There is an inner impulsion within the human being which is commonly interpreted as the engine that drives personal success, that earns credentials and accolades which result in magnificent acquisitions—the external more, more, more of which there is never enough to satisfy. For even when we have succeeded in meeting many or most of our outer goals there remains an awareness of an illusive “something,” an emptiness that is yet unfilled.
Is there any validity to this awareness? Is there something woven into the fundamental fabric of our being that urges us to seek fulfillment beyond the offerings of the external world? Affirmative evidence is offered by Andrew Newberg, M.D., in his book on brain science and the biology of belief, Why God Won’t Go Away:
“As Gene and I sifted through mountains of data on religious experience, ritual, and brain science, important pieces of the puzzle came together and meaningful patterns emerged. Gradually, we shaped a hypothesis that suggests that spiritual experience, at its very root, is intimately interwoven with human biology. That biology, in some way, compels the spiritual urge.”
According to both ancient and contemporary spiritual traditions, there is a passageway into an extended awareness of our true nature, that aspect of ourselves that can be accessed when the preoccupations of the conscious mind are quieted. As we enter through this passageway, we lift the veil that hides the inner paradise in which we truly live, move, and have our being. India’s great philosopher, Sri Aurobindo, aptly describes it this way:
“The full delight of being is intrinsic, self-existent, automatic; it cannot be dependent on things outside itself. In the spiritual knowledge of self, the first step is the discovery of the soul, the secret entity, the divine element within us.”
From this wisdom we can conclude that there is no permanent or ultimate fulfillment from anything outside of our essential Self, our soul-self. This leaves little wiggle room for us to postpone seeking out spiritual practices by which we may evolve an extended awareness of our at-onement with First Cause, which some call God, Brahma, Spirit, or no name at all.
Jill Bolte Taylor, a 37-year-old Harvard-trained neuroanatomist, experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the rational, time-oriented left side of her brain. Within a four-hour time span she lost the ability to walk, talk, read, or write. Her knowledge of how the brain works allowed her to recognize that she was having a stroke and seek immediate help. At the very outset of her eight-year recovery period, her consciousness shifted into the right brain where she experienced a state of nirvana, what she described as an extended awareness of herself being “at one with the Universe.” Andrew Newberg explains this extended awareness:
“… various key brain structures and the way information is channeled along neural pathways leads us to hypothesize that the brain possesses a neurological mechanism for self-transcendence.”
The degree to which we activate this innate capacity to self-transcend, so do we cultivate an extended awareness of the Self.
As we progress in self-transcendence, the sense of separation or involvement with the personal mind expands into an awareness of the unique emanation that each of us is as an individualized expression of the One Mind that is everywhere in its fullness. That which is happening cosmically begins to happen through us locally. In such a state of awareness the plenitude, beauty, peace, joy, bliss, compassion—these transcendent yet eminent qualities of being are activated within us. It is a process of awakening to our true nature which places us in harmony with the fundamental order of Existence. Modern Zen master Huang Po describes the ultimate state of being he calls One Mind in this way:
“All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but One Mind, beside which nothing exists. Only awake to the One Mind.”
This One Mind is the very life force that animates and sustains existence, the evolutionary impulse within the universe and each individual.
The personal mind—predominantly the left side of the brain—wants to figure out how all of this happens. The demand to know “how” is actually a delay tactic of the ego, a defense mechanism so that our sense of being a separate self doesn’t dissolve right on the spot! Self-transcendence is our birthright. Everything that we need is already within us, announcing itself through the inner impulsion to grow, develop and unfold. How do we cultivate an extended awareness of Self? First by an identity shift which acknowledges our at-onement with the One Mind. We then grow confidence in our capacity to become a fully enlightened being. As an enlightened being, we live from a state of cosmic consciousness, a conscious awareness of our oneness with all life.
When we consider current scientific studies of the brain relative to the field of quantum consciousness, the evolutionary possibilities for the individual and our global family are limitless. A genuine state of cosmic awareness expressing through an individual or a whole nation is distinguishable as scientific knowledge of life, life lived in attunement with cosmic laws. Living from such a state of consciousness holds the potential for governing our world by a kind of super-wisdom which results in cooperation rather than competition, in unity rather than division, in oneness rather than separation.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Michael, as an added note to your blog I would like to add that many people who have had near-death experiences (NDE) have sensed a smiliar form of ‘extended awareness’ (see Kenneth Ring’s ‘Omega’ books, as well as many other authors). Ring, for example, reports that almost 50% of those who had NDEs (compared to about 15% of control group) claimed that their nervous system now functioned differently than it did before; almost a third of them (compared with 7-8% of control group) also asserted that their brains were ‘structurally different’ than before.
