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“There is a concept which corrupts and upsets all others. I refer not to
Evil, whose limited realm is that of ethics, I refer to the Infinite.” -- Jorge
Luis Borges, Avatars of the Tortoise
Infinity is a daunting topic. First off, what exactly is it? Does it have
relevance to our lives? And does it play a role in the healing process?
Except for mathematicians, physicists and philosophers, very few people take
the time to contemplate infinity. There are too many things to do; who’s got the
time to spend on issues that have no bearing on our lives? or so we think. We
think of infinity as some abstract thing, something that will never show up in
our bank accounts (though it sure would be nice to have an infinite amount of
money sitting in our checking accounts), or on our scorecards after playing a
round of golf (could there be such a thing as a par infinity?)
Yet, the truth is that we are on a slow march to infinity. Although infinity
connotes some sort of Absoluteness, something akin to God, it has been
determined that Absolute infinity isn’t the only type of infinity – there are
also physical infinities, and mental infinities. It has also been determined
that there are stages, or degrees, of infinity, with the physical infinities
leading to the mental ones, and the mental infinities ultimately leading to the
Absolute infinities. What this means is that at all levels of life, infinity
plays a role.
An example of physical infinities is the art created by the painter M.C.
Escher. For instance, in his painting Print Gallery, a young man inside a
gallery is looking at a picture of a ship that is anchored in the harbor of a
town. In the town is a print gallery, in which there is a young man who is
looking at a ship that is anchored in the harbor of a town. As you look at the
painting, and you go through all the buildings of the town, the picture comes
back to the original point where it starts, to begin its oscillation again.
Escher has created a physical infinity with his picture, a feedback loop with no
end.
Mental infinities are the things that are not physical: minds, thoughts,
ideas, and forms. Consciousness, also, is a mental infinity. All of these are
part of a greater whole, a Mindscape that consists of an emerging mind.
There are a growing number of scientists who believe that there are three
fundamental aspects to our universe: matter, energy, and information, which we
can also call consciousness, and/or Mind. Matter and energy are considered local
and finite; information/consciousness is considered non-local and infinite.
If consciousness is infinite, and non-local, some questions arise, such as,
Where does it come from, and where does it exist? This is the area where science
and philosophy blend and merge.
According to Zen Buddhism, all minds emanate from a Universal Mind, or No
Mind. This Universal Mind is the great consciousness, of which we are just a
part. And some of the forward thinking physicists of the 20th century also had
similar thoughts. For instance, Sir James Jeans said, “The universe exists in
the mind of some eternal Spirit.” Sir Arthur Eddington said, “The stuff of the
world is mind-stuff.” Erwin Schrodinger said, “Mind has erected the outside
world of the natural philosopher out of its own stuff.”
And Wolfgang Pauli said, “It would be most satisfactory of all if matter and
mind could be seen as complementary aspects of the same reality.”
No matter what we do in our personal and working lives, Mind is there. The
challenge is that we lose sight of this and get caught up in the contraction of
consciousness that creates our separate self, or the ego. Buddhism teaches the
need to get in touch with the Witness, the ever-present Self, that lies at the
root of the ego; then we can become aware and mindful of our actions, and who we
are.
If consciousness is infinite, and we all have consciousness inherent within,
is it possible that we are infinite? Yes and no. There’s a part of us that is
part of the Absolute, and from that regard, we are infinite. Yet, in this
relative realm, the world of everyday life, we are a finite segment of the
infinite. We maintain some sort of physical infinity within the relative realm,
yet our bodies only have a finite lifespan. We will all return to the earth from
which we came.
At the same token, we use such a small percentage of our infinite mind and
capabilities in the relative realm. There is so much of the mental infinities
that we do not tap into in the least. Locked into the contraction of
consciousness, we are incapable of perceiving the vastness of infinity. We
prefer a clockwork universe, something that seems familiar and knowable, capable
of being controlled. But the truth is that we live in an open-ended universe,
with a dynamic that can never be controlled. Shit happens, and change is always
around the bend - sometimes very unexpectedly.
And so, often, when we try to control, or we try to maintain some sort of
status quo amidst the turbulence, we are fighting against the pulse of the
universe. And we will suffer for it, especially within our physical, mental
and/or spiritual being. Most of the great physicians of the classic traditions
of medicine – Chinese, Ayurvedic, Hippocratic, Arabic, Shamanic – have
recognized that most illnesses have a spiritual, or a psychospiritual nature.
They understood that people get themselves in a bind when they live a life that
goes against the infinite aspects of our lives, and the universe. And they
devised treatments that try to reestablish that proper flow – energy work,
herbal decoctions, psychospiritual growth processes, and so on.
Ultimately, our lives follow a trajectory: we go from living a life totally
caught up in the physical; to becoming mindful and aware of Mind; to finally
becoming Mind itself. That last part may sound a little fanciful, and partly
something out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The challenge is, how can we bring this
understanding into the everyday, and make it an integral part of our lives?
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