It’s that moment, that brief epiphany when the universe opens up and shows us something, and in that instant we get just a sense of an order greater than Heaven and, as yet at least, beyond the grasp of Stephen Hawking. It doesn’t require worship, but, I think, rewards intelligence, observation and enquiring minds. I don’t think I’ve found God, but I may have seen where gods come from.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author “I create gods all the time — now I think one might exist,” Daily Mail (21 Jun 2008)1
We’ve been reflecting on the idea of zen (small “z”) (largely because we recently launched zen garden retreats2).
Our understanding of zen is that it is another interpretation of “The Way”, that is to say “how the universe works”, which relies on a description of the universe. There is also zen behaviour which refers to behaviour in concert with how the universe works. The underpinning rationale for understanding how the universe works is so that you can live in harmony with the way the universe works, which feels better than not doing so, whether through ignorance, carelessness or perspective.
Eastern cultures often frame their understanding based on an unseen universal force – “zen”, “dao”, “tao”, which emerged from Buddhism – and recommend alignment with that energy. These ideas do not recognise a god that is external to the universe which judges behaviour but instead recommends that each of us has a role to play in the universe and that role aligns with how the universe works. If we play our role we will feel better. An underlying concept of these approaches is to “inform oneself”, as advocated by Buddha, and also Confucius and Socrates.
Western culture has adopted predominantly monotheistic rationale for the way the universe works based on an external creator god which decides the fate of everything. Similarly the monotheistic rule books suggest that cooperation with god is better than not. It tends to be quite prescriptive.
Zen. Tao. Way. God. They all prescribe approaches to living which are purported to encourage harmony and happiness. Interestingly foundational values across religions (both with and without a god) are similar: peace, love, moderation.
When astraea emerged in 1999 the first project was to reflect critically on Christianity and religions and analyse them to explore a coherence among them. The initial review of Christianity was prioritised because astraea emerged in the West and Christianity had been the principal influence on our thinking up to that point. Some of the principal conclusions from that research and analysis were expected, but somewhat disappointing and challenging. Primarily the notion of an external “god” appeared completely unfounded, and the good behaviours advocated seemed to be optional in the three dominant monotheisms because violence, war and oppression by all three filled the history books, and continue today. Other religions or “codes for living” often seemed more balanced, peaceful and authentic. Nevertheless, all religions suffered from the thoughtlessness of dogma and mantra. An unattributed quote at the beginning of a Terry Pratchett book resonated with this reflection:
Religion is answers that may not be questioned.
Philosophy is questions that might never be answered.
Since we started astraea an underlying principle has been to use reason in the search for answers. Religion has no place in that approach, because religion relies on faith rather than reason. Living in a technologically advanced world nurtured our curious and questioning minds so we adopted a more scientific, rational approach, illustrated by that initial project to question our own religion. The consequence of the outcome of that research, there is no external god that makes the rules, was that we gave up our faith and chose reason in the search for other answers in which we could put trust.
An unexpected consequence of giving up faith was that religious practices stopped and ironically some religious practices, as we discovered, are valuable to people for emotional and spiritual equanimity. Praying for example. Praying was off the table because praying to a delusion is delusional! But eventually we worked that one out. You don’t pray to something for something. That’s lazy, selfish and egotistical any way, unattractive and unwelcome behaviours. Instead we just started adopting a practice of expressing gratefulness for good things and wishing for good things for others. We continue that today at most meals, even if dining alone.
However, giving up faith in “god” released a burden and answers came more easily as we tried to understand the realities of our existence and how that understanding might change life choices. We quickly appreciated a big picture perspective which put many of our previous “knowledge” in the basket of ignorance. That perspective has changed how we live too and while it affects most elements of life and is a complex interconnection of elements, there are some simple ideas that change the fundamental approach to life. For example, without an external “god” and with a rationale approach it is evident that everything comes from nothing and everything is connected. This is more profound realisation than the myth that existence is the manufacture of a “god”. “All is one” resonates with the realities of human society and the emotional and spiritual phenomena that we feel throughout our lives. And it supports the notion of free will, that we each make our own choices, notwithstanding that those choices might be narrowed by circumstances.
Astraea refers to “the way the universe works” as “the cosmic rhythm”. We discuss a chaordic reality in which physical and metaphysical (non-physical) phenomena emerge at the speed of light from an “accidental” birth 13.2 billion years ago. The planet Earth started as a burning agglomeration lifeless rock 4.5 billion years ago (when years also started to exist because that’s when our solar system emerged). Life and with it consciousness started to emerge 2 billion years ago. And only in the past few hundred years did sapiens emerge from the hominid genus. It is only in the past few hundred years that reason has allowed humans to conceive of this phenomenon of existence and to recognise our own species destroying the biosphere in real time.
