Articles & Essays Book Reviews Creative Writing
Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Volume 19 Number 1, April 2018
___________________________________________________________________
From Temporal to Trans-Temporal Consciousness: A Study in Pancychism with reference to Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, The Book of Job and Param Guru Huzur Maharaj’s Nij Updesh as a Response to Darrel W. Ray’s The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture
by
Dayalbagh Educational Institute
The Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God
I Corinthians 2:10
ABSTRACT:
Panpsychism declares that all matter in the entire universe from the largest planet to the smallest particle or wave is to some degree sentient or conscious. In other words, the substance of the universe is composed entirely of Mind or Consciousness. In the post-WW II world in which Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot emerged, questions concerning the meaning of human existence were frequently asked. The play focuses on the individual's basic circumstances rather than the ideological make-up of his social identity. It explores the fundamental experience of what it is like to be conscious of our existence. The arbitrary nature of divine justice and human suffering also lies at the core of one of the seminal works of ancient literature, The Book of Job. The book raises many questions but apparently gives no answers. According to ancient Indian philosophy, the law of Karma, like time and gravity operates as a self-sustaining mechanism or a natural universal law, without any need of an external entity to manage it. The world is governed by the forces of nature which have their own rules. These are fixed and unbendable. Deeply influenced by Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, and Daniel Dennet’s Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, Darrel W. Ray in his book , The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture, (2009) attributes the troubles of the world – fundamentalism and other forms of intolerance, violence and suffering-- to the God virus.
The Chandogya Upanishad expresses one of the most profound doctrines of Vedanta-- ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ or ‘Thou Art That’. This means that every individual Self in its original, primordial state is wholly or partially identifiable with the essence which gives consciousness to all phenomena. Param Guru Huzur Maharaj was pleased to compose a number of Holy books on the Radhasoami Faith. His discourses and prose writings are collected in Prem Patra, published in six parts and in smaller books of which Nij Updesh is one. The Nij Updesh clearly describes the true nature of spiritual consciousness and how it is distinct from the mind. If we look for evidence of a transcendent figure residing in another world watching indifferently over the sufferings of this universe then perhaps god is a delusion. But god is to be identified with an Infinite source of Prime energy. The uncertainty in Waiting for Godot and the arbitrariness of man’s fate in the Book of Job then resolve into a better understanding of a world governed by natural law and a prime spiritual Energy that manifests itself in every object.
Key words: panpsychism, existential dilemma, God virus, karma, spiritual consciousness
Panpsychism declares that all matter in the entire universe, from the largest planet to the smallest particle or wave, is to some degree sentient or conscious. In other words, the substance of the universe is composed entirely of Mind or Consciousness. Baruch Spinoza regarded both mind and matter as simply aspects (or attributes) of the eternal, infinite and unique substance he identified with God himself. There is nothing in nature that does not have a mental aspect. Today leading edge science supports Panpsychist beliefs. Some of the more open-minded scientists such as Stuart Hameroff and Roger Penrose have subscribed to some degree of panpsychism, by suggesting that matter may indeed be sentient. There is a growing willingness in other scientists to consider the strong likelihood that all particles, no matter how small, have some type of awareness or mind, and that the information connecting them is everywhere.
Much of Beckett's work – including Waiting for Godot – is often considered by philosophical and literary scholars to be part of the Theatre of the Absurd-- a form of theatre which stemmed from the Absurdist philosophy of Albert Camus. Absurdism itself represents some of the assertions of existentialism, pioneered by Søren Kierkegaard, and taken forward by Jean Paul Sartre. The basis of Sartre’s work is the distinction between unconscious beings who are regarded as helpless playthings in the grip of forces and processes beyond their control. The ones who truly exist are the ones who deny any pre-conceived notion of reality or an essential value system, and exist for themselves. These are necessarily free. Sartre bases his ethics on having the courage to deny belief in a God who decrees the rules that men must live by. Only the choice of what he does or does not do gives essence to man’s existence. But this process is not an easy one and must be preceded by the anguish of realizing that humanity is doomed to be faced with the Absurd, or the lack of intrinsic purpose.
