Tuesday evening, November 4th, 2008 - I'm exceedingly pleased to see what is happening. A record number of Americans have turned out to reinvigorate the democratic process. I really feels like a new era in America.
The preceding difficult 8 years frankly lead me to question the intelligence of the American populace in twice electing Bush. Apparently, it took a disastrous war and an economic meltdown for people to wake up. But if this is what was necessary to make it possible for Barack Obama to be elected the first black president of the United States then these unfortunate events have served a purpose. The ramifications are so far reaching as to be hard to grasp at the moment. Significant for me is a restoration of respect for the US in the eyes of the world. There's no doubt that there are more difficulties ahead, and that the challenges we face won't be resolved overnight, but there is without a doubt a new optimism in the land, and that we have an extraordinary individual taking the reins of the U.S. government.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Why I'm a Vegetarian
Thirty-five years ago I took religious vows committing to vegetarianism (no meat, fish or eggs) and abstinence from alcohol and recreational drugs. Some idealists from that time have abandoned their vegetarian diets and there seems to be increasingly vocal camps claiming that vegetarianism is unhealthy. An impartial review of the peer-reviewed nutrition literature will reveal that the bulk of evidence indicates that vegetarianism confers many health benefits including increased longevity. But I've maintained my vows for more that health reasons. Moral and ethical concerns are crucial but foremost is my desire to live in the most elevated manner that I am capable of.
By "elevated" I mean spiritually attuned, aligned with a higher purpose, not unduly bound to the physical. Eating meat, in my opinion and experience, makes a person less capable of vibrating at a higher frequency, makes one more dense, more firmly bound to the physical. It seems self-evident to me that by consuming the flesh of a creature that has lead a miserable life and then died in terror one takes on not only karma but the heavy vibrational load that is stored in the cells as well.
It's essential that we, as creatures of this planet, feel connected to the Earth. But eventually we must all leave this Earth, and if your aspiration is to do so with joy instead of fear, then your life is best spent doing those things that allow you to function in this world without being overly bound to it. Selfless service, love, praising the One True Source of all, and sustaining our bodies in a manner that has a minimal impact on the planet all support this purpose.
By "elevated" I mean spiritually attuned, aligned with a higher purpose, not unduly bound to the physical. Eating meat, in my opinion and experience, makes a person less capable of vibrating at a higher frequency, makes one more dense, more firmly bound to the physical. It seems self-evident to me that by consuming the flesh of a creature that has lead a miserable life and then died in terror one takes on not only karma but the heavy vibrational load that is stored in the cells as well.
It's essential that we, as creatures of this planet, feel connected to the Earth. But eventually we must all leave this Earth, and if your aspiration is to do so with joy instead of fear, then your life is best spent doing those things that allow you to function in this world without being overly bound to it. Selfless service, love, praising the One True Source of all, and sustaining our bodies in a manner that has a minimal impact on the planet all support this purpose.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Tipping Point
There's a reason we're here. Events in our lives help us to grow, to evolve, to develop deeper levels of awareness and understanding. When life dishes out tough times, how does one decide whether the lesson is to stay positive and endure or the message is that change is needed? The answer is probably that both are needed, but what if you can't figure out the change part? It's been my experience that life will continue to hit you over the head with circumstances until you "get it." Still, there is much to be learned from enduring hard times and sometimes this really is the entire lesson.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Physics, spirituality and religion
Being both a physicist and a man of faith I get asked about how I reconcile the two. People ask for confirmation of, or insights into, the latest book popularizing quantum mechanics or some other esoteric physics theory. Then there are the neo-athesists, emboldened by the writings of militant materialists like Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything) and Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), who find me, someone they think should know better, a ripe target for pointing out the error of my ways.
Well, first off, my appreciation of the marvels of the physical realm in no way subtracts from my appreciation of the transcendent realm. Both are equally real and beautiful. Furthermore, while it's abundantly evident that people's blind adherence to dogma has caused much suffering in the world, it's also obvious that religion fulfills a fundamental human longing to connect with something greater than the small self.
