CHAPTER THREE

  TOWARDS AN ADVAITIC

UNIFICATION OF EVOLUTION

            The proceeding chapter examined the advaitic vision of Griffiths seeing the need to synthesize the Eastern mystical elements with those of the West. Proceeding further, in this chapter, we wish to see how Griffiths himself undertakes his venture of unifying the diversity of human ex perience s to form one unifying view of the cosmos and of human beings, including their religious beliefs, within the perspective of Eastern religions, Christianity and Western science . We shall restrict ourselves to Griffiths' own treatment of the topic. Hence, our procedure in this section will be only expository. Critique or evaluation will follow later. Here the emphasis is on understanding and assimilating Griffiths' own attempt at unifying and integrating reality in the perspective of a Totality. We shall follow his own process of thought, as elaborated in his A New Vision of Reality (NVR). Our treatment is certainly limited in order to span the whole evolutionary growth of the cosmos and of human consciousness in this chapter. Nevertheless, we make this bold attempt knowing well that we cannot do full justice to the topic because our purpose of attaining a holistic integration of the cosmos and human beings demands that we undertake such an attempt, in spite of its inherent limitations.

            To begin we cite Griffiths as he formulates the goal of his own enterprise. His aim is "to see how the whole process [of the evolution of the world and of human consciousness ] converges on an Ultimate Reality, a Supreme Being."²⁶⁴ It is important to note firstly, that he includes the whole phenomena of the world as his starting point in order to arrive at a convergence of the entire world in the Supreme Being. Secondly, he himself affirms that "it is important to have some kind of plan in terms of which to identify and unify our experience . It is also important that this unifying plan has a place for all the great religious traditions ."²⁶⁵ Here we note again the human need to unify the totality of our experience, which is the goal of this book, as well. We shall attempt to do this within our advaitic framework.

            Again it must be stressed that what follows is not a rigid, watertight system applicable for all times and situations. By its very nature it is open to modifications and adaptations, for as he asserts, the final Reality is unknowable. But this does not amount to skepticism. While it is hypothetical, it is not arbitrary.²⁶⁶ It remains tentative, but is based on facts available to us at present. Therefore, there is an element of certainty in it. Moreover it presents a general outline or framework for reference. Thus he affirms: "What follows is an attempt to articulate some kind of framework in which all these modes of experience can be related and seen in their inner unity."²⁶⁷

            Lastly, it must be emphasized that on his path to the evolution of consciousness and the unification of the whole of reality , he is basing himself firmly on the findings of modern science and his Christian faith. In all his attempts to find a unified vision of the totality of reality, he does not lose sight of his basic Christian experience of the resurrection of the Lord. Thus a permanent thread running throughout our discussion will be his question: "How do we situate Christianity in this context of contemporary physics, psychology and the mystical tradition ?"²⁶⁸

            It is essential, however, that we keep in mind the fact that Bede was no scientist specialized in contemporary physics or evolution. His writings can never be considered scientific contributions. What he has done is to draw from popular scientific writers and cull ideas and vision that he can put on the same balance within his mystical framework. It would be a colossal blunder on our part to see the writings of Griffiths as scientific treatise reflecting the modern scientific worldview. First and foremost he is a mystic with an advaitic vision of reality . This mystical vision is furthered and substantiated by the scientific and metaphysical visions.

PROCEDURE

            Our procedure in this chapter is: first to situate our effort at unifying the whole of reality by presenting the picture of this by modern science.²⁶⁹

            Next, we shall look at the two divergent processes of prav tti and niv tti, the descending and ascending dynamics in the course of evolution. We follow first the process of fragmentation or descending from the original unity as evolution of conscience and as the fall. Then we shall look at the ascending aspect or reintegration by studying the authentic origin and purpose of religion and attempting to gain a holistic vision of reality . This process finds its fulfillment in the accent on the Godhead. This aspect is dealt with in sections three and four.

