SERGE MONDJII
QU Level 3; Paper for Course 330.
The Science of Meaning
Children ask questions all the time. “Why is the sun shining, how is the bee making honey, what is the reason for this or that.” They are in fact seeking to make sense of the world, especially of all the input which often times contradicts the innate knowledge they were born with. This process, initiated in childhood, continues all our lives and we will see, well beyond the confinement of our existence. As we grow, we all are seeking explanations to the circumstances of our lives and sometimes that of others. Questions become more pointed, more pressing : “Why am I not successful? why did my friend die last year? why do men hate each other? why do I have money but still am not happy? I met this old friend I had not seen in ages, does that mean something? was this car accident fortuitous or is there a hidden explanation? what is the purpose of my life?” The possibilities we have to investigate, our willingness to challenge the model of the world we were presented with before, our ability to cope with the events which challenge this model are often times critical in creating and sustaining the momentum for what it is appropriate to call “our quest for meaning.”
We will see below that the search for meaning is an orderly process, which obeys to the scientific principles ruled by universal laws.
MEANING
It is very difficult to find a good definition of meaning; most of the definition in usual dictionaries are circular : That is they define meaning with a synonym which is little enlightening…It would be interesting to try and find out if there is a commonality to the word which definition is circular. In the meantime I found that the best way to define meaning was in a dynamic fashion, that is as describing the manner in which the process takes place.
Whenever we are seeking meaning we try to establish a relationship between a cause and the effect of the cause (or between an effect which is producing a cause). This relationship is ruled by the law of cause and effect , also called the law of karma, when it relates to the destiny of all that lives. “The law of karma is essentially the law of cause and effect. It says that every event that occurs in time, does so in a cause-effect manner; every event that occurs in the present is the effect of a past cause and is, in turn, the cause of a future effect. With quiet reflection, we can see that this law does appear to be guiding our daily events on Earth. As we work out our old karma (sometimes called our “karmic debt”), we are simultaneously accumulating new karma” (1)
This law states that what we are or do today is the result of a previous cause and will have a consequence in the future. It is important to note that the effect is proportional and opposite to the cause. That is “ any action performed produces an equal and opposite reaction, which directly influences our very existence” (2)
Let us discuss both these implications with regard to their connection with the Law of Karma.
1. “For every action, there will be an equal reaction.”It means that the magnitude of the consequence of an action (Karma) will be equal to the magnitude of the action itself..
So, if the magnitude of a good deed is small, the magnitude of its good consequence will also be small and, if the magnitude of a good deed is large, the magnitude of its good consequence will also be proportional.
Similarly, if the magnitude of a bad deed is small, the magnitude of its bad consequence will also be small and if the magnitude of a bad deed is large, the magnitude of its bad consequence will also be large.
2. “For every action, there will be an opposite reaction.” It means that the deeds (Karma) of an individual will come back to him in the form of its consequences (Karma-Phala). Here, the word “opposite” implies “opposite direction”, i.e. it will come “back”.
We note that the cause is our thoughts. Whatever we think can have an effect or consequence and the same effect may have an impact on our future thoughts
Every thought and deed sets up a cause that inevitably leads to certain effects for better or worse. By understanding and working within this impersonal Law, we learn to make better choices and gradually take control of our own destiny.” Through experiencing all that life in this world has to offer, we ultimately acquire total mastery over ourselves and become perfected beings ― Masters of Wisdom ― fully manifesting the divinity that dwells in each of us. (3)
This is why the teaching insists so much on controlling our thought so that we do not generate adverse effects: That is maya, glamour and illusion Commenting a quote by DK “the occult student must ever begin in the world of origins and not in the world of effects( EH 4) Jc wrote “ Students of the wisdom ever start with “the world of origins” and never place initial emphasis on the “world of effects”. (4)
The concept of karma conveys the idea that our destiny does not take place within a vacuum as we could have been prone to believe, Yet few suspect that karma extend far beyond the smallness of our lives
THE MEANS OF KARMA
When one accepts the concept of karma, that is, accepts that whatever is occurring in his/her life is the effect of a previous cause, the question of the modus operandi arises. The concept of karma is tightly intertwined with the law of rebirth. Karma is therefore associated with reincarnation.
“Karma is closely associated with the concept of time; karma can be considered the flow of cause and effect through time. The doctrine of karma is usually accompanied by the doctrine of reincarnation; each life is the effect of previous lives and will be the cause of future lives. We incarnate on Earth to gain experiences, to learn the lessons of nature which allow us to evolve spiritually, and to express the lessons learned, or lack thereof, from past lives. With each life we either increase or decrease what can be called our karmic burden. This is the residue of karma, both good and bad, that has been accumulated at any point in time.” (5) The idea that one will return after death to occupy a new physical form is a very ancient belief. It is a part of the Hindu philosophy and it seems to also have been present in early versions of Christianity.
