Kheper Essays

Wisdom Traditions
Aboriginal Spirituality by Steven Guth Pan Gu - the Primordial Person of Chinese mythology - Professor Evgeny Torchinov Esoteric Secrecy by Robert Searle
New Paradigm(s)
Towards an Ecognostic Evolutionary Paradigm by M.Alan Kazlev Towards a Foundation of a Universal Esoteric Science by M.Alan Kazlev, Arvan Harvat, and Steven Guth Multi-Dimensional Science - integrating science with mysticism, and religion by Robert Searle A New Integral Paradigm by M.Alan Kazlev
Social Reform
Transfinancial Economics - a proposal that new non-repayable unearned money can be responsibly created without raising taxes - by Robert Searle
Cosmology
The Divinisation Of Matter - Lurianic Kabbalah, Sri Aurobindo, and the New Physics by M.Alan Kazlev Sabbatianism, Tikkun and the Big Bang Theory by Yakov Leib haKohain The Concept of "Evil" in Buddhism and Lurianic Kabbalah - Professor Evgeny Torchinov
Transformation
The Earth as the Focal Point for Cosmic Transformation by M.Alan Kazlev Background and afterthoughts on "Journey to Earth's Dawning" - Steven Guth interviews Philip Simpendorfer

Max Theon, Gnosticism, and Mirra Alfassa

Max Theon, was a mystic and theosoph, and as such the first teacher of Mirra Alfassa, who later came to India to become the companion of Sri Aurobindo. There is a strong suggestion that much of her philosphy reflected Max Theons, and this is true to some, though lesser degree, also for Sri Aurobindo. This webpage gives a comparison of Theons philosophy and Gnosticism.You can also check the Agenda of Sweet Mother (Mirra Alfassa), a diary kept by her secretary Satprem for more than 13 years, with the search-word Jehovah, and see the negative image she has of the jewish creator god as the demiurge, which is typical for gnostics. It is suggested that the early Bible descriptions of the creator god, resemble the human ego by Jungian psychology, which tried to built upon Gnosticsim as an ancient source.

Gnosticism developed in the same cultural milieu as Neoplatonism, the mingling of diverse philosophies and religions in an age of anxiety (not unlike today's world!). But whilst Neoplatonism was more philosophical, mystical, and theurgic, Gnosticism was more specificically mythopoetic, individually creative, and religious. And although Gnostic teachings indicate profound insights, these are often distorted by the virtually unreadable quality of the texts themselves - like the worst of Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine in their dense jumble of symbolism that is written too badly to ever be made readable (if you doubt me - just try reading the Nag Hammadi!). But for all this, a basic theme shines through, especially in the Sethian and Valentinian schools. Here there are influences not only of Judaism and early Christianity, but of Zervanism and Zoroastrianism, and of Neoplatonism and Hermeticism.

Understanding The Creation

Based on lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty

We are talking about being spiritually knowledgable and yet spiritually ineffective. After all what good is acquiring knowledge? What benefit does it give us without its application to life? Without its application within our family, social, vocational or community life what purpose does it serve? Why acquire knowledge at all? In this context it is worth remembering what Sri Aurobindo has said. He said, knowledge does not end with knowing nor is it pursued and found for the sake of knowing alone. It has its full value only when it leads to some greater gain than itself, some gain of being. Simply to know the truth and to remain in the pain, struggle and inferiority of our present way of being would be á poor and lame advantage.Therefore knowledge ­ and here we are talking of Adhyatmic knowledge must necessarily be translated to our everyday life for our greater good. e-mail : bimal_mohanty@vsnl.com Web site www.ahwan.org or www.ahwan.com

Synthesis of science and religion

Religion has always been taken to mean rituals, worship of God, elaborate ceremonies, and superstitious beliefs; spiritual experience forms equally the core. But to establish the connection of science with religion has been the endeavour of Fritjof Capra. He first published his work Tao of Physics in 1975. It has been well received, with a dozen reprints to its credit. He has produced a highly commendable work, both in the treatment of the subject and the style of presentation, with quotations from the founders of quantum and atomic theory like Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr. Philosophers like Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Lao-Tzu and Sri Aurobindo are cited in the development of the topic. The synthesis of science and religion has a long history, dating from the works of Pascal (1623-62), Leibniz (1646-1716), Crookes (1832-1919) and Planck (1858-1947).

