God and the World - Part 6

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We concluded Part 5 with:

 

" Another way to look at it is that 'sunyata' in Mahayana Buddhism is infinite

interrelationship, which is indistinguishable from the Absolute. Here again we

can see the connection with the understanding of modern physics that the whole

universe is a " complex web of interdependent relationships " . Everything that

exists is interdependent and interwoven. (P.160) An electron, for instance,

cannot be located exactly because each electron is, in a sense, in every other

electron. Everything in the universe is interrelated and interwoven which means

that the idea we have of separate entities is really a product of our minds. It

is said more and more, with increasing conviction, that behind all these

separate entities which our minds conceive is this interrelationship where

everything is interwoven in a complex web. This is precisely what the mystics

experience. What the physicists had come to understand as a result of their

observations, the mystics have discovered in their experience. Mystics

experience the One in this interrelationship, transcending thought. Such an

experience does not lead to the denial of the reality of the phenomenal world,

and this is part of its great value. Ultimately all mystics affirm that

fundamentally 'nirvana' and 'samsara' are the same. So if we see this world as

it is, we will see absolute Reality. And if we know the absolute Reality then we

see the whole of this world in that reality, not extended in space and time and

limited as we perceive it, but in its total reality, where it is totally

realised. We can realise this in our own consciousness, in 'prajna', that is to

say, in intuitive insight. That is the position of Mahayana Buddhism. "

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith), Pg.160

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

 

Here now, is Part 6.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

God and the World - Part 6

 

(P.160) Next we come to the Muslim mystics and Ibn al Arabi. We noted in the

previous chapter that all distinction, difference and conflict are seen as

facets of a single unique reality. This is the concept of the " oneness of

being " , as Ibn al Arabi calls it. It is a total 'advaita', a non-duality, yet it

includes all distinctions, differences and conflicts. That is the great

difference between this position and pure 'advaita'. One of the sayings of

Mohammed is used to explain the creation of the universe: " I was a hidden

treasure and I longed to be known and so I created the world. " The world is

created because the Infinite had within itself possibilities and it wants to

know all the possibilities of its being. (P.161) The view of Ibn al Arabi here

is very much like that of Kashmir Shaivism. He conceives of two poles,

understanding that this Infinite, this Absolute, is self-conscious. The weakness

of Shankara is that to him 'brahman' is not differentiated. 'Brahman' is pure

consciousness but it does not differentiate itself in any way. Kashmir Shaivism,

on the other hand, reached the point where it saw that Shiva and Shakti have a

stir within, a 'spanda', and consciousness emerges. That is a differentiated

consciousness. Ibn al Arabi, then, held that there is differentiation in the

Absolute, a relation of mutual conditioning. Each pole is not other than the

reality itself. There is only one reality, but it expresses itself in these two

poles, as it were, of self-manifestation and return to the self.

 

As we saw in the previous chapter, Ibn al Arabi speaks of " the breath of the

Merciful " which releases all the infinite potentialities into the created world.

The Lord is expressing himself, manifesting himself, knowing himself in his

creation. But at the same time as he releases all his possibilities into

creation and knows himself in the creation, he draws everything back to himself

in a corresponding movement of unity. In Hindu doctrine this is called

'pravritti' and 'nivritti'. 'Pravritti' is the movement outwards by which

everything flows out from 'brahman', and 'nivritti' is the movement of return.

So the Infinite expresses itself, manifests itself, goes out of itself in the

whole creation and then returns to itself. We ourselves, and the whole creation,

have this dual movement of going out and returning. Each of us has come out from

God and we are being drawn back at every moment. The two movements are always in

operation. In the divine they are totally coincident. It is eternal, of course,

rather than temporal so that the very movement of going out is also the movement

of returning.

 

In Ibn al Arabi's view " the breath of the Merciful " releases all the

potentialities, but this leads in turn to reunion so as to overcome the

otherness. In releasing the possibilities the divine knows itself as other.

(P.162) The universe is " other " but at the same time it returns as " not other " .

So the Infinite manifests his otherness and at the same time realises that that

otherness is himself. This is both complicated and paradoxical but it does

enable one to see how this whole created universe and our personal lives are in

the Godhead, and how we are personal to him, and yet how none of this divides

the Godhead in any way. In the Infinite there is absolute unity. All this is in

him and yet he is not divided. [break Quote]

 

[Note]: Shri Mataji sheds further " light " on this subject, that is " complicated

and paradoxical " :

 

" Whatever one is doing now, is relative in this modern world. In relative terms,

everything is working it out. This 'relative working out' is not going to give

any absolute results. Absolute knowledge only comes from the Spirit, and so,

unless we know the Self, the Spirit, we cannot know what is absolute, and what

is the absolute truth. While we live in the relative world, we will always be

quarrelling, fighting, and having wars. But if one is " in the Absolute " then one

knows that there is only " one Truth " for everything, and there will be no more

argument or discussion. Everybody will enjoy that truth, as it is absolute! "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

first small English book

Chapter 2 - Vishwa Nirmala Dharma

 

[Resume Quote]

 

The result of this movement of going out and return is that the whole universe

returns to God enriched by the experience of self-consciousness. He wants to be

known and he brings out this experience of consciousness in life and

particularly in human beings, and again he brings us all back into his pure

consciousness again. So we are created to have this experience of otherness and

to return again to the One. There is always the other and the One, the two

opposites, and these poles are always being reunited. The perfect man, as we

saw, was conceived as the mediator between the divine subject and the object,

between God and the world. Ibn al Arabi describes it as " the eye by which the

divine subject sees himself " , and " the perfectly polished mirror that perfectly

reflects the divine light. " So the perfect man is the one through whom the Lord

looks out on the universe and knows himself in that perfect man, and the perfect

man is the one in whom the universe comes to a head and knows itself in God. He

is the mediator between the two and that is the point where we meet God and God

meets us, in that perfect man. The universe is the manifestation of the one

Reality in space and time and the perfect man is he who gathers the universe

into unity in consciousness and reflects the divine consciousness in the world.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith), Pg.160-162

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

 

[What Bede Griffiths wrote in the last paragraph, is exactly the same message,

but just given from his own experience, that Shri Mataji gave here. It shows

that when the truth is spoken, people are 'in agreement' as regards the truth

itself. This is always the case, that if you speak the truth, the truth always

'agrees' with what is true!]:

 

" Whatever one is doing now, is relative in this modern world. In relative terms,

everything is working it out. This 'relative working out' is not going to give

any absolute results. Absolute knowledge only comes from the Spirit, and so,

unless we know the Self, the Spirit, we cannot know what is absolute, and what

is the absolute truth. While we live in the relative world, we will always be

quarrelling, fighting, and having wars. But if one is " in the Absolute " then one

knows that there is only " one Truth " for everything, and there will be no more

argument or discussion. Everybody will enjoy that truth, as it is absolute. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

first small English book

Chapter 2 - Vishwa Nirmala Dharma