Higher Reality

The classical idea of the separability of the world into distinct but interacting parts is no longer valid or relevant. Rather, we have to regard the universe as an undivided and unbroken whole. Division into particles, or into particles and fields, is only a crude abstraction and approximation. Thus, we come to an order that is radically different from that of Galileo and Newton – the order of undivided wholeness.
— David Bohm [1]

Bohm describes a universe composed of external forms (Explicate Order) that have their essence within an invisible substrate (Implicate Order) from which their shapes and sizes and qualities originate. This concept isn’t new. Plato said, thousands of years ago in his Theory of Forms, that the true reality of physical objects and matter lies within a non-physical essence.

These concepts describe an invisible, higher reality beyond matter and energy and the five human senses.

Why have these impractical ideas survived for thousands of years? I would imagine because they are powerful reminders that there is more to the human being than the material world and the body reality.

Today, our materialist, transhumanist, transgender world scoffs at such ridiculous notions. Today, the only reality is the body reality, the reality of race and gender, not the content of one’s character. “Diversity” has been redefined to be exclusively about the body and its characteristics like skin color and gender. This mundane, tawdry reality ignores the essence of the human being.

Race and gender are physical quantities, but character describes a person’s soul; the essence of the human being that exists on a more refined, non-physical plane of existence.

Those who dismiss this higher reality, and rely only on the five human senses, are missing something quintessential. Perhaps that’s why they have developed myopic philosophies such as determinism, behaviorism, transhumanism, and materialism. On our planet today we see the results of this limited perception: hierarchical societies that waste a large proportion of humanity's energy in funding a war machine, a political machine, and an economic machine that eats up human resources, uber-rewards a few at the top, and stifles the human spirit.

Science as it is practiced today is a mundane activity, limited to mere observing and cataloging the interactions of gross matter. The argument for this limited view of science is, nevertheless, all around us in the machines and electronic devices that have made our lives so much easier. I thank science every day for my geothermal heating and cooling system and all of my appliances. But science exclusively serves technology, which is becoming more and more invasive on a social level. Even our homes are filled with smart devices that can see our every movement, record our words, and track our comings and goings.

Technology has also dramatically increased the amount of stress we are under.

There is something missing from Western society. We can all feel it as we rush through our day. As stress builds up we often wish that we were on vacation and away from the hectic pace of everyday life.

Rudolf Steiner said,

“these achievements [modern technology] have nothing to do with the true need of gaining insight into nature...To observe the processes of nature with a view to subjecting its forces to the service of technology is quite different from seeking profound insight into the order of nature with the help of these processes. True science is only present when the human spirit seeks satisfaction for its needs without an extraneous purpose.” [2]

That is spot on.

Observation without an understanding of the human spirit is sterile, for matter and energy itself is a manifestation of an invisible, underlying and unifying principle that creates it. This is evident in a beautiful sunset, a pretty flower, a bubbling brook in a spring meadow, a fall forest with its delightful colors. We feel something greater than just the mere observation of photons impinging on our eyes. There is a powerful connection to something grander that fills us with well-being and joy.

The realm of undivided wholeness is not observable with the five human senses, yet it is an inseparable part of reality. All observation that denies the existence of this underlying reality is not true observation, and will lead to incomplete and fragmented thinking. Look around planet earth and we see evidence of this fragmentation everywhere: in politics, in religion, and in science.

All scientific attempts to limit the human being to a mere collection of electromagnetic and electrochemical impulses have been failures (cognitive scientists cannot even agree on a definition of the mind, or where it is, for example). Attempts to limit self-awareness to the brain have also been unsatisfactory. Those who have had a spiritual experience recognize, without being able to prove or even satisfactorily describe their experiences, that there is a part of themselves that is greater than the physical.

Without true observation we become like a person trapped in the woods, unable to see the forest for the trees. Only the mundane and the commonplace in life become real, and gradually the realization dawns that there really isn’t much point to life. This leads to a feeling of hopelessness.

The discovery of Self requires an understanding and a recognition of the human spirit. Without this understanding, life becomes trivial and mundane, and stress mounts. Understanding the Self ultimately results in a feeling of wholeness and personal power, but reaching this new awareness cannot be taught. There is no formula, or recipe, or equation that can ever represent it or describe it. People like Eckhart Tolle or Neale Donald Walsch, or anyone who has had a near-death experience, can't tell you how they graduated to a new level of awareness. That level is invisible; it is implied, and cannot be manifested on command. But to deny its existence is to deny the Self, and to exist in a lower consciousness.

Perhaps the path to higher awareness cannot be duplicated or formularized because it is so profoundly personal. But the personal experience of the higher realm is what lifts us above the mundane and the commonplace. When one discovers a personal truth it is a revelation! For me, just being aware of the higher reality gets me up every day, ready to face the sometimes boring and difficult stretches of the day. As the world gets crazier and crazier it is a comfort to know that the connection to higher consciousness is available to everyone.

______________________

______________________

Click Here for more information