, he a water-based environment which
is a must for the evolution of life, as we know it. These events are not only
improbable without an ingenious designing of the superlative quality, but
forging them into a creative chain is beyond the capacity of chance. It is the
result of direction, and the direction has always a purpose. The purpose of this
direction is the evolution of life endowed with the highest possible
consciousness, which itself has a purpose.
Source of direction
Possibly, the reader may be
inclined to question my idea of purpose. It is a legitimate enquiry that if
there is no Creator God, and if evolution as we know If, is beyond the
capability of chance, then where does the direction come from?
In a previous chapter, I stated
that if existence comes out of nothingness, then nothingness is just another
name for existence because what flows out of a fountain is a part of that
fountain. Since existence is a reality, the universe has always existed in one
form or another. However, to elucidate what I am about to state, I must add that
the initial state of existence must have been haphazard because at that stage
chance did play its part which was neither premeditated nor skillfully executed;
it was an instinctive play of the child that I have already named as Change
whose restless nature triggered a wide variety of things related to itself and
one another. It is this mutual relationship of things and the inherent sense of
maintaining them which enables things to unite, disunite and reunite for
creating the chain of "cause-and-effect" which is not original but the
sequence of the said union, disunion and reunion generated by the necessity of
maintaining mutual relationships.
Self direction
In a nutshell, the change initially
is infantile, and therefore, haphazard. The expansion of relationships and the
inherent sense of honouring them give birth to new properties and forces,
capable of sustaining and supporting the chain of mutuality. To emphasise this
point, I must add that it is the innate urge of things to maintain mutual
relationships which constitute existence. Since existence is spontaneous, it is
its own purpose, and therefore, self-directed.
This explanation may seem
far-fetched but it is not when we enquire what is it that gives particles their
positive and negative charges? It is surely the sense of mutual relationship
which is governed by the properties of the constituents of a thing; without
these properties particles will not stick together to form relationships. The
fact that things do form, and are inclined to retain their forms as long as
possible, gives them the direction of movement; it enables them to retain their
form (i.e. the particular mode of existence) which also happens to be their
goal.
Evolution is self-directed
Evolution is self-directed, and the
sense of direction lies in the atoms themselves; they are activated by change,
which ranks as the Creative Principle, for evolving the ability to systematise
relationships and creating new relationships based on precise formulas.
Urge of self-improvement
The further proof of this fact lies
in the human body which is self-directed. As differentiation starts, all cells
of the same kind instinctively recognise one another to unite together. A reflex
is a self-directed response of the body. The human brain, which is made of atoms
(cells), is self-directed and depicts the apogee of intelligence which directs
myriads of processes and phenomena. Again, this self-direction of atoms is also
self-elevating and constitutes the urge of selfimprovement which is the fountain
of evolution. Unless it were true, an atom could not evolve into a cell and an
amoeba could never attain the dignity of man. This evolution does not stop at
man but eventually reaches Godhead, the real subject of this book.
Tendency To Be
No matter where this universe came
from, it cannot evolve or exist without the tendency To Be. Change is another
name for the tendency To Be because it (change) is always operative and cannot
reach the stage where change ceases to be change It is change which creates, and
creation takes place through a process and chain of relationships. Change
creates a potential which is realised by further change This is the reason that
everything is linked with everything else one way or another Thus existence is
not possible without relationships.
An example of the tendency To Be is
provided by the nature of atoms, the building blocks of the universe. All
electrons of an atom can be removed by sufficiently destructive forces of heat
but its denuded nucleus with its concentrated positive charges, attracts
electrons (which carry negative charges) to become an atom again. Thus the
universal tendency is To Be and not Not To Be. As said before, the tendency To
Be operates through change, thus making the two equivalent.
Change usually takes place in three
ways: 1. change of position called movement; 2. change of form such as water to
ice or vapours; and 3. change of substance, which is a chemical reaction.
Properties and
interrelationships
The properties of a substance
depend upon its atomic composition. There are 105 known elements which
constitute the fundamental materials of which all matter is composed. An element
is a substance that cannot be split into simpler substances, and all the atoms
of a pure element have the same gross chemical properties.
As the properties of a chemical
compound are determined by its atomic structure, the properties of an atom
itself are determined by its electronic composition. If all the known elements
are arranged in the sequence according to their atomic numbers, i.e. the number
of protons in the nucleus, their chemical and physical properties will be
periodic, that is, similarities in properties will occur at regular intervals in
the sequence of elements.
These elements have their
particular properties. For example, helium is an "unsocial" element
because it is reluctant to combine with other elements whereas carbon has the
property to form covalent bonds (combine) not only with other elements but also
with its own atoms. The carbon compounds are considered organic compounds
because this trait of carbon contributes to life.
