The Living Universe - Duane Elgin [39]
In learning about the existence of psychic functioning I was also learning about its limits. The experience of receptive intuitions (for example, feeling-impressions about the well-being of someone we care about), are often vague, fleeting, and nonconceptual, even though they may be measurably real. Our expressive intuitions also have limits. Although we have the ability to focus our consciousness and exert a measurable influence in the physical world—as in psychokinesis—it requires extremely high levels of concentration and sustained effort. And I discovered that, if I entered an experiment seeking power over the measuring apparatus, my mindset generated a feeling of existential separation from the universe that was proportional to my intention to dominate it. While these experiences validated, for me, that consciousness is a phenomenon of the living universe and our identity is as boundless as our consciousness, it also demonstrated the universe has a robust and powerful ecology not easily moved or manipulated. We live within a complex ecology of consciousness, and as a living field it requires a subtle ethics and discernment to remain in harmony with it.
In exploring our cosmic identity, it is important to recognize our paradoxical nature. First, we are each unique, yet totally connected with the entire universe. We are each absolutely original; there will never be another person like us in all eternity. At the same time, since our existence arises from and is woven into the deep ecology of the universe, we are completely integrated with all that exists. Both unity and uniqueness are integral to our nature.
The second paradox is that we are both the observer and the object of observation, the knower and that which is known. We are more than thinkers who have physical bodies and a biological brain. We are also knowers who participate in a vast field of consciousness through our intuitive intelligence.
Third, we embody the paradox of being and becoming. The cosmos is continually arising anew and one aspect of our nature is the continual flow of becoming. We are also inseparable from the transcendent wholeness and great being of the Mother Universe.
Our identity embodies the three paradoxes of unity with diversity, knower and known, and being and becoming. Given the seeming impossibility of this, what can we do but awaken to the magnificent mystery of existence and celebrate our journey within a living universe?
Qualities of the Soul’s Body
Our bodies are biodegradable vehicles for acquiring soul-growing experiences. Everything we think and do has lessons for the soul. Wisdom traditions suggest that, at the end of a lifetime, the lessons we learn are not remembered as conceptual thoughts; instead, they leave their unique signature in our soul—the essence of our being. When we leave this world, we take away the distilled knowing-essence of our passage through this life. If we have cultivated a life of cooperation and compassion, the essence of those life experiences will be carried with us. If we have cultivated a life of anger, mistrust, and fear, the essence of these experiences will be embedded in the resonant body of our being.
Because our being has the potential of immense reach and depth, it is very useful to have a firm environment to push against as we seek to know who and what we are. Our material world is an unfailing friend in the process of self-discovery. Imagine living in a world where the ground was made of sand. Because of its soft and yielding qualities, walking on sand requires enormous energy. Instead of pushing against firm ground to jump and run, we would sink into the soft sand, moving laboriously and tiring quickly. If all life’s surfaces were soft and yielding, existence would