Asian Reflection

Asian spirituality and its impact on our world

This site advances understanding of the spiritual message at the heart of Asian religions through thoughtful and at times unique analysis. In addition to its more intellectual offerings, it also features prize-winning images and mystical passages from the region's spiritual traditions.

Imagine you are standing alone on a mountain ridge looking down into a vast lake some distance below you. Mountains surround you in all directions. All is still, quiet. As you wander down a steep path to the edge of the lake, you see the sun's reflection dancing on its surface. Looking into the clear water, you see your own reflection. Picking up a pebble you throw it in, watching it fall into the depths, out of sight. In a way, this is what Asian Reflection is about. Asia's spiritual light is reflected in our minds when we ascend the lofty summits of her teachings, and yet as we reach those heights, we see our own reflection in the stillness. Indeed, just as the lake reflects both our own image and the light of the sun, our mind is in its depths a reflection of the knowledge that our highest self and our highest conception of spiritual being are one.

Prisms and Prisons, November 2004
The influence of ethnoreligious nationalism and to a lesser extent religious fundamentalism on the nonviolent militancy of the Khudai Khidmatgars is examined in this brief essay, arguing that from the vast repository of Islamic tradition and ideas the Khudai Khidmitgars used Islam to give form to a forceful dimension of their nonviolent resistance and peacemaking work.

The Superman, 1920
Sri Aurobindo reaches startling heights in this essay on human ideals, taking as a starting point Nietzsche's conception of the superman. His discussion of the interplay of love, power and knowledge combines the beauty of poetry with the wisdom of a timeless thinker.

Sri Aurobindo And Psychoanalysis

By Don Salmon, PhD

Psychoanalytic theory has been used to understand Indian psychology ever since Freud admitted to Romain Rolland that he could find nothing equivalent in himself to the "oceanic consciousness" which Rolland attributed to the 19th century Indian saint Ramakrishna in his states of profound silent contemplation. Freud interpreted these states as a form of regression to an infantile condition, rather than as providing access to a consciousness superior to that of the mind. It is remarkable how resilient this understanding of spirituality as a regressive phenomenon has been over more than 100 years. Edgar Levinson and Hans Loewald are two of the few psychoanalytic theorists who are sympathetic to a psychoanalytic understanding of spirituality which is non-regressive, and both have occasionally referred, in positive terms, to Indian psychology.

According to Sri Aurobindo, "[The psychoanalysts] look from down up and explain the higher lights by the lower obscurities; but the foundation of these things is above and not below... The superconscient, not the subconscient, is the true foundation of things. The significance of the lotus is not to be found by analyzing the secrets of the mud from which it grows here; its secret is to be found in the heavenly archetype of the lotus that blooms for ever in the Light above.... you must know the whole before you can know the part and the highest before you can truly understand the lowest. That is the promise of the greater psychology awaiting its hour."

According to Lawrence Leshan, Marcel was giving a lecture "to a group of American Logical Positivists on grace and transcendence. They kept telling him to speak more clearly and to 'say what he meant.' Finally Marcel paused and then said, 'I guess I can't explain it to you. But if I had a piano here, I could play it.'"

Esalen Institute

Esalen is a non-profit organization that has been devoted to the exploration of human potential since the 1960's. Historical luminaries like Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, Joan Baez, and countless others have gathered here to develop revolutionary ideas, transformative practices, and innovative art forms. Today Esalen is a retreat center where people live and work in a communal setting. Residents and guests participate in an incredible variety of alternative education and personal growth programs in subjects ranging from meditation to massage, yoga, psychology, ecology, spirituality, art, music, and much more.