Elements gain their properties
through a process of change which is said to occur in the interiors of stars
where light elements are transmuted into heavy elements. It is these properties
which determine the mutual relationships of things, that is, how things should
come to exist, and their further combinations (relationships) give rise to
further properties which create still more relationships thus establishing a
cyclical pattern whereby properties produce relationships and relationships
create properties. Once a relationship is formed, as a general rule, it develops
the urge to preserve itself. This is the reason that man dreads the
decomposition of his cells which means disturbance of the cellular
relationships, or in plain language, death.
Evolution of Change through
interrelationships
To put this idea of relationships
more simply, let us assume that in the beginning' the earth surface was covered
with water. First there grew single cells Whose associations (relationships) led
to the evolution of complex plants and animals, which in turn, produced
communities of organisms as well as those of grasslands' jungles, etc. Here, we
should also consider photosynthesis, the single most important photochemical
reaction, which is the union of carbon dioxide and water in plants through the
interaction of sunlight and chlorophyll molecules. What has this chemical
reaction got to do with relationships? The end product of this reaction within
green plants appears as carbohydrates and energy-rich compounds which become the
food of the herbivorous (plant-eating) organisms which themselves constitute the
diet of the carnivorous (flesh-eating) animals. Though this relationship is
based on animosity, it leads to the emergence of the urge of survival, i.e. the
preservation of one's own organismic relationships as well as one's
relationships with fellow-members of the species. Thus, maintenance of
relationships becomes the goal of organic and inorganic compounds consciously or
unconsciously. It is the vigour of achieving this goal which begins to
discipline the pace and mode of change which becomes precise, formulated and
predictable. Though change in its initial stage was infantile, as the net of
interrelationships grew bigger and more complex, it lost its frivolity to assume
the dignity of law. Do you know what is carbon dioxide? It is the relationship
of carbon to oxygen in the mass ratio of 3 to 8. Similarly, ammonia gas consists
of a relationship between nitrogen and hydrogen in the ratio of 14 to 3.
This whole discussion can be
summarised as follows:
Change creates relationships which
develop the urge to preserve themselves, thus preservation of interrelationships
becomes the purpose of existence. However, existence does not mean existing for
the sake of existing but existing at a gradually rising level through
self-improvement. These two urges, i.e. self-preservation through preservation
of interrelationships and self-improvement, act as the catalyst to give Change
the dignity of discipline, precision and predictability.
The cosmic purpose
Since the universe itself is a
phenomenon of interrelationships, it must have the same purpose as everything
else, i.e. self-preservation. As man represents the peak of natural phenomena,
the cosmos aims to preserve man - its best manifestation, which ranks as the
cosmic attempt to preserve itself. Thus the universe strives for eternity
through the agency of man. It is this purpose which necessitates the discussion
of "matter and mind" because the attainment of eternity depends upon
soul which is an extension of the mind.
Is eternity really possible?
The short answer is "yes"
because nothing dies: This universe is a phenomenon of positive and negative
electric charges but an electric charge can neither be created nor destroyed.
Though this answer alludes to immortality, it does not vouch for the concept of
eternity which implies not only an everlasting conscious life hereafter but also
a better life which is pure, untouched by the pollution of fear, and filled with
the fecudity of freedom and felicity.
Human nature
When searching for eternity, one
cannot find a better starting point than human nature itself. Though we may
differ about the definition of human nature, it is difficult to disagree
with the fact that all human actions are directed at self-preservation one way
or another. This proves that love of life and dread of death are the basic
constituents of human nature. Secondly, the search for self-improvement is the
basic trait of human nature. Therefore, what constantly seeks to improve itself,
as a general rule, is good though concept of good may vary in individual cases.
Soul
The truth is that man has always
yearned for eternity and to console himself, believes in Soul which he has held
to be immortal without ever trying to find out what it really is.
The traditional view of soul is
mirthful, magnetic and mystifying, though lacking proof and precision, yet
powerful and pressurising. Of course, the mere fact that people have always
believed in soul does not raise it to the status of reality but being compatible
with human nature, it cannot be dismissed as a frivolity.
The history surrounding belief in
soul is imbued with an unusual charm:
All Semitic religions advocate that
God himself has a soul. Every human has a soul and it is immortal. According to
the Koran: "God takes the souls at the time oft heir death, and that which
is alive during sleep" (The Companies. 40) Hindus think of body as a prison
for soul whose ultimate goal is to free itself from the body; they believe that
soul survives death and suffers birth in another body as a man, mouse or monkey
according to its actions in the previous life. Though Buddhists do not
acknowledge soul, they believe in reincarnation which is the rebirth of a soul!
