Posts Tagged ‘human potential’
Egocide
“Ego is the biggest enemy of humans. ”
~ Rig Veda
“All troubles come to an end when the ego dies”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
“The mind is a bundle of thoughts.
The thoughts arise because there is the thinker.
The thinker is the ego.
The ego, if sought, will automatically vanish.
The ego and the mind are the same.
The ego is the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Free of ego, living naturally, working virtuously, you become filled with inexhaustible vitality and are liberated forever from the cycle of death and rebirth.”
~ Lao Tzu
“The foundation of the Buddha’s teachings lies in compassion,
and the reason for practicing the teachings is to wipe out the persistence of ego, the number-one enemy of compassion.”
~ H.H. Dalai Lama
“The entire Buddhist path is based on the discovery of egolessness and the maturing of insight or knowledge that comes from egolessness.”
~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
“In essence there is and always has been
only one spiritual teaching,
although it comes in many forms.”
~ Eckhart Tolle – The Power of Now
“As ego goes,
consciousness grows,
until it Knows
– Its-SELF.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“The choice that [mentally] frees or imprisons us
is the choice of love or fear.
Love liberates. Fear imprisons.”
~ Gary Zukav
“Bondage and Liberation are of the mind alone.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
“The supreme purpose and goal for human life… is to cultivate love.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
“Have love for everyone, no one is other than you.”
~ Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
Introduction to “Egocide”
Dear Friends,
We are now experiencing exceptionally advantageous Age of Aquarius cosmic energies, and auspicious astrological planetary alignments, favorable to spiritual evolution. I optimistically foresee that these unprecedented energies and rare alignments are elevating a ‘critical mass’ of Humankind to ascend from low illusory Third Dimension Ego-mind consciousness to previously unimagined Fifth Dimension (5D) heart/mind telepathic awareness.
Therefore I’m updating and republishing postings like “Egocide” which can best benefit us from these unprecedented evolutionary opportunities.
Transcending ego is the fundamental message of all spiritual teachings, because Ego-mind is the greatest obstacle to human spiritual evolution.
According to Sri Ramana Maharshi
“The ego and the mind are the same”.
“The ego is the root-thought from which all other thoughts arise.”
So, if recognized, the ego “will automatically vanish”.
Thus today’s “Egocide” posting includes above key quotations, and the following sutra-poem (with mp3 recitation), which was composed after I’d realized the crucial importance of undoing ego to transcend inevitable karmic suffering in this illusory low energy Third Dimension (3D) space/time causality duality ‘reality’.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Ron’s explanation of “Egocide”
Dear Friends,
The following whimsical “Egocide” poem was composed after I’d realized the crucial importance of undoing ego to transcend inevitable karmic suffering in this space/time causality ‘reality’.
For millennia spiritual teachings have identified “ego” as the fundamental impediment to spiritual evolution and realization; as “the biggest enemy of humans.” (Rig Veda ); and the “number-one enemy of compassion.” (Dalai Lama). The Dalai Lama has said that all Buddhist teachings aim “to wipe out the persistence of ego.” And Eckhart Tolle believes that transcending ego “is and always has been [the] only one spiritual teaching.”
Every incarnate Human (except for extraordinary and incorruptible Buddha-like, Krishna-like, or Christ-like beings) is in some evolutionary stage of transcending mistaken ego identity.
When required to preserve life on our precious planet, such beings rarely appear in mortal human bodies as exemplars or avatars to teach with their words and deeds.
For example as a rare exemplar of Divine LOVE, Jesus Christ inspired millions with his words and deeds of non-judgmental and merciful forgiveness, of even enemies and persecutors. So even while suffering excruciating pain on a crucifixion cross He beseeched:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Upon Earthly incarnation, Human ego-identity is unavoidable
In the 19th Century, Hindu Holy Man and Avatar Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa appeared to demonstrate and teach how “all troubles .. end when the ego dies” , during an extraordinary fifty year lifetime in what is now West Bengal, India. By following traditional devotional practices Ramakrishna’s Eternal soul attained Hinduism’s highest God realization spiritual goal to BE dissolved and liberated into the unity of everything.
But rather than exist as Eternal bliss, Sri Ramakrishna chose to return to his mortal human body to help inspire and teach others.
Whereupon he revealed that ego-identity as a supposedly separate life-form in our low energy third dimension reality is unavoidable. But that we can choose lives and behaviors which are either loving and helpful, or selfish and harmful to others.
So, the following “Egocide” sutra-verses and above quotations are shared to inspire and encourage us to live loving and helpful lives, so we can realize and BE what we truly are – immortally ONE with Divine SELF as LOVE..
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
“Egocide”
Ego’s attrition
is our mission;
Egocide’s our goal.
When ego’s dead
we’ll lose all dread,
Knowing we are Soul.
Then we’ll say
that life’s a play,
Each body/mind a role;
That we’re the Glory
and not the story,
Not just parts –
but WHOLE.
Ron’s recitation of “Egocide”
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Fear
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
. . . . and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
~ 1 John 4:18
“Deep down, at our cores, there are only two emotions:
love and fear.
All positive emotions come from love,
all negative emotions from fear.
From love flows happiness, contentment, peace, and joy.
From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt.”
~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & David Kessler – When You Don’t Choose Love You Choose Fear
“The choice that frees or imprisons us
is the choice of love or fear.
Love liberates. Fear imprisons.”
~ Gary Zukav
“Love is what we were born with.
Fear is what we learned here.
The spiritual journey is the relinquishment
– or unlearning – of fear
and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.”
~ Marianne Williamson
“Fear arises through identification with form, whether it be a material possession, a physical body, a social role, a self-image, a thought, or an emotion. It arises through unawareness of the formless inner dimension of consciousness or spirit, which is the essence of who you are. You are trapped in object consciousness, unaware of the dimension of inner space which alone is true freedom.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
“Those who fear suffering, suffer from fear.”
~ French Proverb
“To be afraid of dying
is like being afraid of discarding an old worn-out garment.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Love blesses the world; fear afflicts it. ”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Fear of death is fear of life;
so face death to live life.”
***
“You are not a mortal; you are immortal.
So never fear being a non-being.”
***
“Our deepest fears
hide our highest potentials.”
***
“As we lose our fear of leaving life,
we gain the art of living life.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth,
… beyond the highest, the very highest heavens.