Esalen Institute was founded by Michael Murphy and Dick Price in 1962 as an alternative educational center devoted to the exploration of what Aldous Huxley called the "human potential," the world of unrealized human capacities that lies beyond the imagination. Esalen soon became known for its blend of East/West philosophies, its experiential/didactic workshops, the steady influx of philosophers, psychologists, artists, and religious thinkers, and its breathtaking grounds blessed with natural hot springs.

In 1992 Michael Murphy published The Future of the Body which is a massive historical and cross-cultural collection of documentation of various occurrences of extraordinary human functioning such as healing, hypnosis, martial arts, yogic techniques, telepathy, clairvoyance, and feats of superhuman strength. Rather than presenting such documentation as scientific proof, he presents it as a body of evidence to motivate future investigation.

The Human Potential Movement has its conceptual roots in existentialism and humanism. Its formation was strongly tied to Humanistic psychology, also known as the "3rd force" in psychology (after psychoanalysis and behaviorism, and before the "4th force" of Transpersonal psychology which emphasizes esoteric, psychic, mystical, and spiritual development). It is often considered synonymous with Humanistic psychology. The movement views Abraham Maslow's idea of self actualization as the supreme expression of a human's life.

There are interesting parallels between Sri Aurobindo's vision and that of Teilhard de Chardin (see e.g. K.D. Sethna 1973 Teilhard de Chardin and Sri Aurobindo - a focus on fundamentals). Sri Aurobindo's ideas about the further evolution of human capabilities influenced the thinking of Michael Murphy (who studied at Sri Aurobindo Ashram in India) – and indirectly, the human potential movement, through Murphy's writings. The American philosopher Ken Wilber, although deeply influenced by Sri Aurobindo, has tried to reduce the reliance on metaphysics in Sri Aurobindo's thought. Wilber's interpretation has been strongly criticised by Rod Hemsell. New Age writer Andrew Harvey also looks to Sri Aurobindo as a major inspiration.

Integral theorists: Sri Aurobindo Jean Gebser Haridas Chaudhuri Ervin László Michael Murphy Graves, Beck Ken Wilber Integral themes: AQAL, Evolution, Involution Integral ecology Integral politics Integral psychology Integral yoga Influences on integral theory: James Mark Baldwin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Arthur M. Young Edward Haskell Erich Jantsch Stanislav Grof Rupert Sheldrake Francisco Varela Integral artists: Alex Grey Stuart Davis Saul Williams Integral organizations: Integral Institute Cal. Inst. of Integral Studies Past Teachers at Esalen Institute: Fritz Perls, Virginia Satir, Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley, Abraham Maslow, Will Schutz, Richard Feynman, Paul Tillich, Arnold J. Toynbee, B.F. Skinner, Stanislav Grof, Ida Rolf, Moshe Feldenkrais, Carl Rogers, Linus Pauling, Buckminster Fuller, Rollo May, Joseph Campbell, Susan Sontag, George Leonard, J. B. Rhine, Warren Farrell, Ken Kesey, Gary Snyder, Gregory Bateson, John C. Lilly, Carlos Castaneda, Claudio Naranjo, Fritjof Capra, Ansel Adams, John Cage, Babatunde Olatunji, Terence McKenna, Joan Baez, Robert Anton Wilson, Andrew Weil, Deepak Chopra, Robert Bly, Marion Woodman, Dean Ornish, Matthew Fox, Andrew Harvey, James Hillman, Gabrielle Roth, Rusty Schweickart, Fred Frith, Spaulding Gray, Amory Lovins, Albert Hoffman, Bob Dylan, Daniel Sheehan and Sara Nelson of the Christic Institute

Is Sri Aurobindo a Mystic?