The old Greeks (especially the orphics) also professed to have a similar faith;
both Plato and Plotinus thought that soul lived a purer life after its release
from the body at death. It is also believed that soul haunts the living after
death; it may visit graveyards in search of suitable bodies or may take over the
body of a living person by dispossessing its occupant.
Soul has not just been a vehicle of
faith. It has also received philosophical consideration. Plato and Plotinus I
have already mentioned. Aristotle thought of soul as a tripartite concept, i.e.
vegetative, sensitive and rational. Rene Descartes identified soul with the mind
because of its thinking aspect. Berkeley believed in the immortality of soul;
Kant denied any human knowledge of soul whereas modern thinking treats of soul
as an unnecessary and unverifiable concept.
My view of soul is different from
what is currently thought about it or what might have been believed in the past.
To start with, there is no
substance in denying the entity of soul on the ground that it cannot be seen or
experimentally established in a laboratory. Take the example of atom. Mach, as
well as Wilhelm Ostwald, the originator of chemistry were bitter opponents of
the atomic theory in physics and chemistry. Just because it could not be seen,
the positivists considered it at best a "convenient fiction,' and at worst
an "illegitimate ad hoc hypothesis". Again nobody had ever heard of
microbes until the 17th century. These tiny creatures now subdivided into
various disciplines such as bacteriology, protozoology and virology, cannot be
seen with naked eyes. Yet the microorganisms had existed for millions of years!
Nature of scientific evidence
Such views about the reality of
atom sprang from ignorance. Once our knowledge advances, we may be able to see
the truth about soul more closely but not completely because what we call
scientific evidence is no more than a hypothesis of the person who advances it;
his own subjectivity colours the face of reality, complexity of the instruments
he employs adds further distortions; interpretation of the data gathered through
scientific observation depends upon the purpose and prejudice of the observer.
For example, Einstein forged the "cosmological constant" to prove that
the universe was static. Similarly, Newton refused to accept the concept
concerning lack of absolute position (absolute space) on the ground of his faith
though his own laws implied this truth. The choice of facts that a scientist
makes may not be truly representative of the whole field of enquiry. Perfect
objectivity though is the aim of science, yet it is seldom feasible because
progress towards the goal is always made through approximations, and the
insurmountable gaps which are usually encountered in scientific investigations,
are always plugged with guesses. The Quantum Theory which bases physical enquiry
on probabilities, decides the nature of the scientific evidence: it ranks as a
near-truth and not the whole truth. This view is confirmed by the fact that
scientists have developed such concepts as "imaginary numbers" and
"imaginary time" to overcome their difficulties. Though one should
salute scientists as I do for their intellect, dedication and hard work, one
cannot overlook the arrogance which power, pomp and prestige engender. Max Born,
a Nobel prize winner declared in 1928, "Physics as we know it, will be over
in six months".
Despite all the machinery and
exploratory knowledge at our disposal, we have not yet discovered the whole
truth about our own planet where we live; the rate of success, say in
prospecting gas is only one in eight. How scientists know everything precisely
about the stars and planets billions and trillions of miles away, escapes the
grip of my understanding.
Warning to the reader
Having discussed the nature of
scientific evidence, I must warn the reader that I can state facts only as I see
them. As mentioned earlier, mystery is a part of knowledge, therefore, certain
facts cannot be explained with total clarity. It does not mean that one should
accept a vulture for an eagle, a pebble for a diamond
or an ass for an Arab stallion. An
argument should be factual or at least rational. It is for the reader or the
listener to decide its merits but his judgement ought to be honest and fair I
intend to proceed on this basis.
Of course, mere belief in soul does
not create the soul itself. But the dignity of man that has been debased,
decried and derided by the materialistic and mechanistic views of modern
scientists, requires reappraisal instead of outright rejection for such childish
reasons that the existence of soul cannot be verified experimentally If there is
a soul, then it is certainly a higher and more complex species than the human
species. Despite all our ingenuity and effort we have so far only touched the
surface of the human sea and the deeper we dive the more mysterious it becomes;
study of cells provides a good example of this point. It is openly admitted that
it will need some four hundred million pages of this size for the understanding
of human cells. Assuming that this assertion is true, what is the guarantee that
perfect understanding of this subject can be achieved? The sheer vastness of the
issue suggests that there will spring up myriads of controversies which are
likely to darken rather than illumine it. Even if such a comprehension were
possible, mastering information of such a mammoth size and complexity is beyond
the capacity of any single human brain.
Method of studying soul
Obviously, it is far more difficult
to understand soul than ordinary forms of matter, e.g. plants, animals etc. One
must be prepared to make an allowance for reasonable assumptions as it is done
in the field of science. For example, they have invented the concept of
"virtual particles" which unlike the real particles cannot be detected
but their presence is recognised because of their "indirect effects".