            Finally, we will make an effort to understand Griffiths' own effort at an advaitic or unifying synthesis of the totality of the reality in the One, the Supreme. This is done in the last section. It must be admitted that since there are no sharp distinctions between the various sections some overlapping and repetitions are unavoidable. Still our whole focus is on finding a unified , interdependent web of relationship in the whole reality.

            In short, we can say that after introducing reality , we study the movement from the initial integral oneness to fragmentation and then the movement back to the Supreme. Then we see how this synthesis is attempted by Griffiths himself. It must be noted that this whole movement to and from and this synthesis do result in a radical change and a transformed newness. Our synthesis and return is not a movement in vain, a repetition ad infinitum.

            The process we follow to formulate a unifying advaitic plan of reality could be divided roughly into the three dimensions in Griffiths' own anthropology. At the first phenomenal level of the physical world we try to understand materiality. At the second psychological level, we look at the evolution of consciousness and of the psyche. This implies obviously that there is more to the phenomenal world than the merely material. From there, we go on also to consider the subtle world, which has largely been forgotten by modern men and women.²⁷⁰ The fall from Eden and the origin of sin could also be studied at this psychological level. Moving further to the spiritual dimension , we see how the attempt is made to unify and integrate our whole vision. It is basically the spiritual dimension which would unify the whole reality leading us to a holistic return to the Godhead. So the final goal of unity in the totality of the One is an advaitic vision. It is a vision based on a healthy mystical or spiritual level, without in any way denying the physical and psychological as we have already indicated in the preceding chapter. It may be noted that these three divisions do not fit exactly into our categories. There is an element of approximation in these divisions.

THE PHYSICAL DIMENSION

            Cosmic Origin: Of course the natural starting point for such a venture would be the very origin of the physical or material world.²⁷¹ Griffiths accepts the theory of the cosmic explosion of matter at the very beginning of conceivable physical time, some fifteen billion years ago, as postulated by contemporary physics.²⁷² In that explosion, which the physicists call the "Big Bang " it is thought that the forms of all matter which were to come to be in the course of time "were all already implicated , enfolded together, and that these forms have gradually unfolded or become explicated in the course of the evolutionary process."²⁷³ Actually going further than the physicists, he extends this thought to include not just the form of the matter but also the form for the consciousness as already implicated in the original explosion .

            This implies that we have to conceive of a universe coming into being in which matter and consciousness are interwoven. This concept can be better understood in terms of the classical Aristotelian categories of matter and form .

            Matter and Form : Before going further, a brief digression on form and matter is ap propriate, since in and through these two concepts we can visualize his whole understanding of the process of evolution of the material world as well as of consciousness . As he himself admits, he resorts to the classical Aristotelian definition of matter and form to understand and to explain the origin and evolution of the cosmos and consciousness. Matter is for him "the energy of the universe, an unformed, unstructured energy, which is behind the whole universe," and form is "the principle of order."²⁷⁴ So matter is indeterminate, unpredictable, unintelligible and a pure flux of energy without form. Change, becoming, chance, absurdity and unpredictability follow from this matter. As against this, form constitutes the principle of order, of structure, of intelligibility and of being in actuality. So the pure potentiality of matter is organized and actualized into being through the action of form on it.

            Matter always tends to dissipate itself, to disintegrate, to become disorganized, reminding us of the entropy principle of physics. As matter expands beginning with the Big Bang the force of form comes into play and begins to structure matter, organizing and controlling it. Thus, from the beginning matter became increasingly more organized as the two forces continuously operated, matter disintegrating and moving outwards and form drawing within, concentrating and centering the matter.

            Gradual Unfolding: The whole universe from its very beginning evolved out of an interplay between these two basic principles, matter and form . As part of this dynamics of evolving we see the trend of matter to be always dissipating, disintegrating and disorganizing.²⁷⁵ This is confirmed by the physicists' theory that at the very beginning of the universe there was a primordial explosion such that this matter was thrown outward to primordial expansion. Later in the course of time, due to evolutionary forces, complex life forms emerged and gradually developed.

            This slow development of matter into atoms, molecules and then into cells, organisms and simple plants and then to complex animals²⁷⁶ is a gradual and continuous process. He notes: "What is particularly interesting is that the elements of the particular stage, atoms, molecules, cells and so on, are each a whole in their own right, and as they develop they integrate the other wholes within themselves so that the universe is composed of wholes within wholes."²⁷⁷ Taking the example of an atom or a cell he asserts that even within the cell the molecules still retain their "structure within the wider structure of the cell."²⁷⁸ So he sees in nature "structures or processes built up one after another, one into another, in such a way that nothing is lost."²⁷⁹

            This evolutionary process follows mostly mechanical laws in the course of evolution.²⁸⁰ This process goes on continuously through plants and animals and reaches its climax in human beings.²⁸¹ 

            It appears that the same forces which are at work in matter and sub-human life are operative also in the human and conscious level. The principles of matter and form working together can account for the theory of evolution and the emergence of consciousness . Finally it has led to the mind, "a pattern of self-organization and a set of dynamic relationships ."²⁸² Form creates order and enables self-organization and a set of dynamic relationships. Human we are at that stage of consciousness at which the material universe emerges into consciousness in each one of us. The first level of consciousness is that of global consciousness , that is aware of oneself being part of the physical universe. Later on this consciousness evolves to the awareness of oneself as part of a human organization, of a human family and of human relationships. It further develops to the level of self-consciousness , leading to self-reflection on oneself.

            Slowly we begin to experience ourselves as an integrated whole. "Just as the structure of the whole human organism is present in every cell, so the whole universe is present in each one of us and we become conscious of the physical structure of the universe of which we are a part."²⁸³ Even now we are in the process of evolving.

            Scientific Evidence: Griffiths tries to base his conclusions on modern physical, scientific and psychological findings. Drawing from the studies of some of the eminent scientists of our times, he tries to support his own conclusions on the interdependence and the wholeness of the cosmic reality . It would be interesting for us to look at some of the sources which justify his view of reality as mutually interdependent and interacting.

            The earlier classical physics with a mechanistic view²⁸⁴ of the universe is, he holds, no longer defensible today. Although the scientists who were the driving force behind the mechanistic view of the world themselves were believers,²⁸⁵ their philosophy could, and in fact, has led to atheism. The eighteenth century could be characterized as "thoroughgoing materialism , . . . combined with mechanism" which practically favored atheism. This mechanistic view was later extended to include biology and even psychology . The pioneer in psychology, Freud, tried to explain the whole of the human person in terms of mechanistic causality.²⁸⁶ Largely he was successful in relating repression to suppressed forces in the unconscious. Jung ²⁸⁷ broke with Freud's view and discovered in the unconscious not only repressed forces of emotion, but also creative principles which he called archetypes .

            In spite of this prevailing materialist philosophy inherited from the eighteenth century, there are other directions of development discernible in contemporary physics²⁸⁸ and science which support "perennial philosophy "²⁸⁹ and Griffiths makes use of these trends to lend credence to his own theory of cosmic interdependence. To cite him, "In physics, for instance, there has recently been the discovery that the material universe is essentially a field of energies in which the parts can only be understood in relation to the whole."²⁹⁰ He illustrates this using the case of electrons and their tunnelling effect in quantum mechanics.²⁹¹ This has been further corroborated by physicist David Bohm who in his book Wholeness and Implicate Order has advocated the theory of the implicate order. According to this theory, "The whole universe is originally implicated , or folded up together, and what we observe in the everyday world is the explicate order, i.e. that which has been explicated or unfolded."²⁹² Behind the continually unfolding explicate order the implicate order is always present so that in one sense the whole universe is implicated behind the explicated form . His theory affirms in the spirit of Einstein "a fundamental wholeness, interconnectedness and intelligibility"²⁹³ of the whole cosmos, including human beings.