The Meeting of the East and the West in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy
by S.K. Maitra Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publications Department (1988)

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My respectful gratitude to Dr Maitra, October 4, 2005

Reviewer:savitriera - See all my reviews

This is, by far, the most outstanding primer to introduce the intricacies of Sri Aurobindo's insights to mainstream academicians in their language. Lucidity and brevity are the hallmarks of this philosophical commentary. Many find it easy to nurse the notion that western philosophy doesn't hold much value before the Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. On the contrary, Dr Maitra delineates the elements of the western thought precisely to emphasize how essential it is, in order to decipher the voluminous writings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

Contents:

1. The Meeting of the East and the West in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy

2. Sri Aurobindo and Bergson

3. Sri Aurobindo and the Problem of Evil

4. Is Sri Aurobindo a Mystic?

5. Sri Aurobindo and Plotinus

6. Sri Aurobindo and Nicolai Hartmann

7. Sri Aurobindo and Hegel

8. Sri Aurobindo and Plato

9. Sri Aurobindo's Vision of the Future

10. Sri Aurobindo and Goethe

11. Sri Aurobindo and Whitehead

Other essays by the author:

1. Sri Aurobindo and Spengler

2. Thought in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy

3. Emergent theory of Values

4. Grace and Self-effort

Sri Aurobindo and Karl Marx

Sri Aurobindo and Karl Marx: Integral Sociology and Dialectical Sociology

by D. P. Chattopadhyaya

Editorial Reviews: Karl Marx and Sri Aurobindo with whose ideas this book is mainly concerned, through belong to two different cultures and ages, the affinity of their chosen themes is very instructive. Admittedly their methods are opposite. One is a dialectician and the other an integralist. Interestingly enough, some of their basic conclusions are similar. It is evident from their common commitment to holism, historicism and anarchism. And this originally induced the author of this work to make comparative study of these two very unlike thinkers. This book will be of interest to social scientists, philosophers and the reading public.

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A great mind of our times , October 5, 2005

Reviewer:savitriera - See all my reviews

An exhaustive survey of the human condition and destiny, this superb volome has not lost an iota of its significance even after a quarter-century and many vicissitudes of history. That both Marx and Sri Aurobindo were lovers of Man and foresaw emancipation, might be the point of departure for this comparative enterprise but scope of the analysis occupies a much larger space to encompass the visions of almost all thinkers pertaining to evolutionary possibilities of the humanity as well as their unfoldment in history.

In the wake of 'clash of civilisations' it may look illusory to talk of 'Human Unity' today, but the book is in one voice with Sri Aurobindo to announce a sublime future for Man and its inevitability. Elsewhere, Dr Chattopadhyaya has expressed reservations about certin aspects in this early work, and hence an updated companion volume from a great mind of our times would be of immense interest.

Sri Aurobindo and A. Maslow

Concept of Personality in Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga Psychology and A. Maslow's Humanistic/Transpersonal Psychology

Dy. 236p. 1994 by Joseph Vrinte

Joy Unspeakable: Jakob Boehme (1575-1624)

" There is a life, though the world comprehends it not. It has a body without defect, want, misery, anger, or death. The Holy Spirit is its air and spirit, and it is filled with love and joy. This life has been from eternity, rising up and blossoming. It is not of this earth, but of another substance-eternal life.

'' To all you who are in the process of birth: may each of you be strengthened and bud in the life of God, and grow, and bear fruit on the Tree of Paradise-may each branch and twig shelter all the others that this tree may become a great tree. Then shall we all be filled with joy unspeakable and glory." Jakob Boehme, from "Morgenroete" ( "The Dawn") posted by Richard Kjelson, Ph.D. Thursday, July 28, 2005at 5:59 AM 0 comments

In Praise of Mystic Fire

Veda is a language of the poets and illuminates. The poetry that is Veda is rich in experiences which are real, vivid and sensible. Vedas present to us the ancient psychological science and the art of spiritual living. It ignites our hopes after spurning our present bonds and littleness. It strives for perfection, self-achievement and immortality. posted by Shrikant Vasudeo Life Wanderer at 4:25 AM 0 comments Shrikant SomanView my complete profile