Similarly, we are told that particles and antiparticles, as they come into
contact, annihilate each other, yet it is claimed that the antiparticles of
light and gravity are no different from their particles, i.e. they are one and
the same thing!
Is there really a soul?
The answer to this question is
really complex, and may be found in the age-old debate of ``mind and
matter", usually referred to as dualism. Plato thought of mind as a
completely nonmaterial entity; it is distinct from body and can exist
independently. `'Psyche" is the word that Plato used to describe mind which
has been translated as ``soul". In line with the Indian traditions that
held body as a prison cell and thus treated matter as impure and the source of
all trifles, troubles and torments, Plato deplored matter and adored mind
(soul). The ascetic traditions and the cynical attitudes that retarded the
progress of mankind for over 2000 years thus making this planet the abode of
misery, malevolence and molestation, spring from such philosophical
interpretations. The euphoria of self-debasement attained the magnitude of a
charming opiate whose addictive effect, as it penetrated the human guts, happily
reconciled everybody with the most alluring wonders of belittlement; eagle
thought of itself as a sparrow, lion believed itself to be a lamb and man
delightfully ranked himself with a mouse.
Mind: a property of matter
As far as knowledge is concerned,
we are luckier than our ancestors. We know that everything is made of matter
which is composed of positive and negative charges. I think that what is without
some kind of body does not exist. The mere fact that the said charges exist, and
cannot be created or destroyed, clearly points to the possibility of an
everlasting bodily existence and also establishes that mind and matter cannot be
two separate things because mind, in its usual sense, is a property of matter in
the same way as fragrance is that of a rose, heat is that of fire and cold is
that of snow. In fact, mind is a natural extension of matter because physical
make-up leads to spiritual attributes. For example, the body of a savage
develops moral sense and attains cultural refinement.
Matter, brain and mind
In this context matter means brain,
and mind cannot be anything but another description of the cognitive powers of
the brain because without brain, mind has no existence. Brain, like other parts
of the body, is just a piece of flesh, thus a manifestation of matter, and all
its properties must be considered as properties of matter, associated with its
particular form. It looks like a huge walnut and may weight up to
three-and-a-half pounds. The old physicians described its various parts in
layman's language: wrinkled exterior of the cerebrum (brain) was called Cortex
(bark) and was divided into Gyri (ridges) and Sulci (valleys). This description
of the old masters is not laughable but expressive of amazement as how something
which is shaped by bark, ridges and valleys can become the fountain of
consciousness which ranks as the apex of the evolutionary process.
A strange working feature of the
brain is its up-side-down performance: the left half of the brain controls the
right half of the body and vice versa, and top of the brain regulates the lower
parts of the body and vice versa. What specially concerns this discussion is the
fact that growth of the brain is rapid during the first three years of life and
attains its full weight by the age of seven though gradual growth continues
until the 20th year; females may approach this stage somewhat earlier.
Thereafter, the brain experiences diminution in its weight at the rate of one
gram per year. Again, the cerebrum in humans, which is the core of thinking and
conscious activities, is about 85°70 of the brain's weight thus distinguishing
man from other animals.
What is mind?
Mind is, basically, the extension
of matter, but how do we describe it? It is "that which thinks, knows,
feels and wills". This covers the entire cognitive process including
dreams, desires, designs, ditherings, determinations, delusions, detachments,
deliberations, deeds and all the mental processes such as images, sense
perceptions, memory, expectations, reasoning, believing, motives, emotions,
choices, traits of personality and the unconscious.
Each of these characteristics of
the mind is individualistic: neither will is thinking nor thinking is knowing.
These traits may or may not work in harmony; they may even have rebellious or
competitive inclinations. It is a common experience
that thoughts and emotions disobey
the commands of will based on sagacious choices, and feelings may stage a mutiny
against knowing: it is not unknown that a lover under the force of his feelings
may disregard the knowledge that his ladylove is fickle and unfaithful.
Personality
The gradual, repetitive and
competitive working of the mind-traits over a period of time give birth to
patterns of thinking, feeling, believing and acting which in turn, create a
somewhat mechanised behaviour called habits, leading to a conduct. This
mechanization of the mind-traits emerges as personality which is over and above
the sum total of the brain cells, yet totally ingrained in them. There is always
a centre for everything as nucleus is the centre for an atom (electrons) and
nothing can gain stability without sticking to its centre. Personality is no
exception to this rule. It must have a centre, which is provided by Self: it
means "I, me, mine" because all these pronouns refer to one's self or
whatever belongs to one's self. Another name for self is ego. The ego in its
basic form is self-adoring and to achieve its ends becomes flexible despite the
built-in mechanization of the personality.