Margot Grey, in her book ‘Return from Death’, wrote that: ‘It would seem that similar physiological mechanisms are operating in both the NDE and kundalini phenomena and that they are both aspects of the same evolutionary force. Taken together, these spectacular instances of transformation add up to a surprisingly large and increasing percentage of the population and might therefore be expected to have a growing influence on the collective awareness of the rest of the species, at both a conscious and subconscious level… It would appear that a new breed of mankind may be about to be born, and that in order for this to happen our consciousness and biological structure is undergoing a radical transformation. What we seem to be observing is a rebirth process which … will eventually culminate in bringing forth an enlightened human being who has knowledge of the life and order of the universe’
Michael Grosso, likewise, in his book ‘The Final Choice’ notes how NDE’s also function as a form of the ‘Mind at Large’ creating feedback in order to stir evolutionary forces in our collective unconscious into developmental action.
Like Jill Taylor’s stroke experience, instances of experiencing the ‘Mind at Large’ or ‘extended awareness’ are available through a variety of means. It may be that such ‘encounters’ will become more prolific as we become more sensitive – or attuned – to these experiences and/or possibilities…?
Best wishes…
Good Morning to the Forum…(from Kingsley’s post…)–”Taken together, these spectacular instances of transformation add up to a surprisingly large and increasing percentage of the population and might therefore be expected to have a growing influence on the collective awareness of the rest of the species, at both a conscious and subconscious level… It would appear that a new breed of mankind may be about to be born, and that in order for this to happen our consciousness and biological structure is undergoing a radical transformation. What we seem to be observing is a rebirth process which … will eventually culminate in bringing forth an enlightened human being who has knowledge of the life and order of the universe’…” [Kingsley Dennis...above]
Stan Grof writes of this collective rebirth process in his “Beyond the Brain”…also Rick Tarnas writes of an astrological formation in August of 2010 which he calls the “the T-Cross of Death and Rebirth…” and of course this is very much on the mind of the ‘new thought’ folks nowadays…well actually for a few decades now. At some point there will no doubt be that tipping point of the ‘critical mass’ I would think…so that makes sense to me.
I would add that I have had the ‘nde’ experience…many years ago…and those insights still support me.
By the way..I posted another ‘installment’ on the other notebook. The forum seems a bit intimidating…but I see you are posting here, so I decided to write a few thoughts too. Good forum here!!!
Barbara,
Thank you for the comment & feedback. Grof’s work is pioneering in this field, and his material on transcendental states and experiences have helped tremendously in bringing this type of information to a larger public (and acceptance). This leads the way to explore further realms of ‘expanded awareness’, such as described by Robert Monroe’s fascinating (yet less scientific) ‘out-of-body’ explorations. At present these are anomalies in the current scientific paradigm…yet all we need are enough anomalies to start shifting this ‘old-program’ paradigm.
I am currently close to beginning a reading of Tarnas’s work ‘Cosmos & Psyche’ which I think will also verify some of these explorations…
What we need is for more people to begin ‘joining the dots’ – which I hope will be one of the functions of this Forum.
Best wishes
Kingsley, what a wonderful meeting place this is!…so wonderful to converse with folks who have done reading in common…I spent some extended time with Grof and Tarnas at Esalen…back around 1980…and I am still greatly supported and educated in my own life by that experience. I keep this page minimized and will check back often…life is very ‘busy’ right now…but I am very much interested in this effort and this ongoing forum.
Best wishes to you!
–bss
a p.s…don’t know what happened…wanted to tell you that I bought the ‘Cosmos and Psyche’ tome several months ago…not really digging into it yet. Tarnas’ work on Prometheus is especially wonderful..do you know of that?
It seems that this Forum, and others like it, are the new ‘Agora’ – meeting places; much like Esalen and similar places were for physical meetings. Of course, it is hard to beat the experience of face-to-face meetings, yet for a diverse and distributed global world the new digital Agoras – online Forums – serve this purpose. Barbara, I have never been fortunate enough to have had the Esalen experience with such notables as Grof – lucky you!
