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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................1
One of the most notable characteristics of the post-industrial information age in which we find ourselves is the arising of supra-rationality, the merging of scientific and religious streams of thought. This paper places within the context of this issue two individuals who have had a great influence on its author, and who he feels are key figures in the post-Hiroshima age. One is Timothy Leary, Ph.D., former professor in the Psychology Department at Harvard University and icon of drug countercultures of the sixties. The other is Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), former lecturer in the Philosophy Department of Jabalpur University in India and icon of religious and ideological countercultures of the seventies and eighties. It is of course possible that not everyone will agree on the importance of these two people, and in acknowledgement of this, a short autobiographical sketch has been included so that it is possible for the reader to discern "where I am coming from" in ascribing such importance to these two individuals (in the parlance of the first globally mobile information-age generation).
One of the characteristics of our technological age is a widespread sense of urgency and foreboding. This paper seeks to further the theme that this is a sign of the quickening of the life force within the planet itself and to reaffirm the place of humanity within this process. The intention is to re-establish a groundwork of faith in and appreciation of human dignity to balance eco-environmentalist browbeating or apocalyptic nihilism inspired by religious fundamentalism. It is hoped that the phrase "We are all One" will have more than rhetorical significance to the reader upon completion of this essay.
THE POST-HIROSHIMA WORLDSignificance of the Hiroshima Explosion
The year 1995 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the detonation of the world's first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan. This was a significant defining event of the twentieth century. It partitioned the last hundred years in two in a way more profound than either world war because, for one thing, it redefined forever the very concept of war. For another, it translated, in a flash of immense destructive power, years of intense theoretical speculation about the nature of the world we live in, speculation with far-reaching implications, into fact. When the bomb exploded, it not only vindicated Albert Einstein, who first proposed the mass/energy equivalence E=mc2 which is behind the power of nuclear processes, but all those on whose shoulders he stood. Einstein's name accordingly became an awe provoking household word, nuclear physics became the techno-religion of the military-industrial complex, and he became its high priest. Even today, more than thirty years after his death, his name sets the standard for genius in the western world.
As Timothy Leary, the former Harvard psychology professor alludes to in Flashbacks, the bombing of Hiroshima was a signature event not just scientifically or politically, but also neurologically. It was a signal on a mass scale that the nature of our view of the world we inhabit has been significantly and irrevocably altered. For many in the post-war generation in Europe and America, the feeling of dread inspired by the bomb provoked a sense of imminent (or immanent) change, a sense which accompanied them through their formative years and which produced in many a deep impression of being uprooted. The anthem of the early 60's, the era of the onset of urban alienation, was Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changin," and during this time many young people left their families and communities to embark on a period of experimentation. Some went to the east, some went to live on communes, many tried out drugs and/or new religious ideologies. For many it was a hero's quest:
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. (Campbell, Hero 30)Many indeed returned with boons in the form of new ideologies based on their mystical and visionary experiences- others did not return at all. There are many tales, one of the most interesting of which concerns Leary himself, found in his autobiography, Flashbacks .
I was also a part of this generation. I have my own story to tell, complete with post-nuclear malaise, fascination with science, drug induced mystical experiences and spiritual wandering. It is not a special story, but it is not altogether typical either. It is the story of one member of a generation which has grown up in the shadow of "the bomb," been weaned on television, and found itself in a world qualitatively different from any in recorded history. This difference is palpable and reaches far, both inwards and outwards, affecting the physical forms of our world most obviously. More than this, however, it affects the very way we perceive the world and ourselves. My perception of the nature of this difference is the subject of this paper, which will be more like an impressionistic montage in the spirit of paticca samuphadda , than a linear development. The proverbial pipe has been handed to me, and it is my turn to speak.
Order into chaos, form into formlessness - this is the legacy not only of the atomic bomb, but of "the almost simultaneous discoveries of neuroactive drugs, electronic instruments, DNA code, sub-atomic nuclear energies, quantum physics, computers, electronic communication" (Leary, Info-Psychology 9). It is reflected in large scale social patterns (cultural mixing, internationalization, political refugees), small scale social patterns (the breakdown of the family), individual experience (widening incidence of mystical experience) and in art forms like music (jazz and rock 'n roll). This trend can awaken primeval fears of an impending catastrophe, powerful archetypes that in fact have arisen with a vengeance in the collective psyche. As Baigent et al. have noted, ours is a special time because, with the power of nuclear energy, we have the power to turn fear into a self-fulfilling prophecy (274). There is thus a widespread sense of an urgent need to come to terms with our own psychology. This is another aspect of the difference.