Ego
And what is ego? It is recognition
of one's identity which implies the natural desire and the right to exist as an
individual and to enjoy one's individuality without fear of usurpation,
frustration and molestation; it requires a guarantee of freedom and a charter of
liberties. But the most important factor which I have not mentioned as yet is
consiousness because nothing can be known or recognised without it:
consciousness has the same relationship with brain as flame has with candle,
sight with eye or rainbow with colours. It follows that consciousness has a
purpose. Therefore, we see, not because we have eyes, we see because the purpose
of eyes is to see. A scientist ought to know that he enjoys sex with his wife,
not because he is married to her but because the purpose of his marriage was to
have sex with her.
Role of consciousness
If we delve deeper into
consciousness, it transpires that it is the apex of evolution. Without it,
existence or non-existence of the universe will not matter. A thing may exist
but it is the knowledge of its existence which gives it a proper valuation. The
universe obviously wants to be recognised, otherwise consciousness will have no
meaning because whatever man sees, feels, senses or perceives relates to the
universe; man himself is a part of it. Therefore, human consciousness belongs to
the universe. More properly, the cosmos evolves man for the sole purpose of
seeing, feeling, sensing and perceiving through him. Thus man ranks as the
cosmic baby with a special purpose. What is this purpose of man?
Godhead
As stated before, the cosmos is a
symposium of interrelationships which are brought about and governed by change.
However, interrelationships, once they have emerged, want to continue
undisturbed. It is for this reason that the loss of a son, daughter or friend
hurts badly. Therefore, there must be a state of existence where change
continuously expresses itself through the opposite pole i.e. stability, and this
state of existence may be termed as Godhead which is total illumination and
nothing remains transcendent. It happens to be the ultimate goal of both man and
the universe.
Is Godhead possible? Of course it
is, otherwise it will not be the cosmic purpose.
Soul and Godhead
Let me add straightaway that
Godhead is the symposium of souls as human body is the combination of cells. And
what is a soul? It is the rebirth of a purified and elevated ego.
Evidence and mystery
I am aware of the fact that these
are extraordinary statements, and thus I have undertaken an arduous task of
explaining them. However, it will be helpful to remember what I said about the
nature of scientific evidence and the fact that mystery is a part of knowledge.
Depolarisatio n and
repolarisation
This explanation involves
exploration of the mind which is more than cognitive aspect of the brain Mind
represents the nature of the universe which though unitary in essence operates
through a mechanism of duality such as the working of negative and positive
charges. This fact is made vividly clear by the operations of the cells capable
of electric activity. They have a resting potential in which their interiors are
negative by about 0.1 volt compared to their exteriors. When the cell is
activated, its resting potential may reverse suddenly in sign; as a result, the
outside of the cell becomes negative and the inside positive. This condition of
the cell is temporary and resumes its original state after a short time. This
sequence is called depolarization and repolarisation, showing that opposite
poles are not dualistic in nature, and their repolarisation, i.e. the resumption
of polarity, confirms that they require duality for a successful operational
mechanism only.
Mind, the spiritual environment
A better example of this duality is
provided by light. Is it a wave or particles? This cannot be settled because
here the rule of mystery, that is, the Uncertainty Principle is operative.
Similarly mind is a mystery which is likely to be solved if we assume that it is
the spiritual environment of the brain, leading to the emergence of a soul.
Significance of environment
It is not likely to retain one's
identity (i.e. stay alive) without reacting to the environment, and reactions
must be judicious and not refractory. Modern scientists have done a great deal
of work to explain the relationship between environment and becoming. An
appropriate example of this fact is provided by the birth of the solar system
and the incredibly complex and delicate evolutionary mechanism of the planet
earth (which I have already described).
Life on earth is the product of a
suitable physical environment, and cannot be sustained without it, either. To
understand this fact, we must realise that the earth was originally a hostile
and barren planet, and in this inorganic state, it vas referred to as "geosphere".
The process of change gradually converted it into "hydrosphere" (the
water), then "atmosphere" (the air) then "biosphere", having
the capability of producing life, eventually leading to what is called "anthroposhere",
i.e. the environment suitable for the emergence and sustenance of mankind. It is
obvious that when the anthroposhere is destroyed, man as a species will
disappear. Further, until such time that an environment rises to a certain
standard, it cannot give birth to the highest species it may aim for. Thus the
environmental greatness guarantees the advancement of its organisms. This is the
reason that an environment must have a built-in mechanism to improve itself for
the purpose of bettering the lot of its creations. Take the earth, for instance.
Life started here without air and the early creatures had to survive through a
process of adaptation. Obviously, the early creatures were microbes, quite
insignificant compared to man; he could not have been evolved without a system
of air, i.e. oxygen, which started appearing in sufficient quantities some three
billion years ago through an advanced photosynthetic mechanism known as
photosystem II.
