Yearning for the Cosmos
I read an article in the Monthly Aspectarian by Mina Vintila during a lazy Saturday afternoon. Her article states that we are so much more than our personalities and physical bodies. To quote, “Beyond that [our bodies] lies a remarkable, brilliant soul that knows where it comes from and is filled with the wisdom of thousands of years on the planet.” How desperately we need to believe this is true even if it isn’t. The article gives a neat explanation of death as the soul leaving the body to return to its true source: the universe. Perhaps there lies some true to the notion that we come from the universe. Scientific evidence shows that even the molecules comprising our physical bodies come from the stars. In each and every one of us exists a piece of the ancient stars that exploded and imploded, spewing bits of dust and matter that would eventually come together to form planets. The article alludes to this when it states that the soul is “filled with galactic wisdom of all the places it’s been to, the knowledge of the stars.”
Intense meditation experiences suggest that this might be true. I remember one noon meditation at a yoga retreat where I let go of all thought and entered into the expansion of the universe. My body felt like it had dissolved and I became one with the eternity of the universe. I could see stars and galaxies and feel the infinite expanse of black and indigo space dotted with light pinpricks of various shades of white, amber, red and blue. The infinite expanse felt blissful and possessed a stillness of profound peace and wisdom. Then the bell rang, indicating the end of meditation hour and almost startling me. Reality descended quickly, yet the hour I spent in meditation seemed to pass in seconds. Normally the mind fills with mundane anxiety about one’s issue du jour that makes meditation sometimes torturous.
Intense meditation experiences suggest that this might be true. I remember one noon meditation at a yoga retreat where I let go of all thought and entered into the expansion of the universe. My body felt like it had dissolved and I became one with the eternity of the universe. I could see stars and galaxies and feel the infinite expanse of black and indigo space dotted with light pinpricks of various shades of white, amber, red and blue. The infinite expanse felt blissful and possessed a stillness of profound peace and wisdom. Then the bell rang, indicating the end of meditation hour and almost startling me. Reality descended quickly, yet the hour I spent in meditation seemed to pass in seconds. Normally the mind fills with mundane anxiety about one’s issue du jour that makes meditation sometimes torturous.
And yet if we truly believe in science and reason, we cannot refer to anecdotal experiences like mine as ultimate truth and claim enlightenment. Reason demands that we admit we do not know the ultimate reason for existence, much less if there is even a reason for existence at all. We must remain humble and realize how much greater the universe compares to our puny and miniscule existence. We are no more than the specks of dust that dying stars spew out during supernovas. And the presence of molecular matter from ancient stars in our bodies only provides proof of part of the origin of our physical bodies. Souls and spirits lie outside the realm of science and reason and lie in the realm of highly subjective, personal religious beliefs. The expansive and blissful meditation experience lies in the same realm of the spiritual that science, with its dependence on observation of the physical world, cannot fully explore beyond measuring the chemicals that fire in our brains when we meditate.
Any claims regarding the spiritual nature of humanity and universe must be regarded with some skepticism. Articles like Mina Vintila’s, aim to soothe people’s existential anxieties over the meaning of their lives and the suffering they experience. By claiming the soul has “galactic wisdom” and “knowledge of the stars,” the author answers our deepest yearnings for meaning and transcendence using anecdotal experiences common to most practitioners of meditation and yoga. Yet what does Mina Vintila really know? She is a writer, activist and spiritual mentor who studies metaphysics, esoteric philosophy and publishes spiritual articles regularly. It is highly likely Mina has seen the same cosmos I have seen during meditation and perhaps even sees it on a regular basis when she meditates. Her articles suggest that she has discovered the deeper meaning of life and she wishes to share this meaning through her writing and studies. Her audience are fellow yoga and meditation practitioners and instructors who share experiences of melding into the cosmos and enjoying the bliss of an inarticulate understanding that All Is.
Mina seems passionate and sincere so I cannot fault her for writing the article. We all share a yearning for the cosmos and deep desire to discover life’s ultimate meaning and uncover the mystery of death. She cites other spiritual scholars in her article, such as William Meader who explains that there are three life threads, one of which is called “sutratma” that descends into the physical world and attracts substance at the time of birth. She also quotes Eckhart Tolle as stating that: “The opposite of death is birth, life is eternal.” She believes that helping people reconsider their notions of death and loss will reduce our existential angst over life’s meaning and our fundamental fear of dying. And she makes a decent case for death being a change or “a transition phase” as we work out our “future incarnations.” She invites us to work on the current issues we experience in our lifetime so that we ultimately discover “our dual nature, the lower personality and the Divine Self.”
Any claims regarding the spiritual nature of humanity and universe must be regarded with some skepticism. Articles like Mina Vintila’s, aim to soothe people’s existential anxieties over the meaning of their lives and the suffering they experience. By claiming the soul has “galactic wisdom” and “knowledge of the stars,” the author answers our deepest yearnings for meaning and transcendence using anecdotal experiences common to most practitioners of meditation and yoga. Yet what does Mina Vintila really know? She is a writer, activist and spiritual mentor who studies metaphysics, esoteric philosophy and publishes spiritual articles regularly. It is highly likely Mina has seen the same cosmos I have seen during meditation and perhaps even sees it on a regular basis when she meditates. Her articles suggest that she has discovered the deeper meaning of life and she wishes to share this meaning through her writing and studies. Her audience are fellow yoga and meditation practitioners and instructors who share experiences of melding into the cosmos and enjoying the bliss of an inarticulate understanding that All Is.
Mina seems passionate and sincere so I cannot fault her for writing the article. We all share a yearning for the cosmos and deep desire to discover life’s ultimate meaning and uncover the mystery of death. She cites other spiritual scholars in her article, such as William Meader who explains that there are three life threads, one of which is called “sutratma” that descends into the physical world and attracts substance at the time of birth. She also quotes Eckhart Tolle as stating that: “The opposite of death is birth, life is eternal.” She believes that helping people reconsider their notions of death and loss will reduce our existential angst over life’s meaning and our fundamental fear of dying. And she makes a decent case for death being a change or “a transition phase” as we work out our “future incarnations.” She invites us to work on the current issues we experience in our lifetime so that we ultimately discover “our dual nature, the lower personality and the Divine Self.”
But passion and sincerity only goes so far. The ultimate question, the one that the old lady suffering from dementia keeps asking goes unanswered. Why this life? Why are we born only to suffer and die? Her rheumy, clouded eyes latch onto mine, desperate for the answer, any answer. I don’t know, I tell her because that is the ultimate truth. We don’t know. We don’t know and we can spend lifetimes speculating about God and the universe with clichés and anecdotes to temporarily soothe our spirits. But life has a sneaky way of upping the ante and setting off the next round of suffering and challenges. Gnostic spiritual traditions, both Eastern and Western eventually come to a point where they cannot genuinely counteract the deep, deep suffering of the existential angst for some people. All these spiritual traditions just soothe those open and willing to be soothed because they only provide fleeting glimpses into the nature of the universe and/or the divine spiritual. Each bout of suffering, loss and disappointment strips away our veneers of faith and delusions of enlightenment. Whatever meaning we find in our suffering, we create to keep ourselves going as we struggle pitifully through life.