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  • REALITY
    • The Nature of Reality
    • You never left Home
    • The Self-Aware Universe
    • Univ. Dreaming Itself Awake
    • Is the Universe a Fractal?
    • Evidence That Consciousness Creates Reality: Welcome To The Matrix
    • The Whole of Reality Glows With Life
    • Does time exist? Quantum physics says no
    • Three Scientific Fields That Are Helping to Evolve Humanity’s Worldview
    • Why There Might Be Many More Universes Besides Our Own
    • Paradigms are Made for Shifting
    • The Science of Interconnectedness
    • Distorted Reality – Recalling Different Events After Timelines Merge
    • The Amazing Rise of the Mandela Effect!
    • Expanding Our Awareness to See a Multidimensional Reality
    • The Origin, Purpose, and Destiny of the Earth Game
    • The Next Big Bang – Human Consciousness and the Universe’s Ultimate Secret
    • Reality – Constructing the Separation Game
    • Parallel Realities and the Multidimensional Universe
    • Quantum Phase: Time, Parallel Realities and The Brain
    • The Shift and The Quickening of Manifestation
    • The Three Layers of Your Reality Construct
    • Transcending the Realms of Duality and Separation
    • New View of Consciousness/Reality >
      • Evolution and Consciousness
      • Life After Death: Verdict
      • Consciousness/Brain
      • When We Die
      • The Body is a Shell
      • Everyone has a Purpose
      • Life: Spiritual Growth
      • The Problem of Evil
      • Multi-Dimension Universe
      • Conclusion and Notes:
    • A Holographic Universe? >
      • The Fractal Holographic Universe: Introduction
      • The Holographic Paradigm : All is One
      • The Spiral and the Holographic Matrix
      • The Unified Field and the Illusion of Time: Understanding the Source of Creation
      • Vacuum Energy: Proof of Free Energy in the Space All Around Us
      • Spiral Vortex – Contemplative Exercise
      • Attention, Intention & the Universe as a Conscious Holographic Information Processor
      • Love Waves In Our Hologram
      • Love, Creation and Morphic Resonance – The Formula for All Matters in The Love Hologram
  • CONSCIOUSNESS
    • The Self-Aware Universe
    • The Relationship between Human Consciousness and Earth Dynamics
    • A Call to Conscious Evolution
    • Electromagnetic Effects on Consciousness
    • Lumen Octave Principles : Language of the Soul
    • A Door Is About To Open!
    • Accessing A Higher Level Of Consciousness (and The Ego: Our Greatest Teacher)
    • Explorers of Higher Dimensions: The Power of Active Consciousness
    • 20 Transformational Truths From Sages Throughout the Ages
    • Mind Over Matter - Consciousness and the Nature of Reality
    • Beyond Space and Time: Quantum Theory Suggests Consciousness Moves on After Death
    • Neurosurgeon Who Doubted Afterlife Now Convinced It's Real
    • A Neurosurgeon’s Journey to Worlds Beyond: An Interview with Dr. Eben Alexander
    • Focus on Possibilities, Not Limitations.
    • Cosmic Consciousness Phenomenon : The Overview Effect
    • We Are Becoming Consciousness ItSelf
    • Dimensions of Conscious Experience
    • Mysterious Light : A Scientist's Odyssey
    • From Science to God
    • ONENESS : Transcending Duality
    • This Body is Not Me
    • The Rise of Empathic Consciousness
    • Your Body is a Projection of Your Consciousness
    • Evidence That Consciousness Creates Reality: Welcome To The Matrix
    • Human Consciousness Is Taking A Quantum Leap: Lifting of the Veil
    • Leading Neuroscientists & Buddhists Agree: “Consciousness is Everywhere”
    • Be Careful, Consciousness Is Listening!
    • Experiencing a Collective Shift Through Personal Transformation
    • The Illusion of Time and Space
    • The Emergence of Connected Consciousness
    • Reality & Experience: Morphic Fields & The Power Of Choice
    • You Are The One – The Universe is Moving Within You
    • Conscious Creation: Becoming an Observer of Your Own Life
    • The War On Consciousness
    • The Multidimensional Self: The Soul, OverSoul, and Beyond
    • The 2020 Parting of the Waves: Which Flow are You Riding?
    • We Have Arrived at the Dawn of the Unknowing
    • The Most Suppressed Technology Today
    • Children/Education >
      • Education and the Death of Creativity
      • A Message From The Children
      • Children of the New Dream
      • It’s Time to Unleash Creativity in Our Schools
    • The Human Heart : The Intelligence of The Heart >
      • Coherence: The Energy and Light from Your Heart
      • The Global Coherence Initiative
      • Enlightenment
    • The Human Brain >
      • The Triune Brain
      • The Split Brain
      • The Holographic Brain
      • Whole Brain Synchronization : Binaural Beats
      • Mysterious Brain Of Daniel Tammet
      • Consciousness/Brain
      • What and Where is Consciousness?
      • The Holographic Paradigm : All is One
      • Electromagnetic Effects on Consciousness
      • Exploring the Nature of Mind and our Holographic Brain
      • Six Intriguing Types of Synesthesia
      • Mysteries of the Pineal Gland Ignored by Mainstream Science and Research
  • HUMANITY
    • Humanity : Body, Mind, Soul and Spirit >
      • Who Are You?:Deepak Chopra
      • Solar Flares Affect Humans
      • Univ. Unconditional Love
      • A Prayer for the World
      • Overcome the Ego
      • Etheric Antenna: Chakras
      • Your Aura and 12 Chakras: Keys to the Kingdom
      • The Seven Bodies of Man
      • The Journey
      • A Spiritual Pilgrimage
      • Science of the Soul
      • We are Beings of Light
      • Lumen Octave Principles : Language of the Soul
      • God is Very Much Alive
      • Tao: Your Cosmic Connection and Spiritual Contract
      • The Three Births of the Human Spirit
      • Unconditional Love?
      • The Relationship between Science and Spirituality
      • How Einstein Saw the World
      • Conscious Partnership with Earth
      • Infogr: Control your Dreams
      • Your Cells When You Experience Happiness
      • Aligning the Trinity – Body, Mind and Spirit
      • Being Aware of Our Energy
      • The Greatest Story Never Told
      • The Alchemy of Groups
      • Inevitable Change – Shattering Our Attachment to ‘Sameness’
      • The Biocrystal
      • Life after death: Hospice doctor studies the vivid dreams and visions of dying people that suggest comfort being given from the other side
      • Attuning to the Flow of the Universe
      • Waking Up From Religion
      • Astral Dynamics : The Silver Cord
      • The Spirit World
      • Cycles of Soul Existence
      • The Soul’s Journey After Death
      • Life Between Lives
      • 7000 Souls Recall Their ‘Life’ Between Lives During Regression Hypnosis, The Similarities Are Astounding
      • The Life-Review Process
      • We Are the Universe Becoming Aware of Itself
      • Have You Realized The Profundity Of Our True Nature?
      • Improving Your Connection To Spirit
