I am sitting by the ocean here in South Carolina for a much-needed break in the action. I am re-discovering the order in nature. It is so restful, so regenerating. Watching the ebb and flow got me thinking about the poem, “The Idea of Order at Key West,” by Wallace Stevens where he mentions “the genius of the sea.” Some people speak of genius or intelligence as if it were something only humans possess, its abode “the castle of intellect.” Stevens’ famous poem muses on imagination, reality and order: where does the appearance of order come from—our imagination, or nature itself? And what’s the relationship between the two?
Here at the ocean, order is clearly manifest: the waves rolling in methodically as they’ve done for who knows how long; the clockwork of sun, moon and stars; the tides’ constancy; the pelican’s dive. It’s as if nature knows what it’s doing. Buckminster Fuller called it “nature’s know how.” Perhaps this sense of underlying harmony is, at least in part, what attracts people to the ocean and why so much literature has dwelt on the experience of the sea.
Maharishi’s view is that life is structured like the ocean: waves of activity and change are visible on the surface, but most of existence is beneath the surface—and all of it, from the changing waves to the silent depths, are one and the same substance. This also describes the structure of the physical universe as understood by modern science and sheds light on the source of order in nature. Quantum physics strives for a workable “unified field theory” or “ultimate theory of everything” (T.O.E.) that identifies the underlying source of the diverse phenomenal world. Physicist John Hagelin regards this most fundamental field as “a single, unified field of intelligence at the basis of nature” which can be “directly experienced by the human mind.” The unified field and all of life can thus be seen as an ocean of consciousness or intelligence.
For a wave on the ocean to enjoy its true status, all it has to do is settle down—then it becomes the unbounded ocean. This is meditation. The mind settles inward to finer and finer levels until the faintest impulse of thought is transcended and one experiences the source of thought. It’s not an intellectual or emotional contrivance but a natural, mechanical shift in one’s state of consciousness, involving physiological changes as much as a change of awareness. (It’s so real that you don’t have to understand or believe in the unified field or pure awareness to experience transcending and enjoy the benefits.)
From this perspective, meditation is a means for experiencing the unified field of consciousness directly, drawing upon nature’s unlimited reserves of energy and intelligence to benefit all aspects of life. The unified field and its perfect order is not just out there, underlying and upholding everything in nature, separate from human existence; it is also discovered within us—residing, in Wallace Stevens words, beyond thinking and feeling, beyond the edge of space, “at the end of the mind.”
Related posts:
- The Nature of Being and the Inevitable Discovery of the Unified Field by Modern Science
- “Maharishi, What is the Settled State of Mind—is it ‘Transcendence’?”
- New Book – The Flow of Consciousness: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on Literature and Language
- Albert Einstein – “There is Neither Evolution nor Destiny; Only Being.”
- “Only Higher Consciousness Can Transform Our World” – Dr. John Hagelin
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Tom, Wonderful read. I look forward to future blogs.
The power and precision of nature is inspiring and enlightening. We can learn so much by simply observing. Thank you Tom for helping to paint this picture.
Thanks for discussing this poem, “The Idea of Order at Key West,” I wasn’t familiar with it. I read it and noticed the singer creates a world by singing it into existence, much like Aslan, the lion, in C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew. Another poem of Stevens, “Of Mere Being,” also has a mythical bird singing, perhaps of pure existence, that abstract field of Being beyond the last impulse of thought located at the source of thought, the unified field of pure intelligence, pure consciousness, at the base, or ‘end’ of the human mind. At least that’s one way to take it from our perspective as a meditator familiar with Maharishi’s description of consciousness. Being a student and writer of poetry, perhaps you could shed some more light on this poem, Tom. I love the rhyming sounds of the last line–powerful!
Of Mere Being
The palm at the end of the mind,
Beyond the last thought, rises
In the bronze decor,
A gold-feathered bird
Sings in the palm, without human meaning,
Without human feeling, a foreign song.
You know then that it is not the reason
That makes us happy or unhappy.
The bird sings. Its feathers shine.
The palm stands on the edge of space.
The wind moves slowly in the branches.
The bird’s fire-fangled feathers dangle down.
This is such a simple, clear and gem-like expression of the truth of life and how to realize it. Really well done, Tom. I hope many more words, sentences, paragraphs and stories are spun out of your mind.