Scientists have discovered in
Iceland the existence of a micro-organism known as Isuasphaera dating back 3.8
billion years. It is anaerobic, that is, it has a mechanism of survival which
supports life without air. They further claim the existence of a similar system
in the cytosol of higher cells and the cell sap of most present day bacteria. A
change of such a high magnitude, from an anaerobic energy-producing mechanism to
the aerobic system of humans, is highly significant, indeed. It is not a dream
but the product of the determined environmental design, delirious of improving
itself with a view to creating the highest possible entity known as man.
Birth of Soul
Every species has a habitat, i.e. a
well defined climatic space to live in. It could not come into being or survive
without the specific environmental conditions because of its physiology and the
general characteristics of its body. It shows the essential relationship between
a particular type of environment and the species. It means that when certain
climatic or biological conditions are met, a certain kind of life comes into
being. Man himself is the product of a suitable environment. Therefore, I have
no doubt that proper development of the mind, i.e. the spiritual environment
leads to the formation of a still higher species known as soul.
Soulosphere
There is no reason to believe that
evolution stops at man. It will be logically wrong to make such an assumption
because the evolution from a microbe to man proves that the cosmos is striving
to achieve perfection, but man despite being the marvel of wisdom and wizardry,
is still very imperfect indeed, and cannot be anything but a stepping-stone to
something higher which is capable of realising the cosmic dream of still higher
existence. After all, evolution is based on the overall principle that a lower
species leads to the emergence of a higher one. One has only to think about the
difference between man and microbe to reach this conclusion. There must be a
higher species than man, and it is soul, but as the emergence of man depends
upon anthroposphere, soul cannot come into existence until the spiritual
environment of a person rises to a certain standard of purity which I may call
"soulosphere".
Neither soul is a vital principle,
nor human body, which is an autonomous system, requires a driving force. Thus
the belief that soul comes into being at the time of fertilization of an egg or
birth is a mistaken one, and the same remarks apply to religious and
philosophical concepts which think of body as the prison-cell.
Relationship between man and soul
is the same as exists between man and his environment. To express the
significance of this statement I should add that man has no choice but to react
to a stimulus such as heat or a chemical substance; a stimulus usually directly
acts to modify the permeability of an area of membrane. This reaction is
automatic; thus unless a stimulus is removed or some metabolistic adjustment is
carried out, the membrane continues to fire and recover and fire again. As a
man's reaction to his external environment determines the development of his
life, his response to internal environment decides the quality of his spiritual
environment which may lead to soulosphere, and finally to the birth of a soul.
In this context, "internal environment" does not mean homeostatis but
refers to one's purity of designs, sincerity of deeds and harmony of moral
conduct. I shall shortly describe the "homeostatis" to make this
concept more clear.
Internal world of man
The internal world of man is far
more complex and wonderful than the external world. Interior of each human is
dwelt in by some 100,000 billion beings thus making every adult person twenty
thousand times as large as the entire earth in terms of today's population.
These beings are cells and they are beings because each of them is capable of
living an independent life in a suitable environment.
Cytoplasm
The significance of environment is
demonstrated by the fact that even the nucleus of every cell is surrounded by a
highly structured and dynamic environment called cytoplasm; it is the portion of
a cell between the nucleus and the limiting membrane and this is where synthesis
of molecules and transfer of energy takes place.
Homeostatis
Stability-through-change, as stated
earlier, is the reality, and this fact is fully supported by the biological
process which goes on inside the human body. It is called homeostatis; it means
tendency of the body to maintain stability by adjusting to the conditions which
are just right for survival. The stability attained thus is actually a dynamic
equilibrium which is a state of continuous change yet ensures existence through
uniformity of conditions. Steady state is another description for the dynamic
equilibrium. Thus the homeostatic discipline is nothing but a controlled
internal environment. Without the homeostatic mechanism, existence
ill be impossible in the
persistently changing world. For example, the human body consists of many types
of cells which are subject to constant change; some Survive a few days, some a
few weeks, some a few months. They all have to be replaced within six years.
This ceaseless process of replacing what has been worn out, is an attempt to
restore the steady state which the organism has come to enjoy. Even those cells
(neurons) which may last for decades, have to be renovated. From this, it is
quite obvious that life has to be manufactured through personal effort and to be
lived bit by bit; it is a process of securing optimal adjustments with the
ever-changing conditions for creating a controlled environment.
What is life?
Life is like the lustre of a
glow-worm which appears and disappears in a regular rhythm Each alternating
cycle witnesses its presence and absence. Thus, it is something which is not
there all the time but keeps happening. Is it possible to make this happening
continuous, constant and concinnous? Yes it is, but it all depends upon securing
the right adjustment with one's environment - social and natural.