            Again in the rapidly moving field of biology, the Cambridge biologist Rupert Sheldrake has affirmed that "the attempt to explain the phenomena of life in terms of physics and chemistry alone cannot ultimately succeed." Rupert Sheldrake, in his A New Science of Life : The Hypothesis of Formative Causation, has put forward the theory of formative causation based on the hypothesis of `morphogenetic fields'.<sup>294</sup> This theory, as opposed to the mechanistic views, introduces the concept of `morphic resonance' and `formative causation.' "This means that each living or non-living entity develops its particular form as a crystal or organ or plant or animal because it is within a particular morphogenetic field which is structuring it, and which is in resonance with all similar organisms. The field thus contains an inherent memory."²⁹⁵

            This view of the cosmic interdependence is further corroborated by the findings of Ilya Prigogine, a Russian-born Nobel Prize-winning physical chemist, who discovered that within certain chemicals there are systems which he termed "dissipative structures."²⁹⁶ These cells maintain their order and develop it further by breaking down other structures in the process. The entropy or disorder resulting from it is dissipated in the form of waste products. The self-organization within these chemical systems so resembles that of living organisms that it has been suggested that they represent a link between non-living and living matter .²⁹⁷ Bede Griffiths sees these ideas of how form or field structures matter as having some similarity to the position of Teilhard de Chardin .²⁹⁸

            After studying the emerging view of the reality in contemporary science Griffiths formulates his own thesis:²⁹⁹ 

            We have, then, the new physics with its understanding of the physical world as a field of energies, an integrated whole in which the whole is present in every part; we have the theory of morphogenetic fields, within which organisms have been built up continuously and are developing continually into new forms. The principle of formative causation, within specific morphogenetic fields, applies to everything in the cosmos from the organization of the atom upwards, thorough the molecule, the cell, the organ, the organism, the plant, the animal and the human. With the advent of the human body that organizing power within begins to become conscious. A human being is a form of matter which has reached a very high order of complexity and is so organized as to become conscious. The breakthrough takes place when matter and form, which have been working together, come into consciousness and we can become aware of ourselves as a material organism with cells made up of matter from the first matter of the universe. Each of us, in the cells of our body, is linked with the original matter of the universe because the entire universe, and everything in it, is one integrated whole. . . . We all have within ourselves the basic structure of the physical universe and of life, but we also have this unique awakening into consciousness. We can begin to control the matter of our bodies.

            In conclusion we can hold that in every branch of Hinduism there is this movement of the cosmos³⁰⁰ emerging and returning to its center: the One. The result of this movement is that the whole universe returns to God enriched by the experience of self-consciousness .³⁰¹ The difference in the Christian position here is that everything that returns to the Father returns through the Son and the Spirit and so comes back transformed.³⁰² But from a Hindu perspective, as we have already hinted, we are all in that movement of prav tti and niv tti. So everything comes forth from the Father in the Word and everything is being drawn back to the Father in the Spirit.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSION

            In the second section Griffiths studies the evolving growth of consciousness and mental faculty. This section leads to the spiritual dimension where full integration is possible.

Evolution of Consciousness (Prav tti)

            The process of evolution that we have just hinted at in the preceding section goes on continuously through plants and animals to human beings. Griffiths infers from this that the "same forces which are at work in matter and in sub-human life operate also in the human person and in human consciousness ."³⁰³ This makes him conclude that the same principles of matter and form , which we have seen, can also account for the evolution of humanity with its human consciousness . What is special about human beings, according to Griffiths, is that this organizing power or form "begins to emerge into consciousness,"³⁰⁴ and in the case of humanity it expresses itself as mind. Mind, it has been said, reveals itself as "a pattern of self-organization and a set of dynamic relationships."³⁰⁵ In this sense it can be said that mind is present in matter from the beginning. In other words the mind which has eternally been present, also in matter, plants and animals, becomes conscious in human beings, as indicated already.³⁰⁶ Now we are at that particular stage of evolution at which the material universe is emerging into consciousness in each one of us. This he illustrates by referring to the study of Ken Wilber. Griffiths says:³⁰⁷ "Ken Wilber has correctly diagnosed this process of evolution. He has traced various levels of consciousness and of unconsciousness in each one of us. Beneath the conscious mind, there are many levels of the unconscious too. By trance or by hypnosis it is actually possible to get back to the level of prenatal experience where the whole trauma of the birth process can be relived and worked with."³⁰⁸ In our treatment, we restrict ourselves to the emergence and growth of consciousness . Tracing the process of human evolution Wilber beautifully illustrates the whole process in his Up from Eden.³⁰⁹ He distinguishes various levels in the emergence of consciousness.³¹⁰ We shall look at them briefly below:

            1. Urobic/Oceanic Consciousness : This is the original state of human beings and is the primeval consciousness in Eden where the human being is totally immersed in nature and is one with it. Having no separate ego in that state, it could be seen easily in the child floating in the amniotic fluid in the mother. There is simply an experience of immersion in a cosmic whole, in which the material and the human world are experienced in a global unity with the Spirit which pervades and encompasses them as a kind of bliss. This corresponds to the state in Eden since man and woman in the paradise account were in that state of bliss-consciousness, totally one with nature.

            The term uroboric comes from Greek mythology, where the uroboros is the serpent with its tail in its mouth and thus completely enclosed in itself. So the child in the womb and primeval human being in nature is completely enclosed in the world of nature, without any separation.

            2. Typhonic/Vital Consciousness: Typhon is another mythological creature, half human being and half serpent. Since its tail is no longer in its mouth, it has begun to transcend itself, indicating the child begins to develop a body consciousness and to transcend itself to some extent. It is a state where the child has only "self-awareness of the body but yet no self-awareness of the mind."³¹¹ It is like a dream state since things are far less differentiated than in the actual waking state. Time and space are not yet fully differentiated. In this period the personal boundaries are not distinct, and there is the sense of flowing into and merging with others. Hence this state is also referred to as a "participation mystique" or "a mystical participation"³¹² It is also the world of magic, since in magic, too, there is no clear distinction made between the outer and the inner world. This is the pre-logical state of consciousness before the development of language, when life is totally lived in the present. It is actually a world of the emotions, of full participation.

            3. The Verbal/Imaginative Consciousness : This stage is characterized by the development of language. Use of words as signs is a remarkable breakthrough in the emergence of consciousness and in communication, enabling humankind to span time and space. So he says: "Language is the beginning of the first stage of liberation."³¹³ To gether with it we have the beginning of the sense of time and living in extended time. This corresponds to the great change in economics from hunting (living in the present) to agriculture (anticipating the future). At this stage there is the beginning of the clear separation from the world around, and there is therefore the possibility of controlling the world in turn. So while undifferentiated from the world, early man and woman at this stage were molded by the environment. The next step of the verbal membership level is that of mythical knowledge. Once language developed, the awareness of the world around could be expressed through symbols and myths. They had a different way of perceiving the reality around them³¹⁴ in a world of imagination , as compared to the previous stage of the world of emotions.

            This world of symbolic imagination is typical in what is known as "paleonlogical thought ." It is not fully logical and operates largely with images and symbols . In this mythological world, there are no clearcut distinctions. Some spiritual insights have been characteristic of this age. It is suggested that at this time language is "paratactic and not syntactic."³¹⁵ That means that clauses were simply put together side by side without forming complex sentences and therefore not using the language syntactically (e.g., as in a young child). Here it was predominantly the right hemisphere of the brain which was operative.

            This stage also corresponds to the stage where surplus of production could be stored in anticipation for the future. Now it was truly possible to live from year to year. As Karl Marx has showed, here the economy changed the outlook of the people and whole social structures. Now larger communities sprang and developed rapidly (in the valleys of the Nile, the Euphrates, the Indus and the Yellow River in China ). There was also a group of people who had leisure and free time. So the art of painting, ideograms, writings, alphabet, calendar and observation of the stars developed. Here gods dominate all human concerns. At this stage there is an intensified consciousness of the Great Mother , since the separation from the body consciousness is severely felt. At this stage conflicts arise out of the suppression of feelings or as reaction against this Mother.

