Friday, November 02, 2012
Arthur Young, Science and Spirituality
His name was Arthur Young. He invented the modern helicopter, spent seven years on another major project only to find that someone else owned the patent. He explored the nature of the universe, and posited that the torus (a doughnut shaped geometrical figure) was the basis of creation and ongoing evolution. He was a genius.
He was also a mystic. He developed a theory of "Process" and wrote a book called "The Reflective Universe." I will take a risk and guess that that process refers to the universe reflecting on itself through its creations, beginning with simple forms and progressing up to humans, the highest form of creation we are aware of. (I hope this assumption is correct).
Our presenter (Bob Whitehouse) at today's gathering (of the Society for Scientific Exploration) was long familiar with Young's work, and offered a compelling talk indicating that in Young's practical and philosophical perspectives, a marriage of sorts takes place between science and spirituality. Young was obviously a very spiritual man, and wrote that many of his inspirations came from dreams and other unusual sources. Our speaker was quite convincing in his presentation, but frankly his speech was so packed with (to me) quite obscure scientific references that I could not follow much of it.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the presentation--the way one sometimes reads a book with limited comprehension, yet with some kind of intuitive grasp.
At the end, during informal discussion, a science professor from India pointed out that the ancient rishis (wise men) had themselves proffered scientific theories explaining in a most effective way the origins and subsequent development of the universe. I agree with him, and strongly recommend (again) that anyone seriously interested in these topics should look at the early Kashmiri Shaivite texts, especially Jaideva Singh's translations of "The Yoga of Vibration and Divine Pulsation" and "The Yoga of Delight, Wonder, and Astonishment." Try to get the State University of New York edition if you can.
One sample entry of the latter is the assertion that the highest state is that of the "bliss of non-difference from the entire universe"--in other words, the mystical state of consciousness in which one is fully absorbed by and interpenetrated by all that is.
These early saint/philosophers also knew that the material universe is made up of energy, and vibrations were the source and manifestation of this energy. "Maya" was the term they used to express that we do not perceive nor experience "reality" as such, but rather a similitude created by the vibratory web and modern science offers the same assumption.
Kundalini ecstasy, I believe, is the state that exists when we come into resonance with the cosmic vibrations that pulse throughout creation, and feel in our own bodies a bit of this "heavenly bliss."