In the Post-WW II world in which Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot emerged, questions concerning the meaning of human existence, the purpose of the suffering involved, and the need to strive for transcendence were frequently asked. The play focuses on the individual's basic circumstances rather than the ideological make-up of his social identity. It explores the reality of the mind and ‘its direct contact with phenomenal experience prior to the interpretive strategies of any particular narrative’-- in other words, the essential experience of what it is like to be conscious of our existence. Each play of the Theatre of the Absurd addresses this basic phenomenon. Beckett discards narrative sequence, character development and psychology in the conventional sense. He tries to convey the qualia of an experience that takes the conscious mind beyond the limits of space and time. William S. Haney in his essay, “The Knowledge of Unknowing in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot”, opines, “In Waiting for Godot, the juxtaposition of a series of repetitive patterns, which substitute for a conventional plot, results in a series of epiphanies related to the nature of existence itself for the audience” . (1)
Broadly speaking, existentialists hold that there are certain fundamental questions that every human being must come to terms with if they are to take their subjective existences seriously. Questions related to death, the meaning of human existence and the place of (or lack of) God and the Universe in human life and the relationship in which man stands with God and his universe are among them.
The theme of uncertainty in the hope of salvation is introduced early in the play. (“One of the thieves was saved and one of the thieves was damned”). Throughout the play the tramps show sudden bursts of life which move from hope, glee, happiness and little moments of excitement that bring colour into their dull lives. The waiting reveals moments of self-doubt (“Am I sleeping?”), moments of profound despair (“I can’t go on”), and moments of comfort caused by habitual action (“habit is a great deadener”). The routine of waiting for Godot stands for habit which prevents us from experiencing the painful awareness of the full reality of being. The two tramps represent the ordeal of passing time on this earth, helplessness, inaction, boredom and most important of all, “the suffering of being”. Doubts about time make the tramps doubt their own existence and their own identity. Neither time nor memory, existence or reality have any meaning. There is no past or present. The tramps, and symbolically man, seem to be living in a void. The play probes the limitations of language as a means of communication and as a medium to express valid statements. Much is expressed through ‘silence’ and ‘long silence’. These are symbols of despair and isolation.
Many critics have attempted to discern which system of beliefs Beckett would have logically intended to propose. He had read the philosophy of Schopenhauer, his work as a whole seems to represent existentialism. The human relationships in Waiting for Godot resemble archetypes described in Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Mind, and so on (Cohn 41). Beckett may never have touched a work of Kierkegaard’s, or he may have read every word written by the philosopher, but either way the play itself has much in common with these works.
The play implies that nothing “out there” defines or determines Estragon and Vladimir; instead it is their own actions and freewill, their own choices that are the most “fundamental to their existence”. The unspecific road, the symbolic tree and more importantly all the characters in it are not primarily meaningful, orderly or rational; instead they exist in a basically indifferent, objective, often ambiguous and “absurd” world and they try to create meaning in themselves.
Waiting for Godot is a poignant play about a ceaseless waiting, about repetition, the meaninglessness, the feeling of being suspended in time instead of moving forward in a meaningful direction and about being imprisoned in one’s mind. It could be about the absence of God, or about Christian salvation, or existential despair, or nihilistic meaninglessness, or a postmodern critique of language. To every reader the play would mean something different. Referred to as a modern morality play, it is an abstract play about waiting, about waiting for the responsibility of a better future that we are not quite fully convinced will ever arrive. As Hooti and Torkamaneh comment:
Our postmodern world seems very likely to become one of spiritual emptiness and cultural superficiality, in which social practices are endlessly repeated and parodied, a fragmented world of alienated individuals with no sense of self or history, tuned into a thousand different TV channels. This is certainly the vision of both present and future offered to us by the postmodernist Jean Baudrillard. For him, this postmodern world is one of simulacra in which there is no longer any difference between reality and surface. (48)
William S. Haney rightfully opines: “Waiting for Godot with its unboundedness and infinite possibilities – expands the boundaries of the thinking mind, ….. its true impact is of a complex aesthetic vehicle for expanding consciousness. Beckett's work brilliantly illuminates the dual nature of the self, a co-existence of the everyday thinking mind and the underlying witnessing pure awareness, the source of all play, all beginnings and repetitions”.(1)
The Existential crisis in Waiting for Godot repeats itself in the Book of Job. The arbitrary nature of divine justice and human suffering lies at the core of this seminal work of ancient literature. The book raises many questions but apparently gives no answers. The Book of Job, commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The over-riding and oft-repeated question asked in the book of Job is, "Why should the righteous suffer?"
