We have explored together the effect of Cartesian dualism between mind and matter, making human beings into only pure observers of a universe running according to Divine Laws. Newton added the idea of a clockwork universe. Out of that came forth the thought that God had done, what he needed to do here and had moved on to another part of the Universe.
Nature abhors a vacuum but humanity abhors chaos and meaninglessness. We yearn for order, so we can make sense of the world, in which we live. In the words of C.G.Jung: “As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. We need a purpose to have a sense of meaning in our lives, we need meaning to live with joy and happiness.”
Right from the beginning of our existence on this planet we have needed meaning and purpose in life. First we got our meaning from the common purpose of the survival of the tribe and our existential questions were answered by myths, incorporating the Truth as understood at that time. We grew up with the stories the wise elders of the tribe told us. We did not need to search for an individual meaning: established culture and religion gave us the answers we needed. But now, some, especially the young, no longer find that religion gives them satisfactory answers to the question of the real meaning of their existence. In response to this many are on the search for a different spiritual way, more meaningful and experiential. It is a spiritual restlessness, an instinctive search for meaning, that motivates us. We want to learn who we really are and discover our meaning and purpose in life.
But we do not arrive at the answer with our rational consciousness, even though we have made our rational thinking into a God. In the words of Max Planck, a theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize winner: “We cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery we are trying to solve.”
We have talked about the benefits and fruits of meditation on many occasions. An important one is that by paying attention on our prayer word in meditation the right side of our brain gets switched on and thus leads us into the inner silence, where we can access the intuitive mind, which is linked to Divine Love affording meaning and purpose to human existence. In fact, by accessing a different way of perception and knowing, we become aware that our rational ego consciousness is just a small surface part of our total consciousness. We need to remember what Albert Einstein said: “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
Our rational consciousness is our mind but our intuitive consciousness is our heart. This is the reason for our meditation: “To be open to the divine reality that is closer to us than we are to ourselves”, quoting John Main.
Even in the direst of circumstances those who were in touch with the Divine within behaved in a caring and compassionate manner: “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread…Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way…. The sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision…This spiritual freedom makes life meaningful and purposeful.” (Victor Frankl ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’)
How true are John Main’s words: “Only when we live in and from love do we know that miraculous harmony and integration of our whole being which makes us fully human.” (‘The Inner Christ’)
