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..:: The Void ::..
By
Alan Schneider
The manifest world we experience
in the senses is most perplexing. Let us take the case of sight. The
term given to the central focus of vision in optical neurology is the
fovea the area we most easily focus sight on, located in the
immediate foreground of the visual field. If we take a moment to simply
observe the fovea as a static condition by holding the eyes still while
looking directly forward, a curious phenomenon takes place the
perception of sight does not remain constant as might be expected.
Rather, the manifestation of the fovea begins shifting around, as if
continuously seeking a refocused condition. This only ceases when
general consciousness is relaxed, as it is in meditation, (for example)
relaxing the focusing tendency along with it. It appears that the fovea
manifestation depends to a great degree on movement in the environment
we most easily perceive a field of shifting objects, as opposed to a
static condition. Certain prehistoric reptiles were presumed to be
unable to see at all in the absence of movement, and most modern
carnivorous reptiles will only eat living prey that is moving,
however slight this movement may be. It is important to note that these
are the creatures we have evolved from, and we seem to still possess the
optical neurological traces of their characteristics, albeit in much
more advanced form. Yet, the evolutionary function of vision is to
notice and respond to potential threats and gratification, and both
functions are linked to physical movement with very few exceptions.
Physical motion is merely one form of oscillation present in
the environment. All of the remaining senses are subject to various
other types of fluctuation that they have evolved to detect, and for
most people, there is very little that is more disturbing than the
sensory deprivation experiment, where all sensory experience is
essentially blocked out by blocking the senses. The punishment most
feared by prison inmates is that of solitary confinement another
induced state of relatively prominent sensory deprivation. So we have
evolved to be active creatures, surrounded by a web of continuous
activity that only perceptually ceases in deep, dreamless sleep. In
sleep with dreams, the Psyche is still very active, as it seeks wish
fulfillment and psychic stimulation through archetypal visions and other
manifestations. It is the brain that requires this level of stimulation,
not the senses themselves, which perceive without experiencing
perception that is experienced in the brain alone. And the
brain itself achieves a complex combined impression of memory and
sensory input, with the bulk of this being memory cross- referenced. It
is quite probable that the instantaneous impression of the senses would
have no meaning at all without the brains ability to just as instantly
reference those impressions to memory, and then draw conclusions, make
decisions, and perform behavior as necessary...
The void can be described as a state of complete
non-manifestation, wherein absolutely nothing occurs. For most
observers, this is a hypothetical condition that is never experienced,
because it is utterly nonexistent, and therefore presumably
unobservable. How can I be aware of, or attend to, nothing? The
very notion seems absurd at first glance. In fact, nothing is
all we ever really experience or observe, and this can be realized
through the practice of meditation. During meditation, brain activity
progresses from the customary waking alpha wave state eventually to the
theta wave state, as measured by the EEG process. This progression
mirrors a transition from ego-driven processing focused on sensory
content in the initial waking state, to essentially ego-free processing
focused on relaxation in deep trance, as the awareness becomes more and
more diffuse. Clearly, there is a more or less linear relationship
between the hidden neural events in the brain, and observable perceptual
events in the mind evidenced here the soothing effect of meditation on
the brain results in a perceptible condition of inner peace in the mind.
With ongoing practice (customarily spanning some years of
involvement), certain definitive shifts in understanding of life
conditions frequently take place as a result of meditative experience.
Among these is the acceptance of what is actually a very turbulent,
disturbed and disturbing, wakeful experience of living as being
fundamentally illusory in nature the illusion of a world
created by the senses and held in place by the anxieties of the ego. An
accompanying understanding is the perception of experience as being
created from inside out, not outside in as is the common human
assumption, again based on the influence of the ego. The most valid
observation concerning the action of the senses is that they create an
instantaneous floating illusion that is fundamentally chaotic in all
contexts with the exception of the fact that this chaos can be modified
through meditation to serve as a mirror in which the actual
condition of existence can be observed the Soul. Once this
observation has occurred and become fixed in awareness, the further
significance of the Void can be subsequently understood.
The presence of the Soul can be sensed in the stillness of
deep meditation as an independent entity existing above and beyond the
Freudian elements of the mind. The Soul is the hidden Presence,
associated with the body but not of it, which authors our
experience of both the internal world of spiritual perception, and the
external world of sensory perception. The Soul cannot normally be
perceived in the waking state because the turbulence of activity on the
Physical Plane is very distracting. The Soul exists in a state
of complete peace and stillness it needs nothing to support its
existence, not even our awareness of that existence! For some mysterious
reason, the Soul enters into incarnate relationship with the body,
possibly to exist in temporary association with the sensory limitations
imposed by that relationship. The Soul is an expression of independent
sentience that may well be affected by the experiences of the body,
senses, and ego, and may learn valuable lessons from those
experiences, lessons that can only be known through the limitation
involved.
Because it is not a part of our logical, linear
ego-experience, the Soul cannot be understood in physical,
logical terms it must rather be contacted in the stillness of
meditation. And the Soul itself has a counterpart in the meditation
experience the Void. The two are reflections of each
other aspects of each other pointing to a yet higher Presence
that resides at a level beyond even description the Logos, the
ultimate source of all Creation everywhere. This process of
interrelatedness of the Logos, the Soul, and the Void cannot be
understood from the perspective of the Physical Plane and the ego. The
three defy all logic as they move into and through each others
manifestations. They are each other, are beyond each
other, and also exceed each other in the ongoing process of
creation and spiritual evolution. At the deepest level of meditation,
we paradoxically reach the highest level of perception which is itself
beyond perception, yet somehow knowable. What this amounts to is that
nothing is everything, and everything is nothing, a complete
logical impossibility that nonetheless remains the final Truth, the Supreme
Absolute Truth Knowable SAT NAM. To my
knowledge, This Truth can only be perceived in meditation.
The Void is the Daoist Yang to
the Yin of the Soul, the fertile seed ground beyond all experience that
contains the possibility of every manifestation, while the Soul
is every manifestation. As the two flow into each other, the
Ultimate Vibration of the Logos becomes perceptible in the resultant
absolute stillness being and becoming unite in one
condition that is everything and nothing, and eclipses both labels and
logic. This is the experience of nothingness as knowable in meditation,
not a vacant state of oppression and nullity, but the ultimate condition
of Bliss beyond description Ananda. This is why meditation is
so important as a spiritual practice it makes the Presence of the Soul
and the Logos real and attainable for the spiritual aspirant, and
affords a method of direct contact and knowledge. When combined with
Faith, Trust, and Prayer, Meditation cements the living relationship of
the human consciousness to the Divine Consciousness, enabling the full
and complete manifestation of the Psyche as SAT NAM while the
individual is still incarnate on the Physical Plane. There can be no
higher condition, nor any more profound state of Grace, for humanity.
- With Love, Alan -
(CR2008, Alan Schneider)
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