Lately, my awareness has been curious about little similarities between science and spirituality. Maybe it’s the fall lineup of science/spirituality conferences that populate Northern California’s Bay or my regular curiosity about how science connects into deeper reality.. anyway, here’s what I have been pondering.
Spaciousness
Scientific thought: All space is contained and finite.
Spiritual thought: All is vast, infinite spaciousness.
To my awareness, these two ideas are essentially the same thing. Sure, they seem to be opposites at first glance, but here’s what I see:
Infinite = all there is.
Finite = all there is.
In the view of contemporary physics, the universe is made up of energy in various forms. Some of it is what we typically think of as “energy”: electromagnetic current, gamma rays, light. Much of it is condensed into matter—this is what E = Mc2 means: Energy = Matter. We call this energy form, or the material world. But all of it takes up a tiny, tiny fraction of the space in the universe.
In a way, then, physics is the study of space and how the energy in it defines the material world, at various scales…
Astrophysics: Big black holes, planets orbiting stars… and space, so much vast space.
Quantum physics: Protons magnetically charged to an electron, spinning around each other in atoms that are actually more than 99% space.
We instinctively identify with the material world more than the underlying space, but in the view of modern physics, energy and matter are meaningless concepts in the absence of space.
Albert Einstein, once thought of as radical and fringe, said: “Physical objects are not ‘in’ space. These objects are spatially extended, as fields [and matter]. In this way, the concept ’empty space’ loses its meaning.”
Or Nassim Haramein, currently considered fringe and unproven quackery, says: “There is enough information in a proton for all the other protons to be expressed. A truly holographic world. Particles are entangled; move a particle here and it changes the particle on the other side of the universe.”
Regardless, whether in the grand scale (astrophysics) or the microscopic scale (quantum physics), it’s all space. There are not things in space; all things are extended from space. All things are space. I really notice the same guiding principle in metaphysics. Buddha said, “Our world is a mirror.” If you look at Jesus, Confucius, Rumi, Hazif, Krishna, the Tao Te Ching, the Bible, the Quran, Tanaka, the Bagavagita… it’s all about vast space!
What Einstein calls “spatially extended,” what Haramein describes as holographic… and what the Buddha calls the mirror. Same, same.
The Mirror
We could break it down and describe it like this. If you look in the mirror—like the actual mirror in your bathroom—and you notice that your hair is a mess, you can’t reach into the mirror to straighten your hair. Instead, you must reach to your own head and brush your hair. Then, when you look in the mirror, it’s changed.
“A truly holographic world. Particles are entangled, move a particle here and it changes the particle on the other side of the universe.” Maybe?
Another way of playing with this: Look at the room you are in—the walls, doors, and windows. Look at the screen you are reading this on, and all the material forms in the room around you. Now, look at the inside world in you: be aware of your breath, the subtle energetic tingle in your fingers and hands, the tingle in your toes.
Could the inner be a mirror of the outer? Could those energetic tingles in your fingers be mirrors of, say, the air temperature caressing the skin on your hands?
The Outer World Reflects the Inner
In my private practice where I meet one-on-one with individuals, I ask people to share the experience of their week. I ask them to describe to me their outer world—their relationships, their work life, their challenges and successes, etc. And from that description, I can usually be pretty precise in extracting their inner programming. I can see their belief systems, their fear-based habitual behaviors, their old wounding, etc.
For instance, you might be are aware that you are really angry with your brother-in-law. He has been belittling you for years with sarcastic comments, and he also doesn’t treat your sister very well. You find yourself very angry with him. In my world, anger is a signal that your boundaries are being crossed.
Let’s say that, from the full details you share about your story, I extracted a whole set of deep conditioning in your inner world: a belief that you can’t be seen or heard, and if you speak up, you will be abandoned. Your belief is that you can’t ask for what you want and still be safe. (This is just an example. There aren’t any projections we can really make about your system off the bat; I would have to go in and take a look and see what lights up while you describe your life.)
