There is this particular hill on Route 4 in Turner, Maine
that I am attracted to. Just because of
the exposed rock face, I named this hill "Baldy." The official name for this mountain is Bear
Mountain. Regardless of name, from my up-close on the ground perspective, I saw
the hill as being an individual existing independent of the rest of the
scenery.
However, when I saw that same hill from Rt. 106, which is
further away to the east and somewhat elevated, I saw the hill as being part of
a pattern that contained other hills. It
was as if the hill was part of a series of wrinkles in a bed sheet. I began to generalize the lesson seeing this
hill as part of a pattern enabled me to learn about other parts of my
life. When I am able to get beyond myself,
I view myself as part of a weaving that includes everything within this
universe. Instead of an isolated person,
I am, you are, part of an interwoven pattern of life that included all
things. Conversely, the entire pattern
exists within me and you.
There is a molecule, called DNA, contained in each cell of
our body. This DNA molecule instructs
each cell how to function and form. For
example, the DNA of a brain cell instructs that cell how to form and function
as a brain cell. Each molecule of DNA
contains much more information than the instructions for the particular cell it
commands. Indeed, each molecule contains
knowledge for every one of the distinctive cells in the body. For example, the DNA of a brain cell contains
information regarding the functioning of a heart, a liver and a hand. Each cell in our body ultimately contains
knowledge for making a complete person.
The instructions for making a particular cell are "turned on"
through complex interactions between all the cells of the body. Cells
essentially talk to each other in determining how they will manifest within the
developing embryo. A particular cell manifests because of its relationship to the
whole.
I am not the first to have observed that this phenomenon
pervades nature. Scientist, David Bohm,
describes the universe as a multidimensional web constructed in such a way that
each dimension of the web reflects and contains every other dimension
holographically (Bohm, 2002). Every
person reading this book reflects and contains every blade of grass, every
cloud, every planet in our solar system and every star in the universe in his
or her own unique way. For example, our
circulatory system, composed of heart, arteries and veins, reflects and is another
manifestation of the circulatory system of the Earth, composed of oceans,
atmosphere, rivers and streams.
Similarly, our brains contain billions of neurons firing and making
connections, just as the dark, spacious depths of the Milky Way contain
billions of stars firing and connecting.
What we see outside is
what we see inside. We are a mind
nestled within Mind. We--along with
everything else--are holographic reflections of the entire universe. The universe both unfolds and enfolds itself
as unique forms in such a way that everything mirrors, reflects and contains
everything else. Every blade of grass,
every woman, every man, every cloud in the sky is the All expressed as a part
and each of these parts contains and mirrors the All.
St. Hildegard of Bingen reflects this
same idea from a spiritual and cosmological point of view when she states, "God
creates everything with everything else in mind" (Fox, 1998, p. 19). The macroscopic is fully contained in the
microscopic. Goethe even breaks down the
distinction between fact and theory: "A ll
fact is really theory. The blue of the sky reveals to us the basic law of
color. Search nothing beyond the phenomena, they themselves are the theory." ( Goethe, Theory of Colours, paragraph #50.)
Even more miraculous, according to Carl Sagan
(1980), each DNA molecule contains knowledge regarding the entire evolutionary
development of our species and ultimately the entire planet. If you ever see photos of a developing
fetus, you will notice it will, at various points in its development, look like
a fish, a snail, a koala bear and even a snake.
This reveals the fact that all creatures are within us. Every one of our cells recapitulates the
entire evolutionary history of our planet.
The DNA molecule is a hidden totality.
In any particular cell, one aspect of that totality has unfolded.
This containment of all
evolutionary history in a single person eventually transcends the biological
development of life on Earth. It
literally reaches into the depths of the universe. The more we dive into ourselves, the more
universal we become. As physicists such
as David Bohm (Talbot, 1981) and medical practitioners such as Deepak Chopra
(1993) have reflected, our bodies are more than 99.999% empty space. We are not solid at all! The atoms and molecules dancing throughout
our bodies are energy trails proportionately as void as intergalactic
space. Inner space and outer space are
not two! If you want to see what you
really look like, gaze into the nighttime sky.
You are an expression of the entire cosmos. Conversely, the entirety of
the universe that you contemplate exists in your eyes. Like the DNA molecule, you are both a hidden
totality and also a singularity in creative relationship with all the other
participants in our Universe, past, present and future.
This conception gets even more
exciting as we explore Quantum Physics.
The behavior of electrons has long baffled scientists in this field,
because electrons appear as waves when not being observed and as particles when
being observed. It seems that the very
act of observing an electron makes information about that electron manifest in
the field of time and space. When not
being observed, the electron spreads out and behaves like a wave. It even appears to be at two places at
once! According to physicist David Bohm,
this odd behavior of an electron means it is not one thing, but a hidden
totality or ensemble , enfolded throughout the whole of space (see
Talbot, 1981, p. 47). When a scientific instrument detects (observes) the
presence of an electron, it is because one aspect of the electron's ensemble
has unfolded in response to the observation.
The movie, What the Bleep Do We Know!?, explores this creative
transaction between observer and observed. (Arntz, Chasse ,
and Vicente )
This holistic process immanent in the electron mirrors the
process immanent in DNA. DNA is an
ensemble of codes containing the entire evolutionary development of humanity
and the knowledge of every cell in a person's body. An electron, as a wave, is
a hidden totality enfolded throughout the universe!
To put it more poetically,
consider the words of the great poet and mystic, William Blake (Briggs and
Peat, p. 112):
To
see the World in a grain of sand,
and Heaven in a wildflower.
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
and Eternity in an hour.
Another great poet, E. E. Cummings,
expresses the miraculous paradox this way:
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