Immanent In Every Speck

 

Actual intelligence is the boundless clarity of pure consciousness, prior to the arising of thought. Thoughts are passing clouds in spacious awareness. A thought can be said to contain intelligence only to the degree that the blue sky can be seen through the cloud.

Most thought is spam. Wise is one who lets clouds of thought dissolve, resting as the sky, without an opinion about anything. Yet to those who cling to clouds of thought, this dweller in awareness appears to be a fool. For this reason scripture declares: "The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men." (1 Cor 1:25) 

 

Pure awareness transcends thinking. Yet pure awareness is immanent - the very stuff of creation. Every sub-nuclear particle of matter is a tremolo of pure awareness - the stuff our bodies are made of, the stuff the earth is made of, and the stuff of stars. 

 

Empty space is awake. The transcendent is immanent in each speck of dust. The progenitors of quantum physics understood this. Max Planck wrote, "I regard matter as derivative from consciousness." Sir James Jeans, a founder of quantum physics, wrote that this world is "a world created out of pure intelligence." Sir Arthur Eddington, president of the Royal Academy of Science (and also a Quaker) wrote that "the stuff of the world is mind-stuff." He also said, "all through the physical world runs that unknown content which must surely be the stuff of our consciousness."

So matter is composed of what physicists call "fluctuations of the vacuum." What is the vacuum but pure intelligence? The greatest physicists of the modern age confirm the ancient wisdom of Vedanta. If you want to transform your world, transform your consciousness.

In an age of anxiety and information overload, there is no more healing discovery a human being can make than this: You are not your thoughts. You can bathe in the edgeless sapphire splendor of pure Being, to refresh your mind and energize every atom of your body. This is the gift of meditation.