So eight would become, an ancient India, the number of wholeness representing a cosmic infinity. It was eight, because the wholeness which was the entirety of this composite group of seven was also considered to be an element. It is like a three-story apartment building: it has seven parts. The bottom, the middle, the top of the earth, which is the bottom for the middle and the top of the atmosphere, that is the bottom for the middle and the top of the sky. So the vision of the world by that count has seven elements. In some counts of the system, heaven, Earth and the space in between are each understood to have their own top and bottom and space in between. We can see the room that is created as a result of the structure of the walls. We are able to see it when it is defined by this structure of colour and shape and form, because of the limits of earth and sky. The hand, or the body, or the stars under an electron microscope will show itself to be 99.999% space, the space inside of us and outside of us in which we live. Because of the opposing poles of heaven and earth, we are able to see this space which is everywhere, inside and outside the world of form. We will feel whole to the degree that we connect to that wholeness of which we are apart.Īt its most basic, the old Indian worldview is a tripartite system: heaven, and Earth, and the space in between, where the opposing poles of anything serves simply to define – to help us to see - that space in between in which we all live. Will we vibrate with it - celebrate with it - be fed by it as if connecting to an electrical current, or will we somehow come to feel cut off, or atrophied and desiccate. It just is, in the way that oxygen in our atmosphere is. It will take different forms, and different shapes, in different places or different times, perhaps a bit in the way that water is liquid, or solid, or steam. There is this quality of the mirror, a reflection. It is just like water: the water in our bodies, the water in my teacup, the water in the rivers, and the streams, in the oceans of the earth, in the ocean that is the sky (for if it were not an ocean, it would not be blue! If it were not an ocean where it could rain come from!) with a view that says: there is life itself which pervades everything. Although it would be perceived and articulated differently as Buddhist and Hindu traditions would develop each in their own way, both traditions would begin - in the time period between about 1500 and 500 B.C.E. It opened…and the top became the sky, the bottom became the earth, and the space in between became the atmospheric realm in which we all live. This ocean has always existed: it will always exist. It floated on an ocean that existed in the time before time. Once upon a time, there was a golden egg. There is a way of things, an ordered and sequenced flow of things.įor my students, I illustrate this idea by telling a simple creation story which outlines this view. It is similar to the Chinese understanding of the Tao. Humans are connected to a cosmic whole: the inner world of the body and the individual person can only mirror this much larger flow. In this view, there is an organic alignment of things. Our well-being depends, they would say, on those composite elements coming into alignment. Our inside world and the outside world is composed of many composite elements. The means to connect to that wholeness is not so much a question of balance as it is a question of alignment. We will be whole to the degree that we connect to that wholeness of which we are apart. The ancient Indian tradition, from which Hindu and Buddhist contemplative traditions, would arise - the origin of Indian understandings of enlightenment – sees harmony and wholeness in a slightly different way. By coming together in a balanced way, often our parts are understood to become a whole. The inner and the outer, the black and the white, where there is white inside the black and black inside the white. The symbol of the yin yang is, at least in part, about the balance of opposing principles. Many First Nations traditions will hold that, by bringing these aspects into balance, we become a balanced, whole, harmonious person.Ĭhinese traditions, historically, have also had strong influence in our understanding of balance. First Nations traditions - in reference to the Medicine Wheel - will speak of balance, the balance, for example, of the emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual aspects of ourselves. Many contemplative traditions emphasize the importance of balance. Do you need a tune-up? How’s your alignment?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |