Quotes from science

Many scientists and physicists have discovered the singularity which Vedanta points to. Many of these scientists lived in a time when it was even more taboo to speak outside the "Christian" framework. A few of these scientists even won the Nobel prize in their respective areas of work. Below are a few examples.

Erwin Schrodinger - Nobel prize winner, contributor to the founding of quantum physics.

http://whatislife.stanford.edu/Homepage/LoCo_files/What-is-Life.pdf

"Yet each of us has the indisputable impression that the sum total of his own experience and memory forms a unit, quite distinct from that of any other person. He refers to it as 'I' and What is this 'I'? If you analyze it closely you will, I think, find that it is just the facts little more than a collection of single data (experiences and memories), namely the canvas upon which they are collected. And you will, on close introspection, find that what you really mean by 'I' is that ground-stuff upon which they are collected.

Albert Einstein - Nobel prize winner, best known for his theories of relativity.

'A human being... experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison ...'

Stanley Sobottka - Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia. Stanley has an excellent paper available on his website for free, titled "A Course in Consciousness".

http://faculty.virginia.edu/consciousness/

From the Summary...

"The following concepts, like all concepts, cannot describe Reality, but, unlike most concepts, they point to Reality.

1. The premise: Consciousness is all there is. Another word for Consciousness is the impersonal, yet intimate, I.

2. The conclusions:

I am not an object or entity.
Objects and entities are never real.
Whatever is supposed to happen will happen. Whatever is not supposed to happen will not happen. There is no doer, so there is no choice.
The entire manifestation is an expression of Love.

3. The practice: Don’t believe this—look and see it for yourself!

Peter Russell - a fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, of The World Business Academy and of The Findhorn Foundation, and an Honorary Member of The Club of Budapest.

http://www.peterrussell.com/index2.php

"But what exactly is this sense of "I-ness?" I use the word "I" hundreds of times a day without hesitation. I say that I am thinking or seeing something, that I have a feeling or desire, that I know or remember something. It is the most familiar, most intimate, most obvious aspect of myself. I know exactly what I mean by "I." Until, that is, I try to describe it or define it. Then I run into trouble.

Although the self may never be known as an object of experience, it can be known in another, more intimate and immediate, way. When the mind is silent, when all the thoughts, feelings, perceptions and memories with which we habitually identify have fallen away, then what remains is the essence of self, the pure subject without an object. What we then find is not a sense of "I am this" or "I am that;" but just "I am"."

Consciousness is All - Rupert Spira

In concert with the Urban Guru Cafe's episodes featuring Rupert Spira, here are four excellent YouTube videos done by Chris Hebard at stillnessspeaks.com interviewing Rupert.

Listen to these in order - follow the investigation.

Mooji

It seems Mooji gets a bad rap from both "sides" of the Advaita equation. To the traditional, Mooji is another "false neo-Advaita satsang teacher" - as he prescribes no practices, preaches from no sacred texts.

To the more direct crowd, he is the epitome of the "guru type". He speaks softly, sits with flowers and a picture of Ramana Maharshi, and has the "feeling" of a guru.

Yet his message is consistently clear and direct - pointing to THAT BY WHICH the I AM-ness is known, your true essence.

As with other posts on this blog, don't get stuck on the attributes of the messenger - let the message resonate. Follow what is being pointed to.

THIS is Inescapable

No matter how hard we seek, no matter what path we take, no matter what revelations we have, we cannot escape THIS, right here and now. Whatever the next realization will be, it will be JUST THIS. If Oneness is found, it will be JUST THIS. If Enlightenment is attained, it will be JUST THIS. Whatever THIS is conceptualized in mind, whatever THIS is believed to be, whatever THIS is appearing as, whatever THIS is, good or bad, THIS is IT.

THIS is inescapable - we try to wiggle our way out of it in thought. We race back, in memory, to the past, trying to second-guess, trying to analyze. We zoom forward in imagination, trying to anticipate, trying to plan, setting goals - yet when the past happened, it was JUST THIS. When the future unfolds, it will be JUST THIS.

In the spiritual search, we try to focus on being present. We try to "live in the NOW". What does that really mean? It means not racing into the past or rushing to the future, but remaining with THIS, right here and now. But what is NOW? What is the present? It is the present age, the present century, the present decade, the present year, the present month, the present week, the present day. It is the present hour. It is the present minute. How long is the present?

The minute has 60 seconds - so NOW is also the present second, which is the present millisecond, the present nanosecond...

So where is the present? What measurement is the "official" length of time? What length of time is THIS, right here and now?

THIS - is no length of time at all. If we're focused on this "moment", THIS feels like a short time. When we're preoccupied, THIS flies by. Yet it's always only THIS.

Therefore THIS is the timeless. THIS means - timelessness - eternal. Time is itself only a concept, only a mental function, a measurement of some kind, an arbitrary calculation, a conceptual splitting up of something which can never be split. That something is JUST THIS.

Where are YOU in all this? What is aware of the timeless beyond time? What is the condition by which this realization of the illusory nature of time takes place? THAT is the timeless itself. THAT, is YOU.


"Early morning, the orange sun is slowly rising, shining forth in empty luminous clarity. The mind and the sky are one, the sun is rising in the vast space of primordial awareness, and there is just this. Yasutani Roshi once said, speaking of satori, that it was the most precious realization in the world, because all the great philosophers had tried to understand ultimate reality but had failed to do so, yet with satori or awakening all of your deepest questions are finally answered: it's just this."

-Ken Wilbur, "One Taste"

The Leaning Mind

The Ashtavakra Gita is a teaching from an ancient Indian Vedanta sage, Ashtavakra. It is a dialog between Ashtavakra and Janaka, the King of Mithila. Here is a small excerpt:

"Bondage is when the mind longs for something, grieves about something, rejects something, holds on to something, is pleased about something or displeased about something." 8.1

"Liberation is when the mind does not long for anything, grieve about anything, reject anything, or hold on to anything, and is not pleased about anything or displeased about anything." 8.2

"Bondage is when the mind is tangled in one of the senses, and liberation is when the mind is not tangled in any of the senses." 8.3

"When there is no "me," that is liberation, and when there is "me" there is bondage. Consider this carefully, and neither hold on to anything nor reject anything." 8.4

Sengtsan was the Third Chinese Patriarch of Zen Buddhism in China. He wrote the text called Faith in Mind. Another excerpt:

"The Great Way is not difficult for those who are unattached to preferences. When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind. When the deep meaning of things is not understood, the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail."

Both these sages seem to be talking about the same thing, the same condition of mind. It seems that the mind, in holding on to preferences, in entanglement with the senses, in attaching to ideas or opinions, wraps itself in bondage, creates the very idea of limitation and separation.

So in the spiritual search, we are reading these texts and pondering the meaning, trying to decipher it. Yet this is very ironic, as you already have a front-row seat. Aren't you in a perfect position to watch the mind and it's leanings?