John W. Cullen, Andrew Weil

Centering & Disidentification Exercise by John W. Cullen

Take the time to center yourself and focus in. We will do this basic psychosynthesis exercise. Quiet yourself and sit in a comfortable position. Close your eyes. You are going to disidentify, stepping back from the various parts of yourself in order to get to the center--the personal self--the observer that is beyond any of your individual parts. This self is the integrative factor that coordinates all aspects of the personality. So just step away from the parts starting with the body. 5:17 PM 1 comments

Andrew Weil on Healthy Aging

Andrew Weil in his new book Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being, has good advice about managing the aging process. Yes, aging can bring frailty and suffering, but it can also bring depth and richness of experience, complexity of being, serenity, wisdom, and its own kind of power and grace. The goal is to adapt to the changes that time brings and to arrive in old age with minimal deficits and discomforts -- in technical terms, to compress morbidity. posted by Surinder Deol Sunday, October 23, 2005 7:24 AM

Conceptual pigeonholes

From The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot:

Science may not be the only force that offers us passage to the land of nonwhere. In his book Heading toward Omega Ring points out that there is compelling evidence that NDEs (near-death experiences) are on the increase. As we have seen, in tribal cultures individuals who have NDEs are often so transformed that they become shamans. Modern NDEers become spiritually transformed as well, mutating from their pre-NDE personalities into more loving, compassionate, and even more psychic individuals. From this Ring concludes that perhaps what we are witnessing is “the shamanizing of modern humanity.” But if this is so, why are NDEs increasing? Ring believes that the answer is as simple as it is profound; what we are witnessing is “an evolutionary thrust toward higher consciousness for all humanity.”

We are indeed on a shaman’s journey, mere children struggling to become technicians of the sacred. We are learning how to deal with the plasticity that is part and parcel of a universe in which mind and reality are a continuum, and in this journey one lesson stands out above all others. As long as the formlessness and breathtaking freedom of the beyond remain frightening to us, we will continue to dream a hologram for ourselves that is comfortably solid and well defined. But we must always heed Bohm’s warning that the conceptual pigeonholes we use to parse out the universe are of our own making. They do not exist “out there,” for “out there” is only the indivisible totality. Brahman. And when we outgrow any given set of conceptual pigeonholes we must always be prepared to move on, to advance from soul-state to soul-state, as Sri Aurobindo put it, and from illumination to illumination. For our purpose appears to be as simple as it is endless. eyeballsushi (eyeballsushi) wrote,@ 2005-02-09 18:47:00

Mantras and Mudras

Prof. O. M. Mathew

School of Indian Legal Thought, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India

A tidal wave of ritualistic revival is surging both in Hinduism and Christianity. Mantras and Mudras are both employed in Christian Liturgy, in the rites of consecration, epiclesis, benediction, imposition of hands etc. An antiquarian treatise on Tantrikism describes Mudras as ceremonial poses of hands employing symbolic position of fingers. Through these processes, the body expresses and emphasises the intentions of the mind as an orator gives expression to his thoughts and emphasizes them through gestures. So, a Mudra is an idea condensed in symbols. For that reason, the gestures used in the Eucharist are also Mudras. The word `Mudra' comes from the sanskrit roots `Mud' meaning `to please' and `Dravayanti' meaning `to drive away'. Therefore, Mudra means, that which pleases God and drives away demons. Nonetheless, the Tantriks warn that even while the hands are employed, the mind must not wander helter-skelter. Heart and hands are to be employed in tandem.