      • Aligning with Our Soul Purpose
      • Spiritual Inspiration from Albert Einstein
      • Spiritual but Not Religious? Why Spiritual Wellness Does Not Depend on Your Beliefs
      • A Sense of Oneness Leads to Greater Life Satisfaction, Research Shows
      • How to Transform Your Darkness Into Light
      • You Are a Sovereign Being – Start Acting Like It!
      • 5 Steps to Cultivate Patience Within Your New New Normal
      • The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off
      • Chaos Sorcery
      • Science, Spirituality and Religion
      • Shadow Work 101: Just Claim it All
      • Staying Centered in a Wild World
      • How Changing Your Thoughts Changes Your Life
      • Victim or Creator?
      • Reincarnation: 10 things everyone should know about Reincarnation >
        • Reincarnation: The 35 Steps of Soul Evolution
      • DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid): >
        • DNA Can Be Reprogrammed by Words and Frequencies
        • Controversial DNA Discoveries
        • Evolution : The Body's Intelligence
        • Evolution is speeding up
        • Human Energy Field and DNA
        • Everything You Are, Have Been And Ever Will Be Is About Frequency, And Your DNA Is The Ultimate Antenna
        • Forgotten In Time: The Ancient Solfeggio Frequencies
        • The Human Genome – Perception Directly Controls Gene Activity
        • Leonardo da Vinci and The New Biology
      • Near Death Experiences >
        • Neurosurgeon Who Doubted Afterlife Now Convinced It's Real
        • The NDE and the Silver Cord
        • Rev. Dr George Rodonaia's Unusual NDE
        • Shared Death Experiences
        • Groups of People Can Share a Single NDE
        • 'Shared Death Experience' Study
      • Akashic Records / Akashic Field / Book of Life >
        • A Database That Contains A Record Of The Soul’s Journey: The Akashic Records
        • Edgar Cayce: Readings from Akashic Records >
          • Edgar Cayce : 'The Sleeping Prophet'
          • The Body - Temple of God ; Chakras
          • Angels and Archangels ; The Christ ; Humanity ; Death
          • Mary Magdalene
          • Moving into the New Paradigm
          • The Future
          • The Book of Revelation
          • Consciousness
          • Human Origins
          • The Past Lives of Jesus
    • The Awakening >
      • The Dark Night Of The Soul
      • The Song of the Soul Group
      • The SupraMental Awakening and Planetary Hope
      • Univ. Dreaming Itself Awake
      • When Awakening Begins
      • The Veil of Forgetfulness
      • Pr. of Personal Transformation
      • Time To Pay Attention To Who You Are/Where You Are Going
      • Before Beginning of Universe .. You Were Still There
      • 2012 Visionaries
      • Awaken, Children of Earth!
      • Time : A Musical
      • Waking Up Is So Hard To Do… Alone
      • Swami’s State of the Universe 2015
      • A Need and An Ecstasy
      • Full Moon In Scorpio - An Invitation To Emergence
      • Something Extraordinary Is Happening In The World
      • 3 States of Mind to Embrace the Coming Energy
      • The Sacred Garden
      • Being Our Experience
      • We were made for these times
      • Are You a Bridge Between Two Worlds?
      • Choose Love – and Be the Change!
      • Timekeepers of the Human Experiment
      • The Starseed Mission: A Practical Guide to the Pros and Cons in One’s Awakening
      • What's the Point of Life? Why are we here?
      • Reflections On The Year That Was 2018
      • I’m Not Going Insane: It’s the Universal Awakening!
      • The Dalai Lama’s Morning Prayer
      • Shedding the Layers in Our Collective Expansion
      • Are You Dimming Your Light?
      • Ready To Go Sane In A Crazy World?
      • The Great Transformation: A World Awakening
      • You are Needed: Reclaiming Humanity’s Light
      • Let The Emergence of a New Humanity Begin!
      • Healing a World Disconnected From Its Imagination
      • The Universe Played its Trump Card! But Is President Trump the Worst Curse or a Blessing in Disguise?
      • The Grand Story of the Deep State, the Current Apocalypse and the Battle of Good vs Evil
      • Winning the War on Consciousness – Humanity’s Grand Awakening from Deep State
      • Moving Beyond Awakening Shock Syndrome
      • The 5 Stages of Awakening – Signposts and Pitfalls on the Path of Consciousness
      • It’s Time to Step Outside the Conditioned Mind
      • Global Games That Tyrants Play – and People Who Agree to be Played With
      • The Only Way for Humanity to Survive What’s Happening
      • Before Every Bright Day Is a Dark Night
      • A Guide to Glide Through the Great Awakening – Spread Hope Not Fear
      • Building a Brighter Future
    • Ascension/Evolution >
      • The Gathering of the Eagles >
        • Foreword and Introduction
        • PT 1 : Chapt 1 : THE LITTLEST HOBO
        • PT 1 : Chapt 2 : "I QUIT"
        • PT 1 : Chapt 3 : WILL THE REAL POST OP NURSE PLEASE STAND UP
        • PT 1 : Chapt 4 : LAST WEEK I WOULD HAVE SAID YOU WERE CRAZY
        • PT 1 : Chapt 5 : ON THE ROAD AGAIN
        • PT 1 : Chapt 6 : THE SPORTSMAN CAFE
        • PT 1 : Chapt 7 : CHANGE OF LIFE
        • PT 1 : Chapt 8 : IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE HOLLAND
        • PT 1 : Chapt 9: NO SHAME TO BE POOR/Epilogue
        • PT 2 : Chapt 10 : FOR THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH IS RIPE
        • PT 2 : Chapt 11 : THE NEW GARDEN
        • PT 2 : Chapt 12 : "WHAT'S MINE'S MY OWN"
        • PT 2 : Chapt 13 : THE GUIDING LIGHT
        • PT 2 : Chapt 14 : THE PEOPLE
        • The Prince of Hope
      • Residing in the 5th Dimension
      • Vibrational Acceleration
      • Homo Divinicus: to come
      • 5th Dimension Consciousness
      • The Ride Has Just Begun!
      • Raising Your Vibration
      • Spiritual Evolution: Divine Plan
      • Ascension: The Larger Picture
      • 2013: The Gateway of LIGHT
      • The “Seer” of all Things
      • Spont. Evolution Has Arrived!
      • Compassion: Ascension Key
      • Who Are We Becoming?
      • Shifting Paradigms
      • Blueprint for Ascension
      • Ascension Revisited
      • 'The Quantum Leap' by Solara
      • I Surrender to the Infinite that is Within Me
      • Ascension and the Fifth Dimensional Network
      • Why It’s Time To Accept Humanity’s Power of Creation and The Soul’s Journey
      • Transformation
      • “We Are Living In The Most Important Time In The History Of Our Universe”
      • Accelerating Our Collective Emergence into a New Paradigm
      • The Greatest Spiritual Event of Our Time According to Rudolph Steiner
      • Dolores Cannon – THE EVENT Information
      • The Three Waves Of Volunteers
      • Raising Vibrations: How To Be The Change You Want To See In The World
      • The Daily Alchemical Process of Ascension
      • The Universal Ascension Process: Our Journey to Oneness
      • The Golden Rule: A Lesson in Oneness Throughout the Ages
