(How to view the Universe, Part 1)
In my earlier post: “What’s it all about?” I alluded to a “Theory of the Realms” which I will now propose. Some of it you may like, some of it you will be unsure of, but hear me out. The first will be the hardest for some to buy into, the other two will be easy.
I believe the Universe consists of Three Realms: a Great Reality, an Inner Reality, and an Outer Reality. Everything exists in these three. They co-exist, interact, and we live our whole lives in them. Why does this matter? Because I believe, as we come to understand these Realms, we can learn to live in harmony with them. We can learn to be Aligned in them, and live ultimately as we were meant to be.
We can live in Harmony with these Realms, and have harmony within.
Let’s jump in. What even is reality? The dictionary says: “the quality or state of being real: a real event, entity, or state of affairs, the totality of real things and events” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reality Let me propose what I see as reality, in three parts. First, a Great Reality. I said this one may be harder to grasp, but please play along. There are things in life we can not explain, things that transcend our understanding. There are things we take on “faith”, or assume them to be true, as life has born them out. The sun rises each day, gravity makes things fall, there are seasons, and so forth. I believe that there is something beneath all of these larger happenings.
I know some will stop right there and insist there is “nothing more”. We live, we die, and that is it. Our feelings and thoughts are just neurons and chemicals firing, and everything we see around us happened by larger cosmic forces, that we just haven’t quite figured out yet. There is nothing “more”. All of this may be true, or there is an intelligence of some kind, or some larger, guiding “something” behind it all. As you know, I do come from a Christian perspective, so I have a structured belief about what makes up the Great Reality.
I do not limit that perception to a 7-day creation, or even insist everyone think of “god” as I do. I have already spoken of a “Great Flow” to the Universe, a directed, intentional, continuum of space and time, and beyond. We can not fully understand it, as it is transcendent, and all of that is part the Great Reality. If you still can’t “buy it”, and I don’t need you to, you have to acknowledge you don’t know everything and don’t have all the information about things all the time. Even when I mentioned believing cosmic forces shaped the world we see–those forces came from somewhere! Even if pure science is your “Great Reality”, we can’t fully explain why we feel love for another, why we are moved by a sunset, or a child’s laugh. We work hard to enjoy the “good life” whatever we believe that to be, but beneath it, I think we are trying to find something. We are trying to make connection, even if it is just with ourselves. Maybe we are trying to find peace, or contentment.
I think if we are honest, we are trying to find something greater than ourselves.
I get it–you still may not believe there is any Great Reality, but try to pretend there is one, even if it is just the Laws of Science. Whatever you believe, you have encountered people who have strong beliefs about this Great Reality. They may be very determined to have you agree with them, and follow practices “demanded” by that Reality, as they see it.
As I have gotten older, I have come to realize that I don’t “know it all”. Beliefs I was taught as a child about “god”, and how to respond to him/her/them, have been revisited and revamped. I did have a period in my youth where I was unsure about any Higher Force/Purpose/Being. But I sensed “something”. I sensed Something beyond me, that was beyond my comprehension. From that, I re-found my Faith, and yes, I do see this Reality through Christian “glasses”, but not dogmatic and judgemental ones.
When I had a bout with shingles in 2014, I experienced a “dark night of the soul” and felt very abandoned by God, as I perceived Him then. I had shingles in my right eye, and if you are not familiar with it, it is an offshoot of chickenpox, that can flare up in anyone who previously had chickenpox. You get a nasty, blistery rash that can be excruciatingly painful on various areas of the body. In my case, it was my face, around and in my right eye. I had just started dating my wife, so she went on quite a ride with me. Later, I would see her staunch support and loving kindness as God manifesting to me. I lost my vision in my right eye for a time, and was hyper-sensitive to light. I recall sitting in my apartment at midnight, wearing sunglasses and unable to work, and wondering if this would be my life now.
