Weekends are for introspection for me – I paint, I
do sculpture and I read poetry. Sometimes I read about philosophies that have
shaped the human race, and inevitably spirituality takes a central stance at
the end of my séances.
Interestingly, I also end up recalling my amateur
knowledge of physics, especially quantum physics. Somehow since the first
course of physics I took in college I found so many intersections between the
world of pure science and the worlds of philosophical flexibilities.
So, I read a book about Sufism where the philosophy
found in the oldest preserved classical manual on Sufism written by Abū Naṣr
as-Sarrāj is discussed. I wanted a “how to” manual where abstract philosophy is
translated into steps, and a certain rationale is provided for these steps.
And I learned about States and Stations which
are the required contextual building stones to reaching the consciousness through
self-discipline. Ok, that suddenly got too abstract. But a bit of re-reading
made me realize that these states are a compendium of self-achievements during
the vagabonding upon the spiritual path in search of consciousness. And, that with each station that is achieved,
a new state form inside the person as a consequence.
Of course the Hindu Philosophy of Consciousness has
a similar blueprint. There are four states in our search for consciousness.
Jagrit, or the walking state, is the
first one. In this state we find our identity, our creative skills, and pursue
to contribute to humanity. Yet, Jagrit is often thought as an illusion, the
veil of Maya that provides dreams rather than anchor us in reality.
And this achievement of this state, the Jagrit,
takes us to the second state which is Sapna or the dream state. I have to admit that this is my favorite state, and I
am happy to go from Jagrit to Sapna and not pursue the next two steps!
Ok, in Sapna, we lose our identity, we listen only to
abstracted memories, and we lose the constructs of time and space. It is an
introspective state of chaos that we try to organize and give the semblance of
order.
I have always thought that scientists find their
consciousness in the Jagrit state, while artists somehow reach Sapna and stay
there! But over time I learned that there are many who excel in the back and
forth between Jagrit and Sapna. That these states are not like turning a page,
but a co-existing continuum where we go back from Sapna to Jagrit to
re-energize our creativity, to recall our identity.
And this is when I fall into the loving tentacles of
Quantum Physics!
The historic proposal of Niels Bohr in 1913 is most
à propos to the discussion of states and stations in Sufism and Hindu
Philosophy. During the gestational years of Quantum Mechanics, Bohr proposed
that electrons in an atom exist only in certain stationary states, including a
ground state. Most remarkably, his theory was that electrons change their
energy by "jumping" between the stationary states.
Voila! Atoms as our stable context and us as the
pesky electrons. Sure, I think I will
get quite a few emails for my naïve comparison of concepts and philosophies,
but I think that the idea of states, stations, energy harvesting though the
back-and-forth between the states is intriguing. Of course, during the pursuit
of consciousness the states and stations are not stationary, but Bohr was never
a philosopher, really…
Back to Sufism and Hindu philosophy. The key pursuit
on the path of self-realisation is the reaching of consciousness. Needless to
say, this concept is influenced by ethno-philosophy, spirituality, religion,
and of course philosophy.
What is consciousness? The simplest definition may
be the reaching of a higher self
or transcendental reality by going beyond animal instincts. That is what I was
taught when reading Emanuel Kant to understand how we synthesize between ideas
and philosophies. The “thesis-antithesis-synthesis”
triad was very useful to me during my years as a scientist and a culturally
flexible student of human expectations.
One cannot address
the definition of a higher self or transcendental reality without touching upon
religious teachings. Interestingly, while the linguistic equivalent of the word
consciousness is the Greek word Suneidesis,
there is no mention of it in the Old Testament. Rather scholars believe
that the Hebrew term for “heart” is how self-awareness, or consciousness, is
defined. Even the Dead Sea Scrolls lack a term for consciousness. In contrast,
the term consciousness is used 32 times in the New Testament.
In all situations,
suneidesis and consciousness represent a person’s inner compass for moral
behavior. They define us as binary – floating between good and evil and
requiring to make a choice.
…The rainy season, called monsoon, started today in
Arizona. A lot of rain fell upon the dry desert and in a few days the magic
will happen again – all will be green, and parts of the desert will look like a
gof course for a couple of weeks.
Is that a new station or state for the desert? When
the water will disappear, the desert will go back to its previous state of
dryness but also of resilience. It will save all its energy to stay intact and
vibrant till the next cycle of bloom and rejuvenation.
I hope to be in the right space and time when that
happens.
July 13, 2019
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2019
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