Blue Mountain Articles

Spiritual Revolution

More than a quarter of a century ago I attended a conference addressing the mighty role computers would play in reshaping the world. Since then, these powerful data-processing machines have taken over many functions on the campus, in the library and laboratory, in business and communications, and in many other daily activities.

A Time magazine cover story titled “Can Machines Think?” examined recent advances in the capacity of computers to duplicate human behavior. Contributor Robert Wright described the celebrated chess match between the reigning world chess champion and his man-made opponent: “When Garry Kasparov faced off against an IBM computer, he wasn’t just after more fame and money. By his own account, the world chess champion was playing for you, me, the whole human species. He was trying, as he put it shortly before the match, to ‘help defend our dignity.’ ”

Fortunately, our human dignity does not rest on the ability to outmaneuver a chess-playing computer.

A sobering question

The article in Time reminded me of a question that arose at the conference I attended long ago: “Do you realize that these computers are going to do everything that we humans can do, even learn to think?”

It was clear that the audience of scientists and businessmen was looking upon these astonishing mechanical monsters – which filled the space of a large room – as the last frontier of human genius. “Even if these super-machines could learn to think,” I commented, “it is only when we have gone beyond thought that we come face-to-face with the supreme reality.”

Beyond human limitations

In the West, there have been great scientists from Sir Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein who have contributed to our understanding of the physical universe and our ability to create technological marvels like the computer. Similarly, in the East there have been great spiritual figures like the Compassionate Buddha, Shankara, Sri Ramakrishna, and – in our own times – Mahatma Gandhi who have made the stupendous discovery of the supreme reality which lies in the depths of consciousness beyond the reach of the thinking process.

Gandhi’s description of this reality is as scientific in its universality and verifiability as Einstein’s formulation of the law of relativity. “I do dimly perceive,” Gandhi stated, “that whilst everything around me is ever changing, ever dying, there is underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves, and re-creates. That informing power or spirit is God.”

Einstein, the preeminent physical scientist of the twentieth century, summed up the career of its pre-eminent spiritual scientist when he said of Gandhi: “Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”

Mahatma Gandhi was able to go beyond human limitations while remaining in the midst of the common people and changing them little by little, day by day. His life became an irresistible river of consciousness which inundated India from the Himalayas in the north to the temple of the Divine Mother at the southern tip of the continent.

Science and spiritual wisdom

Great spiritual figures like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Teresa of Avila have also risen in the West. But for two centuries we have allowed the Industrial Revolution to drown their soft voices in the heady uproar of science and technology. While we have gained many physical comforts, we have lost sight of the source of divine wisdom hidden in the heart of each of us.

In ancient India there was no conflict at all between scientific knowledge and spiritual wisdom. It is often forgotten that mathematics, physics, astronomy, and other scientific fields were highly advanced in those times.

In the Upanishads, the illumined sages declare that the Lord started the creative unfolding of evolution about 15 to 20 billion years ago. Modern scientists too describe the detailed processes through which the evolution of the universe has taken place over a cosmic period of 15 billion years.

The sages, rooted in the experience of Self-realization, would not see any conflict between these two discoveries, one spiritual, one physical. They would accept, for example, that human beings evolved from other forms of life which emerged from other forms of matter, back to the beginning of time. But they would trace the evolution of the cosmos to the Lord, who has entered into all creatures.

Purpose of life

In the uninterrupted Hindu tradition, extending over thousands of years, there have been many men and women who have made their lives luminous by discovering the Lord hidden in their hearts and fulfilling the highest purpose of life. It is a discovery which has been verified by mystics of all the great religions, who have undergone difficult disciplines to extinguish self-will, still the mind, and go beyond thought.

Among Western scientists with whom I am familiar, Albert Einstein came nearest to understanding the vast practical applications of the supreme goal. “A human being is part of the whole, called by us ‘universe,’ a part limited in time and space,” Einstein said. “He experiences him-self, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

That is why Einstein was able to appreciate the immensity of the transformation that Mahatma Gandhi brought about in his consciousness, working day by day for twenty years in South Africa.

Our spiritual roots

Although the Industrial Revolution has brought the developed nations many conveniences, its narrow emphasis on science and technology is in danger of becoming an end in itself and not the means to an end. The obsessive belief that we are our bodies and nothing more, that our problems have only physical or technological solutions, is robbing us of our humanity. Despite the vast explosion of information, we have almost lost our connection to the core of divine inspiration within us. We are fast becoming robots that can be programmed by the mass media, and any civilization that loses the precious human capacity to cherish high ideals cannot endure for long. That is why I feel deeply that a spiritual revolution is necessary and urgent.

While the impact of science is changing the face of the globe, I still have full faith that there will arise in the not distant future shining men and women who will remind us all of our deepest spiritual roots in accordance with the latent capacities and the current needs of the twenty-first century. Many more Gandhis, St. Francises, and St. Teresas may have to appear to bring about a spiritual revolution which can correct the excesses of the Industrial Revolution.

Such a revolution can never be brought about by machines that think, only by men and women who can go beyond thought, discover the supreme reality, and release a river of love which spreads over the earth and finally reaches the Sea of God.

The role of meditation

We can all play a part in this peaceful revolution by practicing the spiritual disciplines which have come down the centuries in the great religions of the world. The heart of these disciplines is the regular practice of meditation.

The method of meditation I have followed can be used in any great religion because it involves the silent repetition of memorized inspirational passages drawn from all the major spiritual traditions. Training the mind to develop sustained attention on these inspired words brings about a gradual transformation of character, conduct, and consciousness. When we concentrate profoundly on the magnificent Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, for example, we find his healing words – “It is in giving that we receive”– sinking into our hearts and changing our lives. We no longer see ourselves as physical, separate, finite creatures.