This is the light that shines in your Heart.”
~ Chandogya Upanishad 3.13.7
“Love is the only freedom in the world
because it so elevates the spirit
that the laws of humanity and the phenomena of nature
do not alter its course.”
~ Khalil Gibran, Broken Wings
Ron’s Introduction and Explanation of “Fear”
Dear Friends,
Beginning thirty years ago, during an extended post-retirement secluded period of meditation, introspection, and prayer, I “channeled” and wrote many spiritual aphorisms, essays, and sutra-poem verses. Later, some of these spiritual insights were digitized, recorded on computers, and published on the SillySutras website after it was launched thirteen years ago.
Today’s posting about “Fear” augments, explains and republishes some of those writings. Because of unprecedented worldwide post-pandemic deaths, warfare, anxiety and fear of global catastrophe, these insights now seem particularly important.
Background
For eons, masses of Earthly humans (experimentally forgetting their common Divine birthright as Eternal beings of love and light, and thus believing themselves separate in space and time from each other and Nature), have been hierarchically ruled through religious, military, or political dogma by a few self-proclaimed rulers who’ve been extremely rich, royal, or purportedly enlightened, omniscient, or infallible beings.
As explained in previous memoirs I’ve found persuasive evidence that some of these rulers have been very intelligent but evil and demonic Luciferian beings with undemocratic and tyrannic intentions, who are afflicted and dominated by subhuman malignant energies which psychotically and parasitically polarize, divide and exploit humankind, by provoking anger, anxiety, and fear. I’ve also referred to these mental parasites or energy vampires as “archons”, a term used in the Gnostic traditions.
As psychopaths without morality, they’ve become rulers of most major human governments and empires. And most people have accepted and followed these leaders without questioning their motives.
But gradually a growing number of people have morally refused to follow these evil rulers, unless intimidated.
And such refusals are becoming crucial because these Luciferians or Archons can exist only in low energy biospheres, like Earth’s third density illusory world of space, time, and duality. They cannot exist in elevated biosphere energies of infinitely potential fifth dimensions and above. So these evil rulers keep frightening and intimidating people to prevent their energetic ascensions to higher dimensions.
Coordinated False Declarations of a (non-existent) Deadly Coronavirus Pandemic.
Starting in 2019/20, these tyrannic rulers decided to falsely frighten their societies with coordinated declarations by individual and institutional world leaders of a (non-existent) deadly coronavirus pandemic requiring worldwide social and business lock-downs and alleged urgent need for repeated life-saving anti-viral vaccinations.
For example, Henry Kissinger (former secretary of state and national security adviser in the Nixon and Ford administrations) declared in a pre-vaccine Wall Street Journal Op Ed that “The Coronavirus Pandemic Will Forever Alter the World Order”. and that
“The [alleged] coronavirus has struck with unprecedented scale and ferocity. Its spread is exponential: U.S. cases are doubling every fifth day. At this writing, there is no cure. Medical supplies are insufficient to cope with the widening waves of cases. Intensive-care units are on the verge, and beyond, of being overwhelmed. Testing is inadequate to the task of identifying the extent of infection, much less reversing its spread. A successful vaccine could be 12 to 18 months away.”
Thereafter, several (Bill Gates Foundation financed) anti-coronavirus experimental mRNA vaccines were “miraculously” developed (without long-term safety testing), patented, and sold to Archon dominated governments, which mandated them for their citizens’ purported protection.
But despite urgently coordinated and repeated global administration of these (alleged) life-saving anti-viral vaccinations, and worldwide enactments of unconstitutional, immoral and irrational laws and edicts preventing normal travel, business activities, and religious and social life, there is little believable evidence supporting these purported anti-pandemic procedures.
Instead, as of June 2023, there exists MUCH credible – but main media censored – official, actuarial, and medical expert evidence that already over 600 million human beings have been unnecessarily killed or injured by alleged anti-coronavirus vaccines, and that such deaths and injuries are continuing.
THE UNVACCINATED | “Nobody is Safe!”
Embedded below is a recent 11 minute video from Matt Orfalea’s YouTube channel which humorously documents the entire coordinated vaccination intimidation campaign with many audio/video clips from major media monopolies controlled by Luciferian Archons.
Because pervasive fear precludes humans from energetically ascending to higher dimensions where Archon Luciferians can’t exist, this is an important video.
Please enjoy and reflect on it, and thereafter read (and listen) to my original sutra-verses about “Fear” (republished below) and deeply consider the profound Love versus Fear quotations and sutras posted above.
Fear
We’ve nothing to fear but fright;
fright which hides our light.
For just beyond our darkest fright
shines our brightest light –
The Eternal light of LOVE.
Ron’s audio recitation of “Fear”
Conclusion, Dedication, and Invocation
We now live in a fear-pervaded low energy biosphere
of third dimension time, space, and duality,
where love and fear cannot co-exist.
The spiritual insights about Fear, expressed in the foregoing key quotations, sutras and brief poem, are deeply dedicated to furthering our destined transcendence of all infinitely potential biospheres
mentally separate from our Eternal existence as ONE Divine LOVE.
Invocation
May these writings about Fear
Inspire our Self-identification as spirit,
While ending our worldly anxieties
Of bodily death or disease,
Thereby inspiring us to fearlessly BE
– Karma FREE – Eternally
As ONE Divine LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Memorial Day, 2023 –
Rededication Proclamation
“We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence,
but between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
~ Abraham Lincoln – Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863
“There is no honorable way to kill,
no gentle way to destroy.
There is nothing good in war.
Except its ending.”
~ Abraham Lincoln
“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.”
~ Isaiah 2:4
“Nothing will end war unless the people refuse to go to war.”
”War cannot be humanized, only abolished.”
“You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Thou shalt not kill.”
~ Exodus 20:13
“Mankind must put an end to war,
or war will put an end to mankind…”
~ John F. Kennedy
“If you realize that all things change,
there is nothing you will try to hold on to.
If you are not afraid of dying,
there is nothing you cannot achieve.”
~ Lao Tzu
Memorial Day, 2023 – Rededication Proclamation
Dear Friends,
Memorial Day was inaugurated after the internecine American Civil War between Northern and Southern States. Since then it has commemorated the passing of men and women who died while participating in numerous US fomented wars against and amongst nations and people worldwide.