That is why, Sri Aurobindo, the modern interpreter of Tantrikism remarks `` If worship is purely external, it is of the lowest form. But if done with true consciousness it can bring the greatest possible completion to the adoration''[6]. Written by: Matt Stone at 2005/09/13 - 04:59

J. Arguelles (Valum Votan)

The Wisdom of the Book constitutes two categories:

a) sacred texts such as the Quran, the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bible, Buddhist Sutras, etc. These revealed texts are the primary sources of spiritual wisdom; and

b) secondary texts which demonstrate an original synthesis of the whole of knowledge, for example: Sri Aurobindo’s Life Divine and Synthesis of Yoga; Madame Blavatsky’s Isis Unveiled and the Secret Doctrine; or Vladimir Vernadsky’s Essays in Biogeochemistry.

Cosmic History recognizes that revealed truth is the highest order of wisdom, while comprehensive whole system efforts at defining the nature of truth are the basis of expanding the horizons of human knowledge.

Repetition of a Mantra

1. "Mother" invokes the Supreme Truth Consciousness Force of the Divine Evolutor whose only work is the Divine Transformation of the whole material universe which of course includes thought too.

2. "Om Sri Aurobindo Mother" invokes both the Master of the Divine Work and the Shakti and gives therefore amazing results.

3. "Om Namo Bhagavate" of course has been the very mantra of the Mother Herself when She was totally involved in the difficult task of Transformation of the Body, and is very effective in transforming thought too.

4. And finally "Om Mahakali Sri Krishna" has been to me, a very effective and powerful mantra. About this mantra Sri Aurobindo says, "The combination of Krishna and Mahakali is one that has a great power in this Yoga and if the names arise together in your consciousness it is a good sign."

I have found that even a mechanical repetition of these mantras opens up doors in hard stone walls of habits and atavism. posted by Parvati at Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Contradictory and yet complementary

Jainism and Physics: Anekāntvād successfully harmonises or accommodates such views and completes the description of physical reality. But when we talk of manyfoldedness, the question obviously arises, how many. Certainly more than one but can it be infinite? Jains talk of saptbhangi or sevenfoldedness. This has been very clearly explained by D.S.Kothari in his essay on" Complementarity principle and Eastern philosophy". Upanishads talk of Advaitvād and Dvaitvād. Purush and Prakriti as the sole cause(s) of the Universe. One is the energy and the other is its manifestation. One can exist without the other. Can particle-wave duality be considered in this context?. In his exposition of Isa upnishad, Sri Aurobindo talks about "uncompromising reconciliation of the uncompromising extremes such as the Conscious Lord and Phenomenal Nature, of renunciation and enjoyment or Action in nature and Freedom of soul or the Active Lord and the passive Akshara Brahman which are contradictory and yet complementary providing two sides of the same reality." posted by atul, Thursday, October 06, 2005 5:02 AM

East-West dialogue and exchange

Tuesday, February 25, 2003
India and Globalization by Rajiv Malhotra

Among Western thinkers who have studied Asian philosophies in depth and who have incorporated aspects of the latter into their own thought, a notable modern example is Ken Wilber, whose “Integral Psychology” openly draws upon the work of the Indian thinker Sri Aurobindo. In his early book, The Spectrum of Consciousness (1977),[17] Wilber pointed out the similarities between Asian traditions and various schools of psychology current at the time. He drew attention to the real and valuable contributions to be made by non-Western schools of thought, and in particular those of India.

In this book, as well as in later works such as Transformations of Consciousness,[18] Wilber expanded the scope of modern Western psychology by also including within his schema the supra normal or “transpersonal” states of consciousness described and cultivated by practitioners of India’s meditators and yogis. He showed that Western psychology couldn’t afford to ignore the thousands of years of empirical experimentation in the field of consciousness studies and psychology that has been conducted by these practitioners, albeit under different names. Wilber’s debt to these traditions is particular notable with regard to Sri Aurobindo, who created a schema of states of consciousness. Not fearing to acknowledge his debt to Sri Aurobindo and the Indic traditions, Wilber has generally been quite up front with regard to his use and remodeling of the insights of the Indic traditions. Hopefully, Wilber and many others like him will continue to explore the very fruitful potential for East-West dialogue and exchange, in a respectful and intellectually honest fashion.