      • As the Coronavirus Sweeps around the World, Our Planet is on the Verge of Evolution
      • Covid vs. Karma
      • The Old World Is Falling Away and Making Way for a New One
      • The Art of Ascension: The 7 Stages of Alchemy
    • Sandra Walter-Asc. Guide
    • Human Body of Light >
      • Spark of Light At Conception
      • Biophotons: The Human Body Emits, Communicates with, and is Made from Light
      • We Are Beings of Light
      • Are Humans Solar Powered?
      • Cells use light to communicate
      • Your Body Literally Glows With Light
      • Light
    • Ancient Knowledge/Civilisations >
      • Lost Civilizations Existed
      • Houston anthropologist reveals irrefutable proof that recorded history is wrong
      • The Return of the Elder Race & Opening the Gateway of the Fifth Kingdom
      • Quest for the People of the Secret
      • The skeletal remains of giants found all over the world
  • CHANNELLED INFORMATION
    • Archangel Michael speaks >
      • CREATING YOUR PYRAMID OF POWER
      • THE TWELVE SACRED TRIBES OF CREATION
      • THE MICHAEL/MARY CONNECTION
      • A COSMIC VIEWPOINT OF CREATION AND EVOLUTION
      • A RECAP OF THE BEST
      • THE MYSTERY OF THE VESICA PISCIS
      • THE SPIRIT AND THE SOUL AND A NEW PYRAMID OF LIGHT MEDITATION
      • STAGES OF AWARENESS ON PATH OF ASCENSION
      • HOLD STEADY, BELOVEDS
      • WHO YOU ARE
      • VICTIM OR VICTOR?
      • PERFECTING YOUR SKILLS AS A CO-CREATOR
      • THE PATH OF ASCENSION IS THE PATH TO FREEDOM
      • LOVE IS A NATURAL STATE OF BEING
      • 2013 IN REVIEW - A YEAR OF TRANSFORMATION
      • ARE YOU READY TO EMBODY YOUR SACRED FIRE ENERGY?
      • RITUAL OF PASSAGE INTO 5th DIMENSIONAL REALITY
      • CREATING YOUR SPHERE OF HEAVENLY LIGHT
      • SPIRITUAL REUNION
      • ANGELS OF MERCY
      • NEW RAYS OF INDIVID EXPRESSION
      • EARTH’S SEED ATOM RECORD-KEEPER CRYSTALS
      • ENHANCING YOUR POWER TO MANIFEST
      • THE ILLUSION OF FEAR
      • BECOMING SOUL-INFUSED PERSONALITY
      • DOWNLOADING YOUR NEW DIVINE BLUEPRINT
      • DECISION TIME : THE FUTURE IS NOW
      • YOUR LIGHT CLOAK OF MANY COLORS AWAITS YOU
      • WILL YOU BE AMONG THE CHOSEN?
      • BECOMING A PRACTICAL MYSTIC
      • FINE-TUNING YOUR SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
      • SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY FOR EVOLVING HUMANITY
      • PYRAMIDS OF LIGHT - THE LIGHT PATHWAY OF RETURN
      • OPENING THE SEVEN SEALS OF GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS
      • DEMYSTIFYING DEATH
      • WE 0FFER YOU A STREAM OF LOVE/LIGHT FROM OUR HEART TO YOURS
      • EVOLUTION OF THE BODILY FORM AND ASCENSION IN CONSCIOUSNESS
      • THE SEARCHLIGHT OF THE SOUL * YOUR TWELVE RAY CREATOR WHEEL
      • ACCESSING YOUR HIGHER POWER POTENTIAL
      • WHAT IS SPIRIT?
      • INTEGRATED KNOWLEDGE BECOMES WISDOM
      • THE FIVE KINGDOMS/DIMENSIONS FOR THIS ROUND OF EARTHLY ASCENSION
      • THE LAW OF RESPONSIVE RETURN
      • EMBRACING THE POWER OF LOVE
      • WARRIORS OF LIGHT: PROACTIVE, LOVINGLY ASSERTIVE
      • THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
      • OPEN LETTER TO ASCENDING STARSEED SOULS
      • AVATARS * ASCENDED MASTERS * GREAT BEINGS OF LIGHT
      • BECOMING AN EMISSARY OF LIGHT
      • HARMONIZING THE PHYSICAL * EMOTIONAL * MENTAL BODIES
      • THE FIERY FORCES OF CREATION ARE SWEEPING THE EARTH
      • A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
      • UNIFIED SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
      • ARE YOU A STARSEED WAYSHOWER?
      • THE NEXT LEVEL OF SPIRITUAL AWARENESS
      • THE PHYSICAL VESSEL: A WONDROUS, SACRED CREATION
      • RELATIONSHIPS AND YOUR SACRED UNION
      • ARE YOU READY FOR LIBERATION?
      • PERFECTING YOUR SKILLS AS A COCREATOR
      • CREATING A 'NEW EMPOWERED YOU'
      • SEEKING PEACE FROM WITHIN
      • THE ECSTASY OF SACRED LOVE
      • ACCESSING THE EARTH’S MEMORY SEED ATOM CRYSTALS
      • ARE YOU READY TO MAKE A COMMITMENT?
      • EMBRACING ALL FACETS OF GOD CONSCIOUSNESS
      • OPENING THE PORTAL TO YOUR SACRED HEART
      • ARE YOU READY?
      • THE SPIRALING PATH OF ASCENSION
      • YOU ARE IN THE MIDST OF A SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION
      • YOU ARE A STAR OF COSMIC SACRED FIRE
      • ENHANCING YOUR PERSONAL GOD ESSENCE
      • YOUR CONNECTION TO YOUR HOLY MENTAL SELF
      • THREE GOD RAYS: DIVINE WILL * DIVINE LOVE * DIVINE INTELLIGENCE
      • THE POWER AND MAJESTY OF THE ELEMENTS
      • DEVELOPING NON-ATTACHMENT
      • ENHANCING YOUR POWER TO MANIFEST
      • THE EMPOWERING GIFT OF FORGIVENESS
      • THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL
      • THE NEW AGE OF SPIRITUAL/HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
      • THE ESSENCE OF CREATION
      • THE MEMORY SEED ATOMS WITHIN YOUR SOUL
      • THE FAST TRACK TO SELF-MASTERY
      • THE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL
      • NEW RAYS OF INDIVIDUALIZED EXPRESSION
      • WHAT ARE YOU DOING WHILE WAITING TO ASCEND?
      • THE RETURN OF THE GODDESS * OUR HEAVENLY MOTHER
      • INTEGRATING YOUR NEW DIVINE BLUEPRINT
      • A NEW CYCLE OF CREATION IS IN PROGRESS
      • KEEPERS OF THE VIOLET FLAME
      • TRAVERSING THE LAST SUB-PLANES OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION
      • IT IS TIME TO SHINE YOUR LIGHT AND SHARE YOUR VISION
      • YOU, THE WAYSHOWERS, ARE THE HOPE OF THE FUTURE
      • A GLIMPSE BEYOND TOMORROW
      • THE CELESTIAL WINDS OF CHANGE ARE SWEEPING THE EARTH.
      • ADAMANTINE PARTICLES AND HOW TO USE THEM EFFECTIVELY: A REVIEW
      • THE VOICE OF SPIRIT IS CALLING
      • A WONDROUS CREATION: THE PHYSICAL VESSEL
      • ARE YOU A STARSEED LIGHT UPON THE PATH?
      • LAW OF THE CIRCLE * LAW OF THE TRIANGLE
      • TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DESTINY
    • Archangel Uriel >
      • Be The Energy for an Ascending Earth
      • The Balance of Creator and Co-Creator
      • In the Acceleration
      • The End of the Journey is a New Beginning
      • You Are Embodied Perfection
      • The 5 Dimensions of Will
      • Shine From Your Radiance
      • A Time of Expanded Light from Archangel Uriel
    • The Angels, through Satya >
      • Who Is Your Angel ?
      • How to dialogue with the Angels
      • The Love
      • The Joy, the Smile and the Gratitude
      • The Nature and the Breathing
      • The Awakening of the Soul
      • Recognize and express own Essence
    • The Founders >
      • Moving to the Next Level
      • The Founders on the Nature of Timelessness
      • The Founders on the Precession and Galactic Cycle
    • Through Sal Rachele >
      • Leah and Sananda >
        • Extending God’s Creation into the Physical
    • Ra and Q'uo: The Law of One >
      • Ra : Ra's History
      • Ra: Before the Veil of Forgetfulness
      • Ra : Wanderers
      • Ra : Harvest
      • Ra: Session 14 of the Law of One