But today many Americans have forgotten the sacred antiwar spirit with which Memorial Day began. Moreover, we are now living in an unprecedented era of warfare, deprivation, turmoil, and polarized violence affecting most humans.
Contrary to Abraham Lincoln’s eloquent aspiration that American “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”, the USA is no longer a democracy – of, for and by the people – but a totalitarian global Empire of, by and for billionaires and transnational corporations, representing far fewer than 1% of Humankind.
This essay is deeply dedicated to reminding us of the Divinity of all life on Earth; and that for its survival, we urgently need to end all current and future wars before they end us. That
“We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence,
but between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Background
Armed conflicts have occurred throughout recorded human history. But we are now compelled to realize that ongoing and further wars will probably trigger a nuclear, ecological, biological, or radiological catastrophe insanely ending earth-life as we’ve known it.
However, while self-inflicted human extinction is threatened as never before, we have paradoxically gained unprecedented technical capacity to sustainably provide all human sustenance needs. And in this painful post-pandemic “new normal” era, many are awakening to our unlimited human potentiality.
Thus many are realizing that, as a global human family, we have extraordinary opportunities to co-create an infinitely more compassionate world, with democratic societies peacefully coexisting cooperatively and harmoniously with each other, Nature and all life on our precious planet.
Until now, most of humanity has suffered illusionary psychological separation from each other and Nature, fostering unsustainable ecological desecration of our precious planet, and barbaric exploitation of vulnerable beings and other life-forms. But more and more people are awakening to our sacred connection with, and deep moral responsibility to cherish and preserve Nature, and all its life on our precious planet Earth.
Rededication Proclamation
So in solemnly observing Memorial Day 2023,
Let us resolutely rededicate and reconsecrate Humankind
To transcending our illusionary psychological separation
From each other and Nature;
Thereby preserving and honoring all Life – not just human life –
As sacred and holy, and so ending all wars, before they end us.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Follow Your Heart ~
Treasure Hunt Instructions
“The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.”
~ Buddha
“As far, verily, as this world-space extends,
so far extends the space within the heart…”
~ Chandogya Upanishad 8.1.3
“Follow your heart – even if it contradicts my words”
“If there is love in your heart,
you don’t have to worry about rules.”
~ Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.”
“These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.”
“Beautiful people do not just happen.”
~ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, (Death: The Final Stage of Growth, 1975)
“It is in the darkness that one finds the light.”
~ Meister Eckhart
“Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow,
but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.”
~ Leo Tolstoy
“Suffering is the way for Realization of God.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls;
the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
~ Khalil Gibran
“None can reach heaven who has not passed through hell.“
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri Book Two
Ron’s Introduction to “Follow Your Heart ~ Treasure Hunt Instructions”
Dear Friends,
The following brief but profound “Follow Your Heart” sutra-poem was first composed and mailed to my daughter Jessica for her twenty ninth birthday anniversary, on May 27, 1995. Soon after launching the SillySutras website, it was published online.
As fatherly advice, I had previously counseled both Jessica and her brother Joshua to:
‘Follow your heart;
don’t harm other beings;
and if possible try to help them.’
And Jessica already had courageously followed her heart in dropping out of Amherst to seek wisdom of the East, even after her distinguished Professor of Buddhist studies, Dr. Robert Thurman, had recommended that she stay and graduate before going to India.
But in 1995 I wanted to assuage Jessica’s concerns, cheer her up, and encourage her to keep following her inner guidance. So I intuitively composed and sent her this ‘follow your heart’ sutra-poem which I first titled: “Birthday Treasure Hunt Instructions” (Later, in publishing the poem’s timeless advice, I excised the word “birthday”)
I don’t remember my thoughts about the poem when I intuitively composed and sent it to Jessica. Maybe my fatherly advice was supposed to summarize one of my favorite Shakespeare passages, in which Polonius emphasizes to his embarking son Laertes:
“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any [person].”
~ William Shakespeare ~ Hamlet, Act I, Scene III
And maybe my poetic advice to Jessica, was mindfully intended to encompass the essence of the Golden Rule of reciprocal empathy that:
We do no harm and treat all beings
with the same dignity we wish for ourselves,
and that they wish for themselves.
Nor do I recall whether in 1995 I was already aware of the profound scriptural passages which I have cited above. But these sutra-poem verses can be understood as consistent with them.
Only much later did I discover Mark Twain’s humorously memorable observation that
“The two most important days in your life
are the day you are born
and the day you find out why.”
~ Mark Twain
Perhaps I was unknowingly sending Jessica a message on the anniversary of the ‘first most important day of her life’ about how to discover and celebrate the ‘second most important day of her life’.
In all events, I was convinced that by following our Sacred Heart we will be in harmony with all life everywhere.
So that as my beloved Guruji revealed:
“If there is love in your heart,
you don’t have to worry about rules.”
~ Shri Dhyanyogi Madhusudandas
Initial Dedication of “Follow Your Heart”
Thus, this sutra-poem was first deeply dedicated to inspiring us
– no matter what we experience in our worldly lives –
to always heed and follow (for us and for all others)
the Eternal inner wisdom of our shared Sacred Heart:
Follow Your Heart ~ Treasure Hunt Instructions
Follow your heart
to find what you wish.Follow your heart
to seek what you miss.Follow your heart
and you shall know this:You are your heart,
you are your bliss,You are what you seek,
you are what you miss.So follow –
and find –Your HEART.
Ron’s audio explanation and recitation of “Follow Your Heart ~ Treasure Hunt Instructions”
2023 Epilogue to “Follow Your Heart ~ Treasure Hunt Instructions”
“Follow Your Heart” was initially inspired and composed when my daughter Jessica had recently returned from seven years in India and re-enrolled at Amherst College to complete the curriculum from which she had dropped out one semester short of graduation. Since she was much older than other undergraduates she was feeling out of place, uncertain and somewhat depressed.
Thereafter Jessica graduated Amherst; attained a Smith College masters degree; met and married a ‘best friend’ husband of 23 years, and birthed two beautiful daughters one of whom is a “special needs” child who has required Jessica’s continuing personal attention.
Today, May 27, 2023, 29 years after composing the foregoing “Follow Your Heart” sutra verses I am republishing them with added above key quotations from Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, world renowned scientist, teacher, author and pioneering authority on death and dying, and others, to encourage and inspire our realization that our relative reality “inner” and “outer” space/time duality experiences are obverse perspectives of the same Absolute non-duality REALITY.