We have choices.
We, humanity, and our food is 96%.
Humanity is now the dominant mammal (96% of mammals are humans and our food), an imbalancing weight on life on Earth and, leveraging consumption with technology, is changing the planet’s natural cycles and degrading the biosphere thereby jeopardising continued complex life on Earth. Our conscious choices and perception of reality have begun to matter to the continuing existence of humanity. That risk of humanity obliterating complex life on Earth emerged with the advent of nuclear weapons. Those risks have grown and others have been added to the fragile thread of hope some hang on to, that they might live out the conflagration.
Nowadays people can choose to understand the world around. Access to information is virtually without constraint in Western countries. Everyone has a phone and knows how to look stuff up, ask and check. Most people can read books or watch documentaries and educational media. We can inform ourselves, reflect critically and choose.
But we are often distracted by the impositions of modern routines. We choose convenience over any thing else. Our priorities, our values, are heavily influenced by self-interested marketing, politics, media and so on. Western values have come to value independence, even though progress has always come from teamwork and organisation. We can not survive on our own let alone build the kind of communal wealth we enjoy, like roads, airwaves, and more. But the algoriths that take our identities and cash do not want us to think. They want us to do let them choose for us. We’ve lost touch with ourselves while we reach for prosperity, away from family, friends, community. And for whose benefit are algorithms built?
All of humanity offers a broad spectrum of skills, aptitudes and behaviours, yet we’re all built the same in nature and everyone operates according to the laws of the universe. There are clearly different ideas about what they are, or how the world works, which influence people’s choices. Nevertheless everybody has a full spectrum of humanity in themselves to thrive on Earth and can feel a way forward.
So what is the way to live according to the universe? Especially if that would help resolve current risks and divert us from a dystopian future. “Live within the laws of nature” seems obvious. Knowledge and conscience guide us. Astraea’s expression of “being zen” is to dance in tune with the cosmic rhythm. “Cosmic rhythm” is how we express the intent of the universe. It is a phrase that emerged from the understanding of the holonic, chaordic nature of the universe, while wondering if there is a “good” and a “bad”.
At a deep visceral level we can all feel a sense of “right” and “wrong” which becomes more attuned as we become more “human”, as we become more altruistic. Living sentient things having awareness, have sense of the universe and the way. Humans certainly have it, potentially. Your conscience guides you. When you feel a twist in your gut you know something is not right. Very basic, but part of every human, and evident in other mammals. Empathy gives wider perspective. That conscience is a direct connection to the universe.
So, what does the universe have to say about how to live? Does it have a “good” or “bad” intent? Although adopting a universal perspective, rather than a human-centric one, removes the options of good and bad, there is a phenomenon about the notion of “truth”. It is barely possible to be truthful, because truth includes everything of the subject reality and that can not be expressed coherently nor completely. However, honesty can be expressed. And the closer to truth your expressions or actions are the closer you are to the intent if the universe (“truth”)3. And truth is not good or bad, but the consequence of intending truth is coherence with the universe and the consequence of intending fraud is departure from the intent of the universe. And so while we can not clearly conceive of the purpose of the universe, we can choose to dance with the cosmic rhythm.
Human perception is held in the mind. Your mind is not your brain, though your brain is part of the mechanical repositories of mind. Self awareness, a requirement of survival, expands from infancy enabling us to perceive extraordinary realities and imagined unrealities. Imagination is a phenomenon of hominids which enables metacognition (i.e. knowing things that are not physically evident – ideas). Ideas exist in the mind. The mind is influenced by the whole of you and your experiences. Simply being aware of that is a phenomenon available to hominids, but not other species. We are at the cusp of emerging consciousness.
Sharing a universal perspective helps nurture another remarkable phenomenon of humans, the propensity to socialisation and trust. Humans are altruistic by nature, at least that is what seems to be the case. Nevertheless, many of us have developmental issues from childhood trauma, especially at the hands of parents. Helping others is the foundation of humanity. Without helping each other we can not survive, let alone thrive. At the basic level of survival the species requires binary socialisation to reproduce and bring infants to childhood. And in the current western society there are millions of people picking vegetables, packing goods, moving goods, stacking shelves, repairing machines, lifting, and so on, so that we have food and shelter. That is just a tiny part of describing the complex global society we are part of.
