A reader in the Zen, Yoga, Gurdjieff blog brought up the question of non-locality in relationship to the idea of an oversoul.I think it's a good question. The ideas are clearly related. If there is a nonrational simultaneity to the universe -- something that seems evident, given the odd and nonrational properties that entanglement produces -- it means that everything is, in fact, "one thing," in a manner that we, as localized organisms, are completely unable to sense.
Those familiar with Mr. Gurdjieff's magnum opus Beelzebub's tales to his grandson will recall that the difference between emanations and radiation is that emanations have an instantaneous effect regardless of distance and location, whereas radiation has to travel through space and over time.
The characteristics of nonlocal quantum entanglement are identical to that of Gurdjieff's description of emanation. Not only that, his constant reference to emanation within that text suggests that he sees emanation as a quality and property that permeates the entire universe and affects the highest, or finest, substances found throughout the universe.
Put in other terms, the materiality of the universe is connected by an instantaneous transmission of energy that transcends both newtons and Einstein's laws of physics.
Falling into this category, among other substances, are those released by death, and the particles of sorrow of his endlessness.
It's not my intention to recapitulate the content of Beelzebub in this blog (that would be next to impossible anyway.) I think the essential point here is that many of the highest Being functions are connected by emanation. Emanation is part of what builds the fabric of the universe. Radiation, as any student of physics would know, is largely a destructive force. In very broad terms, we might see emanation as holy affirming, and radiation as holy denying. I'm shooting from the hip here, but it's worth pondering.
The overall point is that the "oversoul", that highest level of consciousness which is presumed to permeate the entire universe, would certainly be nonlocal in character. When Gurdjieff says that the finest particles and vibrations of the Most Holy Sun Absolute penetrate and permeate every material arising throughout the universe, he is in fact saying that the universe is the body of God. The oversoul, such as it is or may be, constitutes the emergent property of super consciousness expressed in the absolute manifestation of the Dharma, that is, the simultaneous and absolute truth of existence of all that is, everywhere, at every instant.
For my money, one of the best sets of philosophical texts to explore this idea in is the Zen Buddhism of Dogen. That being said, I've barely scratched the surface of the voluminous amounts of material on this matter which are available in the Hindu tradition.
The uncanny moment in time we find ourselves in is a moment in which physics, which investigates the fabric of reality itself, has come up against a set of natural properties that echo spiritual philosophies in a powerful way. Despite the relentlessly reductionist and anti-theistic forces which have dominated scientific investigation up until now, unanswered questions which represent absolute impossibilities based on our current understanding have reared their ugly heads and will not go away.
There is simply no way for Steven Pinker or Richard Dawkins, for example, to explain non-locality. They could argue that it doesn't matter in the context of their own disciplines, but that's kind of like studying batteries while claiming that lightning has absolutely nothing to do with them. The atheists, in other words, are finally slammed up against a wall of supernatural phenomena that violate every known principle we apply to our studies in reductionist science.
The bottom line is that there is such a thing as an oversoul, in the sense of a nonlocal link between material entities all over the universe. It lies at the foundation of reality, it's not a peripheral effect. Everything is connected instantaneously in a way that we have absolutely no understanding of. It defies centuries of so-called progress in Western science.
The authors of the article on non-locality in scientific American (was Einstein wrong, this month) point out that a large number of scientists have carefully avoided discussing this matter. No wonder. It lies outside the domain of the sciences, having stepped firmly over the line into theological philosophy -- or philosophical theology, whichever you prefer.
I think we can all marvel at the fact that a relatively uneducated dervish from an Eastern Orthodox background at the beginning of the 20th century was able to write a long novel which contains not only a description of a working jet engine, and detailed explanations of how an asteroid hit the Earth to create the moon, but also a description of an obscure and peculiar phenomenon regarding the nature of the material reality that would rock the foundations of Einstein's understandings.
What does all this mean to our own personal work?
Well, it is possible for human beings to sense emanations. Our bodies -- unlike scientific instruments -- are incredibly sensitive tools that were designed, if they work properly, to receive these signals and understand them.
This is the work that every serious esoteric religious discipline has been engaged in since the beginning of time. Western man has thrown a few brief centuries of study on physical matters up against thousands of years of work by yogis, monks, Zen Masters, and dervishes, and determined that all of them were wrong, but it appears that those of us who study esotericism may have the last laugh yet.
Most of the work that I do in describing my own spiritual path in this and the Zen, yoga, Gurdjieff blog is aimed at offering others a direct experience of what it might mean to engage in this search. The aim is not to teach or to instruct, but to share and to explore. The aim is not to brag and swagger, but to offer and support. The aim is not to presume and assume, but to question, and question again.
Our inquiring nature is part of the fabric of the universe. Our curiosity, our willingness to be wrong in order to make a new discovery -- this is an essential property of creation. The Creator Himself must share this property with us, or it would not be reflected in us.
So in our search for contact with the oversoul, in our efforts to form a connection -- no matter how tenuous -- with all the other material in the universe, and to sense our shared origin and kinship, we begin the search inside, where the material that might make it possible is received and digested.
