Spirit as the heart of the Matter

Through Consciousness: Understanding the Problems That Beset the World September 18th, 2006 The Yoke: Cosmic Boundedness and Boundlessnesses

Yoga means “to yoke.” This is not simply a Hindu concept but can be applied to study worldwide. There is an essence that “yokes” together all things.Things cannot be reduced to matter as the materialists would like. As is clear matter cannot exist without space nor space without matter. The European and the Asian worldviews seem diametrically opposed. The European prefers matter as that which is truly real while the traditional Asian account views matter as illusion or at least not what is essential.

The Asian view is that there is something uncreated while in the west the universe is here because of creation. When one in the west talks about creation they are talking about the creation of material, that is the material universe. This materialist ideology with it’s creation myths leads to a world devoid of a prehistory of creation. The earth is created and things appear. This orientation toward the world leads to a very linear mindset. The past is past and the future is to come. This outlooks leads to a very narrow view of the universe where life on other worlds may seem unlikely. This linearity does not allow for other points of origin; like a line in geometry with a point of origin which has no width and infinite length away from the point of origin. It’s path is unique and can only be followed by itself.

In the Asian tradition on the other hand the material qualities of the world are not entities in themselves, but rather are part of a larger picture that is not bound to the cosmos. The universe is largely, and the world in particular, is thought of as illusion as in Hinduism or Buddhism, or part of a homeostatic bond with pure potentiality as in Taoism. Matter in Asian thought (with the exception of Islam which is tied in with creationist impulses of the west) is thought to be non-essential to the ultimate in some way even if it’s true nature is misunderstood because of ones limited perspective.

Sri Aurobindo tries to untie the Gordian Knot between matter and spirit. Both perspectives seem to exclude the other, but neither can exist on it’s own!If spirit or God is infinite, then matter must exist to form spirit’s root. For what is infinity without existence, and what is existence without matter? Matter on the other hand exists and bounds the world. For what is matter without end, and what is end without a beginning again? The bounded and the boundless are part of the same Being. It should not seem so strange that they both exist because they cannot exist without each other. While this teaching may seem unfathomable, how can it be otherwise? Posted in Metaphysics by Administrator at 3:19 am