“It appears to have been an accepted belief in early Christianity, as suggested by certain passages in the Bible (Matthew 11:14, 17:12-13, 26:52; John 3:3, 9:2; James 3:6, etc), but was removed from Christian doctrine in the Fifth Century by the Ecumenical Council, reportedly because it gave the “masses” too much power” (6).
This concept entails that one will reincarnate as long as it is necessary, in order to dissolve its karma, that is, to live a life void of wrong thought and/or actions until the point were past faults have been redeemed. This occurs during a well known process marked by several initiations.
“The aim is that by the time the person is ready to take the fifth initiation and become a Master, all karma will have been resolved, burned up, taken back to the source from which it came. “.(7)
This is why the Law of Karma is also associated with the Law of Evolution for it is through these laws that mankind as well as other species have reached their present state and will continue to grow..The ongoing purification we go through all our lives is possible because of the effect of the cause which in fact incite us to modify our behavior either through sanction or positive reinforcement .
EXAMPLE
If one hates others, one sets in motion a cause which will in this life or another, be at the origin of an opposite reaction. The effect may be (among so many possibilities) that one becomes the object of hatred. A possible and desirable reaction to this karma is that the now object of hatred may undergo a deep change in consciousness and the person will be prone at worst to avoid hating others including himself, hence the effect will generate a new cause which in itself will generate a new effect and so on until purification is achieved.
The necessity to reincarnate simply indicates that evolution is a long process as the interaction between action and reaction can not take place within one life. This principle is sometimes at the origin of a great sense of relief among those who acknowledge it as they stop being discouraged by what they perceived as the unfairness of the world. Yet, even if the idea that our evolution spanning over many lifetimes brings new dimension to our lives, the complexity of the concept of karma is difficult to apprehend in its entirety.
“To understand karma, it must first be clearly perceived that the cosmos, the universe, is a unit — one single organism composed of an infinite number of lesser organisms in an immense variety of grades of consciousness and development, all united into a single whole by the one consciousness which includes and is common to them all. This sublime idea is well illustrated by man himself, who is a universe, a cosmos, in miniature. Is he not composed of an almost infinite number of centers of life or consciousness — atoms, molecules, cells, organs, ganglia, etc. — under the unifying overlordship of the human individual consciousness, which pervades and unifies and directs them all? And just as a felon on the finger is felt by the whole body, so we are taught that a thought of hatred or a throb of mental anguish has its due effect throughout the greater cosmic organism. For the law of action and reaction, of cause and effect, so evident in the limited sphere of mere physical life, is simply an evidence on the surface of what takes place in the inner spiritual and causal realms. Karma:(8).
This is the reason why karma is such a universal concept and is often labeled as the ultimate law of the universe.
THE NATURE OF KARMA
We note that besides karma, our lives are governed by universal laws – The law of gravity, The Law of Vibration and Attraction, The Law of Cause and Effect, etc As any other law their purpose is to define parameters within which whatever they refer to can exist.
From there we understand that ultimately karma refers to the conditions which are necessary to the existence of the universe. That is any system to maintain itself in equilibrium needs constant adjustment so that it can carry on functioning . (We note that equilibrium expressed at various level of consciousness may mean harmony, love etc.) When we walk we adjust constantly to the unevenness of the ground and fight gravity etc so that we can maintain balance. Likewise, our whole body,to function is submitted to fundamental laws without which life is not possible. For instance all body temperatures must be around 37C. In biology, this set of conditions obey to a biological law called homeostasis. If it is too hot, the body will REACT to maintain a constant body temperature so that one can continue living. The effect of the cause may be such as increasing breathing frequency or and produce sweat so that excess heat can be evacuated and that body temperature can remain even. Karma is the higher expression of homeostasis in our own lives and in that of the universe. Thus karma is the expression of harmony, peace which to some degree is the expression of the divine energy of love. This correspondence has been explored previously by Lawrence Newey : “This is the true meaning of Love, the ability to relate greater aspects of creation together in harmony and beauty” (9).
Let us remember the old occult truism: energy follows thought. Hence whatever we think and of course do generates its equivalent in energy Karma is hence a form of energy whose role is to maintain the system stable through the production of an opposite and equal reaction. The magnitude and direction of the reaction stems from the fact that to maintain the equilibrium, a system must not lose energy. It is similar if you will, to the kinetic energy which assures the two opposite movements of a pendulum. The function of karma is thus based on the law of the conservation of energy.