The fear of nuclear war, prevalent as it is to the post-Hiroshima generation, has much to do with the prevailing cosmology, which is our mythological conception of the universe: "For decades, we feared that humanity and much of life on this planet would be destroyed by an apocalyptic nuclear war. It was fitting that we should have a model of cosmic history in which the beginning in a vast explosion mirrored our dread of our end in a nuclear holocaust." (Sheldrake, 125) .
The vast explosion referred to by Sheldrake is the so-called "Big Bang" which today is the most widely accepted cosmological model of theoretical physicists (Davies 47). In this paper, I shall examine this theory in a rudimentary way, and the Judeo-Christian context in which it has arisen. We shall see that the Christian conception of God, which has been incorporated into western science in a fundamental way, remains part of this cosmology. That God could appear in "different clothes" so-to-speak in a hostile context, is another aspect of the difference. Scientific questions are becoming theological ones, and vice-versa.
Two Important Post-Hiroshima Individuals
A characteristic of the post-Hiroshima generation is that it is increasingly able to perceive that it lives in an irrational, Einsteinian universe, and by this I mean the relativistic, quantum-mechanical universe. (Einstein was a reluctant high priest. He was not irrational, and he could never personally come to terms with the indeterminacy mandated by quantum theory, despite the fact that he contributed greatly to the theory.) Metaphors from physics are increasingly applicable to social interactions, a theme which will be returned to in the course of this paper, and the reverse is also true:
"Quantum-psychology begins to study the "psychology" - i.e. the consciousness and behavior - of atomic particles and to relate electronics and atomics to human consciousness and behavior." (Leary, Info-Psychology 5)I believe Dr. Timothy Leary, to whom this quote is attributable, to be a key individual in the study of post-Hiroshima psychology. This paper will undertake a brief synopsis of his transition from Harvard professor to exile and then jailbird because Leary is the archetypal figurehead of the "consciousness revolution," which I see as essentially the beginnings of the current trend towards, not irrationality, but supra-rationality. It is supra-rational because it does not deny the value of rationality but increasingly seeks to incorporate widespread "mystical" experiences within a framework that includes both. Misapprehension of supra-rationality as irrationality is one of the factors, I suspect, responsible for the polarization in religious and political ideologies which was expressed in the 60's in the language of power politics. During the time in Dr. Leary's history we shall consider here, the years 1962-75, he was involved in a direct confrontation with the American political establishment. The circumstances surrounding his imprisonment have much to do with reactionary rationalism arising from the polarization we have referred to.
I believe Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to be another key individual in the study of post -Hiroshima religious trends. He was also a counter-culture figure of the supra-rational persuasion, with whom I was involved personally. The circumstances surrounding his imprisonment and exile are similar to those of Leary. Both of these individuals, besides being imprisoned and banished, have been discredited, and as a result there is a danger of overlooking their significant contributions to the Zeitgeist of the world. To do so is to remain within the context of the rational/non-rational polarity.
I feel it will be relevant and appropriate to include a short autobiographical sketch in this essay. This will briefly relate my own transition from scientist to sannyasin . I think it would even be disingenuous not to do so, as there exist books on the market today extolling the virtues or detailing the vices of Rajneesh that do not include anywhere within them the important information that the writer is a sannyasin , a fact which of course can be construed to create a bias. The book Nostradamus - The Millennium by John Hogue (aka Swami Deva Arjuna) is an example, depicting Rajneesh as a millennial figure (which he may well be). I wish to be as objective as possible, both about my own experience and the events I will describe, but as often happens, emotion and/or personal predilection at times governs the selection of topics and facts. As someone who speaks of Rajneesh in the past tense, my objectivity may be covering a deep sadness over his passing, as well as the passing of my own involvement with the group. During the period of my involvement, I considered the sannyas movement to be essentially "catholic," and so I was particularly troubled by the elitism and sectarianism that colored it at the time of Rajneesh's death. On the other hand, the last two sentences perfectly describe my feelings about leaving my traditional Roman Catholic home after the death of my father. I have to admit in retrospect that Rajneesh was for me, at a deep subconscious level, a surrogate father figure.
Rajneesh expressed a certain apocalyptic nihilism in his last years which is of vital interest to me. In order to explore this, I will open the topic of apocalyptic visions in general to include a treatment of a particular vision of global disaster noteworthy for its typicality and its appeal to ancient mysticism, and discuss it in light of less nihilistic ideas relating to the Gaia Hypothesis of James Lovelock. I hope by doing so to gain a clearer perspective on the special apocalyptic vision of Rajneesh, in which I feel there is a teaching which is relevant in a truly catholic sense.