That thereby we can fearlessly endure, inwardly evolve from, and ultimately transcend previously unforeseen intense sufferings, by always remembering that
“Beautiful people do not just happen.”
~ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
“It is in the darkness that one finds the light.”
~ Meister Eckhart
“Suffering is the way for Realization of God.”
~ Sri Ramana Maharshi
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls;
the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
~ Khalil Gibran
“None can reach heaven who has not passed through hell.“
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri Book Two
.
Rededication and Invocation of “Follow Your Heart”
Thus, “Follow Your Heart” is deeply rededicated
to inspiring our fearless endurance of previously
unknown and unforeseen intense sufferings
with the intention of helping us and all others
to follow the Eternal Wisdom of our shared Sacred HEART
– no matter what happens in our worldly lives.
Invocation
May we always fearlessly follow
Our shared Sacred HEART –
As Eternal Peace, Life, Light, and LOVE,
No matter what happens in our worldly lives.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Who or What Are We?
“[Self] Realization is of the fact that you are not a person.”
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Just as it is known
That an image of one’s face is seen
Depending on a mirror
But does not really exist as a face,
So the conception of “I” exists
Dependent on mind and body,
But like the image of a face
The “I” does not at all exist as its own reality.”
~ Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland of Advice
“The Witness and the witnessed are ONE.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
Ron’s Introduction to Who or What Are We?
Dear Friends,
Over forty years ago, I was blessed with the immensely transformative insight that I was not merely my physical body, its thoughts or its story – with which until then I’d always self-identified – but the ONE consciousness from which they arose.
In 1975, during a traumatic divorce and mid-life crisis, I experienced what some Hindus call a spontaneous awakening of the Kundalini energy, with sudden realization that I was much more than my mortal physical body, its story and thoughts.
That realization triggered my unforgettable born-again “rebirth” with many amazing mystical experiences which forever changed the remainder of my life, impelling me to soulfully reconsider whether the universe was what from childhood I’d been taught, thought and believed.
Accordingly, I began studying, and have embraced as ultimate Truth, Eastern non-duality philosophy – especially that of Advaita Hinduism and Buddhism. That philosophical truth is the essence of Vedanta and the Advaita wisdom path of Self-inquiry.
It is succinctly summarized in these sutra verses, composed long ago:
Who or What Are We?
We are the screen,
not the movie.
We are the Glory,
not the story.
We are Rama,
not the drama.
We are the Whole,
not our role.
Aum Ram Sovayam,
Aum Ram Sovayam,
Aum Ram Sovayam!
We are THAT,
We are THAT,
We are THAT!
Ron’s audio explanation and recitation of Who or What Are We?
Ron’s dedication and invocation for Who or What Are We?
Since embracing Advaita Vedanta non-dualism philosophy, I’ve enjoyed ever growing happiness, and ever less fear of death by increasingly Self-identifying and BEING ONE as Eternal spirit, rather than a separate mortal physical body.
Therefore, this posting is deeply dedicated to helping us and countless others to so enjoy happy lives.
Invocation
May we bless the Whole
By BEING ONE – as
Eternal Spirit,
Life, Light, LOVE
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
“Pale Blue Dot”– An Ode to Mother Earth
~ by Carl Sagan
“There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
~ Carl Sagan
“LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”.
In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.
“Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs”. . .
“This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.”
~ Pope Francis – Climate encyclical message
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” ..
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Cherish or Perish.
Co-exist cooperatively, or
Co-expire catastrophically.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“Sit, be still, and listen,
because you’re drunk
and we’re at the edge of the roof.”
~ Rumi
Introduction to “Pale Blue Dot”– An Ode to Mother Earth ~ by Carl Sagan.
Dear Friends,
Happy Mother’s Day, 2023!
To honor Mother’s day, as we reverently remember Divine Mother, Earth Mother Gaia, and all loving birth mothers, I have again posted below a three minute YouTube voice video (called “Pale Blue Dot”) of legendary astronomer Carl Sagan reciting an ode to Mother Earth, which was inspired by a unique NASA photo of Earth taken in 1990, when the Voyager space craft was nearly four trillion (4,000,000,000,000) miles from Earth, beyond the orbit of Pluto.
NASA then finally acceded to Sagan’s desperate pleas and turned Voyager’s camera back toward Earth to photograph our precious planet as no human had ever before seen it.
From that distance, the Earth appears as just a tiny blue speck illuminated by sunlight, inspiring Sagan’s following eloquent ode to Earth:
Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” ode to Earth:
“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest.
But for us, it’s different. Look again at that dot. That’s here, that’s home, that’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
Voice Recitation of Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” ode to Earth.
In this Pale Blue Dot” voice message Carl Sagan eloquently recites his foregoing poignant ode to our precious planet, Mother Earth, which he composed while humbly reflecting on that unique NASA photo.
Sagan’s poignant message concludes with these wise words:
“[T]his distant image of our tiny world . . . underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
Concluding Comments and Invocation.
Especially in these extraordinarily turbulent and potentially catastrophic times, it is imperative that Humankind honor, preserve and cherish Earth Mother and all life she births and sustains; never forgetting that her Nature is our nature; that we are inextricably interconnected with mother Earth, so what we do to her we do to ourselves; and that it is only our human species which is responsible for, and must urgently redress, all crises and conflicts which now imminently threaten Earth-life as we’ve known it.
Thus we must relentlessly resist and vigilantly redress all insanely unsustainable pillaging, plundering and poisoning of Nature’s bountiful resources and miraculous life support systems, which are our only true wealth.
Invocation
As a united global family, may we thereby –
each from our unique perspective and in our unique way –
lovingly restore, preserve and protect our beloved planet,
the only home we’ve ever known.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
The Unanswered Question”
~ Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony
“Music is the language of God.”
“Music can change the world.”
~ Ludwig van Beethoven
“Rise again, yes, rise again,
Will you, my dust, after a brief rest!
Immortal life! Immortal life
Will he who called you, give you.“You are sown to bloom again!
The lord of the harvest goes
And gathers sheaves,
Us, who have died.“O believe, my heart, O believe:
Nothing is lost to you!
Yours, yes yours, is what you desired
Yours, what you have loved
What you have fought for!“O believe,
You were not born for nothing!