The nearness of karma with concept we use in our daily lives is obvious. From popular psychology (An eye for an eye, one reaps what one sows,) to chemistry (with Lavoisier the father of modern chemistry based on its famous theorem) or again as we have seen in biology (through the law of homeostasis), it does seem that the concept of karma has pervaded many aspect of our lives. Its ubiquity is a reflection of the aforementioned universality of this concept. The scientific field is probably the area where the concept of karma has been the most conspicuous . Not surprisingly though as the purpose of science is to establish relations of cause and effect between events/data that is being observed or predicted or hypothesized.
The energy nature of karma explains why the physical science is maybe the scientific area which has given the most attention to the law of cause and effect:
SCIENTIFIC APPLICATION OF KARMA
While, early recorded applications of karma can be traced back to Archimedes principle, it does seem to me that the most famous example is that of the Newton’s third laws which states that : For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.“ (10) This law, which is a direct scientific expression of karma (see introduction) implies that karma is a motion, a motion of energy. Hence we may wonder about characteristic of the motion such as speed, its direction and its nature. A good starting point may be another occult truism which states that energy is matter at its highest point and vice versa. Thus it is obvious that good thought will generate positive energy and its karmic equivalent effect. The denser our thought, the more they are weighted with illusion or mayas, literally, the heavier our karma.
It so happens that Einstein has amply explored the occult link between energy and matter through its famous equation E = MC2 It is based on this formula that several spiritual scientists have attempted to formalize the relationship between karma, motion, energy and matter. “Albert Einstein spent the last two decades of his life searching for a Unified Field Theory after his stupendous discovery e = mc². km = mdlc² fulfills and supersedes this being applicable to and formulative of the “One absolute, eternal and ever applicable Cause and cyclic Law” of the Universal mind and of the occult science of “karmic relativity” (11)
Karmic mass [accumulation] equals Desire [motion] multiplied by Will [direction] and karmic lives [duration] squared. Km = mdlc2.
K “dimension of the circle of operation” of cyclic/spiral Law.
INTERPRETATION
This equation describes the relationship between the densification, the weight of our Karma and that of our action. We note the kinship with the E = mc2 equation of Einstein.
- Desire is the cause, however it could be any of the motives at the origin of an action, thought, etc.
- Will is described here as direction (d), but in my view a much better term could be intensity. If we remember the two occult truism then logically, the denser the thought (that is the more it is weighted with impurity) the slower the motion of karma (the motion of karmic energy as we can deduct from the first truism will always be inferior or equal to the speed of thought) and the more lives it takes to expurgate it.
- Karmic Lives (L) refer to the fact that every action is provoking a counter action whose effect , whatever their polarity, will last a given number of time.
- The 'C' stands for 'compedis', which is the Latin word meaning compes, compedis: fettered, shackled, chained. Karmic mass or the” girdle“ of substance. (12).
Among some of its limitation, this equation does not take into account the type of movement of the energy of karma. Evolution implies movement, it does seem as opposed to inertia which applies to innate matter, and even though a movement seems to take place which only the degree of our evolutionary status enables us to perceive. The movement of karma, it seems, will always be circular (how about spiral?). The law of karma is also called the law of cycles. It does refer to the fact that ”All matter, in mass, moves in a circular mode of motion, yet the circle does not close on the return of the mass to its starting point. It overlaps and takes a spiral course, corresponding to the rounds of a spring. The Law which governs this mode of motion is commonly termed the Cyclic Law” (13).
The nature of the karmic energy can be identified empirically. The law of karma is about harmony; it is about the redemption of our past action when one begins a virtuous circle through the expression of the loving energy of the soul (the energy of love expresses itself constantly yet at various level of consciousness throughout our evolution (for instance, some of its lower expression such as wrongful desire generates negative karmic seeds) Moreover, the energy of love is the only one which fits the likely movement of karma that is cyclical and spiraling “The second Logos of the divine trinity, Love-Wisdom, is seeking to blend with this active intelligence of the third aspect and He adds to the rotary motion of all atoms His own form of motion, spiraling periodical movement. By circulation along an orbit around a central focal point in an ever ascending spiral, two results are brought about:” (14)
A question arises though, what is the likely movement which characterizes our evolution once karma has been consumed. We note that our evolution entails the mastery of specific energies, some of which have been explored here. An important one is that of will :”The secret of the higher initiations lies in the trained use of the higher will. It does not lie in purification or in self-discipline or in any of the expedients which have acted in the past as interceptors of the truth. This whole problem of the Shamballic will is in process of revelation, and will eventually alter the entire approach of the disciple in the New Age to initiation. The theme of “the Way into Shamballa” requires reflective study and esoteric understanding.” (15)
The registration of the energy of divine will starts after the third initiation (The third degree initiate is characterized by the Divine Will. (16). It is an ongoing process whose apex seems to correspond after the fourth initiation when and only the totality of our karma has bee redeemed.