      • The Universe According to Ra
      • Ra's Work on Earth
      • Q'uo : Ascension
      • Q'uo : Jesus the Christ and the Buddha
      • Q'uo : Angels
      • Q'uo : Primary Development of the Creation'
      • Q'uo : Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine
      • Q'uo : Are you doing what you came to do?
    • Seth >
      • Seth Speaks about God
      • Creation of Matter
    • Through channel Ken Carey: >
      • The Awakening (that we asked for)
    • Kryon : Who is Kryon? .... and Who are We? >
      • The Future is Quantum | An interview with Lee Carroll
      • About Channelling
      • Light
  • EARTH
    • EARTH articles: >
      • Earth Changes and 2012
      • The Relationship between Human Consciousness and Earth Dynamics
      • Earth: Geologic Primer
      • Infogr: Yellowstone
      • Healing Mother Earth
      • Earth's Inaudible Voice
      • The Mysteries of Water
      • Oceans:Shocking Decline
      • Geobiology : Earth Energies That Affect Our Lives
      • Scientists warn that Earth faces severe water shortages within a generation
      • Our Oceans Are Dying
      • Infrasound: "There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres"
      • Is Science Finally Catching Up to What the Ancients Knew About Crystals?
      • Can our Intentions Heal the Water?
      • Does Mother Nature Know What She is Doing?
      • The secret life of trees: Thinking, caring and using the 'wood-wide web' to communicate
      • Scientists find jet stream in Earth’s core
      • Scientists: Earth’s Magnetic Fields Carry Biologically Relevant Information That ‘Connects All Living Systems’
      • Waking Up to the Sacred in Nature and Reclaiming Our Earth Soul
      • Conscious Partnership with Earth
      • Honoring The Solstice
      • Vietnamese farmer discovers a spectacular world
      • Humanity is Waking Up to the Intelligence of Nature
      • The Earth and all its Life is a Sacred Gift
      • Will we be the People of the Great Change?
      • Caring for Our Sacred Earth
    • EARTH/SPACE articles: >
      • Space Weather >
        • Tracking Space Weather from the Sun to the Earth (NASA)
      • Plasma, Plasma, Everywhere
      • Unusual Sounds Reported Worldwide - What Are They?
      • Do 'Outside Forces' Affect Earth?
      • Speed of the Earth?
      • Planetary Challenges and Spiritual Evolution
      • PlanetoPhysical State of the Earth and Life
      • Spirals : Earth/Space
      • Space-Time Vortex
      • Electromag. Spectrum
      • Solstices and Equinoxes
      • Earth/Sun Connection
      • Breach in Magnetic Field
      • Change in Earth's Gravity
      • Moon : Effects on Earth
      • Plasma tubes surround Earth
      • Infographic : EARTH/SPACE
      • Infographic : Evolution of Food in Space
  • OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
    • THE SUN - Our Star >
      • The Sun : Solar Activity
      • Infogr: Sunstorms! / Solar Flares
      • How Solar Flares Affect Humans
      • Mystery of the Sun's Corona
      • Massive Plasma Waves Sweep the Sun
      • Lately, the Sun has been behaving a bit strangely
      • Scientists predict rare 'hibernation' of sunspots
      • Scientists Prove Existence of ‘Magnetic Ropes’ that Cause Solar Storms
      • Sun/Earth Relationship
      • Magnetic Portals connect Earth to the Sun
      • Images From Sun’s Edge Reveal Origins of Solar Wind
      • Total Solar Eclipse 21 August 2017
      • The Awakening Solar Intelligence
      • Revealing the physics of the Sun with NASA's Parker Solar Probe
    • Infogr: Jupiter and Venus
    • Infogr: Solar System
    • Infogr: Asteroid Belt
    • Evolving Solar System / 2012
    • Galaxy, Solar System and Harmonic Resonance
    • Magnetic Bubbles at Edge of Solar System
    • The Seven Bodies of Man
    • Our Solar System's Tail
    • Water in the Solar System: Water, Water, Everywhere!
    • Something is Affecting the Entire Solar System
    • Solar system replica built by space enthusiasts in Nevada Desert - 11km (7 mi) wide
    • Jupiter : 'Brand-new and unexpected' discoveries
    • The Helical Dynamics of the Solar System
  • MILKY WAY GALAXY
    • Infogr: The Milky Way
    • Infogr: Galaxy Full of Planets
    • Massive Outburst in Neighbor Galaxy Surprises Astronomers
    • Sirius and Human History
    • Earthquakes on Stars in the Milky Way
    • Betelgeuse : Supernova?
    • The Corrugated Galaxy : Milky Way Galaxy may be more enormous than ever imagined
    • Interconnected stellar nurseries form the largest gaseous structure ever observed in the Milky Way galaxy
    • Galactic Centre : >
      • Strange Rumblings at the Centre of our Galaxy
      • Massive Outflows Pouring Out Of Milky Way’s Center
      • Milky Way’s Black Hole Shows Signs of Increased Chatter
      • Scientists Identify Cosmic Energy Accelerator at the Galactic Center
  • UNIVERSE
    • The Unified Field and the Illusion of Time: Understanding the Source of Creation
    • The Universe Is A 'Giant Brain'
    • The Self-Aware Universe
    • The New Cosmology
    • How Large is Universe?
    • Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster
    • The Interdimensional Universe
    • Universe : YouTube videos
    • Electric Universe/Plasma Cosmology >
      • What is Plasma?
      • Plasma; 99.999% of Universe
      • Plasma, Plasma, Everywhere
      • Elect. in Space: Hannes Alfvén
      • Aether: True Electric Current?
      • The Simple Electric Universe
      • The Electric Universe
      • Exploring Electric Universe
      • Comets and Electric Universe
      • The Electric Universe - A Synopsis
      • The plasma universe and Max Planck's musical space-time revisited
  • 2012 PROPHECIES and the coming changes
    • The Prophecies Are Now
    • What is Happening in 2012?
    • Edgar Cayce : 'The Sleeping Prophet' >
      • Moving into the New Paradigm
      • The Future
      • The Book of Revelation
    • The NDE and the Future >
      • Dr Kenneth Ring
      • Louis Famoso
      • Betty J Eadie
    • The Great Cross at Hendaye
    • Hindu Prophecy
    • Nostradamus
    • Journey Into A New Dimension - Full Text
    • Native American Prophecies >
      • Cherokee Prophecies
      • Chippewa Prophecies
      • Hopi Prophecies >
        • The Ancient Hopi Message about Water
      • Lakota Sioux Prophecies
      • Mohawk Prophecies
      • Onondaga Prophecies
      • Chief Seattle's Letter to the American President, 1852
    • Mayan Calendar >
      • José Arguelles
      • Ian Xel Lungold
      • Drunvalo Melchizedek
      • Carl Johan Calleman
      • Crystalinks
    • Incas: The Awakening
    • The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls
  • HEALTH and HEALING
    • Vibrational Healing : All is Energy
    • Miraculous Healing Using the Power of the Mind is Possible – Here’s Why
    • Lucid Dream Healing Experiences
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The Relationship between Science and Spirituality
By Fritjof Capra : February 15th, 2016