As we begin to find fulfillment within ourselves, we lose our dependence upon manipulating the external world to cater to our greed and our lust for power over nature. This shift in priorities can lead to an artistic simplification of life which will keep the air pure, the water clean, the forests green, and fossil fuels abundant for our children. Finding fulfillment within rather than without enables us to move from the world of profit and power into the world of peace and love.

We can enter this new world by making far-reaching changes in education, the upbringing of children, relationships between the sexes, and our attitude toward other countries. Only then can we develop the full understanding that we are a global family of all nations, religions, and races. In this global family the birds and the beasts, the seas and the mountains, the forests and the fields are each an integral part. We are all the children of God, who has given us this beautiful earth to nourish us. Realizing our unity through the practice of meditation and the allied disciplines, and acting upon that awareness in every aspect of daily life, is what a spiritual revolution means.

Building the Will

When we hear about the transformation of consciousness, we may feel tempted to object, “You don’t know me. You don’t know how unpleasant I can be, how incorrigible I am. If you did, you wouldn’t be so optimistic. I have made many mistakes, and I am likely to keep on making those mistakes too, because I don’t know how to change. In fact, I don’t believe it is possible for anyone to change.”

This is where the testimony of great spiritual figures down the ages comes in. Again and again they will assure us that they too have made mistakes, sometimes worse than any we may have made. They too have caused trouble to themselves and others. When they tell us that we can remake our personality, they know it is possible because they have done it. By drawing on the power released in meditation, we can gradually remove all the blemishes of self-centered thought and behavior that hide our real Self from view.

In order to do this, however, we must put forth a lot of effort.

Some time ago I was watching a woodpecker, a creature I hadn’t seen since I left India. This woodpecker had a red turban, and while I watched he came and alighted on a huge tree. He was quite a small creature, and the trunk of the tree was enormous. If he had been able to understand me, I would have gone up to him and said, “What, make a hole in that trunk with your tiny little beak? Impossible. Preposterous!”

But this little woodpecker was not intimidated by the size of the trunk. He did not throw up his legs in despair; he settled onto a limb and went about looking for the right spot to begin operations. It is the same way with transforming consciousness; you have to look for the right spot. In some people it is a particular compulsive craving; in some it is jealousy; in some, blind fury; and in some lucky characters, all three. Each person has to look for that spot where urgent work is most needed.

After his reconnaissance, this intrepid creature chose what seemed to me the most solid, unyielding spot and started pecking away rhythmically. He didn’t just give a peck or two and then fly off in search of a worm and come back in half an hour; he went on pecking until he was done. I was amazed at his skill. When he had finished, there was such a large hole that if he had gone on, I have no doubt that the entire tree would have fallen. That is the kind of sustained, enthusiastic effort that is required to transform personality.

Unfortunately, this is far from a pleasant process. For a long, long time in meditation, all we are doing is pecking away at what we want to change in ourselves, and there is not much satisfaction in pecking away. At best it is tedious work, and often it is downright painful. As Meister Eckhart puts it, the pauper has to die before the prince can be born. The problem is that all of us identify ourselves with the pauper – the accumulation of habits and opinions, likes and dislikes, which we have developed over the years – and we are not prepared to let him die. We all say, “This is how I am. This is me, for better or for worse.”

Here the mystics reply, “This is not you. All these quirks are extraneous.” In the language of Sufi mysticism, these are the veils hiding the face of the Beloved. We have mistaken the veils for the face, the layers of conditioning for our real Self. Our whole job in life is to remove these veils, to overcome all the compulsive aspects of our surface personality.

One of the most crucial of weapons in the war within is the human will. Everything in life, everything in spiritual growth, comes ultimately to strengthening the will until no setback can stop you, no trial or temptation deflect your course.

One of the difficulties that most of us face is that we know where we want to go in life, but we lack the will to take the steps that will get us there. I saw an interesting illustration of this the other day in a rather unlikely place: an article on one of the most spectacular advances in modern medicine, microsurgery. Surgeons are now able to magnify nerves and other tissues forty or fifty times, work on them with diminutive forceps, scalpels, and the like, and sew everything up with invisible thread when they are done, watching their work not directly but on video screens mounted around the surgical theater. They have accomplished miracles. One teenage girl, a promising flautist, had her hand severed in a tragic accident. She was rushed to the hospital where a specially assembled team of micro-surgeons actually managed to re-attach her hand. She was discharged within a few months, with every indication that she will be able to continue her musical career.

In us it is often the will that has been severed, cut off from our understanding. This is particularly true in cases of severe addiction, such as to alcohol or drugs. “I don’t want to do this,” we say, “but I just don’t have the willpower to stop.” This is not quite true. The will is intact, but it is lying there lifeless. We need a special surgeon to attach it so it can function again.

Unfortunately, no outside specialists are available for this delicate task; we have to do it ourselves. We begin by connecting the will with the tiniest of threads. One way is to say no to some of those innumerable little things that benefit no one: a second piece of pie, a midnight snack, a TV show you are watching just because it is on. If, on top of this, you can cheerfully give that time to others, your will is strengthened doubly. Not only that, you will have added to your capacity to love.

I am not much of an admirer of those who develop a strong will just so they can get what they want out of life. The whole purpose of strengthening the will is to deepen your love. This precious human birth has been given to us not to grab from life but to give to it. When you understand that this is what life is for, you get continuing motivation to keep your body and mind at their best, as instruments of selfless service. As this motivation grows, compulsive habits begin to fall away.

Apart from other things, when we overeat or smoke or drink or indulge in drugs, it shows a lack of love. Everybody can respond to this idea. It is lack of love for others that blinds us and allows us to develop fierce physical and mental addictions. It is love that loosens the bonds of addiction and sets us free.