I would like to begin by focusing on what has come to be known as “the mind-body problem”: When we attempt to comprehend the reality in which we live, we are faced with a two-sided appearance, one consisting of Energy (or matter), and one of Consciousness (or soul). From an empirical point of view, this universe is comprised of an Energy-field that was initiated 14 billion years ago. The body-brain complex that I call ‘mine’ is a nested holon within that Energy-field, and consists entirely of matter generated by that Energy-field. But there is no doubt that there is a subtler reality that we know as mind, or consciousness, and that we refer to as ‘I’. The assumption of materialists that this consciousness is merely an epiphenomenon of material interactions in the brain is simply not tenable.
Everyone experiences themselves as both body and mind, and the difference in the characteristics of these two is recognized by everyone. Many conclude, as Descartes did, that God created two complementary ‘substances’: a subtle one of spirit, or soul, that manifests as a subjective conscious awareness; and a coarser one of matter, or body. And that, at human conception or birth, the two are joined, and then, at the cessation of life in the body, they separate. At death, the body returns to its elements, eventually decaying back into its original Energy state, while the soul continues to live in its subtle Spirit realm, until such time as, according to some, it is re-embodied in a newly born creature; or, according to others, it is relegated eternally to a place of punishment or reward, depending on the deserts accumulated in its earthly sojourn. This dualistic scheme is all very reasonable, and very neat: there is the material world, and the spiritual world, both made of God-stuff, but of different kinds. They combine and interpenetrate during the lifetime of the body, and then separate when the body is no longer an apt host.
Every mystical theology agrees with this conception of a dual-faceted Divine Reality, consisting of a transcendent Mind, or Consciousness, which is the unborn Source of all, and an active Energy emanating from that absolute Consciousness, by which the immanent universe of forms is made manifest. These two aspects of Reality have been given innumerable names throughout the course of history, such as Purusha and Prakrti, Brahman and Maya, Shiva and Shakti, Jahveh and Chokmah, Theos and Logos, Tao and Teh, Dharmakaya and Samsara, Haqq and Khalq, and on and on.
This classic Spirit-Matter dualism is not only the conventional Eastern metaphysical view; it has been the conventional Western metaphysical view since Pythagorus and Plato, on through the Neoplatonists, Hermetics, and Jews, carried forward by Christianity and Islam, and reaffirmed analytically in the seventeenth century by Rene Descartes. Its rationality and broad acceptance has firmly established this Spirit-Matter dualism in the depths of our collective psyche. And, of course, it is only one’s mystical experience of identity with the Eternal that effectively puts an end to this duality.
Nevertheless, the question of the nature of the soul, the individual soul, is still very much a matter for debate, perhaps more so for those who have experienced the unitive vision than for those who have not. I, myself, struggled with the notion of individualized souls for a very long time, as the existence of souls seemed to be contradicted by my visionary experience, my spiritual revelation. In that contemplative experience, my consciousness was suddenly expanded so that I became aware of myself as all-pervasive, beyond time, and indivisible.
In this newly changed awareness, ‘I’ was identical with the one cosmic energy and consciousness that constituted this entire universe and all beings in it. There was no duality of Spirit and Matter, of soul and body. It was clear that ‘I’ was one undivided essence that was both consciousness and the energy comprising form. My‘I’ was seen to be the ‘I’ of every conscious being as well as of every inanimate object within this universe. It is an ‘I’ beyond time and place that fills all spatio-temporal beings with life and awareness, even though I may mistakenly attribute that ‘I’ exclusively to this individual body-brain complex.
More than that, as the focus of my concentration continued, I could see into the depths of my all-pervading self to know the unmanifest source, the transcendent Absolute, as the very fount of all origination. I say that I saw, but it was not the seeing by a subject of an object, a second; rather, it was a recognition of my own transcendent nature, my own true Self. What I saw, I saw through identity with it rather than as a seer separate from the seen.