            4. Mythical/Symbolic Consciousness : A later stage was the possibility of the development of knowledge through the use of myths; this is symbolic knowledge made possible through language. The primitive people saw trees and stones, for instance, differently than we do. There they saw themselves immersed in the totality of the cosmos and bound by the myths affecting them and the cosmos. This mythical consciousness led to the development of imagination , which then led to concrete operational thinking.

            The world of symbolic imagination is typical of palaeological thought. This is thought operating with images and symbols and not with logic. This is the time of paratactic language as opposed to syntactic language, where clauses are put together side by side. This was the time of deep religious insight.

            5. Mental/Rational Consciousness : At the next stage, it became possible to go beyond mere words to logical thought through language. It is thought that it was between 1000 BC and 600 BC when logical thinking achieved a breakthrough enabling consciousness to emerge. This is correlated with the development of the brain and the consciousness of the self. Until that time there was no consciousness of oneself as a separate individual; one belonged to one's family, to one's tribe, to the world around. With the development of the ego, one could control oneself and the world around. This led to the myth of the hero. This is also the stage of the human person 's separation from nature (patriarchal stage). It is, as already mentioned, the stage when consciousness emerged as self-consciousness . This is a considerable advance and is correlated with the development of the ego. At this level the concept of linear time began to dominate over that of cyclic time. This gives rise to the slow evolution of historical³¹⁶ consciousness. Further, at this stage, the mind experiences itself as different from the body and there is danger of repression, and it is here that the so called demonic forces come into play. The suppressed natural energies could be experienced as demons or devils.³¹⁷ A hostile force is experienced within and, when repression continues, may be projected outside. It may be noted that these experiences occur not merely in the individual soul, but in the collective consciousness, so that they are experienced as cosmic forces. Most of us live still in the level of mental consciousness. Stopping at the mental, rational consciousness, with science and technology seen as the highest achievement, the ego is exalted and considers itself as the center. According to Griffiths, the Western materialist philosophy has contributed largely to this arrested development and "most of Western science and philosophy is being kept down at this level."³¹⁸ 

            6. Transmental/Transrational Consciousness : It is precisely at this level that the East has overtaken and "gone far beyond"³¹⁹ the West. In the fifth and sixth centuries BC there took place in the East the breakthrough beyond mental consciousness and beyond the ego to the transegoic, transmental consciousness. Griffiths concludes that this "is the supreme achievement of the human race,"³²⁰ when, beyond the ego, we open ourselves to the transcendent.

            Associated with this level are the subtle levels of consciousness , the areas of siddhi of special spiritual powers, the phenomenon of shamanism, the parapsychological powers and the level of elemental spirits.

            Differentiation and Integration. It must be noted that at every stage there is both differentiation and transcendence . As body consciousness is differentiated from the oceanic, then verbal consciousness from the body, mental consciousness from the verbal, and so on; at each stage people not only differentiate from themselves but also transcend the previous state. With transcendence there is increased freedom, but there is also the need to integrate the former consciousness. When this process of integration fails, problems arise. All too often the integration fails due to various reasons. Modern people are experiencing these splits and repressions to a tremendous extent, and the resultant disorders deep in the psyche are the causes of the imbalance in modern society. Another risk is that as the person separates and gains mental consciousness there is the danger of going back to the mother particularly at the level of verbal consciousness. Or, looked at from another perspective, seeing the brutality and destruction of Mother Nature, the mother is conceived as seeking to devour her children. Therefore, there arose many myths where the mother is seen as the devourer of her own children and the hero is one who escapes and rescues the children from their own mother. It is at this stage that the offerings (which had probably begun at the typhonic stage) takes a terrible turn to human sacrifice.³²¹ In Bede Griffiths' opinion, the phenomenon of war also comes up at this later stage.

            According to Wilber there is "a spectrum of levels of consciousness ," from the basic oceanic consciousness through all the levels up to the supreme consciousness. These different levels are hierarchically structured in such a way that the lower is always integrated with the higher. At every point of transcendence there has to be "differentiation from the previous level and integration with it."³²²