That is the question Job raises, but it is important to note that he himself never receives a direct answer. Nor is one given by the author, other than to answer Satan’s challenge. We as readers are privileged to know of the challenge of Satan, and that God allows Job to suffer in answer to that challenge, but Job is never told of this. Therefore, perhaps the purpose of the book is to show that we are not meant to know the answer to the question, “Why should the righteous suffer?”.
God in The Book of Job represents the God of the Old Testament—those who counter him must regret doing so. Job suffers an intense anguish but tries to interpret his suffering with reason. In him we find the unusual combination of profound pain, passion, pathos as well as an honest questioning of God’s justice. In this sense The Book of Job can also be read as a piece of blasphemy. The irony however is that the book is read as a most effective portrayal of man’s faith in God. In times of deep distress and sorrow men have built their consolation on this foundational text of both faith and despair. William Blake, one of the most imaginative poets of the late 18th century, a profound prophet and mystic, was also a painter and engraver. Blake was able to identify seven Transpersonal themes in his Illustrations to the Book of Job: These are:
(1) Attachment (unconscious) (Plates 1-3)
(2) Loss (conscious) (Plates 4-6)
(3) Denial (rationalization) (Plates 7-9)
(4) Abandonment (spiritual emergency) (Plates 10-12)
(5) Insight (revelation) (Plates 13-15)
(6) Acceptance (transformation) (Plates 16-18)
(7) Return (grace, sharing) (Plates 19-21)
(These correspond to the basic psychological model of the process of grief, the three main stages being- Denial-Anger, Grief-despair, Acceptance-Adjustment)
According to ancient Indian philosophy, the law of Karma, like time and gravity operates as a self-sustaining mechanism or a natural universal law, without any need of an external entity to manage it. The world is governed by the forces of nature which have their own rules. These are fixed and unbendable.
Deeply influenced by Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, and Daniel Dennet’s Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, Darrel W. Ray in his book , The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture, (2009) attributes the troubles of the world – fundamentalism and other forms of intolerance, violence and suffering-- to the God virus. “We can apply the viral concept to religion. While the parasite takes over the perceptions of the ant, religion similarly seems to take over the perceptions of those it infects” (23). He ironically concludes that the more science is taught or discussed, the fewer tools a god virus has to infect populations.
According to Darrel W Ray, “This book will show how religions of all kinds fit in the natural world, how they function in our minds and culture and how similar they are to the germs, parasites and viruses that inhabit our bodies” (13). He claims that Neurological science has shown that such experiences can be created through brain stimulation. Thus, simple neurological stimulation can evoke mystical experiences. He also believes that experiences that appear mystical are very likely neurological responses to any number of naturally occurring things in the environment or the brain. The near-death experiences reported by people for centuries and across all cultures have remarkable similarities to those reported in neurological stimulation experiments. He concludes that what has been called “mystical” for centuries can now be reproduced in Dr. Blanks' laboratory with electrical probes of the brain.
Like viruses religion can:
1. Infect people. (through indoctrination)
2. Create antibodies or defenses against other viruses. (immunity to other religions)
3. Take over certain mental AND physical functions and hide itself (stress or suffering can activate the god virus)
4. Use specific methods for spreading the virus.
5. Program the host to replicate the virus.
Darrel W Ray does not seem to consider the fact that what is true from one perspective may not be what is true from another perspective, whereas truth maybe apart from both perspectives. The true knowledge can be revealed only by higher Grace and not through finite abilities. The deeper aspects of reality are mind (manas), intelligence (buddhi), false ego (ahankar), consciousness (cit), soul (atman) and God. In Vedic philosophy matter is classified under Sthula dravya (gross matter) and Sukshma dravya (subtle matter). The first category can be experienced with the help of earth, water, fire, air and ether through the five senses. Science and scientists like Ray have always made the mistake of attempting to understand all reality through gross matter. According to Vedanta, the soul is Supreme and possesses the qualities of sat, chit, ananda. The laws of the material world lead to the physical death of the body. The material world forces us to feel pleasure and suffer pain. Only a teacher or Mentor can take us to the plane of Ananda or bliss. Darrel W. Ray’s path is dangerous and centered around the gross reality. As long as human experience remains limited to the material world the inner powers of the soul cannot be awakened and the true nature of reality cannot be comprehended.
