Caer Kalos

June 11, 2013

Preface
I am beginning this venture in print for about the bajillionth time.  This beginning will be my method of completion.  Today with this writing I firmly set the intention to complete a comprehensive body of writing that will serve to fulfill the requirements for my Master’s in English at SUNY Albany.    With that said, I do not intend for this to happen in the usual way – I have tried that over and over to no avail, and today I set on this path to completion of the degree by establishing the ground of a living document.  I will re-write to satisfy the requirements of the degree, but I begin by setting my own methods….  I have resisted for years, what I thought were the rules of engagement of academic writing… I have struggled, doubted and berated myself for my inability to comply  and produce.  I have railed against the polemics and criticisms typical to academics and have been angered both at the need and my inability to do something of the same.  I release all of that – it is not my life, nor my way…

When I met with Jeff Berman, my thesis advisor, he suggested that I choose a topic that I love and will enjoy writing about…   lol… what a novel idea!  simple, yet genius… not only will I write on a topic of great interest, but I also choose the mode in which I can survive and thrive…I will begin with the premise that words and ideas cannot be owned… and I will not be silenced by my fear of punctuation  ….

to quote Emerson from his essays on Representative Men….(loosely) that when we like, agree with, and enjoy the writings of another it is not necessarily the writer himself or herself that we are experiencing, so much as being in alignment with a similar energy – we have a share of a knowing along similar lines – they are simply expressing in words and in a fashion what we already know and understand – they help us bring our understanding to light…  When Emerson speaks of Swedenborg, he describes him as a great mirror who reflects our own ideas back to us – a slightly flawed mirror perhaps in that his descriptions are too particular to himself, but a good mirror none the less…   So though I might be wont to say I love Plato – ah, no I do not love PLato  -I imagine I would have loved Plato, or more likely Socrates because he/they speak of ideas of Truth and Goodness and Beauty in such a way that resonates with my own ideas of Truth and Goodness and Beauty… I love reading the words of Plato because they transport me to a new sense of wonder…  Words can do that – and through this thesis we will explore that notion as we will travel through an expansion of consciousness…

While I fully understand that this could simply be a method for me to have a conversation with myself in order to get ideas down in print in a linear fashion, instead of my endless array of notebooks and looseleaf paper in cryptic, circling, tangential and sometimes pictorial expression of ideas.. I will ask for help and guidance – as though there was another or others who might have similar  interests and would like to share  in my editorial journey…

To that aim, I ask for questions… requests for clarification… some discussion… any comments – say something you particularly like, or disagree with, or post a picture, or a link … anything that would help this be a participatory and living document of  some consequence….

I’m thinking this could be a near daily task for me and that within a month I will have something of substance.  woo,hoo life is good.

in deepest gratitude,

mc

 

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June 12, 2013

Mysticism in DH Lawrence’s The Rainbow:

The Body as Metaphor, The Novel as Medium

or something of the sort…   One might think the Title of a thesis would pose the question and point to an answer – I’m not yet 100% sure of the question though I have some answers I would like to explore, so I shall play with that a bit first and perhaps refine the title later –

The question has to do with Mysticism which is traditionally thought of as something that is ineffable – inherent right in the word is the idea that it is something that cannot be spoken or explained – it is a mystery with that mu u beginning which is indicative of the closed mouth.   One can picture the Egyptian figure of the child with one finger over his mouth with the calling for silence.  So then the question arises how has mysticism been conveyed over millennia – first of course would be from lip to ear – there are sayings such as “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear” or “seek and ye shall find.”

… and while to a degree it is that simple – the student must also be ready to discipline himerself to quiet the mind enough to allow for understanding outside the “normal” realms of current understanding.  I believe and would hope to convey through the writing of this thesis and the subsequent use of this material in the classroom that mystic understanding is available to us all, that we simply need to accept that our current perspectives are limited and partial – that there is more to the world/universe and our material reality of which we are currently aware.  This first step resonates through the dictates of the world’s religions and philosophies – Socrates understanding that he is wise only because he at least know that he does not know,  Ahimsa, the first yama in the Yoga Sutras, first do no harm, which to me translates to assume nothing, the beginner mind in Zen Buddhism, the meek shall inherit the Earth, or Christ’s come to me like little children….   first we need to learn to understand that all our technologies and “progress” are immaterial in the realm of “consciousness” and we need to dwell in a space of wonder –

That is the biggest one perhaps and I will use the Seven Precepts of Hermeticism throughout this paper as an outline – the first of which is “The All is Mental” –

I suppose I will need to elaborate on this and if in the classroom would use a 10 minute video on youtube called Consciousness Drives the Universe …mmm… I’m gonna have to find out how to put a link here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9bVd3BspIQ

The video is succinct and interesting- sound bites from current thinkers in physics, meditation, medicine –

Anyway, this brings me back to the first chunk of the paper – before we will move on to Lawrence, his thinking and ultimately The Rainbow – I believe we need to have a session on Mysticism 101 – and while we begin with the idea that Mysticism is ineffable, I would like to shift the language from that which cannot be spoken to Metaphysics – a physics that comes after our own, subject to laws and rationality – just laws of which we don’t yet understand and then shift it again to use Metaphysics as a science that comes out of quantum physics and will be explained further down the line through string theory – not that we will do all that in this paper in great detail – it is unnecessary – just as one doesn’t need to learn all the minute details of the workings of a transmission and drive chain in order to drive a car, we do not need to be able to understand the laws of quantum physics in order to explore and expand consciousness –

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June 13,2013

7 Principles of Hermetic Philosophy

1. The Principle of Mentalism
2. The Principle of Correspondence
3. The Principle of Vibration
4. The Principle of Polarity
5. The Principle of Rhythm
6. The Principle of Cause and Effect
7. The Principle of Gender

These principles and many of the explanations I will refer to come from a small book called the Kybalion – Hermetic Philosophy originally published in 1912 under the pseudonym, The Three Initiates.  It was written to give the student of the Mysteries something to ponder.  It takes a series of maxims and offers guidance into the meaning behind the meaning.