There is now a growing thirst for searching out like-minded individuals from around the globe, and to share such information – to ‘join the dots’. The ‘extended awareness’ theme also makes me consider the morphic resonance work of Dr. Rupert Sheldrake who, for many long years now, has been trying to encourage people to listen, learn, and accept how the extended mind can operate in the physical world. As each person considers these ideas, these possibilities, there is the potential that we feedback this awareness into the collective ‘non-local’ mindfield. When will we have the 100th monkey effect one wonders?
Perhaps science should also ‘look back’ (not only forward) to indigenous knowledge, shamanic wisdom, to see how initiation science has discussed/utilized the extended mind. Perhaps also this is a place for sharing resources/information on resources? Where to find good e-books, for example..?
Kingsley
PS. No, have not yet delved into Tarnas’s ‘Prometheus/Archetypal’ material
Hi Kingsley and Barbara,
I recently was invited to do kind of instant sum-up translation during a congress of “International Work Group in Death, Dying and Bereavement” (www.iwgddb.org) here in Germany. It was a kind of pleasure of great inner peace to listen especially to one of the speakers, Colin Murray Parkes, talking about how to break cycles of violence – deeply sharing his experience how a “small” moment of true grief and total let go goes a long way… That’s what you say, Barbara, don’t you? The transpersonal work (breathwork and the very humble use of plants) may reveal its potential to our life. If it does, is related to the purity of the individual – that is my experience; for whatever good and loving, might turn into something foolish if it is used in a kind of outer (utilitarian, objectified) idea. I hope I find rigth words but my feeling theat you will have knowledge about what I try to say. Years ago I had choosen the way of performing arts – at that time the only way to share. We change.
“Cosmos and Psyche” – is from Grof, right? Amazingly good construction to understand life – I can correlate my mental birth very much to it.
Greetings Johannes! I find myself thinking so often, in the back hopper of my mind, of this forum and its potential and possibilities…and things I might like to say here…yet…alas, precious few moments for the focus and concentration needed to do that! “Cosmos and Psyche” is by Richard Tarnas…I highly recommend. Grof’s work is vast…monumental…actually the work Tarnas has done is also vast and monumental….
Kingsley…you mentioned Sheldrake…I have been following his thought for several decades…so wonderful to meed ‘likeminds’ here…I want to think (and do) regarding your suggestion of this forum being a place for source references…
Do you know of the work of Lyall Watson?
Johannes – thank you for sharing. It is good to hear that you have actual ´hands-on´experience, so that some of this theory and articulation can be placed into the physical domain where it affects people in their everyday lives. We are discussing here both the ´bigger picture´ (macro) as well as the focused details (micro). It is important that what we are discussing is ´lived´in actual human experiences too, just as you work through performing arts.
Barbara, I have read some Lyall Watson in the past – another open-minded scientist. There are so many voices in the world that one wonders why the present scientific paradigm has been so inflexible for so long. Perhaps it is also a matter of ´right time, right place´… and that now the energies of the will for change are ready to accept the findings of the new sciences. This is the ´chaos point´that many, including Laszlo, have discussed: also is the ´critical point´where new research joints-the-dots, and we have an áhh´moment….
Ahhh….
I had a vision once…in answer to your question…shall never forget it. I was watching a circle of ice under the water, as the water etched out a design, sort of like a wheel..a mandala if you will…when the balance of positive and negative space was perfectly carved out…the entire wheel came to the surface…for all to see. Just watching that explained a lot to me.
…ahhh
A Truth
_
The Universe is God
You did not know?
They do not tell
The Universe is God
All within it too
Including
You
Including
You
The Universe
Is
God
To God we are
As senses are to us
Yet we don’t see
See that we are part
Of He
or
She
Read that again
Next
Time
More carefully
_
Egal Bohen
It is not simply a “our global family are limitless” but a “universe-entire village”. However that is the lowest level. Certainly the One Mind contains all that is within creation and can be experienced when personal self evaporates, but there is a level quite outside of that, that is full enlightenment. The soul’s dissolution to become one with the Divine, the Universal Self, Ultimate Reality, whatever name we want to use to name The Nameless.
As for Bolte’s stroke this http://kyrani99.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/strokes-or-cerebral-vascular-accidents-are-no-accidents/ is most likely what happened and her knowledge that she was having a stroke didn’t come from the brain but via direct mental perception. What others were involved and what their purpose?