In this visionary experience I saw no separate soul—neither my own nor anyone else’s; but experienced my identity as the unmanifest One and the universal chit-shakti, the all-inclusive Consciousness-Energy, that manifests all this universe of forms, including the form I am accustomed to calling “my own”. Clearly, there was nothing but the Divine and His creative Energy, with no sense of a separate personal soul-identity. But in reflecting on this experience in the ensuing years, many questions remained. My reason told me that souls exist; yet my visionary (spiritual) experience told me otherwise. For, in that unitive mystical experience, I had not ‘seen’ a soul, or even the suggestion of a soul.
Now, at last, the truth has dawned on me: The soul is not experienced in the unitive vision because the soul is the experiencer! It is seeing what is above it, namely its prior: the creative aspect of God, the Divine Mind, which is its undifferentiated source. It glimpses also that which is prior to the Divine Mind, namely, the Absolute, the One, through the Divine Mind. The individualized soul is that in us which is conscious of limited selfhood; and it is that which is silenced and made transparent, negated in the visionary experience of its source, the Divine Mind.
What’s remarkable to me is that the great third century Roman mystic-philosopher, Plotinus (205-270 C.E.), had explained this almost eighteen hundred years ago, and I had not understood. For those unfamiliar with the writings of Plotinus, let me briefly explain his metaphysics: It is not a metaphysics based solely on rational speculation, like some others, but one that is based on his own unitary vision in the contemplative state. Plotinus explains that the successive realms of Spirit are three: the One, The Divine Mind (Nous), and Soul. He describes them as analogous to the successive stages of radiation expanding from the Sun. Here are his own words:
There exists a Principle which transcends Being; this is The One, … Upon The One follows immediately the Principle which is at once Being and the Divine Mind. Third comes the Principle, Soul. . . . Thus our soul, too, is a divine thing, belonging to another order than sense; . . .1
It must be noted that, in this representation by Plotinus, these three “principles” are not to be thought of as separate, independent entities; it is a causal progression only. It is the One whose creative Power is called ‘the Divine Mind’; and it is the creative Power of the One whose radiance spreads as Soul. Despite the names given to these “layers”, there is never anything but the One, and only the One, filling all.
‘The One’ represents for Plotinus the transcendent Absolute, the Unmanifest Ground, the eternal Godhead. It is what in the Vedic tradition has been called “Brahman”, in the Taoist tradition the “Tao”, and in the Christian writings of Meister Eckhart, Gottheit. The active principle, the creative Power of the One, Plotinus calls ‘The Divine Mind’ (Nous). And ‘Soul’ is the radiation of the Divine Mind into the intelligible as well as the phenomenal universe.
Plotinus pointed out in his Enneads that the Absolute, who is the ultimate Source and foundation of all, cannot be described or even named accurately, since He/It is prior to all qualities, prior even to the designation of ‘Being’. Nonetheless, he names It “the One”, or he uses Plato’s previous designation, “the Good.” But he is always quick to stipulate that any descriptive name limits and qualifies the Absolute, and thereby misrepresents It. This judgement has been seconded by many other respected authorities after him.
Today, we use the word “God” or “Godhead” to represent the indescribable One, with the understanding that this too is merely a shorthand pointer to That which can never be conceived or expressed by the human mind. God may be directly experienced, but never adequately captured in thought or language. For this reason, a clear and rational comprehension or description of the One is concealed from our understanding. “We see now”, said Saint Paul, “but vaguely, as through a darkened glass; but then (meaning: when we have direct vision of God) we shall see as though face to face.”
While the One cannot be described or clearly comprehended, nonetheless, we can get a sense of It by analogy with our own nature, since we are made in Its image. Like the eternal Consciousness, our own individual consciousness is one and unchanging, while the energetic outpouring of thought is multiple and subject to flux. Our thoughts are contained as potentiality in our own consciousness which is their substratum and source, and yet these thoughts, even when given expression, do not in any way affect that consciousness, any more than clouds passing through the sky alters or affects the sky. This, I believe, is analogous to the unity of the One and Its creative Power; for while the One remains transcendent, unaltered, and unaffected, Its energetic outpouring of creativity continues apace.