Fritjof Capra explores how Science and Spirituality
can be fused in a single integrated system of thinking

This article was an original essay written for Sutra Journal

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Dr. Fritjof Capra is a scientist, educator, activist, and author of many international bestsellers that connect conceptual changes in science with broader changes in worldview and values in society.

A Vienna-born physicist and systems theorist, Capra first became popularly known for his book 'The Tao of Physics', which explored the ways in which modern physics was changing our worldview from a mechanistic to a holistic and ecological one. Published in 1975, it is still in print in more than 40 editions worldwide and is referenced with the statue of Shiva in the courtyard of one of the world’s largest and most respected centers for scientific research: CERN, the Center for Research in Particle Physics in Geneva.


Over the past 30 years, Capra has been engaged in a systematic exploration of how other sciences and society are ushering in a similar shift in worldview, or paradigms, leading to a new vision of reality and a new understanding of the social implications of this cultural transformation.

His most recent book, 'The Systems View of Life' (co-authored by Pier Luigi Luisi) (Cambridge University Press, 2014), presents a grand new synthesis of this work - integrating the biological, cognitive, social and ecological dimensions of life into one unified vision.
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Fritjof Capra
A new conception of life

I was trained as a physicist and spent twenty years, from 1965-85, doing research in theoretical high energy physics at several European and American universities. From my early student years, I was fascinated by the dramatic changes of concepts and ideas that occurred in physics during the first three decades of the twentieth century. In my first book, The Tao of Physics (Capra, 1975), I discussed the profound change in our worldview that was brought about by the conceptual revolution in physics – a change from the mechanistic worldview of Descartes and Newton to a holistic and ecological view.

In my subsequent research and writing, I engaged in a systematic exploration of a central theme: the fundamental change of world view, or change of paradigms, that is now also occurring in the other sciences and in society; the unfolding of a new vision of reality, and the social implications of this cultural transformation.

To connect the conceptual changes in science with the broader change of worldview and values in society, I had to go beyond physics and look for a broader conceptual framework. In doing so, I realized that our major social issues – health, education, human rights, social justice, political power, protection of the environment, the management of business enterprises, the economy, and so on – all have to do with living systems; with individual human beings, social systems and ecosystems.

With this realization, my research interests shifted from physics to the life-sciences. Using insights from the theory of living systems, complexity theory and ecology, I began to put together a conceptual framework that integrates four dimensions of life: the biological, the cognitive, the social and the ecological dimensions. I presented summaries of this framework, as it evolved over the years, in several books, beginning with The Turning Point (Capra, 1982), and followed by The Web of Life (Capra, 1996) and The Hidden Connections (Capra, 2002).

