Science and Spirituality: Part 2

A thumb trying to figure out its origin is science.

A body knowing that the thumb is part of it is spirituality. 

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I had posted this in a group whose theme is Non Duality.

Although most of my learning these days comes from self reflection rather than reading or other sources, occasionally comments from people on a single thought leads to meaningful conversations and/or further reflections. The comments come in various forms. Amicable, enriching, thoughtful, contradictory, critical, depreciating, hateful, weird and sometimes even obnoxious. 

Two of my recent posts on that social media platform brought in a variety of such comments that proved to be uniquely thought provoking. 

To bring some context to the reflections I am about to share, I must admit that in the past 4-5 years I have been gradually shying away from the social media platforms. There are several reasons for this withdrawal. There is also a reason for incomplete withdrawal and I will talk about it here as well. The rhetoric I sensed, generally speaking, was one of negativity. A large number of voices were hiding behind the curtain of anonymity and venting out their anger, envy, hatred and prejudices on posts that they had very little understanding about. This seemed to be a convenient place to vomit out all undigested, unprocessed, unregulated impulses and emotions without caring for anyone else and also without risking exposing one’s identity or facing accountability. In short, it had become a dirty, disturbing and loud space. Mind was craving for peace and solitude. Simultaneously mind was in a process of a natural change with regard to things that attracted it or the passion associated with those attractions. The previous degree of passion, for example, for jewelry, costumes, movies etc was diminishing. And there was rising awareness that the natural personal preference from within was for privacy or introversion and not for social visibility or extroversion. Given all these factors a thought did cross the mind, not just once or twice, but several times about permanently closing the social media accounts. But it was not acted upon. For a couple of reasons. One of them was that social media still provided a window into what was going on in the world outside. Looking out occasionally kept the mind informed of current affairs. It did not disconnect entirely from people who are known to me and dear to me but not always are in touch on a daily basis. And thirdly, paradoxically, despite all its negative undertones, it still was a handy resource for knowledge coming from diverse global sources. Therefore as I went on withdrawing attention from websites that previously indulged me to sites that discussed topics that were becoming more relevant with time, the utility of social media shifted for me. On one hand I slowly lowered my overall visibility and on the other became extremely selective about when to appear. Thinking was getting drawn to subtler things and therefore engagement automatically shifted to likeminded people and their thoughts. As a result previous participation in saree lovers groups switched over to groups that discussed Vedanta or saint teachings or spiritual concepts. Even in those groups however the attempt is to not allow active participation to become an obsession. 

Today was an unusually eye opening day when two or three entirely different comments on my posts forced me to think in ways that I had not done before. I am going to try the best to express the learnings without making it a ramble. Though my fear is that, it may actually become just that. A ramble.

So, the post above was intended to point out, with the aid of a metaphor, the difference in perspective between an individual human mind and a mind that has transcended its individuality. 

The first comment that came was “ This is beyond me”. 

I acknowledged to its author that the comment signified humility. I added that as I have understood, humility, curiosity and effort to understand are the essentials for learning. The person was appreciative of the response from me.

The next comment received on this post was:

When there is no thumb and no body, there is awakening.” 

I had a subsequent useful conversation with this participant regarding the purpose and limitations of metaphors that employ “things” to point to something that is abstract. 

Another comment was: “ Not knowing what a thumb is, that’s liberation.”

I introspected on that one and could understand what this person was referring to. 

The last comment on this post that I’m going to mention and discuss is interesting.

“ Poop is part of the body”.

I have noticed the comments coming from this particular member on several occasions on many other posts of other people. They are always, and I mean invariably, off. As if the intention of this individual is to piss off others. To trivialize the topic that is being discussed. To provoke. Distract. Insult. 

I saw the comment from this person on my post today and paused for a moment and then decided to ignore. I knew better not to take it as a personal attack. It was just the “style” of this person. Take it or leave it. 

But mind wasn’t going to simply leave it. The response of the mind went from disgust, to pity, to reflection over what the comment did to the inner environment, and next to find the purpose such offensive rhetoric plays in the larger scheme of things. The fact that such a comment has appeared it means iis supported upon existence. It is also not the first or only comment of this type to be seen. What can possibly be its value? 

And then I realized that it had immense value. It was teaching something just by its provoking nature, by its very obnoxiousness. It was triggering a response from the mind. It was a masterclass for the mind to recognize the nature of the comment and learn to maintain its own composure in the face of provocation. It was both a practice and a test of equanimity. The mind also learned to deliberate within itself and recognize when not engaging with certain communication patterns is a wiser alternative to giving a “fitting” response. Silence is the “fittest” response in some situations. This was one of them. 

It wasn’t my business to judge the mentality of the person the comment was coming from. Pitying the other person was an expression of arrogance. So pitying someone was not serving any good purpose for me. On the contrary, recognizing the source and the comment as a valuable teacher for bringing me the insights that I gathered from it seemed more appropriate to retain humility and equanimity towards every manifestation in the universe. 

I am now able to see the wisdom of the universe why things that are by convention inappropriate, insane, or undesirable serve a purpose and therefore continue to exist alongside things that are appropriate, sensible and desirable. 

That brings me to another comment that arrived on a different posts of mine in that same group.

That post was as follows:

“ Arrogance serves no utility in existence. What has no utility is destroyed.”

The comment from another participant was: “ This means it has utility, no?”

I had to think for a few minutes about what the person was trying to say. 

Essentially there was a lesson in it for me. Simply by its presence, arrogance was teaching the mind to differentiate between useful and useless things. And to take action to destroy that which has no value. 

Therefore my original statement was contradicting itself. 

I realized, this was a perfect example of how self contradiction is an effective antidote to a concept. Concepts are tools. They are not absolute truths. Mind getting locked up in concepts is not free. Awakening is to recognize concepts and their contradictions and remain a witness to them both. There is convention and there is what is opposite of convention. A truly free mind would be one that is trapped in neither. One that sees merit and danger in both and chooses wisely in any given situation. 

I There is one more comment I want to highlight in this discussion. This comment was directed for my post about arrogance. It said: “ arrogance is the reason we walk blind into a lie. what's the basis of  arrogance? and is it based off your past? in the past you've handled things well?is behavior bound to the past? look at what we're doing in the now.  Its   not the basis for the confidenc its just the expression.  we're resting on our laurels and probably going to underestimate something”

This too carried a pearl in it. Even the slightest confidence we carry around poses a risk to underestimate people and things around us. Humility can never be said to be enough if we must recognize the greatness around us. 

Lastly one realization that came to me when I posted the thought about the perception coming from the thumb vs from the body was the understanding of why scientists face limitations in their work when they explore origins of the universe. They employ their human brains which is the tool they recognize at their disposal. However, in the bigger scheme of things, that brain is equivalent to a thumb thinking with its own tiny brain and not being aware that it is inseparable from a larger network of thinking apparatus up in the brain. The only other network that scientists recognize is the thinking coming from other scientific minds. Which is like the thumb relying on input from brains of the other fingers of the hand while still being unaware of the brain that’s in the head. The only way the nerve pathways of the thumb can connect with the neurons in the brain are through internal connections. A scientist will eventually need to do spiritual search internally to arrive at things that cannot be explained by even the collective individual intellects working in the periphery. Without that the perspectives are going to be fragmented and finite. Useful but limited. Always missing a crucial piece in the puzzle.