The Seed of Life

Standing on the Spot

Early Western writings of the universe presents the subject as a python swallowing itself. Indic writings pointed to the universe as Sesha … the python on which Vishnu reclined. In either case … it is indicative of a creative endeavor … that is continuous … and has no beginning or end. However in reference to the mind … it presents certain peculiar difficulties. What is the beginning of anything … how does a person identify the source of his thoughts … and understand its basis?

Folks living in a town … eventually come to appreciate a bit of history about the town … especially if that's researched … and the knowledge shared. It may refer to the first man who settled in the area … perhaps a trading post … and then how others came to stop there … and then settled down. Thereafter … the railroad … mining … forestry products … farm produce … textile … and so forth … may have contributed to the town's growth.

Our studies of the phenomenon of creation … presents three views of the event. One view says God created the heavens and the earth … that is a feature of the old testament. Indic puranas … refer to an elaborate creation process that evolved from dreams … and thereafter came into the experience of man … in his daily activity. And then there's the faith of the ' eternal now ' … as represented by Zen Buddhism. Zen applies itself to specific activity that man undertakes … without any concern for where anything started. It responds by saying that such inquiries are not necessary … but the mere focus on the task at hand … and to do it well.

In today's climate of inquiry … it appears that the layman … would relate best … to that which provides an understanding of himself … and the world. It matters how that explains what his life is … the issues he encounters at work … in the home … and in his personal life. It is the work of all cultures … and faith … to provide man with an understanding about himself and his activities. Where that culture loses its contact with physical reality … it is discarded in favor of something else that relates to the issues better.

A man of faith ... engaging the perceived sacred nature of the eros impulses ... and seeing their source in his sexuality ... is likely to ritualize the sex organs ... as objects of faith. Consequently ... his behavior is expected to reflect that attitude ... and to view sex as ' dirty ' or causing a loss of his sense of virtue. In much the same way ... he is going to be offended by others in the world ... who practice an open-mindedness about sex and do not portray sex organs ... as deified instruments of fertility.

It is precisely this point of contact between faith and common sense … that societies try to inculcate in its members today ... by the engagements of instruments consistent with socialization and individualization. In an extension of the same point … its possible to see similar issues of society today in the news. The Wall Street protests … the revolutions that swept the Middle-East … the protests against WTO … the burning of a McDonald's outlet … nuclear proliferation and the preparations for war … are in many ways related to the issue of how we reconcile our old forms of faiths … with the emerging forms of trends in the world.

It begs the question of how … we are perceiving our past relations … and translating them into our present experiences. The Indic reference to dream based perceptions early in the advent of man … refers to the lack of mind development … and the reliance on passions … dreams … and visions … that formed the basis of perceptions. Where this was engaged to cultivate doctrines … and theology … such studies need to be up-dated regularly … by new experiences … that affirms the old … and presents it in a new light. Its the responsibility of societal leadership to do so.

With the emphasis we create on education … and the practice of individual rights and freedom … these alter the conditions under which the old doctrines were set up. There rises the need to account for the basis of past doctrines … in order to maintain the stability of societies and preserve its continuity. No doubt the initiatives of individuals today would be important for that purpose.

In the view of self realization … the perception of a creator God … puranic legends … science … and Zen … are all forms of thought … composed to serve the needs of the times. It was undertaken by the bard … both in his devotion … and his clear sighted view of the issues. It is the point of beginning of thought … in the mind of the bard … where he is empty … and has lost all relation to the existing perceptions and doctrines of the times.

It represents a new event in the life of the man … its a seed of the times … represented by his mind … passions … and will … to bring into expression the new perceptions of the times. It applies itself to his body … and his existing physical environment … and cultivates a balance between the two. From here it is expressed … in a vision … a scheme … and verbal communication. In undertaking it … he does it as his individual right to believe … and thereafter lives it. His life … and happiness is the proof of its viability. In time it grows … to identify itself as a new seed in his sperm … that will one day emerge to life.

The emerging new doctrine may therefore … point to man … as the mind of the creator … by the nature of his thoughts and will. In time it may well come to represent the universe itself … the way it began and grew … around the circle … that has no point of beginning and end … until we realize we are standing on the very spot.