Have not lived for nothing,
Nor suffered!“What was created
Must perish;
What perished, rise again!
Cease from trembling!
Prepare yourself to live!“O Pain, you piercer of all things,
From you, I have been wrested!
O Death, you conqueror of all things,
Now, are you conquered!“With wings which I have won for myself,
In love’s fierce striving,
I shall soar upwards
To the light which no eye has penetrated!“I shall die in order to live.
“Rise again, yes, rise again,
Will you, my heart, in an instant!
That for which you suffered,
To God shall it carry you!”
~ Gustav Mahler – “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2
Gustav-Mahler- ~ July 7, 1860 – May 18, 1911
Ron’s Introduction to “The Unanswered Question”
~ Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony
Dear Friends,
Last month – to demonstrate how passionate mystical music elevates us beyond earthly cares and fears, and to so experience the eternal Light of timeless LOVE – I posted three YouTube video performances of one of the greatest symphonies of all time, Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2 (composed between 1888-1894) including a performance conducted by Leonard Bernstein, a long-time Mahler enthusiast and interpreter.
The concluding choral fifth movement of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony ends with the above-quoted words written by Mahler characterizing inevitable physical death, as a rebirth to the eternal Divine Light of God.
Mahler’s Ninth Symphony (composed in 1909), was his last completed symphony. Like his “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2, it can be conducted and interpreted, as an ode to spiritual rebirth, but also as prophetic of inevitable and unavoidable physical death.
Today, to augment the Mahler “Resurrection” Symphony posting, I’ve posted below as “The Unanswered Question”, Leonard Bernstein’s interpretation of Mahler’s music given in a 1973 Harvard University public lecture titled: “The Twentieth Century Crisis”.
In that lecture, Bernstein interprets Mahler’s music as a reflection of Mahler’s fifty year life and times (from 1860 to 1911), as well as prophetic of current times. Bernstein has even further believed that this Mahler Ninth symphony was a foreboding of the end of musical tonality, and end of honoring artists as European cultural heroes of Mahler’s era, and even of fascist world wars.
In 1973 Bernstein had become the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard. This prestigious position had previously been awarded to such notable musical figures as Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland, and to poets such as e.e. cummings and W.H. Auden. The professorship required Bernstein to deliver a series of six public lectures. Bernstein, a “Harvard man”, was honored to become a part of this distinguished tradition.
Bernstein’s “Twentieth Century Crisis” lecture began with his explanation of how during the twentieth century there had been gradually increasing and ultimately excessive musical ambiguity, that had destroyed the essential balance between clarity and ambiguity.
This “The Unanswered Question” lecture concluded with Bernstein’s deep discussion of Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony.
Bernstein described the Ninth symphony as Mahler’s prediction of his imminent physical death at age 50. It was Mahler’s last full symphony, completed soon after the death of his young daughter Maria, and when he’d been diagnosed with a very serious heart condition. After talking, Bernstein showed a video with him conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the concluding Adagio from this Mahler masterpiece.
One of those attending “The Twentieth Century Crisis” lecture was Zen Master Hyon Gak Sunim, whose Zen center organization extracted Bernstein’s discussion of Mahler and posted it on their cagin YouTube channel as “The Unanswered Question”.
In cooperation with that Zen center organization, I have copied and reposted below “The Unanswered Question”.
May we view and deeply enjoy this video. May Gustav Mahler’s passionate 9th Symphony spiritually elevate us beyond earthly cares and fears, to experience the eternal Light of timeless LOVE.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
“The Twentieth Century Crisis” and Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony
Are Fools and Foolishness Scuttling “Spaceship Earth”?
Look how the caravan of civilization
has been ambushed.
Fools are everywhere in charge.
Do not practice solitude like Jesus.
Be in the assembly, and take charge of it.”
~ Rumi
“We are all astronauts on a little spaceship called Earth.”
~ Buckminster Fuller
“There are no passengers on spaceship earth.
We are all crew.”
~ Marshall McLuhan
“We must learn to live together as [sisters and] brothers,
or perish together as fools.” ..
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence,
but between nonviolence and nonexistence.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Cherish or Perish.
Co-exist cooperatively, or
Co-expire catastrophically.”
~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings
“The whole problem with the world is that
fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves,
and wiser people so full of doubts.”
~ Bertrand Russell
“Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
~ Shakespeare – A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act III, scene II
“When fear becomes collective, when anger becomes collective, it’s extremely dangerous. It is overwhelming… The mass media and the military-industrial complex create a prison for us, so we continue to think, see, and act in the same way… We need the courage to express ourselves even when the majority is going in the opposite direction… because a change of direction can happen only when there is a collective awakening… Therefore, it is very important to say, ‘I am here!’ to those who share the same kind of insight.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Power
Ron’s Introduction to Are Fools and Foolishness Scuttling “Spaceship Earth”?
Dear Friends,
Since launching this website, I have published many postings expressing deep concern that all sentient life on our precious planet Earth is experiencing potential catastrophe by following or allowing foolish leaders (representing less than 1% of humankind} to dangerously navigate “Spaceship Earth” for the 99%+ rest of us.
These postings have asserted or implied that our foolish transnational world “leaders” are malignantly or malevolenty harming countless humans and creatures, by unsustainably and unconscionably pillaging, poisoning and plundering the life systems which physically support us.
Now at age ninety, I feel impelled to correct any assertions that our “leaders”, rather than Mother/Father/God, our Source and ultimate collective identity, determine our destinies.
As I’ve explained in other recent postings, I’m optimistically confident that an ever-expanding “critical mass” of humankind is awakening to realize that we are ONE Universal LOVE, beyond our apparent subject/object separateness; and beyond our beliefs, religions, ideologies or philosophies.
Therefore, the current era of worldwide fear, suffering, turmoil and war, is paradoxically an unprecedented opportunity for a wonderful new awakened era of peace and prosperity.
Whatever our outer life circumstances, there ever-exists within us an Eternal God-given state of Universal LOVE; an egoless state of timeless joy and bliss attainable by all humans as our Divine birthright.
This ultimate Reality is impelling humankind to instinctively reconsider our life purposes and priorities as seemingly-separate sentient beings on “Spaceship Earth”.