“At the fourth initiation the destroying aspect of the will can begin to make its presence felt; the soul body, the causal body, the Temple of the Lord, is destroyed by an act of the will and because even the soul is recognized as a limitation by that which is neither the body nor the soul, but that which stands greater than either. The awareness of the perfected man is now focused in that of the monad. The road to Jerusalem has been trodden. This is a symbolical way of saying that the antahkarana has been constructed and the Way to the Higher Evolution - which confronts the higher initiates - has now opened up” (17).
The movement of divine will is a forward movement “third aspects of the divine trinity, we come finally to the first aspect of the trinity, which is Will, the mode of action of the Will, perhaps not surprisingly, is a literal driving forward through space. This forward progression is the will behind the evolutionary process that drives spirit onward until it emerges” (18) which will replace the previous spiraling movement. Here I suppose that the movement is both linear (as to my knowledge it is the shorter possibility to join two points) an multidirectional (since the possibilities are infinite).
Another scientist, Dr Iskakov, has taken the mathematical formulation of karma a step further as its equation describe not only the movements of matter but also the development of the totality of interconnections, signals, processes which reflect the principle of unity and integrity of the universe. In this sense they take into account the principle of causality and dependence inherent to the notion of karma. In fact they are called the equations of karma.
These equation enable to reach important conclusion obvious to these highly mathematically educated esoteric of who I am not.
There are two equations of
karma–the direct and the complex-conjugated:
GS> (NOTE: I have substituted regular letters for the Dr.'s
GS> symbols)
AY=0; A'Y'=0;
where the operators have the form
A=2h^2V + i2h o/o t-9;
A'=2h^2V - i2h o/o t-9.
Here Y denotes the probability density wave (the wave function);
V, the Laplace operator; 9, the potential energy density, and h,
Planck's constant.
These equations may be solved in the form of karma waves and anti-waves with quantization of probability waves. Connected with them are perturbations of the information-energy field, i.e., wave signals. In principle, such signals may propagate faster than light. For instance, there is some evidence that neutrinos (One of the sub atomic particles which makes up the universe) are faster than light.
The equations of karma make it possible to draw certain philosophical conclusions of fundamental significance. It follows from them that diffraction takes place not only in space but also in time. Any event is, so to speak, split in space-time. The propagation of a solitary signal is preceded by a series of pre- signals and followed by post-signals, both fading with distance. Perceptive analysts are able to use the first intimations of pre-signals to give a precise picture of a coming event. This is called scientific foresight. In clear with time It is not excluded that they will allow a scientist to predict the future.
The science of spirituality or the scientific application of spiritual concept
We have seen in this essay how spirituality and science are deeply intertwined. Science so far consists of the application of spiritual concept. I anticipate the moment where I believe the contribution of science, to help understand , break down to human level spirituality, will prove determinant in the spiritual growth of the human race and much more.
REFERENCE
- KARMA - A NEW LOOK By Gerald. J. Schueler, Ph.D.http://www.schuelers.com/Theosophy/docs/karma.htm
- undisclosed writer but the site seemed reliable:http://www.yoga-philosophy.com/eng/karmalaw.htm,
- undisclosed writerhttp:www.shareintl.org/background/awteachings/AWT_main.htm). - Jeremy Condick, Polaris Project Group Study: Esoteric Healing. Study letter 2.,www.makara.us/.../Esote ric%20Healing%20Study%20letters%20complete-1.doc , Polaris Project) - ,KARMA - A NEW LOOK By Gerald. J. Schueler, Ph.D.http://www.schuelers.com/Theosophy/docs/karma.htm - school of esoteric studies, undisclosed writer,http://www.esotericstudies.net/articles/reincarnation-student.pdf - Benjamin creme,http://www.esoteric-philosophy.net/reincarn.html - The Law of Consequences By Gertrude W. van Pelt, , http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/gdpmanu/karma/karm-gp.htm” - Laurence Newey, Lucis Trust, at an open meeting entitled: Esoteric Perspectives on a Science of Consciousness. Saturday 31st May 2003, Thistle Hotel Victoria, London - Takashi Tsuji Buddhis studies, http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/reincarnation.htm - http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newton3laws.html No disclosed writer; Newton third law is so much in the public domain that illustrating quotes are almost redundant - From JPC’s course. - Lord TsongKhapa and Master Morya. http://esotericphilosopher.tripod.com/id6.html - TT2. P 26 - Reference 14 !undisclosed http://www.lucistrust.org/en/arcane_school/talks_and_articles/the_conscience_of_love - http://www.esotericpublishing.com/world_soul/world-of-the-soul-13.html) - The Rays and the Initiations, p. 30) - The Rays and the Initiations - Part One - Fourteen Rules For Group Initiation? http://ngsm.org/aabdk/bk/rays/rays1117.html°