I even went home to my Mom’s for a while, as my childhood home in the woods of the Hudson Valley of New York, USA is a great comfort to me. But I found none there, just emptiness. Usually long walks up there were good for my soul, but the sunlight left me disoriented. Feeling despondent, I noticed one thing: the roads up there had just had their lines repainted. So I followed the fresh white line on the edge, to navigate. (These are country roads, not busy city ones. You can walk them and not worry about getting killed every 10 seconds.)
You may be expecting me to say I heard a Voice, or had some encounter with Jesus, but I did not. There was only a white line to follow. I did ultimately get better, my vision came back fully, and God did meet me, through other people. While I did not “die” in that experience, parts of my being “died”. Parts of how I perceived God died, and in fact I emerged from it with a much wider view of God, and a deeper sense of this Great Reality I am writing about.
I can view it as I just got sick from all the myriad of illnesses on this planet, and got down in the dumps, and got better and felt better. I can let it be just a bunch of happenings. I happened to have just met my future wife. It just happened that the road lines were painted, when I most needed them. Maybe, maybe not. I am not saying that “God” arranged all these circumstances so I could get a deeper Connection, but maybe I was being moved in this “Great Flow” I am talking about. I don’t recall if I started thinking in those terms then, but the experience of that sickness changed me. I know many people had shingles and it was a pain, and they moved on. For me, there was my life before shingles, and my life after it.
I choose to see that God, through this Great Flow, was working in this situation. There was a “flow” to it all: sickness to healing, emptiness to new understanding. I emerged from this time seeing that God with more than just my pure-Christian understanding, and that He was more than just a “He”, or a “she”, or even a “They”. I believe now that God is that Great Reality, showing up sometimes in seeming miracles, and sometimes in just the rising and the setting of the sun. Our whole existence is contained within this Great Reality, and we are a part of it.
I believe now that my shingles experience was for my good. It was horrible. I said there was no dramatic experiences of “God”, but I believe He was expressing Himself to me in subtle ways that I did not see. Bill W., co-founder of Alcoholic Anonymous said he had an experience of white light filling his hospital room after one of his binges with alcohol This lead him to stop drinking and begin his work of helping fellow drunks. I had a “White Line” experience, where I had a Path to follow, and that was all.
I believe I had to have an experience that went beyond obvious Christian expressions so I could do this: write this blog, and not just spout at you Scripture verses, and Christian ideology, but something more. (I am not knocking Bible verses, and any Christian teachings, but not everyone will buy into it.) Jesus himself went to non-Jews and talked with them, and I want to reach you, and help you to Align with Love, no matter what you believe. Aligning with love is for all. I didn’t think of it that way a decade ago, but God was Aligning me with His Love. I had to stay on the “line”, stay aligned with it, or I would get lost on that country road, so long ago.
That line was a “Beam of Light”, a focusing of that Great Flow, of God showing up in ways my brain could not even fathom. His Lightness directed me, and He was partnering with me, and asking me to partner with Him. The line was not a metaphor for some set of perfect practices or beliefs to make God happy! It was simply a means to direct and guide a partially blind person. I still need guidance-every day!
Try it-try believing there is more than just what you can see, touch, and understand. If you are honest, you already do. You have a measure of day-to-day faith that the Universe will continue as it is: the sun will rise, your car will start, or the train will arrive. The dog or cat will be there, the boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse will be there tonight. You already believe things. Try believing there is more behind it. I know this blog is only scratching the surface of all the philosophical and theological aspects of life. Try just considering there is more to this life: A Greater Reality.
Even if we’re just making it all up-it still seems to be better to believe in something. If we can live in some harmony with something beyond ourselves, aligning with that, well, that could be transformative–properly directed. That is why I believe part of that Great Reality is Love, and a love we can, and should, Align ourselves with.
I said this First Reality would be the hardest. Next time I will write about the Inner Reality: Your thoughts and feelings. That, we can all agree exists! At least we can all agree we have them!
-Eric, the Wordsmith
BP21