
Peter Doig, “Pelican (Stag)”
“You’re sitting here with us, but you’re also out walking
in a field at dawn. You are yourself
the animal we hunt when you come with us on the hunt.
You’re in your body like a plant is solid in the ground,
yet you’re wind. You’re the diver’s clothes
lying empty on the beach. You’re the fish.
In the ocean are many bright strands
and many dark strands like veins that are seen
when a wing is lifted up.
Your hidden self is blood in those, those veins
that are lute strings that make ocean music,
not the sad edge of surf, but the sound of no shore.”
Rumi, “The Diver’s Clothes Lying Empty”
Consider this: over ninety-five per cent of the universe is invisible. The existence of the so-called dark matter and dark energy cannot be measured or observed directly; we can only rely on the gravitational effects caused by them. Dark matter, which outweighs standard matter five times, has mass and gravity but it does not reflect or absorb light. What is essential is invisible to the eye. And yet it is fundamental to the whole universe. It initiated its creation. It anchors galaxies, making them stable instead of full of celestial objects spinning around precariously. Becoming conscious of these unconscious processes active in our universe requires a shift in perspective. As Jung noted in Mysterium Coniunctionis, “the conscious mind is usually reluctant to see or admit the polarity of its own background, although it is precisely from there that it gets its energy.” Or as Rumi said, “life’s water flows from darkness.”
More on dark matter:
That last Rumi quote really sums it up nicely.
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Yes, we don’t need long entries if a mystic can sum it up so. Thank you.
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LOVE this
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Great:)
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wow! thank you Monika for blowing my mind in a good way 🙂
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Happy to oblige and thank you, Linda.
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🙂
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This is comforting to me somehow Monika. I not only sense, but enjoy the idea that we are embedded within a rich, mysterious unknown. It reminds me to stay humble. Hope you’re doing well these days!
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Yes, quite well, thank you for asking. I find the all-enveloping darkness comforting as well.
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Monika, thank you for the beautiful image and poem, and returning to Dark Matter. I happened to be listening to Melvin and his crew on BBC earlier in the day you posted this, discussing the Upanishads (7 November 2012 episode) and it is striking to me how it resonates with Dark Matter through exploring the beginning before existence and nonexistence existed and what is it that encompasses the whole of everything, leading to the concept of Brahman. Brahman which is infinite, eternal, unchanging, transcends surrounding universe and encompasses all existence, is all-pervading throughout and across universes, and present within the human soul, holding all stars, desires and being within it. Then the link to the Atman (body, breath,…) and our Self that interacts within it. Then there is a filtering of translations that eventually made its way to Carl Jung and impressed him with its emphasis on the inner self and seems it was a major influence on his concept of the Self.
I don’t know how accurate these translations are, but found a couple different translations of the fourth and fifth verses: “The self is one. It is unmoving: yet faster than the mind. Thus moving faster, It is beyond the reach of the senses. Ever steady, It outstrips all that run. By its mere presence, the cosmic energy is enabled to sustain the activities of living beings. It moves; It moves not. It is far: It is very near. It is inside all this: It is verily outside all this.” In comparison to: “The Spirit, without moving, is swifter than the Mind; the senses cannot reach IT; IT is ever beyond them. Standing still IT overtakes those who run. IT moves. IT moves not, IT is far and IT is near, IT is within all this,
AND IT is outside of all this.”
Also in the way that Dark Matter is its own anti-matter is fascinating and makes me think of Heraclitus. I think the opening fragment of Heraclitus relates: “This Logos holds always but humans always prove unable to understand it, both before hearing it and when they have first heard it. For though all things come to be in accordance with this Logos, humans are like the inexperienced when they experience such words and deeds as I set out, distinguishing each in accordance with its nature and saying how it is. But other people fail to notice what they do when awake, just as they forget what they do while asleep.”
Best, Gray
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what a primal and profound supplement to this post, gray. talk about resonating…indeed. may we humbly keep trying to observe our experience.
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Yes, I agree. It resonates and is a very valuable addition. Thank you very much – both of you!
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Very interesting. What are we then if we are equal parts seen and unseen?
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I think we are more unseen than seen! But the question you ask is one of these great ones. Thank you.
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Branching into physics? Nice! I see a lot of parallels between physics and mysticism.
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Hi Jeff, I’ve done that many times before – Higg’s boson, black holes… Loved The Tao of Physics as well.
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