Bucky Fuller and “Spaceship Earth”
Buckminster Fuller ~ 1885 – 1983
In the mid-1960’s visionary American architect, inventor, and author R. Buckminster Fuller [Bucky] popularized the term “Spaceship Earth” to explain how our precious planet is a single system with its apparent separations inextricably interdependent and interconnected.
Bucky foresaw that to ensure our long-term viability and to avert global catastrophe humanity must wisely and cooperatively inhabit and operate our amazing ‘Spaceship’ – like skilled astronauts. He said:“We are all astronauts on a little spaceship called Earth.”
So I’ve wondered whether “Spaceship Earth” has become a “ship of fools”, not only because of those insanely commanding and guiding it, but also because we its apparently endangered crew tolerate such foolishness without immediately mutinying and claiming command.
Current critical times
Since inception of a purported coronavirus pandemic crisis, countless people worldwide have been experiencing much fear, anxiety, anger, hatred and other polarizing negative emotions. More people are now fearful than ever before. And such fears are constantly being psychologically fomented by mainstream news media and internet information cartels.
Whatever our political, cultural, generational, or geographical perspectives may be, we share overriding common needs and aspirations: the same precious Earth biosphere; the same aspirations for health and happiness and enjoyment of God-given rights; and for just democratic societies serving basic needs of all life on a peaceful planet.
However, until now virtually all of us in varying degrees have been suffering from an illusory sense of separation from each other and from our ONE common spiritual essence. According to mystics and non-material scientists we suffer from perception deception, mistakenly believing as ‘reality’ all we perceive as separate. But, as Albert Einstein revolutionarily revealed: “Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
And, as Alan Watts reminds us, we’ve “been fooled” by our mistakenly perceived separation from Nature:
“The individual is separate from his universal environment only in name. When this is not recognized, you have been fooled by your name. Confusing names with Nature, you come to believe that having a separate name makes you a separate being. This is — rather literally — to be spellbound”.
~ Alan Watts
Probably each of us has subliminally known and instinctively expressed our participation in a great space/time duality hoax about our supposed separate reality and identity. And perhaps April Fools’ days and Earth days have been expressions of that subliminal awareness.
Conclusion
Humanity needs to nonviolently take collective charge of navigating “Spaceship Earth”.
As Venerable Buddhist Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh wisely observed:
“We need the courage to express ourselves even when the majority is going in the opposite direction… because a change of direction can happen only when there is a collective awakening.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
As the 99%+ common ‘crew’ of “Spaceship Earth”, we must take charge of guiding our precious planet to assure that it is no longer unsustainably desecrated; but that it is honored by compassionately cooperative societies, rather than insanely ruled and ruined by very few purported “leaders”.
We must choose to live together as sisters and brothers rather than “perish together as fools.”
And so shall it be!
Ron Rattner
Remembering the Resurrection of Jesus Christ with Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2
“Music is the language of God.”
“Music can change the world.”
~ Ludwig van Beethoven
“Music is a moral law.
It gives a soul to the universe,
wings to the mind,
flight to the imagination,
a charm to sadness,
and life to everything.
It is the essence of order.”
~ Plato
”Music then is simply the result of
the effects of Love on rhythm and harmony.”
~ Plato
”Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God
and the permissible delights of the soul.”
”Harmony is next to Godliness”
~ Johann Sebastian Bach
“If only the whole world could feel the power of harmony.”
~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “
Every element has a sound,
an original sound from the order of God;
all those sounds unite like the harmony from harps and zithers.”
~ Hildegard of Bingen
Gustav-Mahler- ~ July 7, 1860 – May 18, 1911
Ron’s Introduction to Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2
Dear Friends,
In prior memoirs chapters I have explained and demonstrated how open-hearted listening to mystical music, attuned to the eternal Light of timeless LOVE, elevates our earth-energies (beyond the fearful ego-mind) to impart deep wisdom, regardless of whether we self-identify as being religious or spiritual, or with a gender, ethnicity, or as any other separate entity label.
Also, as my recent Vernal Equinox Blessings posting explains, happiness in life comes to all those who lovingly live for the happiness of others, regardless of their supposed separate self-identity.
Today’s posting features embedded YouTube video passionate performances of one of the greatest symphonies of all time, Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2 composed between 1888-1894. These performances demonstrate how mystical music elevates us beyond earthly cares and fears, to experience the eternal Light of timeless LOVE.
They are:
1) A May 2011 BBC Proms performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No.2 at the Royal Albert Hall in London by world-renowned Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel leading the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. [English translations of Mahler’s German lyrics are visually displayed for choral and solo vocal passages.]
2) A June 1995 performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection”Symphony No.2 at the Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki, Japan, by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, plus 10 members of the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, in a “Concert for Peace” arranged and led by world-renowned Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa.
[Only Japanese translations of Mahler’s German lyrics are visually displayed for choral and solo vocal passages. English translations are posted below.]
3) A May 1974 performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection”Symphony No.2 at the Edinburgh Festival by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Bernstein with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus with soloists – soprano: Sheila Armstrong, mezzo-soprano: Janet Baker
4) A separate YouTube video of only the triumphant conclusion of the LSO Edinburgh Festival performance which includes visually displayed English translations of Mahler’s German lyrics for choral and solo vocal passages
Although Mahler’s music is timeless, its resurrection theme is relevant to the current pre-Easter 40 day period of Lent, to prepare for celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter.
And paradoxically the Nagasaki Cathedral venue for the 1995 Japanese performance can be regarded as the symbolic resurrection of a great industrial city with 263,000 people, which was totally destroyed by a US plutonium nuclear bomb on August 9th, 1945.
What is Lent?
Lent is a 40 day period of preparation to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. It is a season of faithful prayer, fasting, and alms-giving intended to open the inner Sacred Heart.
In the New Testament, Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray for forty days and forty nights. It was during this time that Satan unsuccessfully tried to tempt him ( Matthew 4:1–3).
Also in the Old Testament, the prophet Moses went into the mountains for forty days and forty nights to pray and fast “without eating bread or drinking water” before receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28). Likewise, the prophet Elijah went into the mountains for forty days and nights to fast and pray “until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God” when “the word of the Lord came to him” ( 1 Kings 19:8–9).
The forty day and night fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus prepared them for their work. And those who observe the forty day Lent period honor that tradition.
Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2
Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2 is one of the most popular symphonies of all time. Composed between 1888-1894, it was Mahler’s first major work that established his lifelong view of the beauty of afterlife and resurrection.