The Chandogya Upanishad expresses one of the most profound doctrines of Vedanta ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ or ‘That Thou Art’. This means that every individual Self in its original, primordial state is wholly or partially identifiable with the essence which gives consciousness to all phenomena.
The teachings of the Radhasoami Faith are similar to those of the Religion of Saints or Sant Mat as taught by Guru Nanak, Kabir Sahab and Saints like Jagjivan Sahab, Paltu Sahab, Tulsi Sahab of Hathras and Sufi Saints. The tenets of the Faith are based on belief in:
a) The existence of God
b) Oneness of the essence of God and spirit entity in a human being and
c) Continuity of life after death
Those who believe in the teachings of the Faith hold that there is one true Supreme Being who is the Fountain head of all spirituality and the Creator of the universe and the spirit or soul of man (Surat or Atman) is an emnation from the same Supreme Being. According to the Radhasoami Faith, the Supreme Being has blessed the human body with certain latent faculties, by awakening which, the spirit entity can establish contact with different regions of the Creation (macrocosm). The Faith lays down that in order to awaken the spiritual faculties one has to become the disciple of competent and an accomplished teacher. In Radhasoami Faith the Sant Satguru is such a teacher-- one who is in communion with the Supreme Being.
The Radhasoami faith has its foundation in experiential knowledge. It teaches Surat Shabda Yoga, an easy and simple meditational practice available to all who have the slightest desire to enjoy the everlasting bliss of the highest and purest regions. However love for the Supreme Father, manifest in the August form of the Sant Satguru is essential. Only in a spirit of humility, surrender and love can one ascend the higher regions. Being a practical Faith, the seeker need not rely on heresay or sermons. Anyone who practices using the right methodology under the guidance of an Adept will see and hear for himself the sights and sounds of the higher regions. Param Purush Puran Dhani Soamiji Maharaj, the Founder of the Faith was born in Agra in 1818 and lived and preached there. He laid the foundation of the Faith and was followed by Param Guru Huzur Maharaj.
Param Guru Huzur Maharaj, the Second Revered Leader of the Radhasoami Faith, was pleased to compose a number of Holy books on the Radhasoami Faith. His discourses and prose writings are collected in Prem Patra, published in six parts and in smaller books of which Nij Updesh is one.
The Nij Updesh clearly describes the true nature of spiritual consciousness and how it is distinct from the mind. The kernel of a seed that helps it grow into a vast tree, the spirit current which gives life and at the departure of which the body becomes lifeless, the power which fascinated scientists like Albert Einstein, Issac Newton and Steven Weinberg was not perhaps a personal ‘God’ but the prime energy that sustains this universe.
All the pleasures in this world enjoyed by man in his human body are experienced through the sense organs. These sense organs are located in the gross human body and both the physical body and the senses, in themselves, are inanimate. They come alive only through the conscious activity of the soul.
All pleasure, enjoyment and sense of gratification that one gets from the sense organs is due to the flow of the spirit current. At the time of the enjoyment of a particular pleasure the spirit current is active at the origin of that particular sense organ which is the source of that pleasure. If the spirit current does not reach and activate that sense organ, no pleasure is derived from that sense organ. Therefore while dreaming, one experiences the same pleasure and enjoyment from the sense organs as one experiences from those senses in a wakeful state even though the sense organs are inactive. The power of the sense organs and the pleasure that one gets from them exist internally. If one pays close attention, this too will be known that the source of all knowledge, learning and intellect and shrewdness and cunning, are all created by man, that is to say, all the books and the laws and the unrevealed mysteries of nature as well as the force of the three gunas1 (attributes) and the five tattvas (elements), descriptions of the sky, earth and stars, the sun, the moon, plants and animals have been discovered by man. All the enjoyment, variety of flavours and pleasures enjoyed by him are due to the spirit current. (5)
The spirit is the source and origin of all knowledge and learning as well as the powers and pleasures of the world. It is the reservoir of all knowledge, intelligence and bliss. In its true form it is pure, an embodiment of consciousness, all knowledge and bliss. However, as she descended from her original home into the lower regions of Maya through different stages, many covers enveloped her.
Due to her union with Maya, a number of mixed currents were produced and these mixed currents are sources of different forces like lust, anger, greed, worldly attachment, pride, etc.
