“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Many times, when I am fully engaged in stillness and practicing my own personal version of mindfulness—giving up my normal attention to the present living moment—it’s almost like drifting back through time; with eyes closed, in near-perfect silence, I seem to be drifting not only away from the temporal awareness of the everyday world, but also through the eons of time. When we are properly and fully immersed in our “inner world,” our sense of temporal time disappears altogether, or at least, we could say, that time becomes irrelevant in any meaningful sense—more “apart” from life on Earth, than “a part of it.”
And yet, even in our measured and deliberate withdrawal from temporal awareness, “drifting away,” from what we know and experience as our daily lives, we are still part of the “universe of existence,” the foundation of which is only marginally and mysteriously accessible to us as temporal beings, but we still have a sense of our own personal reality, as we do when we are immersed in a tub full of pleasingly warm water, as the sound of our favorite music reaches our ears, as our lungs expand, pressing against our inner body with our rhythmic breathing, reminiscing about some delightful memory from long ago. Even as we might close our eyes, and contemplate our circumstance without the benefit of input from our visual cortex, we can still see—still conjure images—and ways of knowing without our full array of senses.
We all know of stories of individuals who have been deprived of one or more of the normal channels of sensory perception, either from birth or through some malady or accident, who have gone on to achieve in spite of the deficit, and who have been able to discern, without these benefits, the existence of the human spirit, and to “see” the world, just from a completely unique and extraordinarily challenging viewpoint.
Regardless of sensory deprivation or cultural limitations or disadvantages of every sort, throughout human history, there have been individuals who succeeded in spite of such obstacles to discover or affirm one very significant idea:
*** THE UNIVERSE IS ALIVE! ***
I do not say this lightly, and I do not express it as a euphemism for something else. It is a fact. It is not only a physical fact; it is also a metaphysical fact, only knowable as temporal beings in this very human way. Knowing that what transpires when we are not physically existent is of a totally separate nature, we must acknowledge that our awareness of the true nature of non-material components of our existence cannot be adequately expressed in temporal terms.
To each of us in the current range of existent generations, it is a mystery—a conundrum which cannot be resolved quickly or without effort—without some deliberate approach to the spirit of life. We must reach for this aspect of our existence in stillness and in silence; and it is not guaranteed that in one lifetime, we can expect to unravel it all. It should be obvious by now, to anyone who has any sense of the mysterious at all, that consciousness is not wholly the result of or manifested solely by physical systems; it is manifested with the cooperation of and through our possession of the complex natural faculties that physical systems provide us.
However, the source, the origin, or the place where it comes from, is not in the physical universe. It is my belief, that the physical universe itself is a manifestation of a non-physical source, and everything within the physical universe has aspects and characteristics, which are direct results of the supporting non-physical world.
We use the phrase, “non-physical world,” knowing full well, that attempting to describe any aspect of our understanding, which addresses aspects of these ideas which are not physical, cannot be put in a context that would translate accurately as a “world” per se, or even as a dimension; the best we might hope for might be to refer to the ineffable as access to something beyond the physical. We can’t express it in more specific phenomenal terms in the physical universe because it has no corresponding link to any physical process or known physical laws.
Mother Nature, in her wisdom—the universe as a living entity—has indications, signs, intuitions, and inferences we can make in order to recognize that while we interpret the temporal nature of the physical universe generally as being composed of matter and energy, we also suppose that the non-material aspects and awareness of the spirit of life, suggest a simultaneous link to a kind of “divinity.”
Our complex human physiology and our extraordinarily complex neurophysiology may provide a window into our inner worlds, but is more correct to phrase our understanding of our physical nature as “a means to an end.”
John's Consciousness 
I dither. Mostly I feel like you do about life as a reflection of some sort of Platonic perfection d’ailleurs
Of which we get glorious glimpses from time to time when all seems right in the world and we feel a deep sense of peace. If, down beneath it all, the physical world around us is simply conposed of energy and fields of force then non material world of some sort does not seem so entirely fanciful.
Hello John,
Thank you for expressing your inner thoughts that have evolved in your life time journey in our beautiful world. Few people have the luxury to contemplate and reflect on their own inner feelings about the world and that is why we have very few philosophers. Through your blog site you have shared many of your thoughts about not only the world but the love you give and receive from your family.
Through my electrical engineering degree, education in the humanities, and exposure to the spiritual world through studies of religions that I have reflected on Consciousness and gravitated to wonder about the beginning of the Universe. The question that to me, is most mysterious is, “How did space throughout the universe become endowed with energy?”
But the mystery of how energy exists throughout space lends itself to the philosophical idea that perhaps, there is a non-physical or spiritual world yet to be explored. As a man gifted with the education I have received and development of my own rationale and thoughts, I believe the human mind is capable of developing ideas that do not exist but are conjured up because of the belief in an immortal life where it is possible to exist in a spiritual world. To me, this is a fabrication of the mind driven by the selfish desire to live eternally.
Like you, my mission in life is to reveal to people the truths that are kept secret and to motivate them to create a better world for generations to come.
Thank you for your comment and for your consideration of my writings on this subject. Even though you seem to view the world from a much different perspective generally, your interest in sharing your perspective is commendable. I have reviewed the writings you’ve posted and understand that we simply see things differently. I do not support some of your suppositions and do not wish to promote them here on my site, but your comments suggest the need for a brief response.
There are many individuals who I would describe as philosophers in the world today, and any search of the subject of philosophy even just here on WordPress.com would indicate an intense interest in the subject, with numerous postings appearing every day. I do not consider contemplation and reflection of our inner feelings as a luxury, but rather as a necessity, and encourage all my readers to do this important work on their own. Your education seems to have been sufficient for you to consider important philosophical and scientific questions, but your suggestion that “the human mind is capable of developing ideas that do not exist,” leaves out the important opposing idea, that it is also within the capability of the human mind to develop ideas that DO exist. Some people think that “existing in the spiritual world” is a fabrication, but there are many people who believe that it is NOT a fabrication, and would take offense to the suggestion that it is only a “selfish desire to live eternally,” that is responsible for that belief. I do not wish to conduct a debate on the subject, and would suggest that you seek out other individuals if that is your wish.
I DO NOT consider my mission in life to “reveal truths,” nor am I trying to motivate anyone to create a better world. Creating a better world is not something that results from “revealing truths,” or trying to convince people to believe in any particular motivational process. I offer my readers reports of my own experiences, expressions of creative and spiritual thoughts and ideas that have resulted from those experiences, and offer sources and references to the ideas of philosophers, artists, writers, and scientists who have helped me to understand myself better.
I hope that my posts inspire others mostly to seek out their own “truths,” and do not expect them to subscribe to mine…John H.
I did enjoy reading this. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. We all have our own paths, mine has led me to a belief similar to yours. We all have a universe inside of us and we are a part of it. Truths lie within, whatever those truths are and from wherever they come, from a book, from others, or from our own heart and soul. In all this, the universe does speak. Thank you for sharing your truths. ~Nancy
The subject of where our “truths” originate is a fascinating one, and you really strike at the very heart of the matter by suggesting that we may recognize these truths in any number of ways. We may encounter individuals or books which contain ideas that resonate within us and strike us as having some truth to them, and we may discover, through our own explorations and experiences, that our worldviews, arrived at through intense study or insights or through interactions with others, are informed by a level of awareness that arrives without any tangible evidence or cause we can ascertain.
This year, I will be exploring these ideas at greater length, and I expect that your own explorations will be a source of some inspiration along the way. Looking forward to sharing our thoughts in the year ahead.