SCIENCE AND NON-DUALITY

“On the philosophical level, both Buddhism and modern science share a deep suspicion of any notion of absolutes……..whether conceptualized as a transcendent being, as an eternal, unchanging principle such as soul, or as a fundamental substratum of reality.”  — the14^th Dalai Lama

VEDANTA

Vedanta says that science, quantum physics, and non-duality do not mix, the same way that oil and water don’t mix. That E=MC2 doesn’t equal Om as is claimed by the Science and Non-Duality Conference. That’s a mistake according to traditional Vedanta, it doesn’t exactly add up as E=MC2 is only half of the equation.

Reason being is that E is energy, shatki, m is mass, rupa, and c is the speed of light, (electromagnetic rays from the sun). Additionally, all these are apparent objects, or mithya, a dependant reality that is dependent on satya, or the ‘unchangeable,’ which depends on nothing at all. Satya is “that which has no distortion; that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person.”

Vedanta says that E=MC2 or experience, space and time, are still in the realm of apara vidya, ‘lesser knowledge.’

They say that scientists or quantum physicists who know only the lesser knowledge may be extremely advanced in their fields but still lack para vidya, ‘higher knowledge.’

They know of and have all sorts of information about objects, particles, elements, chemicals, quarks, photons, magnetic electricity, carbon data, big bangs etc., but according to Vedanta some of them still don’t know anything about themselves. By ‘themselves’ they mean Ultimate Truth, Non-Dual Reality, both form and formlessness, Subject and Object = OM.

Vedanta says that knowing about this ultimate reality in a conceptual or abstract, philosophical, or scientific way is not the same as directly knowing this. For example, they say that pure absolute awareness cannot be registered or seen in the lab because there is nothing to register and nothing to see. It’s not an object; it’s the only subject.

They say that it’s similar to looking for the elusive ‘God particle’ (also known as the Higgs particle), because as soon as you try to look at it, it disappears. The word ‘God particle,’ in and of itself, is also misleading and barking up the wrong tree, because the scientists are looking for what is doing the looking.

OM will never be found with any sort of Super-Collider Conductor, no matter how sophisticated it is, because Ultimate Truth cannot be known by perception or inference, quantum physics, or any lesser scientific knowledge.

One example in quantum physics is the Schwarzschild Proton paper,[1] in which physicist Nassim Haramein showed that each atom is a mini black hole with infinite density and infinite potential. He noted that essentially everything has a singularity at its center. The paper shows mathematically how the vacuum energy, the structure of the vacuum itself, is interlinked and entangled in all other protons—the proton being the nuclei of an atom—and that the amount of energy available and present inside the vacuum structure inside these protons equates to the mass of the universe. It shows that the vacuum connects all protons, and that the protons are attracted to each other by gravitation and not what was previously thought to be some mysterious, undefined ‘strong force.’

Haramein’s paper also reveals that the vacuum is not a ‘passive empty vacuum’ but an ‘active full vacuum’ that not only has a role to play in the creation of our material world but also is the structure that connects all things. He has created a mathematical rendering of this concept that everything is one; a conceptual rendering of unity-consciousness. He shows that there are two forces that operate in this system, gravity and electromagnetism: one being the energy moving inwards towards the center (the gravitational pull) and the other being the electromagnetic field (the vacuum structure radiating away from the center). Thus what we have is a gravitational force and a radiational force and the two are feeding back on each other. Haramein claims this process is the way that the universe learns about itself, because what it entails is a fundamental feedback in the structure of space.

He may be correct, but there remains a problem in that according to Vedanta, in that this is still in the realm of a relative dependent reality, even though Haramein states that his theory has been mathematically proven and has been reviewed by his scientific peers.

Again, what this means (according to Vedanta) is that his findings are still in the realm of lesser knowledge (apara vidya) and empirical dependent reality. Haramein’s theory basically describes space and claims that consciousness comes from a quantum physical level; also that what this empty space is made up of is immaterial.

Vedanta would say that this is a basic misunderstanding because it is seeing the Absolute as an object. This is known as avidya  or ‘not knowing.’  Vedanta says that consciousness doesn’t derive out of space. Space is an object that itself arises in consciousness. Consciousness, the only subject, is also what illumines space and lack thereof.

Haramein describes this vacuum (the void or abyss) as being filled with all information, such as our intentions, thoughts, and so on, which are radiated into it, and then this information is fed back to us as our experience of reality.

Traditional Vedanta say the way they realize this infinite awareness with the Akhandakara vritti; a limitless, undivided thought form. This is also not the same as experiencing this in arupa samadhi, ‘immaterial jhana’ for hours on end.

In any case, Haramein states that we are made of billions of cells containing trillions of atoms, which all contain mini black holes that are spinning near the speed of light, and that the way to go into the vacuum is to actually go inwards towards the absolute point of stillness where all spins cancel out. An atom is made out of 99.999999999 percent space, so in essence this space is what we are on an empirical level. However, this too is partially incorrect (according to Vedanta) because they say we are also not just 99.999999999 percent space or light, but as Vedanta says, “The light of all lights” and what illumines 99.999999999 percent of space and light.

THERAVADA  BUDDHISM

In Theravada Buddhism, this is also understood differently because consciousness is dependent on other conditions, supports, causes for it to arise. Consciousness is not independent, nor can exist independently of some type of sense sphere base, in the human realm that is. But in other realms such as the "immaterial realm", consciousness without form can be known and experienced in deep jhana, samadhi meditation. 

So, in essence you don't need a super collider conductor, or  Hubble telescope to directly know and experience this type of infinite consciousness, just a good jhana teacher or Samadhi practice.

Continue to Part 15