In my new book, The Systems View of Life, co-authored with Pier Luigi Luisi, professor of biochemistry at the University of Rome, I offer a grand synthesis of this unifying vision (Capra and Luisi, 2014). At the very heart of it, we find a fundamental change of metaphors: from seeing the world as a machine to understanding it as a network.
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We are starting to see the world as a network
We have discovered that the material world, ultimately, is a network of inseparable patterns of relationships. We have also discovered that the planet as a whole is a living, self-regulating system. The view of the human body as a machine and of the mind as a separate entity is being replaced by one that sees not only the brain, but also the immune system, the bodily organs, and even each cell as a living, cognitive system. And with the new emphasis on complexity, nonlinearity, and patterns of organization, a new science of qualities is slowly emerging.

We call this new science ‘the systems view of life’ because it involves a new kind of thinking – thinking in terms of relationships, patterns and context. In science, this way of thinking is known as ‘systems thinking’, or ‘systemic thinking’.

The systems view of evolution

The systems view of life, not surprisingly, includes a new systemic understanding of evolution. Rather than seeing evolution as the result of only random mutations and natural selection, we are beginning to recognize the creative unfolding of life in forms of ever-increasing diversity and complexity as an inherent characteristic of all living systems. Although mutation and natural selection are still acknowledged as important aspects of biological evolution, the central focus is on creativity, on life’s constant reaching out into novelty.

The systems view recognizes that evolution did not begin with the first living cell but millions of years earlier with a process known as molecular, or ‘pre-biotic’, evolution (see Capra and Luisi, pp. 216ff.). Our detailed ideas about this pre-biotic evolution are still very speculative, but most biologists and biochemists do not doubt that the origin of life on Earth was the result of a sequence of chemical events, subject to the laws of physics and chemistry and to the nonlinear dynamics of complex systems.
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The pre-biotic evolution of life
In the systems view, the basic scenario of the origin and evolution of life on Earth begins in the primeval oceans with the formation of oily, membrane-bounded bubbles, known to chemists as ‘vesicles’. These tiny droplets formed spontaneously according to the basic laws of physics, as naturally as the soap bubbles that form when we put soap and water together and shake the mixture.

Once the vesicles had formed, a complex network chemistry gradually unfolded in the spaces they enclosed, which provided the bubbles with the potential to grow and ‘evolve’ into complex, self-replicating structures. Eventually life emerged from these protocells with the evolution of the DNA, proteins, and the genetic code.

This marked the emergence of a universal ancestor – the first bacterial cell – from which all subsequent life on Earth descended. The descendants of the first living cells took over the Earth by weaving a planetary bacterial web and gradually occupying all the ecological niches.

Driven by the creativity inherent in all living systems,
the planetary web of life expanded through mutations,
gene trading, and symbioses, producing forms of life
of ever-increasing complexity and diversity.


In this majestic unfolding of life, all living organisms continually responded to environmental influences with structural changes, and they did so autonomously, according to their own natures (ibid., pp. 134ff.). From the beginning of life, their interactions with one another and with the nonliving environment were cognitive interactions (ibid., pp. 141ff.). As their structures increased in complexity, so did their cognitive processes, eventually bringing forth conscious awareness, language and conceptual thought.
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When did ‘spirit’ arise on earth?
[Spirit always was, is, and always will be, here and everywhere - MS]

Spirit and spirituality

When we look at this scenario – from the formation of oily droplets to the emergence of consciousness – the question naturally arises: what about the spiritual dimension of life? Is there any room for the human spirit in this new vision of pre-biotic and biotic evolution?

To answer this question, it is useful to review the original meaning of the word ‘spirit’. The Latin spiritus means ‘breath’, which is also true for the related Latin word anima, the Greek psyche, and the Sanskrit atman. The common meaning of these key terms indicates that the original meaning of spirit in many ancient philosophical and religious traditions, in the West as well as in the East, is that of the breath of life.

Since respiration is indeed a central aspect of the metabolism of all but the simplest forms of life, the breath of life seems to be a perfect metaphor for the network of metabolic processes that is the defining characteristic of all living systems (Ibid., pp. 134ff.). Spirit – the breath of life – is what we have in common with all living beings. It nourishes us and keeps us alive.

Spirituality is usually understood as a way of being that flows from a certain profound experience of reality, which is known as ‘mystical’, ‘religious’ or ‘spiritual’ experience. There are numerous descriptions of this experience in the literature of the world’s religions, which tend to agree that it is a direct, non-intellectual experience of reality with some fundamental characteristics that are independent of cultural and historical contexts. One of the most beautiful contemporary descriptions can be found in a short essay titled Spirituality as Common Sense, by the Benedictine monk, psychologist and author David Steindl-Rast (1990).
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Spirit – the breath of life ['life' itself - MS]– is what we have in common with all living beings
In accordance with the original meaning of spirit as the breath of life, Brother David characterizes spiritual experience as a non-ordinary experience of reality during moments of heightened aliveness. Our spiritual moments are moments when we feel intensely alive. The aliveness felt during such a ‘peak experience’, as psychologist Abraham Maslow (1964) called it, involves not only the body but also the mind. Buddhists refer to this heightened mental alertness as ‘mindfulness’, and they emphasize, interestingly, that mindfulness is deeply rooted in the body. Spirituality, then, is always embodied [in that we are individuated expressions of the Creator embodied in physical form - MS]. We experience our spirit, in the words of Brother David, as “the fullness of mind and body”.

It is evident that this notion of spirituality is very consistent with the notion of the embodied mind that is now being developed in cognitive science (see Varela et al., 1991). Spiritual experience is an experience of aliveness of mind and body as a unity. Moreover, this experience of unity transcends not only the separation of mind and body, but also the separation of self and world. The central awareness in these spiritual moments is a profound sense of oneness with all, a sense of belonging to the universe as a whole.

This sense of oneness with the natural world is fully borne out by the new systemic conception of life. As we understand how the roots of life reach deep into basic physics and chemistry, how the unfolding of complexity began long before the formation of the first living cells, and how life has evolved for billions of years by using again and again the same basic patterns and processes, we realize how tightly we are connected with the entire fabric of life.

