Introduction

The Principle of Causality is the bedrock of science.  Science studies cause and effect relationships, to understand the underlying framework of laws and structures and master their impact in our world.  In the past we tended to attribute effects in our lives unduly to otherworldly beings and influences, to nature gods that needed to be appeased, to controlled beliefs and so on.  We were downplaying our own agency in creation.  We were giving our power away and leaving ourselves open to exploitation by other influences.

Science at least has lifted and empowered us.  It has given us a significant measure of control and influence in our world.   It has democratised information.  It has raised standards of living significantly.  However, it has become unbalanced in another direction.  There is a very powerful focus on the material world, with an implicit assumption that this physical reality is closed and complete in itself.  Everything has to be explained within this objective tangible framework.

While, for various reasons,  the physical world is closed to a significant degree, it cannot be completely closed.  A closed system cannot be completely self-existent, for the very simple reason that in order to create itself, it would need to exist already! 

There are too many influences coming and going in our universe for it to be completely closed.  Furthermore, our world appears to be in the process of re-opening to a larger reality.  This challenges all aspects of our present relationship with our world and our presence and role in creation. 

Science is rigorously based on tangible cause and effect.  It was believed that, with enough time and information, everything could be explained, in terms of prior causes.  This was the doctrine of Determinism.  There was little room for creativity or even free will.  However, science is reaching the boundaries of its present physical potential and is running into limitations.  There are areas, for example in quantum physics, relativity, biological evolution and so on, where things cannot be explained completely in a purely physical framework. 

These fields have already crossed from the purely physical into the metaphysical.  They are struggling to make sense of the new realities coming into view.  

Subtle but real effects are attributed to random factors.  This simply means that there are other influences, beyond our present framework and conception, in play. The paradoxes that have been arising, however, point towards new directions.  There is great need for a conceptual framework for exploring these.

What matters to most people is their lived experience of life and what works in relation to this.  What is it that adds meaning, quality and value and actually helps in practical terms?  Life and all that goes with this, in terms of consciousness, spirit and so on, are very important.  Conventional science has been hugely successful in embracing physical reality.  But the objective mindset and techniques that work so well in the physical realm, fail to deal realistically with the more subtle realities of life and consciousness.  This requires sensitivity, an ability to ‘see’ beyond the physical and to explore inner realities that our own consciousness can access and work with.  This is turn calls for an informed and disciplined subjectivity. 

In practice, our lives have become compartmentalised between physical and spiritual domains.  We can work, for example, in one compartment on weekdays and in the other, in terms of religious observances, at weekends.  There is very little common ground between the two paradigms.  This is unfortunate.  The same consciousness and creation underlies both and they can greatly enrich each other.  Religion has contributed greatly to civilisation but tends to rely on beliefs that are handed down by authorities.  These can become dogmatic and can diverge from the lived experience of life, as it evolves.   

There is great need for a meaningful bridge between the physical and spiritual realities of life.  The term science relates to knowledge, knowing, to know.  There is  no reason why we shouldn’t come to know more about the deeper realms of creation and spiritual aspects of life, appropriate to our state of evolution.

Many people are now working with consciousness, broadening and deepening their experience in life.  Conventional science tends to view consciousness as derived from physical origins, for example from neural activity in the brain.  A distinction needs to be made here between the physical expression of consciousness and the nature of consciousness in its Self.  The physical expression of consciousness is obviously greatly influenced by the condition of its physical agents.  But physicality doesn’t define the totality of consciousness.

The most wonderful and amazing thing in life is aliveness itself, which we normally experience as consciousness.  As we explore the deeper nature of consciousness, we come to realise that it extends well beyond physical boundaries and time scales.  Consciousness is a thread that links all levels in creation, most particularly the metaphysical, and our stations of consciousness in these realms.  Consciousness is the new frontier.  Needless to say, this exploration requires considerable discernment and discipline, but yields rewarding results. 

Conventional science, with its deep specialisation, is in danger of diverging from the lived reality of Life.  This could lead to a certain degree of alienation from or tensions with general society or possibly even to a degree of irrelevance.  Given all that has been achieved, this would be very undesirable. 

Many scientists are aware of the difficulties and issues in the discipline and have tried to expand their horizons.  The great innovative scientists, like Einstein, Tesla, David Bohm, Max Planck, Carl Jung and many others, knew how to reach into the more creative realms of consciousness and draw forth and ground their discoveries in physical reality.

Erwin Schrodinger, a key quantum physicist and student of the Indian Vedas, said: “Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms.  For consciousness is absolutely fundamental.  It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else.”  He also said: “Inconceivable as it seems to ordinary reason, you — and all other conscious beings as such — are all in all.”

What is remarkable is that the objective pursuit of truth in science has reached a very similar perception of deep reality, as the subjective seers and deep meditators of ancient spiritual traditions like the Hindu Vedas, Buddhists and Taoists.  It is time for a rapprochement.

Moreover, we are at a critical juncture in our evolution here on Earth and there is great need for a significant paradigm shift.  Two very powerful forces are coming into conflict – those of objective materialism and expansion of consciousness.  The level of material power and capability abroad in our world requires a greater degree of spiritual awareness and maturity than we presently have, generally.  We are opening to a bigger reality than the purely material.  Not all of the influences coming from these other realms are necessarily benevolent and we need to be able to discern and deal with them, in practice.  Expansion of consciousness expands our world, with its new potentials and challenges.

Also, we have achieved a significant degree of mastery and power in our physical world.  We have the power to cause significant damage, if we fail to understand or appreciate our relationship with the larger realities and more subtle realms, in which our physical reality resides. 

We also have the problem that we can be speaking from different perspectives and not mutually understanding each other.  Consciousness is a profound and powerfully different perspective from objective materialism.  It requires a fundamentally different approach and understanding.  We need a wider public understanding and more balanced acceptance between such as these. 

Our physical reality is only a chapter in a volume, within a library describing the much larger story of Life.