I will use these principles as an underlying structure throughout this study.  They provide an outline that helps to cohere the science that structures a metaphysical system.  I will introduce them here and trust that a basic understanding will be useful later when we get to The Rainbow.

…kind of like Socrates’ notion that before philosophers begin any inquiry it is useful to explore and define terms to be sure they have a common understanding…

In order to begin any honest inquiry, we first need to lay down our preconceived notions.

Before we can do that we need to accept the possibility that we have preconceived notions that we don’t even know we have – so I ask that we dwell in a space of           what if…

I ask that you accept the possibility that any current viewpoint, any current cosmological perspective is particular and as such partial and therefore limited – that there is always more information and perspective to be expanded upon and as such always something new to comprehend…  what if there is more to consciousness than we might ever have imagined…  and allow yourself to suspend your disbelief for the time being and simply allow for new understanding to dawn…  before you resist over some detail…  allow for the picture to unfold…

for the time being to simply… dwell in possibility, a greater house than prose

-The All is Mental -   the first of the 7 principles-

It is not the easiest concept to wrap one’s head around!  I put it first because while it may be the most challenging of the principles to understand, it is the most fundamental.  So here is a slender introduction for now that we will be better able to expand later on…

The All is Mental = Everything is Consciousness

So let us dive into the Body as Metaphor – Deepak Chopra says that the body is the link between the visible and the invisible – so let’s dwell on that for a minute and consider that the Universe as we know it is made up of energy and that matter is simply energy slowed to a density that can be perceived.  It is our perceptions that form our reality.  But who are “We”?

Human Beings  – I would say that we are energetic beings living in a variety of energetic fields.

 

In the video mentioned above, Max Plank, the  Physicist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in Physics for his discovery of Quantum  Physics stated:

All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter. (1)

We are energetic beings living in a variety of energetic fields and the quality of our experience is determined by our awareness and response to ourselves in those fields.  Just as an observer’s energetic input in the Observer Effect alters the results of an experiment, our perceptions of reality in part creates reality.

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July23- June 14, 2013

Image from Heartmath.org

Energetic Beings in Energetic Fields

Personal space – ever think about that 3 foot or so space around you that you either like to keep people out of or welcome some in?  While some people are more conscious of it than others, we all have varying levels of comfort in our boundaries that extend outside of our bodies.  Just as the extrovert is often energized by people and activities,  the introvert is often energetically depleted when surrounded by others as well as activity, lights and sound.  Energy can be very subtle in its effects and becoming aware of ones own responses can be empowering.

The ancients speak of subtle bodies – the Vedic texts refer to them as koshas- or we could think of them as sheaths – they are outlined simply as follows and you could open the links to wikipedia if you want to check them out.

1. Annamaya kosha, food-apparent-sheath
2. Pranamaya kosha, air-apparent-sheath
3. Manomaya kosha, mind-stuff-apparent-sheath
4. Vijnanamaya kosha, wisdom-apparent-sheath (Vijnana)
5. Anandamaya kosha, bliss-apparent-sheath (Ananda)

We can think of the sheaths as varying degrees of density translated into matter. Science tells us that matter is energy in a particular form -  matter exists in “solid” form due to slower and lower frequency and vibration – however what we consider solid is much less so, than we typically comprehend.

let’s start with the Annamaya kosha which is linked to our physical bodies.
We experience ourselves within our bodies as a real presence.   We think of our bodies as solid, as a manifestation in reality – a human being -  a life form on the planet Earth.  Deepak Chopra refers to the human body as the link between visible and invisible realms.  I like to think the body as metaphor  – in some way our bodies provide a medium of reflection and I will posit a foundation for a metaphysical discourse.

I like to think of metaphysics as a natural science that is just outside of our ordinary comprehension.  Because it is outside of ordinary realms we tend to deny the reality of of its existence – this is both unfortunate and unscientific – because we cannot comprehend through our current  “physical” lexicon – is not enough reason to discount the existence of that which lies outside – or within.  Quantum physics provides the basic building blocks of metaphysics.  Both are difficult to wrap one’s head around!

Check out the scaleoftheuniverse.com  for some perspective.

When we view images of an atom      we get a sense of movement in areas of emptiness.  But this is not even close to our physical reality.   This image, similar to what we typically conjure up in the imagination is actually no where near to scale – the nucleus as shown would have an orbital a little over half a mile away.  Hard to imagine that! the atom is comprised mostly of empty space.

The electrons and protons take part in the primal dance of polarity which is the essence of the building blocks of matter.  Matter- which is much less dense and much less static than our normal sense of realty.  While we share in a consensus of the reality of the  material world – it is seriously much less “real” than we imagine.  Or it is exactly as real as we imagine if we limit our perceptions to our senses.

But let’s go back to the notion of Polarity as an underlying fundamental principle.  Based on our understanding of energy and matter, we understand that matter is energy  of a denser vibration.  All life and the material world is attuned  and subject in some manner to vibration and frequency.

 

The human body is made up of trillions of cells, and each cell is made up of trillions of atoms.