If you’re still with us, your head might be spinning. Big ideas need time to settle and be reflected upon. It’s an exploration we’ve been on for more than two decades. It’s a journey we chose at the end of the last century. We’re still exploring, researching and refining, and we’re also sharing. So, in a nutshell, how can we each live in harmony with the universe?
breathe … think …. flow…
Breathing is at the core of life for us. Breathing (properly) changes your internal hormonal responses and thus how your heart beats, how your blood flows and how your brain reacts. Breathing deeply helps deactivate your hind-brain while engaging your prefrontal cortex. Your emergency reaction is diverted and a thoughtful awareness replaces it. You can think.
Thinking is good. Practising it helps. And realising that you can improve your own thinking by asking questions, including of yourself, is a fast track to understanding. Curiosity is almost universal in lifeforms. It is required for awareness of ones environment and circumstances. Without looking up and around, you won’t last long.
And as “breathing for thinking” shows, thinking is not just a cognitive process. Yes there is data processing, perception, analysis, logic and critical reasoning, but there’s also gut feel. And that is important because sometimes data is fraudulent. Sometimes “the news” is fake. That’s when your gut can get you out of trouble. It can also get you in to trouble. Which gets back to critical reasoning. So what about judgement.
Judgement is critical to survival. You have to know yourself for a start and that requires differentiation, but that’s only a start. An infant needs to know that it, itself, needs food and must get it. Once a human, with the resources of food, shelter, friends, access to resources to inform themselves and things to do, they will naturally share. They will be human. Once upon a time, before “civilisation”, most people, if they survived natural perils, would have developed body and mind so that by the age of 25 or so they had joined the community of sharing adults. They would participate in social activities such as food acquisition, group protection, shelter acquisition, environmental knowledge, and so on.
Nowadays in western culture the infrastructure of civilisation insulates us from the realities of nature. Those in rural communities are the few that retain connection and understanding, but it is harder and harder. The West is now predominantly urban and even those in rural communities are living well insulated lives in which convenience is prioritised over health and morality. Most families make compromises to enjoy the modern lifestyle of home, transport, food, self-esteem and something to do. The manufactured priorities of independence, fashion, convenience, acquisition, and consumption have pushed out community, acceptance, work, satisfaction, and health (both physical and mental). That is unnatural. The push-back for survival, for re-becoming human, is emerging slowly.
Our world today seems to have a bleak future, a situation increasingly ignored. We, as a species, are turning a blind eye to the emerging consequences of our choices. It is difficult to know whether the desire for a more healthy future is catching on. Or rather ignorance and insecurity are fuelling the flames of carnal oligarchy which hoards, blames, dominates, takes, like a spoilt child, a bully with no one standing up to them.
We are in a metaphorical school playground of a B-movie waiting for the crowd of children to suddenly turn on the big bully, knowing that they will be hurt, but also that if they don’t life will get worse. Only a handful of the small children are being beaten up and we’ve been encouraged to laugh along with the bully. Maybe some have joined him (it’s a testosterone thing) in taunting and beating up the little kids. Most are pretending nothing’s wrong, or it was the little kids’ fault for being … themselves. It’s getting worse. The teachers seemed to have been co-opted by the bully or are being sidelined. And even though the crowd of children is far bigger it turns a blind eye …
Fortunately, we all have a moral compass, a conscience. We all have access to resources to inform ourselves. And we have nature as a teacher from which we can get insight, inspiration and answers. Clearly living closer to nature is a requirement for continued “civilisation”, because the science that gives us computers, planes and virtual reality also tells us that we have broken the balance of the biosphere and if it is not rebalanced, humanity will not survive.
So with the backdrop of genocides, pollution, oppression you can at least know that you have choices and can choose a different path. So take a breath, reflect and flow with the cosmic rhythm.
Breathe. Think. Flow.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on Wikipedia
- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1028222/I-create-gods-time–I-think-exist.html#:~:text=i%20don’t%20think%20i’ve%20found%20god%2C%20but%20i%20may%20have%20seen%20where%20gods%20come%20from. ↩︎
- Zen Garden Retreat ↩︎
- The notion of intent of the universe has been explored and discussed by physicist David Bohm, a theoretical physicist who contributed to quantum theory, neuropsychology and the philosophy of mind, and whose work around “implicate and explicate order” in quantum physics resonates with astraea’s conceptions of how the universe works. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bohm ↩︎
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