A sense of awe and wonder

Spiritual experience – the direct, non-intellectual experience of reality in moments of heightened aliveness – is known as a mystical experience because it is an encounter with mystery. Spiritual teachers throughout the ages have insisted that the experience of a profound sense of connectedness, of belonging to the cosmos as a whole, which is the central characteristic of mystical experience, is ineffable – incapable of being adequately expressed in words or concepts. Thus we read in the Kena Upanishad (see Hume, 1934):

There the eye goes not,
Speech goes not, nor the mind.
We know not, we understand not
How one would teach it.

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A spiritual experience can give us a sense of connectedness with the cosmos
This encounter with mystery, so the mystics tell us, is often accompanied by a deep sense of awe and wonder, together with a feeling of great humility. Scientists, in their systematic observations of natural phenomena, do not consider their experience of reality as ineffable. On the contrary, we attempt to express it in technical language, including mathematics, as precisely as possible. However, the fundamental interconnectedness of all phenomena is a dominant theme also in modern science, and many of our great scientists have expressed their sense of awe and wonder when faced with the mystery that lies beyond the limits of their theories. Albert Einstein, for one, repeatedly expressed these feelings, as in the following celebrated passage (Einstein, 1949).

"The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science…the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvellous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavor to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature."


Spirituality and religion

When we discuss the relationship between science and spirituality, it is important to distinguish between spirituality and religion. Spirituality is a way of being grounded in a certain experience of reality that is independent of cultural and historical contexts. Religion is the organized attempt to understand spiritual experience, to interpret it with words and concepts, and to use this interpretation as the source of moral guidelines for the religious community.
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God has no religion
There are three basic aspects to religion: theology, morals and ritual (see Capra and Steindl-Rast, 1991). In theistic religions, theology is the intellectual interpretation of the spiritual experience, of the sense of belonging, with God as the ultimate reference point. Morals, or ethics, are the rules of conduct derived from that sense of belonging; and ritual is the celebration of belonging by the religious community. All three of these aspects – theology, morals and ritual – depend on the religious community’s historical and cultural contexts.

Theology was originally understood as the intellectual interpretation of the theologians’ own mystical experience. Indeed, according to the Benedictine scholar Thomas Matus (quoted in Capra and Steindl-Rast, 1991), during the first thousand years of Christianity virtually all of the leading theologians – the so-called ‘Church Fathers’ – were also mystics. Over the subsequent centuries, however, during the scholastic period, theology became progressively fragmented and divorced from the spiritual experience that was originally at its core.

With the new emphasis on purely intellectual theological knowledge came a hardening of the language. Whereas the Church Fathers repeatedly asserted the ineffable nature of religious experience, and expressed their interpretations in terms of symbols and metaphors, the scholastic theologians formulated the Christian teachings in dogmatic language and required from the faithful to accept these formulations as the literal truth. In other words, Christian theology (as far as the religious establishment was concerned) became more and more rigid and fundamentalist, devoid of authentic spirituality.
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Christianity was originally focused on a mystical experience of God. Religion came later.
The awareness of these subtle relationships between religion and spirituality is important when we compare both of them with science. While scientists try to explain natural phenomena, the purpose of a spiritual discipline is not to provide a description of the world. Its purpose, rather, is to facilitate experiences that will change a person’s self and way of life. However, in the interpretations of their experiences, mystics and spiritual teachers are often led to also make statements about the nature of reality, causal relationships, the nature of human consciousness and the like. This allows us to compare their descriptions of reality with corresponding descriptions by scientists.

In these spiritual traditions – for example, in the various schools of Buddhism – the mystical experience is always primary; its descriptions and interpretations are considered secondary and tentative, insufficient to fully describe the spiritual experience. In a way, these descriptions are not unlike the limited and approximate models in science, which are always subject to further modifications and improvements.

In the history of Christianity, by contrast, theological statements about the nature of the world, or about human nature, were often considered as literal truths, and any attempt to question or modify them was deemed heretical. This rigid position of the Church led to the well-known conflicts between science and fundamentalist Christianity, which have continued to the present day. In these conflicts, antagonistic positions are often taken on by fundamentalists on both sides, who fail to keep in mind the limited and approximate nature of all scientific theories, on the one hand, and the metaphorical and symbolic nature of the language in religious scriptures, on the other. In recent years, such fundamentalist debates have become especially problematic around the concept of a creator God.
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In Buddhism, the mystical experience is always primary
In theistic religions, the sense of mystery that is at the core of spiritual experience is associated with the divine. In the Christian tradition, the encounter with mystery is an encounter with God, and the Christian mystics repeatedly emphasized that the experience of God transcends all words and concepts. Thus Dionysius the Areopagite, a highly influential mystic of the early sixth century, writes: “At the end of all our knowing, we shall know God as the unknown”; and Saint John of Damascus in the early eighth century: “God is above all knowing and above all essence” (both quoted in Capra and Steindl-Rast, 1991).

However, most Christian theologians do want to speak about their experience of God, and to do so the Church Fathers used poetic language, symbols, and metaphors. The central error of fundamentalist theologians in subsequent centuries was, and is, to adopt a literal interpretation of these religious metaphors. Once this is done, any dialogue between religion and science becomes frustrating and unproductive.

Religion involves not only the intellectual interpretation of spiritual experience, but is also closely associated with morals and rituals. Morals, or ethics, are the rules of conduct derived from the sense of belonging that lies at the core of the spiritual experience, and ritual is the celebration of that belonging.

Both ethics and ritual develop within the context of a spiritual, or religious, community. According to David Steindl-Rast, ethical behavior is always related to the particular community to which we belong. When we belong to a community, we behave accordingly.

In today’s world, we belong to many different communities,
but we share two communities to which we all belong.
We are all members of humanity,
and we all belong to the global biosphere.


We are members of oikos, the Earth Household, which is the Greek root of the word ‘ecology’, and as such we should behave as the other members of the household behave – the plants, animals and micro-organisms that form the vast network of relationships that we call the web of life.
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We are very much a part of the web of life
The outstanding characteristic of the Earth Household is its inherent ability to sustain life. As members of the global community of living beings, it behooves us to behave in such a way that we do not interfere with this inherent ability. This is the essential meaning of ecological sustainability. As members of the human community, our behavior should reflect a respect of human dignity and basic human rights. Since human life encompasses biological, cognitive, social and ecological dimensions, human rights should be respected in all four of these dimensions.

To spell this out in detail is quite a challenge, but fortunately we have a magnificent document, the Earth Charter, which covers the broad range of human dignity and human rights. The Earth Charter was written over many years, beginning with the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, in a unique collaborative effort involving NGOs, indigenous peoples and many other groups around the world. It is a declaration of 16 values and principles for building a sustainable, just and peaceful world – a perfect summary of the ethics we need for our time.