I began studying physics because I wanted to know all I could about the inner workings of the universe. But while physics amazes me, so does chemistry, biology and even mechanical engineering. It's all amazing. And I think it's great when people get inspired by quantum mechanics, which shows that we really are all connected. But physics can only hint at the inner truths. To be meaningful to the individual these truths have to be experienced directly. And that's what the materialists don't get. These fundamental truths of existence can be taught, which means they have an existence in the material world in the form of speech or the written word, but their undeniable reality is in the transcendent realm, and can only be experienced by leaving the mind and material world behind.
Neuroscientists are beginning to identify the unique patterns of brain activity associated with transcendent states. And transcendent states can be induced by drugs or direct stimulation of the brain. Does this make the soul a product of the brain? Hardly. What is identified as soul, or the part of us that experiences the transcendent through the body, is just a projection of the timeless, limitless true self onto the material realm. And just as a photograph of a place is not the place itself, the soul that can be probed and quantified is not the true soul.
Someone who lives only in the material realm, who relies entirely on the analytical mind to tell them what's real and what is not real, has no qualifications to comment on the transcendent realm. These people are welcome to point out the shortcomings in how humans behave, but cannot possibly have anything meaningful to say about the human experience outside of the material realm, because it's territory they have never explored. I claim that the materialists must be in denial, because even if they ardently wish to believe that the physical realm is all there is, life will deal them transcendent experiences, which they must deny in order to maintain their worldview.
I choose to practice the Sikh religion. It speaks to me. It makes sense. It isn't dependent on dogma and encourages everyone to experience for themselves the transcendent. It recognizes a Creator as the source of everything and teaches that praising that One is the best use of this human life. The One is unknowable through the mind but can be experienced.
We must use the mind to manage day-to-day living, to advance human knowledge, and to appreciate the world around us. But to fully appreciate life and to make the most use of our time in this world, we must know how to set aside the mind and dwell in a higher awareness. Only then will the mysteries of the transcendent be accessible to us.
Well, first off, my appreciation of the marvels of the physical realm in no way subtracts from my appreciation of the transcendent realm. Both are equally real and beautiful. Furthermore, while it's abundantly evident that people's blind adherence to dogma has caused much suffering in the world, it's also obvious that religion fulfills a fundamental human longing to connect with something greater than the small self.
I began studying physics because I wanted to know all I could about the inner workings of the universe. But while physics amazes me, so does chemistry, biology and even mechanical engineering. It's all amazing. And I think it's great when people get inspired by quantum mechanics, which shows that we really are all connected. But physics can only hint at the inner truths. To be meaningful to the individual these truths have to be experienced directly. And that's what the materialists don't get. These fundamental truths of existence can be taught, which means they have an existence in the material world in the form of speech or the written word, but their undeniable reality is in the transcendent realm, and can only be experienced by leaving the mind and material world behind.
Neuroscientists are beginning to identify the unique patterns of brain activity associated with transcendent states. And transcendent states can be induced by drugs or direct stimulation of the brain. Does this make the soul a product of the brain? Hardly. What is identified as soul, or the part of us that experiences the transcendent through the body, is just a projection of the timeless, limitless true self onto the material realm. And just as a photograph of a place is not the place itself, the soul that can be probed and quantified is not the true soul.
Someone who lives only in the material realm, who relies entirely on the analytical mind to tell them what's real and what is not real, has no qualifications to comment on the transcendent realm. These people are welcome to point out the shortcomings in how humans behave, but cannot possibly have anything meaningful to say about the human experience outside of the material realm, because it's territory they have never explored. I claim that the materialists must be in denial, because even if they ardently wish to believe that the physical realm is all there is, life will deal them transcendent experiences, which they must deny in order to maintain their worldview.
I choose to practice the Sikh religion. It speaks to me. It makes sense. It isn't dependent on dogma and encourages everyone to experience for themselves the transcendent. It recognizes a Creator as the source of everything and teaches that praising that One is the best use of this human life. The One is unknowable through the mind but can be experienced.
We must use the mind to manage day-to-day living, to advance human knowledge, and to appreciate the world around us. But to fully appreciate life and to make the most use of our time in this world, we must know how to set aside the mind and dwell in a higher awareness. Only then will the mysteries of the transcendent be accessible to us.
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