A current 5 movement version of this symphony was produced and first performed at the Royal Albert Hall London in October 2005.
It featured the following (translated to English) choral and solo vocal lyrics originally written in German by Mahler himself:
Fourth Movement
Primeval Light
O little red rose!
Man lies in greatest need!
Man lies in greatest pain!
How I would rather be in heaven.
There came I upon a broad path
when came a little angel and wanted to turn me away.
Ah no! I would not let myself be turned away!
I am from God and shall return to God!
The loving God will grant me a little light,
Which will light me into that eternal blissful life!
Fifth Movement
Rise again, yes, rise again,
Will you, my dust, after a brief rest!
Immortal life! Immortal life
Will he who called you, give you.
You are sown to bloom again!
The lord of the harvest goes
And gathers sheaves,
Us, who have died.
O believe, my heart, O believe:
Nothing is lost to you!
Yours, yes yours, is what you desired
Yours, what you have loved
What you have fought for!
O believe,
You were not born for nothing!
Have not lived for nothing,
Nor suffered!
What was created
Must perish;
What perished, rise again!
Cease from trembling!
Prepare yourself to live!
O Pain, you piercer of all things,
From you, I have been wrested!
O Death, you conqueror of all things,
Now, are you conquered!
With wings which I have won for myself,
In love’s fierce striving,
I shall soar upwards
To the light which no eye has penetrated!
I shall die in order to live.
Rise again, yes, rise again,
Will you, my heart, in an instant!
That for which you suffered,
To God shall it carry you!
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._2_(Mahler)
Dedication
This posting of Gustav Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2 is deeply dedicated to elevating our earth-energies (beyond the fearful ego-mind) by imparting deep wisdom, regardless of whether we self-identify as being a religious or spiritual person, or with a gender, ethnicity, or as any other separate personality or entity label.
May this commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ thereby inspire all of us to live lovingly for the happiness of others, regardless of our supposed separate self-identities.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
May 2011 BBC Proms performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No.2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ8KyNA8hZk&t=4341s
June 1995 performance at the Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki, Japan, of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No.2
May 1974 performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection”Symphony No.2 at the Edinburgh Festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MNXqXXfMoM
Conclusion of the LSO Edinburgh Festival performance with English translations of Mahler’s German lyrics
https://youtu.be/gQctkKJMgM0
Einstein’s Mystical Ideas About God, Death, Afterlife, and Reincarnation
“I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, …Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism.
~ Albert Einstein, as quoted in his New York Times Obituary, April 19, 1955)
Albert Einstein
March 14, 1879 – April 18,1955
Ron’s Introduction to Einstein’s Mystical Ideas About God, Death, Afterlife, and Reincarnation
Dear Friends,
Today’s republished post honors Albert Einstein on the 144th anniversary of his birth on March 14, 1879. According to his New York Times Obituary, published April 19, 1955, Einstein was not only a great scientist but a wise philosopher and a pragmatic “true mystic” … “of a deeply religious nature.”
I first wrote and published this posting in 2011 soon after SillySutras went online. Since then, it has consistently been the most popular article on this website. It was composed long after my spiritual awakening.
I was never talented in or studied mathematics or traditional sciences. Apart from Albert Einstein’s global reputation as a scientific genius whose E=mc2 discoveries that everything everywhere is endless energy had revolutionized our understanding of space/time reality, I knew little about him.
I began learning about Einstein in 2002 after getting my first computer, under the following circumstances.
Background
Many silly sutras, poems and essays were first written on bits of paper during an extended period of solitude, when I had no computer, TV, or daily paper, and was extremely reluctant to participate in the ‘digital revolution’. To express my skeptical attitude about possible technological transformation, I wrote that I chose the “inner net” rather than the internet; that while “the world wants ever more information, Ron seeks infinite inspiration: in the Unknown, in the Mystery – the Mystery of Divinity”.
But finally, despite prolonged reluctance to go on-line, I felt obliged to get a computer in 2002 after my son Josh had significant legal problems requiring my professional help.
Only thereafter did I discover Albert Einstein’s wise quotations on many philosophical subjects other than theoretical physics. I was amazed to find that Einstein had expressed many of the same perennial wisdom non-duality ideas which were expressed in my sutras.
Thereafter, in trying to discuss those ideas with others I often used Einstein quotes, rather than sutras. [As a lawyer I learned that it is much more persuasive to cite Supreme Court rulings than decisions of an unknown justice of the peace.]
Thus, the following essay about “Einstein’s Mystical Ideas About God, Death, Afterlife, and Reincarnation” was composed from a perennial wisdom non-dualism perspective. It is now supplemented below with embedded biographical videos about Einstein.
Please enjoy and reflect upon that perennial wisdom, as we honor Albert Einstein on the 144th anniversary of his March 14, 1879 birthday.
Albert Einstein’s Mystical Ideas About God, Death, Afterlife, and Reincarnation
Albert Einstein was not only a great scientist but a wise philosopher and a pragmatic “true mystic” … “of a deeply religious nature.” (New York Times Obituary, April 19, 1955)
Einstein did not believe in a formal, dogmatic religion, but was religiously and reverently awed and humbled with a cosmic religious feeling by the immense beauty and eternal mystery of our Universe.
He often commented publicly on religious and ethical subjects, and thereby he became widely respected for his moral integrity and mystical wisdom, as well as for his scientific genius.
In an essay collection entitled The World As I See It, first published 1933, Einstein explained his reverence for God as Eternal Universal Intelligence. But he rejected prevalent religious ideas of individual survival of physical death, reincarnation, or of reward or punishment in heaven or hell after physical death. He said:
I am a deeply religious man. I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are conscious in ourselves. An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension, nor do I wish it otherwise; such notions are for the fears or absurd egoism of feeble souls. Enough for me the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvelous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavor to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature. [The World As I See It]
On learning of the death of a lifelong friend, Einstein wrote in a March 1955 letter to his friend’s family:
“Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
Einstein’s rejection of afterlife contradicted many religious teachings and credible experiential accounts of individual afterlife and reincarnation. But it was consistent with Einstein’s revolutionary scientific paradigm and with highest non-dualistic Eastern religious teachings, the most ancient extant of which is Hindu Advaita Vedanta philosophy.