And so we are able to recognize these two aspects of our own minds as in some way comparable to the two aspects of God: the One (the pure Absolute), and His creative Power. They are not two separate entities, of course, any more than those two aspects of our own minds are separated. They are one, yet they have a semblance of duality, since one is causally primary to the other, just as, while the Sun and the light it radiates are one, the Sun is primary to its radiance.
The Divine Mind is the first Act of The One and the first Existence; The One remains stationary within Itself, but the Divine Mind acts in relation to It and, as it were, lives about It. And the Soul, outside, circles around the Divine Mind, and by gazing upon it, seeing into the depths of it, through it sees God.2
According to Plotinus, we may think of Soul as a spreading Field of radiation from the Divine Mind. It is the outspreading light of Divine Intelligence, the invisible radiation of Consciousness-Energy that manifests as the intelligible (spiritual) world. Soul is one undivided radiance, and though it contains souls, they are as yet unmanifest, undifferentiated. Soul does not consist of an ethereal substance; it is a projection of the conscious intelligence of the Divine Mind. To fashion for its offspring a place of activity, the Divine Mind projects a universe of substance: a periodically appearing world of ‘matter’, in which Soul is disposed to play.
To accomplish this, the Divine Mind sends forth a sudden great burst of Light with the capability of transforming into an expanding world of malleable material substance in which Soul may inhere, and which it may set in order according to its own designs. Soul, the amorphous realm of multiple ideas, now has a playground where it may temporarily inhabit substantial forms, and act out its many fantasies to its heart’s content.
Plotinus regards Soul as the intelligent organizing principle that impresses its order upon matter, organizing matter wave-particles into structures such as atoms, molecules, cells; and organizing them into microbiological structures such as amoeba and bacteria, into vegetation and aquatic creatures, becoming the very life-pulse of all that lives and moves. Matter alone has no abilities such as these; it is Soul that permeates the expanding heavens and earth, bringing organization into matter and enabling replication and evolutionary change. Soul is the guiding intelligence, the evolutionary force, and the breath of Life permeating all the universe.
From the perspective of materialistic science or scientific materialism, the question of how life arose on earth appears to be one of the greatest mysteries. And, clearly, if we attempt to explain the arising of the phenomena of life on earth, relying solely on the physical sciences and our rational faculties, we run into many difficult-to-answer questions.
We may assume that the original creative act by the transcendent Spirit was the instigation of a great burst of Energy in the form of light radiation, which generated “matter” through the ‘spontaneous’ process of energy-matter transformation, thus forming the universe of time and space. But in order to account for the development from inorganic matter (minerals, gases, and liquids) to micro-organisms that resulted in bacterial and vegetative life arising on earth, we need to assume some rather remarkable additional transformations. However, no one can account for how the mere handful of ingredients existing on earth prior to the existence of life might have spontaneously produced living organisms.
Our present evolutionary theory, including the understanding of natural selection and the spontaneous mutation of genes, begins with the transformations that occurred from simple microbiological forms to more complex animal forms, and subsequently to humans. But the prior elementary transformations, from mineral to vegetable and microbial life forms, are wholly unexplained. The causal progression of those ‘elementary transformations’ represents a gap or ‘missing link’ in the evolutionary story (beginning with matter-bearing light and culminating in man) that materialistic science is currently unable to bridge. Despite a couple of centuries of active scientific research, the transformation from inorganic to organic matter has not been observed to occur, and no one can account for its having occurred.
I think it is entirely possible that we may never fully understand the details of the transformations which gave rise to life on earth, but of this much we may be certain: The one eternal Consciousness, He whom we call God, radiates His own Life as Soul into all that is created. That God-essence, that Soul, is the Life in all life-forms. He is the substratum of all that lives and breathes, of all that is sentient and aware, and of all that appears in our world. He is the only Awareness, filling the entire universe, enlivening, animating, and constituting the consciousness of all beings. Life—in fact, all existence, including the material entropy we call death—is contained in and supported by His Life.
The essence of life cannot, therefore, be reduced simply to the complexity of any material structure, but is attributable only to the one transcendent and eternal Source of all. Life arose on earth by His power, enlivening matter through His extension as Soul in order to manifest His own Life in among the stars. Soul pours itself into individual forms, enlivening them and becoming thereby individualized souls.
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