Noosphere
One type of environment leads to
another type of environment unless the law of change can be made inoperative.
Transformation of geosphere into anthroposphere vouches for this truth.
In fact, it is proper to say that a physical environment eventually changes into
a spiritual environment. Even scientists claim that the physical environment of
the planet earth is superimposed by another dimensional sphere which represents
reflective impulses produced by the human intellect, and thus qualifies as
noosphere, i.e. the sphere of the mind or the collective memory and intelligence
of the human race. It can be imagined to cast its weight on the entire globe;
its influence is mystical; its presence can be felt but cannot be measured
scientifically.
Social environment
Since human mind represents the
evolutionary magnitude of the universe, it is only logical to acknowledge that
the cosmos has not only a mind but the human mind is a reflection of the cosmic
mind. Thus it is natural for a physical environment to change into a spiritual
environment which is mystical and requires intuitive understanding rather than
the logical faculty of the brain. Man's social environment is a good example of
this fact. Men and women are made of matter, they live on matter and crave for
material things. Yet they want to acquire things in certain ways and develop
methods of pleasing and displeasing one another. Out of these particularized
dealings arise manners, rules of behaviour, customs, traditions' laws and even
superstitions which give birth to a social environment; it can neither be seen
nor measured, yet it influences all walks of human life, and acts as the major
guide of behaviour. The nations with better social environments become superior
to those which are addicted to social degradation.
Mind, as spiritual environment
of brain
Likewise, the cognitive powers of
the brain create the spiritual environment usually referred to as the mind. In
other words, mind is the spiritual environment of the brain. The effects of a
person's thoughts, feelings, intentions, inclinations dreams, determinations,
designs, decisions, and above all, deeds and deliberations constitute the
spiritual environment the same way as drops of water form a river When we say
that someone is in a low or high spirit, we refer to the ordinary function of
the spiritual environment which is the agency to degrade or upgrade the level of
performance. We all have ordinary spiritual environment at human level but
nobody has a soul at this stage because soul represents the existence that
starts after the expiration of present life. As purity of water determines the
quality of river, sincerity of intentions and deeds decides the magnitude of the
spiritual environment. Thus it has to ascend the ordinary level which helps the
process of living but does not assist rebirth, that is, the emergence of soul.
As sea water must have certain properties to be the producer of marine life,
spiritual environment must rise to the status of soulosphere through a process
of purification which is brought about by the virtue of sincerity and righteous
deeds. Faith has nothing to do with it because attainment of soulosphere is way
above the flight of faith which happens to be the frail faculty of the brain.
However, faith does have a survival value in this life because it provides a
shield against the harshness of reality. But in the long run it can be the
destroyer of the soulosphere because people intoxicated with the wine of faith
are usually prone to sin for being sure of absolute pardon irrespective of the
enormity of their deeds. If we realise that it is the cells which manufacture
human life through their own effort, it becomes evident that rebirth is also the
sole responsibility of man who has been endowed with free will and the ability
to achieve this aim. Again, creation of the spiritual environment is an
individual's responsibility, and like cultural endowment, cannot be inherited.
Hence, in the race of rebirth, every man stands for himself. There is nothing
that these self-appointed gods and gurus and messiahs and messengers can do for
him.
Nature of spiritual environment
It is not possible to give a
concrete description of the nature of spiritual environment. Scientists talk of
virtual particles which cannot be observed, but their existence is confirmed by
the influence they exert. Again, as gravity is supposed to consist of gravitons
and, light of photons, the spiritual environment must also be composed of
something similar to these particles because presence of the spirit is felt by
the degree of enthusiasm and level of attachment or detachment in ordinary life.
As far as I am concerned, there is no soul in the living bodies because it is
neither a prisoner nor a vital principle because human body is an autonomous
system which needs no foreign assistance. Its excellence becomes evident from
the working of the cells which keep creating their own life. To me, spirit is
just another description of the spiritual environment, and not of soul.
Spirituon
What is the spirit or spiritual
environment composed of? Mind is the spiritual environment of the brain (nervous
system) which consists of nerve cells or neurons.
A typical neuron has a cell body
containing a nucleus and two or more long fibres which serve as transmitters of
impulses (the dendrites) though in higher nervous systems only one fibre, the
axon, carries out this function. Surely, the spirit or Spiritual environment is
made up of small bits as gravity is made of gravitons and, light of photons but
it will be wrong of me to assign them a particular structure like that of a
neuron. It suffices to say that the spirit or spiritual environment is made up
of Spirituons which are small particles and rank as spiritual cells.
When soul comes into being
Soul is not spirit but something
which may rise from the ashes of the spirit at the time of death. How does it
come into existence? To understand this process we should refer to biology, the
science of life. It has been established that all genes of an organism are
present in every cell but they all do not act at the same time. Further, some
genes act only at certain times during development, and certain genes never act
in some cells.
