On states of consciousness in the light of Andean and pre-Columbian wisdom
THE EXPANDED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS (HANANPACHA)
Understanding through Reason
We know we are living in a world interconnected by an immense communication network, aware of our interdependence with the totality of nature, both organic and inorganic, but we still need to understand what this actually means: 'oneness'. Let us suppose some biologist wanting to make a detailed and precise description of the behavior of a peculiar organism, perhaps a bird, feeding in an orchard. He cannot fully describe the behavior of the bird without also describing the behavior of the trees, the seasons, the flowering and the fruits, the soil and water, the propagation of seeds, the insects, the temperature: all fundamental elements, manifesting in conjunction and synchrony with the behavior of the bird. He cannot describe the behavior of the animal without also describing the behavior of the environment. The behaviors of the fauna, the flora, and inorganic nature conform a single systemic field of action. The current state of the planet happens and is inseparable from the existence of organic beings (including restless humanity) as night is interdependent with day; in any radically different environment, humanity could only survive by becoming radically different. Meditating, we perceive that 'individuality' is, in a certain way, very real; yet, looking in another way, we perceive that it is an illusion. Surely, Buddha was right! I am not limited by the interval between my birth and death, because I am the result of a causal chain of extraordinary complexity, beginning, supposedly, with the "Big Bang".
To know oneself is essentially to know one's limits and boundaries; however, the more we look and examine, the more the 'limits' dissolve into processes and relationships, and the more formless and subtle the 'self' becomes. My existence will have consequences I cannot foresee during my lifetime and afterward; although I am mortal, my existence extends and branches out, in infinitely tenuous form, throughout all eternity! For better or worse, what we do will never be 'just' what we wish to do. What happens to me will affect you, and what happens to you will affect me; as the light of the moon, of Venus or Mars reflecting in our eyes affects our bodies, minds and hearts, what we are doing will affect all beings. Thus, my limits are not my skin, nor the reach of my perception. Our 'truth' is, in a certain way, a causal process connecting what we believe, accomplish and think of ourselves with what we live in the scenario of existence.
Connectivity, which reveals and points to the oneness of all things — not just a 'union' of distinct parts — demonstrates that the universe is a network, infinitely complex and mysterious, of relationships and events, that no matter how great our science, we will only be able to understand fragments of this immensity. 'Connectivity' means that my concept of 'I', in a certain way, depends on how I see myself; perhaps as a point of consciousness mirroring perceptions, or as a collection of organs and cells, a combination of molecules, or as a person living in society, and so on. All these views are true, but none is whole and absolute; all are partial and incomplete, emphasizing certain details according to the focus of attention. In a certain sense, I can choose the limits of the 'I' and become something closer to what I want by the act of directing my meditation, attention, concentration to this or that.
In the Upanishads, in the "Brihad Aranyaka", the sage informs King Janaka about the true nature of Brahma:
"Brahma, O King Janaka, can only be understood as knowledge itself — knowledge one and inseparable from the real. Brahma is beyond proofs, beyond all instruments of thought. Brahma is eternal and pure, unborn, subtler than the subtlest, greater than the greatest; only by the purified mind can it be glimpsed. He who knows Brahma as the life of life, the eye of the eye, the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind; he truly understands the cause of causes. In Brahma there is no diversity. He who sees diversities goes from death to death."
A passage reminiscent of a stanza from the poem "ON A MIDDAY AT THE END OF SPRING" by Fernando Pessoa — in the voice of the heteronym Alberto Caeiro:
"… The Eternal Child accompanies me always.
The direction and axis of my gaze is his pointing finger.
My ear joyfully attentive to all sounds
Are the tickles he gives me, playing, in my ears."