Einstein revolutionized Western science with his 1905 groundbreaking theory of relativity that “mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing”; that there was an equivalence between all matter and energy in the universe, quantifiable by the simple equation E=mc2. On his arrival in New York in 1919, Einstein summarized his theory of relativity in the single sentence:
“Remove matter from the universe and you also remove space and time.”
Clark R.W., Einstein: His Life and Times (1973)
Though Vedic rishis or seers had anticipated Einstein by millennia, their teachings were largely unknown in the West until shortly before Einstein revolutionized Western science.
The ancient Vedic Advaita teachings were first brought to large Western audiences by Swami Vivekananda – who came to the West as Indian delegate to the 1893 Parliament of World Religions.
Vivekananda, who was principle disciple of nineteenth century Indian Holy Man Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, eloquently explained that according to Advaita philosophy this impermanent and ever changing world is an unreal illusion called maya or samsara; and, that “all that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream”… In an eloquent New York City lecture called “The Real and the Apparent Man”, he equated maya or samsara with “time, space, and causation” and presciently predicted scientific confirmation of the ancient Vedic non-dual philosophy of One Infinite Existence. He said:
“According to the Advaita philosophy, ..this Maya or ignorance–or name and form, or, as it has been called in Europe, time, space, and causality–is out of this one Infinite Existence showing us the manifoldness of the universe; in substance, this universe is one. So long as any one thinks that there are two ultimate realities, he is mistaken. When he has come to know that there is but one, he is right. This is what is being proved to us every day, on the physical plane, on the mental plane, and also on the spiritual plane.
“What then becomes of all this threefold eschatology of the dualist, that when a man dies he goes to heaven, or goes to this or that sphere, and that the wicked persons become ghosts, and become animals, and so forth? None comes and none goes, says the non-dualist. How can you come and go? You are infinite; where is the place for you to go?
“So it is with regard to the soul; the very question of birth and death in regard to it is utter nonsense. Who goes and who comes? Where are you not? Where is the heaven that you are not in already? Omnipresent is the Self of man. Where is it to go? Where is it not to go? It is everywhere. So all this childish dream and puerile illusion of birth and death, of heavens and higher heavens and lower worlds, all vanish immediately for the perfect. For the nearly perfect it vanishes after showing them the several scenes up to Brahmaloka. It continues for the ignorant.”
“Time, space and causation are like the glass through which the Absolute is seen. In the Absolute there is neither time, space nor causation.”
“Science and religion will meet and shake hands…When the scientific teacher asserts that all things are the manifestation of one force, does it not remind you of the God of whom you hear in the Upanishads? Do you not see whither science is tending?”
“…this separation between man and man, between nation and nation, between earth and moon, between moon and sun. Out of this idea of separation between atom and atom comes all misery. But the Vedanta says that this separation does not exist, it is not real.”
“Your own will is all that answers prayer, only it appears under the guise of different religious conceptions to each mind. We may call it Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, but it is only the Self, the ‘I’.”
~ Swami Vivekananda – Jnana Yoga
Einstein’s non-mechanistic science was very difficult for Western materialist minds to comprehend because his mystical view questioned the substantiality of matter and the ultimate reality of space, time and causality. Like Vivekananda, he said:
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
“Our separation of each other is an optical illusion of consciousness.”
“Space and time are not conditions in which we live, they are modes in which we think”
“Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter.”
“There is no place in this new kind of physics for the field and matter, for the field is the only reality.”
“That which is impenetrable to us really exists. Behind the secrets of nature remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion.”
Thus, Einstein’s rejection of prevalent religious ideas about God and individual survival of physical death and afterlife was consistent with his revolutionary science as well as with Eastern non-dualistic teachings explained by Vivekenanda that apparent separation between subject and object is an unreal “optical illusion of consciousness.”
Did Einstein’s psyche survive his death?
Was he surprised on his demise?
Though Einstein didn’t believe in individual survival of physical death, he may have been surprised on his demise. Conservation of energy is basic to physics. So Einstein must have realized that his subtle energetic essence was indestructible and could only be transformed from one state to another. But we don’t know how that knowledge may have influenced his opinion about what happens on individual death, or his experience thereafter.
Except for very rare Buddha-like people who transcend all desires, it is probable that all humans survive physical death as psyches or mental bodies, irrespective of their beliefs. So the Dalai Lama has said:
“[Physical qualities] cannot be carried over into the next life.
The continuum of the mind, however, does carry on.
Therefore, a quality based on the mind is more enduring. …
So, through training the mind, qualities such as compassion, love, and the wisdom realizing emptiness can be developed.”
~ H.H. Dalai Lama, from Practicing wisdom: the perfection of Shantideva’s Bodhisattva way
Thus, Buddhists say that Gautama Buddha experienced countless incarnations over eons of time before ultimately transcending the cycle of birth and death. And the Dalai Lama has said:
“We are born and reborn countless number of times, and it is possible that each being has been our parent at one time or another. Therefore, it is likely that all beings in this universe have familial connections.”
~ H. H. Dalai Lama, from ‘The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom”.
But, rather than wondering if on demise of Einstein’s physical body and extraordinary brain, his subtle mental body survived – with its unfulfilled desire to find a single simple “unified field” formula explaining phenomenal reality from perspective of ‘the mind of God’ – let us honor his immense evolutionary accomplishments and take inspiration from his compassionate social activism, and pragmatic wisdom.
And thereby let us learn to live ever more peacefully, harmoniously and skillfully, in this ever changing phenomenal world of space, time and causation, as together we evolve out of the darkness of ignorance and into the light of Eternal Awareness.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
Conclusion and Dedication
Albert Einstein’s revolutionary science and unconventional religious ideas were consistent with highest non-dualistic Eastern religious teachings. Therefore, although Einstein was “a deeply religious man”, and not an atheist, he rejected prevalent religious ideas of individual survival of physical death, reincarnation, or of reward or punishment in heaven or hell after physical death.
Apparently this SillySutras essay has helped introduce many people to pivotal non-dualism teachings, as elucidated with above key quotations from Einstein and Swami Vivekananda. So it is deeply dedicated to helping us live according to these perennial teachings, and thereby to find ever more happiness in our lives.
And so may it be!
Ron Rattner
How I See the World – PBS Documentary Film About Einstein:
George Bernard Shaw pays tribute to Albert Einstein