The spirituous or spiritual cells
may have a good deal in common with the behaviour of genes. Death acts as a
catalyst which activates them through a swift churning action. However, this
action is of avail only if the spiritual environment is capable of turning into
a soulosphere, that is, it has been refined enough through consistent piety, to
produce a soul. Spiritual environment of the persistent sinner is like the
skimmed milk which loses the ability to produce butter.
Master spiritual cell
What turns a spiritual environment
into a soulosphere is the ability of the spirituous to produce a soul. Behaviour
of the spirituous resembles that of the millions of sperms which struggle to
achieve life through the act of fertilization but only one succeeds, as a
general rule, and the rest perish. The rule of singularity is final in respect
of the spirituous. The spirituous that become active at the moment of death,
wage a violent struggle for survival but only one succeeds and the rest perish
through shock or frustration. The one that is victorious deserves to be called
the Master Spiritual Cell; its victory is not based on any strategem but the
simple fact that it is the best. It has got to be the best to rank as a
constitutent of Godhead.
Soul may not be born
However, I must state emphatically
that the emergence of soul solely depends upon one's piety, i.e. the good deeds,
and not faith. Every intentional sin affects the Spiritual environment the same
way as the turn of a churn acts as a catalyst to render the milk sterile
gradually by reducing its content of butter. If you give birth to a soul, your
death actually counts as the opening of a new door to eternity, but if no soul
emerges at the last moment, you are really dead but there is no hell to roast
you because you do not exist any more.
Neutrino and soul
The escape of the Master Spiritual
Cell may seem more of a fairy tale than a convincing mystery. To my mind, it is
a fact, and may also sound a reality to you if I describe it in terms of
physics:
Scientists claim that each time an
event takes place, energy is emitted. They have enunciated "the law of
conservation of energy" which states that the amount of energy before an
event is exactly equal to the amount of energy after the event During the 1930's
they discovered the existence of neutron, which is an unstable particle and
disintegrates into a proton and electron, but the energy balance is always less
after disintegration than before. Obviously, something has disappeared.
Wolf-gang Pauli, the famous scientist, proposed the existence of a new particle
as a face-saving device. This imaginary particle was named "neutrino"
(little neutron) by E. Fermi in 1934 and was experimentally observed in 1956. A
neutrino has no mass, no electric charge; it has one half-unit of spin yet it
always travels at the speed of light and is the most penetrating of subatomic
particles. Now we are told that we receive from the sun 10 billion neutrinos per
square centimetre, every day. It is the persistent endeavour that has raised
neutrino to the status of a fact. May be one day we shall experimentally
establish the truth about soul. Its possibility is far more likely than its
impossibility.
How soul comes into being
Why has death got to be the point
of emergence for soul? Firstly, though body is the matrix of soul, it is a
different species altogether and therefore cannot take birth inside the body.
Its coming into being is like lightning which occurs as a discharge when storm
clouds rub against each other; it is the bang heard when a Christmas cracker is
pulled, it is the fire that appears when a match is struck.
Secondly, death does not
necessarily mean extinction; it may also imply improvement and a new phase of
life. For example, some weeks before the birth of a child, it has far more cells
in the brain than that of a newborn child. It is the large scale death of cells
which plays the leading role in the perfection of the brain.
In a hostile environment, when
organisms face death, they reproduce themselves in a frenzy (because they want
to live through their offsprings). Their progeny is usually better suited to the
environment thus increasing their chances of survival. Further, the exhausted
organisms may be moved to another phase of nature which permits potentially more
successful combinations of genes. Thus the death of inferior species leads to
the succession of the superior species.
Before closing this chapter, I
should restate that mind is the extension of matter. However, mind represents
more than the cognitive power usually ascribed to it. In fact, mind is the
spiritual environment of brain which gives birth to a soul when it attains the
potential to become the soulosphere. Rebirth or raising a soul is an
individual's own responsibility. The self-appointed gods and gurus, messiahs and
messengers and prophets and pits have no role to play in the birth of a soul
Once a soul is born, salvation becomes automatic because soul is the symbol of
eternity. The death of a wicked person cannot lead to the emergence of a soul;
it is the end of the road of life. It is cruel to raise false hopes yet this is
the most effective weapon of these self-appointed holy-men to establish
themselves as gods, messiahs and prophets by promising the impossible as the
possible to people, who want to have the best without the least effort.
"Believe in me, and I will get
you into the paradise". It appears that salvation depends upon the magic of
words and not the merits of deeds. What a fraud it is! The most precious things
cost most dearly. Why not paradise, the loftiest goal of life?
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