In our example, these beliefs are hard-wired inside of you; they are deep subconscious patterns wired into your body and psyche. And they are mirroring—they are extending into space. These beliefs, habits, and old wounding are shaping vast space. They are a magnetic current—similar to the magnetic pull of an electron to a proton—a current emerging, creating the appearance of material form.
That inner belief is holographic and it mirrors itself in the outer world, appearing as all these opportunities showing up where your boundaries are being crossed and you are being pressurized to speak up. Inside, it feels like, “I can’t ask and still be safe.” Outside, it feels like, “I have to ask for this behavior to change because it’s not safe for my sister and it sure doesn’t feel safe for me.” The real cliffhanger is, will you ask for your boundaries?
Ugh, the mirror can feel merciless. Or, it can feel like you can control it with your thoughts and mind…like you are in control of these beliefs and you can just change them with your will and then the world will materialize with ,if your powerful enough, no brother-in-law!
You can make an assumption that the pressure you are feeling is true—you can’t ask for what you want and be safe in these situations in your outer world—and it’s proving that the world is not safe.
Or you can notice that it’s a mirror of this inner space that has been dogging you since you were a teen, and it’s “same shit different day” no matter what the details. So in reality, it can’t be true; it’s just a never-ending pattern of the ancient wounding of your system.
Free will. Use the mirror for self-awareness, looking within to see what is creating this reflection… OR, use the mirror to confirm finite ideas about the world.
Fun right!? And what can you do about it?
Using the Mirror
Are you aware of your thoughts, idea, beliefs, wounds, and habitual behaviors? Do you know that they are what is being reflected by your outer world? In a sense, there is no separate “outer world,” because fundamentally it is just a mirror of the inner world. Inner space mirrors outer space. All objects are a charge of energy, extended into space. Or, the trillions of protons in your body are interacting with every proton in the known universe, creating a hologram.
Are you aware of the inner world of your being having currents of clarity, pure information? Or is your inner space primarily a lot of currents of fear, limitation and constriction?
In spirituality, we tend to say that “you” are creating, and by “you” we specifically mean your body/mind and being. It’s not simply your thoughts. It’s actually your body, emotions, thoughts, habitual behaviors, and most importantly, the awareness behind all that. Your entire being and awareness is a magnetic current. It is not taking direction from your thoughts; your thoughts and conscious mind are not that powerful. The current of your entire being, trillions of subatomic particles, are what influences your thoughts. Not the other way around. (The information in one particles creates the potential of every other particle.)
So, the solution for transforming your inner space, which will then change your outer space, is to unravel the old wounds in your system, replace the belief systems, and shift the habitual behaviors.
In my book, Tools for Sanity, I write out the equation for this very transformation.
I explain that there are four steps, and they must be taken in this order, without “hacks” or shortcuts. You can’t do only one step and expect transformation.
The four steps can be boiled down to:
- Awareness: awareness of the mirror, and the thoughts, and the wounds, and the obvious and subtle beliefs.
- Acceptance: a very loving and very warm embrace of all the above that is going on.
- Alchemy: the actual act of transformation; making the energetic current move to a different energetic rhythm.
- Alignment: Creating new action, diligence with transforming negative behaviors and patterns, energetic attunement, physical embodiment, etc.
In my teachings, I offer 3 classes each year for you to practice very deeply each of these steps.
Delicious Body: Where we learn the most subtle forms of awareness: how to listen to your system and body/mind, and how to extract the deep pockets of obvious and subtle fear that is hardwired into your being.
Accelerated Healing: Where we practice acceptance and learn the art of alchemy. Where you learn how to personally unravel your habitual and wounded current to transform its flow. We do this in a profoundly accelerated way.
Course in Fearlessness: Where you learn alignment: how to align your system to clarity instead of fear, and the miracle of creating, or getting how obvious, the mirror is. It’s like Jedi training: tools for aligning with reality.
So, transformation is possible. Want some?