Rev. Ben Fowler
  • Home
    • About Me
    • Sacred Chant
    • Workshops
    • Nottingham Community Church
    • Radio Interview
    • The Old Folky
  • Eyes and Ears
  • Events
    • Russill Paul
    • Lodgings For Workshops
  • Links
  • Contact

A Crucible for the Spirit

9/19/2011

1 Comment

 
About 10 years ago I took a course with Peter Russell, the futurist, mathematician and delver into the noetic sciences. I kind of floated through the course, in just the right intellectual, emotional and spiritual space to absorb nearly everything the course had to offer. The first sentence he said in the course was: "About 15 billion years ago, everything (his emphasis) in the known universe was created." Not everything. of course, was created in its current form, but at least in some elemental form.

Then about 100,000 years ago (more or less), humans evolved; the only species known that has self-consciousness (the ability to contemplate more than what is immediately in front of us--like death, or the future, or the nature of the universe). Putting Russell's first comment together with this fact, brought me to wonder what form our consciousness took for the first 14,900,000 years. 

So, toward the end of the course, shooting at being a precocious student, I asked him if he thought that consciousness existed outside the crucible of a body. His answer was a great lesson that is still sinking in in its significance. He replied, "I don't know, and I don't really care, because I never will be able to know." I was slightly shocked, having expecting him, as a spiritual teacher, deep thinker and noetic explorer, to just say "of course."

What I now understand from his comment is the power of not knowing. The spiritual search is not about answers. Our culture of skepticism and reason dictates that we should find answers for everything. But it is possible to be both a skeptic and a seeker: a questioner who contemplates the mysteries of our conscious and unconscious life just for the sake of contemplating them. 

The more we hope for answers, the more questions we will generate. The point is that whether it is true or not, it is amazing, and in some ways a relief, to consider the possibility that our consciousness-- our spirit--can exist without the container our body provides. 
1 Comment
imeva link
9/25/2013 03:46:23 pm

Great information and site

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Rev. Ben

    I am an Interfaith Minister. My ramblings are primarily  random thoughts, and commentary on life, love and the pursuit of happiness. See more on the ABOUT ME page (above).

    To be notified of my new posts, use the RSS feed below--if you use Google reader or other such.

    Archives

    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011

    Categories

    All
    Grace
    Ground Of Being
    Growth
    Householder
    Intimacy
    Love
    Mother
    Personal Growth
    Religion
    Self Love
    Self-love
    Spirit
    Spiritual
    Spirituality
    Spiritual Practice

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.