The Authentic Self

Monday, September 19, 2005

The Authentic Self - Andrew Cohen and Ken Wilber in Dialogue - andrewcohen.org:

"Andrew Cohen: I wanted to speak about something we've discussed before, which is what I call the Authentic Self. In the development of my work in the field of evolutionary spirituality, I've come to the conclusion that awakening to this Authentic Self is a pivotal factor in the transformational process. And I think that a lot of people who are interested in enlightenment, including myself for a long time, have unintentionally been failing to make the important distinction between the Self Absolute, the Authentic Self, and the ego. As I have come to understand it, the Authentic Self is the deepest part of our humanity beyond ego, or the awakened spiritual conscience. The great twentieth-century sage Sri Aurobindo referred to it as the “psychic being,” and some might call it the soul.

And this recognition was very helpful to me, because for a long time the traditional enlightenment model, which only seemed to describe the path from the ego to the Self Absolute, had not been meeting my own evolving understanding of what radical realization is all about when one is no longer merely trying to transcend the world but is simultaneously aspiring to transform it."Fabulous read. posted by mahalia @ 2:35 AM

Sanskrit Studies

Thursday, July 28, 2005
Sanskrit, A very good source to purchase many sanskrit classics.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Sanskrit Heritage Dictionary,

Sanskrit made easy allows simplified interface to search without diacritics.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Commentary on the Rig Veda - Hymns to the Mystic Fire by Sri Aurobindo . This is part of a series of catagorised translations of various texts and commentaries by mystics, poets and religious leaders, organized by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia.
Sri Aurobindo's Epic poem Savitri is available at http://www.savitribysriaurobindo.com/.

A site consecrated to the works and vision of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and an offering to the Humanity and The Divine residing in it: http://www.searchforlight.org.
# posted by SanskritTeamMember @ 11:06 PM

Meme Power

The Huge Entity: Excruciatingly Large Things
Some Big Thinkers Figuring out StuffThursday, July 14, 2005

Some big thinkers got together this week at the annual TED Global conference to figure out some stuff. You know the kind of thing 'big' thinkers grapple with don't you? The future; the moral implications of new technologies; reality and all that jazz. Famous biologist and science writer Richard Dawkins opened the event in his characteristically British style claiming that the universe might just be too 'queer' for us to comprehend. The BBC website gives more on the meet:

"Professor Dawkins, the renowned Selfish Gene author from Oxford University, said we were living in a "middle world" reality that we have created.Professor Dawkins' opening talk, in a session called Meme Power, explored the ways in which humans invent their own realities to make sense of the infinitely complex worlds they are in; worlds made more complex by ideas such as quantum physics which is beyond most human understanding."Middle world is the narrow range of reality that we judge to be normal as opposed to the queerness that we judge to be very small or very large.......Are there things about the Universe that will be forever beyond our grasp, in principle, ungraspable in any mind, however superior?" he asked.Experts in design, technology, and entertainment have gathered in Oxford to share their ideas about our futures." - link

Definitely give the article a read, members of the meeting cover such diverse topics as G8, technology and the imagination. I like Dawkins, he has an easily digestible style whilst still grappling some pretty complex topics in his work. I like the idea that in some sense the universe is more complex and yet more substantial for this generation than the last. Compared with the perspectives of a few decades, a few centuries ago the universe as we now know it is increasingly bizarre. With each evolution of human understanding surely reality itself is given new depth, new colour? Reality grows more rich as our conscious mindscape expands. There are many areas of modern life where studying this idea could bring benefit to the world community. Take for example the differing realities of the scientist and the conservative priest, or even more relevant is the difference in perspective between the fundamentalist Muslim and the Westernised individual. Where do their realities intersect? How can the conflicts between the two be resolved? Where is the shared ground? I doubt many people would claim there is such a thing as a definitive perspective. Each multitudinous universe is as distinct as the individual who perceives it. It's finding the common beliefs, the shared 'middle world', that we should concentrate on. Humans might live in slightly differing realities, but we all have to share the consequences of each other's actions. We might never fully understand the true nature of reality, but we all still have to share the same planet. Just a thought... Like the idea of infinite realities? Here's a quote from Hindu Mystic Sri Aurobindo you might ponder:

"What, you ask was the beginning of it all?And it is this...Existence that multiplied itself for sheer delight of being and plunged into numberless trillions of forms so that it might find itself innumerably..."

For more on reality, perception and all that other crazy philosophical nonsense check out their tags below. Keep perceiving....Thanks Portension!Categories: Reality, Perception, Technology, News, Philosophy, Thought, Future, Existence, Nonsense? Link posted by Danieru @ 10:17 AM postCountTB('112130181456680274'); No Trackbacks --> « Home © The Huge Entity 2005 - Subscribe via RSS

Teilhard de Chardin and Sri Aurobindo

Bruce wrote: Actually, this anthropologist Gregory Bateson wrote about global minds and so forth back in the 60's and 70's - he may have been the first "serious" scientist who brought the issue up. Ahhh, how quickly the younger generation forgets..... :)Quote from this website:

Gregory Bateson [1904 - 1980] - Anthropologist, Social Scientist, Cyberneticist - known as Gregory - was one of the most important social scientists of this century. Strongly opposing those scientists who attempted to 'reduce' everything to mere matter, he was intent upon the task of re-introducing 'Mind' back into the scientific equations - writing two famous books Steps to an Ecology of Mind, and Mind & Nature as part of this task. From his point of view Mind is a constituent part of 'material reality ' and it is thus nonsensical to try to split mind from matter. Before being championed by the counter-culture of the 1960's Bateson had been busy in the 20's and 30's as an anthropologist in Bali, and in helping to found the science of cybernetics among many other things. Adopted by many thinkers in the anti-psychiatry movement because he provided a model and a new epistemology for developing a novel understanding of human madness, and also for his invention of the theory of the double bind.

To which Ustaath responded:REALLY let's get down to brass tacks and remember both Teilhard de Chardin and Sri Aurobindo (Overmind, Supermind) with very similar concepts and much older work. 2005-09-30

Sri Aurobindo and Whitehead

Nature of God: A Comparative Study in Sri Aurobindo and Whitehead

eBook by Satya Prakash Singh Category: Spiritual/Religion/General Nonfiction

eBook Description: This work stems from a chance discovery of certain striking points of similarity between the views of Sri Aurobindo and Alfred North Whitehead on the Nature of God. The author was particularly fascinated by Whitehead's well known equations regarding the relationship between God and the world. Formulation of such equations by a mathematician and physicist seems to be somewhat amazing. Being stricken by this sense of amazement, Prof. Satya Prakash Singh began to explore various avenues by which such thoughts might have found access to him. After all, man is man everywhere, and he thinks alike to a certain extent. Philosophy deals with the ultimate problems arising in the human mind which is shaped by Nature in a common form. In fact, there is no dearth of similarities from one philosophical system to another. There is no dearth of dissimilarities either. As in fact so in ideas, the world is abundantly rich in similarities as well as dissimilarities. But when either of the two becomes glaringly palpable even in the face of reasons to the contrary, it arrests our attention and demands an explanation. At the outset, the author looked around to see if these two philosophers were ever in contact with each other. The conclusion was in the negative. At the next step, Professor Singh began to think about the possibility of their drawing their fundamental views regarding God from some common source. The outcome was extremely negligible and arbitrary. If Plato and the Bible serve as the main influences on Whitehead, the Veda serves as the same on Sri Aurobindo. Moreover, thinkers of their eminence seldom do rely on mere borrowings. Thus Prof. Singh was impelled to find solution to the problem ultimately by making a structural study of their systems in themselves and by trying to find out their respective ways of thinking on God.