To conclude my brief discussion of religion, I would like to add a few words about rituals and the notion of the sacred. The original purpose of religious communities was to provide opportunities for their members to relive the mystical experiences of the religion’s founders. For this purpose, religious leaders designed special rituals within their historical and cultural contexts.

These rituals may involve special places, robes, music, psychedelic drugs and various ritualistic objects. In many religions, these special means to facilitate mystical experience become closely associated with the religion itself and are considered sacred. Thus, we hear of ‘sacred ground’, ‘sacred geometry’, ‘sacred music’, ‘sacred dances’, ‘holy water’, ‘sacred mushrooms’ and so on.
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Rituals are often designed to help members relive the mystical experiences
of the religion’s founders

Parallels between science and mysticism

As I have mentioned, scientists and spiritual teachers pursue very different goals. While the purpose of the former is to find explanations of natural phenomena, that of the latter is to change a person’s self and way of life. However, in their different pursuits, both are led to make statements about the nature of reality that can be compared.

Among the first modern scientists to make such comparisons were some of the leading physicists of the twentieth century who had struggled to understand the strange and unexpected reality revealed to them in their explorations of atomic and subatomic phenomena (see Capra, 1975, pp. 52ff.). In the 1950s, several of these scientists published popular books about the history and philosophy of quantum physics, in which they hinted at remarkable parallels between the worldview implied by modern physics and the views of Eastern spiritual and philosophical traditions. The following three quotations are examples of such early comparisons.

"The general notions about human understanding…which are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics, are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly unheard of, or new. Even in our own culture they have a history, and in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable and central place." – J. Robert Oppenheimer (1954)

"For a parallel to the lesson of atomic theory…[we must turn] to those kinds of epistemological problems with which already thinkers like the Buddha and Lao Tzu have been confronted." – Niels Bohr (1958)

"The great scientific contribution in theoretical physics that has come from Japan since the last war may be an indication of a certain relationship between philosophical ideas in the tradition of the Far East and the philosophical substance of quantum theory." – Werner Heisenberg (1958)
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The worldview of quantum physics and Eastern spiritual traditions
turned out to be remarkably similar

During the 1960s there was a strong interest in Eastern spiritual traditions in Europe and North America, and many scholarly books on Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism were published by Eastern and Western authors. At that time, the parallels between these Eastern traditions and modern physics were discussed more frequently (see, e.g., LeShan, 1969), and a few years later I explored systematically in The Tao of Physics (Capra, 1975).

My main thesis in this book is that the approaches of physicists and mystics, even though they seem at first quite different, share some important characteristics. To begin with, their method is thoroughly empirical. Physicists derive their knowledge from experiments; mystics from meditative insights. Both are observations, and in both fields these observations are acknowledged as the only source of knowledge. The objects of observation are of course very different in the two cases. Mystics look within and explore their consciousness at various levels, including the physical phenomena associated with the mind’s embodiment.

Physicists, by contrast, begin their inquiry into the essential nature of things by studying the material world. Exploring ever deeper realms of matter, they become aware of the essential unity of all natural phenomena. More than that, they also realize that they themselves and their consciousness are an integral part of this unity. Thus mystics and physicists arrive at the same conclusion; one discipline starting from the inner realm, the other from the outer world. The harmony between their views confirms the ancient Indian wisdom that brahman, the ultimate reality without, is identical to atman, the reality within.

A further important similarity between the ways of the physicist and the mystic is the fact that their observations take place in realms that are inaccessible to the ordinary senses. In modern physics, these are the realms of the atomic and subatomic world; in mysticism, they are non-ordinary states of consciousness in which the everyday sensory world is transcended.

In both cases, access to these non-ordinary levels of experience is possible
only after long years of training within a rigorous discipline,
and in both fields the ‘experts’ assert
that their observations often defy expressions in ordinary language.

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The ancient mysticism inherent in quantum physics is a shock to a science-based society
Twentieth-century physics was the first discipline in which scientists experienced dramatic changes of their basic concepts and ideas – a paradigm shift from the mechanistic worldview of Descartes and Newton to a holistic and systemic conception of reality. Subsequently, the same change of paradigms occurred in the life sciences with the gradual emergence of the systems view of life. It should therefore not come as a surprise that the similarities between the worldviews of physicists and Eastern mystics are relevant not only to physics but to science as a whole.

After the publication of The Tao of Physics in 1975, numerous books appeared in which physicists and other scientists presented similar explorations of the parallels between physics and mysticism (e.g., Zukav, 1979; Talbot, 1980; Davies, 1983). Other authors extended their inquiries beyond physics, finding similarities between Eastern thought and certain ideas about free will; death and birth; and the nature of life, mind, consciousness, and evolution (see Mansfield, 2008). Moreover, the same kinds of parallels have been drawn also to Western mystical traditions (see Capra and Steindl-Rast, 1991).

Deep ecology and spirituality

The extensive explorations of the relationships between science and spirituality over the past four decades have made it evident that the sense of oneness, which is the key characteristic of spiritual experience, is fully confirmed by the understanding of reality in contemporary science. Hence, there are numerous similarities between the worldviews of mystics and spiritual teachers – both Eastern and Western – and the systemic conception of nature that is now being developed in several scientific disciplines.
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We are deeply connected to nature
The awareness of being connected with all of nature is particularly strong in ecology. Connectedness, relationship and interdependence are fundamental concepts of ecology; and connectedness, relationship and belonging are also the essence of spiritual experience. Hence, ecology – and in particular the school of deep ecology, founded by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess in the 1970s (see Devall and Sessions, 1985) – can be an ideal bridge between science and spirituality. The defining characteristic of deep ecology is a shift from anthropocentric to ecocentric values. It is a worldview that acknowledges the inherent value of non-human life, recognizing that all living beings are members of ecological communities, bound together in networks of interdependencies.

When we look at the world around us, we find that we are not thrown into chaos and randomness but are part of a great order, a grand symphony of life. Every molecule in our body was once a part of previous bodies – living or nonliving – and will be a part of future bodies. In this sense, our body will not die but will live on, again and again, because life lives on. Moreover, we share not only life’s molecules, but also its basic principles of organization with the rest of the living world. And since our mind, too, is embodied, our concepts and metaphors are embedded in the web of life, together with our bodies and brains. Indeed, we belong to the universe, and this experience of belonging can make our lives profoundly meaningful.


Feature image by Cameron Gray


http://upliftconnect.com/science-and-spirituality/
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