The physical body is nothing but the cover produced out of the many layers created out of the admixture of Maya and her objects. Being involved in and attached to these layers makes the spirit endure pleasure and pain. The real form of Surat (spirit entity) is totally different from that of Maya and her covers. Just as in dream state, the spirit is not aware of the pleasure and pain of the physical body and in deep sleep, the pleasures and pain experienced by the subtle body are not felt by Surat. (6)
This clearly proves that the pleasure and pain experienced by the jiva (living being) is at the level of the coarse and subtle bodies and due to his involvement with them. The real form of the spirit is entirely different from these bodies.
The strength of the forces of all kinds—divine and mundane and that of the five elements (earth, water, air, fire and sky) and the three gunas i.e., attributes (Satoguna, Rajoguna and Tamoguna) and light and heat and the forces of attraction and repulsion, creation and interaction, and the ability to create their colourful diversity— are all subservient to the spirit because it is the spirit which has created them. An illustration of this truth can be readily seen at the time of germination of new forms and bodies. One can take the example of the opium seed, also called Khushkhas, it is small and like other seeds it has the cover of physical body and a subtle cover, but inside it is a kernel and inside the kernel is the seat of the soul of the seed. (8)
When the germination of a tree starts, the spirit current which lies dormant in the kernal, is activated and it is this current which starts the entire process of evolution, growth and development of the tree and all the earthly and heavenly powers obey this current and help in the creation and development of the tree till the process is complete and the tree begets fruits and flowers. When the soul leaves the body whether of a man or animal or tree, that body which was beautiful and active becomes useless and in a short time decays i.e., rots and all its parts are destroyed and spoiled. This proves that those very powers and elements and attributes and light and air and heat which have been helping in the functioning of the body, react upon each other after the spirit leaves the body and destroy the body. In other words, all activity of the elements and attributes and their powers and capabilities were an account of the spirit and when it departs, they are rendered useless and the body which functioned as an organized whole, disintegrates into fragments each of which gradually rejoin their element. (8)
The power and supremacy of the reservoir of spiritual energy, a small portion of which is the spirit, is beyond imagination. This reservoir is the Creator, the Lord Almighty, the Master of all creation and the image of pure refulgence and bliss and because the entire creation is working and is sustained by the power of its components.
If we look for evidence of a transcendent figure residing in another world watching indifferently over the sufferings of this universe then perhaps god is a delusion. But god is to be identified with an Infinite source of Prime energy. Belief in scientific truths like the gravitational Force Field and Quantum Force Field which pervades everywhere making every particle of matter in this material world sentient, can provide enough evidence for the existence of God as an Omniscient, Omnipotent and omnipresent force. The uncertainty in Waiting for Godot and the arbitrariness of man’s fate in the Book of Job then resolve into a better understanding of a world governed by natural law and a prime spiritual Energy that manifests itself in every object.
References
1. Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. New York: Grove Press, 1954.
2. Hooti, Noorbakhsh and Pouria Torkamaneh, “Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot: A Postmodernist Study.” English Language and Literature Studies 1.1 (2011): 40-49. Web.
3. Darrel W. Ray, The God Virus, How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture. Kansas: IPC Press, 2009.
4. Param Guru Huzur Maharaj, Nij Updesh, Radhasoami Satsang Sabha. Dayalbagh: Dayalbagh Press, 2013.
5. Bindman, D., ed. William Blake: Catalogue of the collection in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, 1970.
6. Blake, W. (1825 [1995]) Illustrations for the Book of Job. New York: Dover Publications. (Originally published by Pierpont Morgan Library in 1935). Internet resources for Blake’s Illustrations to the Book of Job: http://www.gailgastfield.com/job/job.htm
7. Hiles, David. “Jung, William Blake and Our Answer to Job” Paper presented to Collegium Jungianum Brunense, Brno, CZ, 25th April, 2001, and originally published in Psyche Matters
8. Haney William S. II, “The Knowledge of Unknowing in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot”, http://warlight.tripod.com/haney2.html
9. Deutsch, Eliot. Advaita Vedanta. Honolulu; University of Hawaii Press, 1973
10. Esslin, Martin. The Theatre of the Absurd. 3rd Edition, London; Penguin Hooks, 1983.
11. http://www.dayalbagh.org.in/radhasoami-faith/faith-propogation.htm
Acknowledgement: The author is extremely grateful to the Radhasoami Satsang Sabha, Dayalbagh, Agra, India, for kindly permitting the inclusion of the English Version of Param Guru Huzur Maharaj’s Nij Updesh in the present study.