A Short Definition of "Consciousness"
In this essay, we will have many opportunities to use the word "consciousness," so at the outset we should try to establish its meaning. We begin by acknowledging that probably no single definition will satisfy all possible usages. When used in colloquial speech, its meaning is often vague. It can seem to connote an entity, as in the term "consciousness-raising," as if there is something to be raised. When used with a modifier, it can connote a quality, as in "high consciousness." The Merriam-Webster dictionary equates the word "conscious" with "aware" or "awake," and these are all adjectives, and in some usages, not equivalent. Etymology aside, however, to what does the noun "consciousness" refer? The following definition is from Leary's Info-Psychology: "Consciousness is defined as energy received by structure....For the human being the structures are neural circuits and their anatomical connections" (12). This is a fairly mechanistic definition of questionable application in, for instance, discussions of eastern philosophy, but it will suffice for the more important experiential context in which we are going to use it. Thus when we talk of, say, a "quantum leap" in consciousness we mean something more than acceptance of an intellectual conception of the universe. We mean some change within the neurological circuitry.
"There were towering pyramidal temples, representing, stage by stage, like Dante's Mountain of Purgatory, degrees of elevation of the spirit. There were thirteen heavens, each with its appropriate gods or angels; nine hells, of suffering souls. There was a High God above all, who was beyond all human thought and imagining." (Campbell, Myths 7)The above description brings to mind the tiered temples of India and the pagodas of Japan, China and southeast Asia, as well as the levels of heaven and hell depicted in Buddhist paintings all over Asia and described in Jain scriptures. The commonalty of mythological themes among the cultures of the world has been the subject of intensive research by Campbell, Frazer, Eliade and others. Though cosmological creationism may seem peculiar to the Judeo-Christian context, it is actually a recurring mythological theme. The story of Creation probably pre-dates the Bible, and there is evidence, as presented by Noone, to suggest that the myths of Creation and the Flood recall an actual series of catastrophes that occurred around the year 4000 BC.
Christians believe the Bible to be the word of God, and although it may be divinely inspired, Campbell points out that the Hebrew texts from which are derived most of the popular Bible legends have not been corroborated by archeological findings. He concludes that these texts are not the word of God, or even of Moses, but "of various dates and authors, much more recent than previously supposed," in particular noting the version of Genesis that is commonly read today dates to about the fourth century BC. (the time of Aristotle) (Myths, 6-7). Whoever wrote the book of Genesis said that God created man in His own image. The problem of God preceding man - being outside time yet able to intervene in the world temporally- has dogged Christian philosophers ever since. Thomas Aquinas was the first to attempt a thorough treatment of this question in the thirteenth century, for which he was censured by the Bishop of Paris (being, however, later canonized). He combined the Judeo-Christian religion, which borrowed heavily from the mythologies of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece (Campbell, Myths 6), with Greek methods of rational inquiry, conceiving a transcendent God with definite attributes like omniscience, omnipotence and perfection, occupying a Platonic realm beyond space and time (Davies 36-37). The "kinder, gentler" God of Aquinas contrasted sharply with the Wrathful Patriarch of the Old Testament, Who destroyed Sodom and Gomorra, tormented Job and required Abraham to come to the point of sacrificing his son to demonstrate his faith, but Aquinas had not really solved the problem. The dual nature of God, that he is outside the world and yet somehow interacts with it, remains the central article of belief in Christianity.
The methods of rational inquiry used by Aquinas had their origins in the efforts of the early Greek philosophers. They wished to arrive at a set of axioms to which all could agree, and from which the resolution of all conflicts would follow. When scientific inquiry matured in the seventeenth century, it was well involved with the search for the axioms by which nature operated. Sheldrake traces the beginnings of a patriarchal "sciento-religion" to the time of Sir Francis Bacon, an influential lawyer who rose to the position of Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon argued convincingly "'to establish the power and dominion of the human race itself over the universe'"(40) and was probably the one most responsible for popularizing the legal metaphor of these axioms as the "laws" of nature. Sheldrake argues that Bacon's writings, full of male-dominance sexual imagery (as in the "conquest of nature") (43), coincided with the establishment of what he terms the "scientific priesthood," a male-dominated hierarcy dedicated to wresting secrets from Nature (in the spirit of the Inquisition). Nature was reduced at this time from the status of goddess to mere "inanimate matter in motion" (44). The philosophical problem about the nature of God described above was inherited by science, only now it concerned the nature of the laws of physics. Are they eternal, existing in an ideal Platonic or, perhaps more appropriately, Pythagorean realm accessible to logical inquiry or pure inspiration? Many modern physicists, including Einstein, lean towards idealism in this sense, as did Isaac Newton. The opposing, empirical point of view was that they arise from observation, and are constantly subject to revision as new data arises. God (the Laws) in the world, and yet outside it - it's the same dichotomy tackled by Aquinas.