(A response to an inquiry)
Animism is defined in many ways but the essence of Animism is the belief that life, or consciousness, exists in all things. Life, as we can make the effort to define it, is not separate from matter; rather, matter is life also and possess a consciousness of its’ own. Our ‘consciousness’ is a collective of the matter we occupy, as a fragment, or extension of this omniscient consciousness.
From the most ancient times of the humans’ existence, the awareness of all things being alive, and an element of life, was innately understood. At some point in time, this awareness was denied or ignored. It seems the more ‘civilized’ we assumed we were the less aware of an omnipresent life in all things we became.
The irony today is that ‘science’ is increasingly aware of the Animism of the universe. The ability to observe both the most ‘finite’ and the greater ‘infinite’ activity of our existence reveals an active order in which the physical existence operates.
Ultimately, there is no such thing as matter being occupied by life. The two are inseparable and synonymous. In other words, all creation, the entire infinity, is alive …a living, active, orderly, endless life-form. We can call this what we wish. I, personally, can only refer to it as ‘The Creator’.
This ‘Creator’ is more than something that ‘creates’. It is a continuum that sustains and perpetuates Itself. Life, as a generality, and as it applies to individuals and collectives, is an active extension of the Creator in an orderly pursuit of something that may well be far beyond our ability to comprehend.
Inescapably, each person and all that exists is a timeless part of this pursuit. Yes, this implies we have always existed and always will. It can be debated ‘til the cows come home’ whether we are continuously ‘self-aware’ of ourselves through this journey. The answer probably lies somewhere between ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
Lying between these two possibilities is the concept of ‘mind’. Finally, various realms of science are beginning to concede there is a ‘self-awareness’ that exists beyond the physical brain; and, that this ‘self-awareness’ does collect the experiences of physical life and dictate much of the activity and decisions we credit to the brain. In other words, the brain is a tool and storage unit for the mind.
For the more curious the question arises. What are we beyond the ‘mind’? Both in metaphysics and quantum physics the conclusions are that multiple layers of ‘self-awareness’ exist. The mind is a more elementary instrument of this ‘total self-awareness’. This can become clearer and more acceptable when we consider the most finite origin of the atom and allow ourselves to comprehend how it is a part of a continuum of expansion.
An atom doesn’t just pop up out of nowhere as an atom. The wonderful mystery of an atom’s origin is still most intriguing in the world of science and physics. The terminology and wordage come in a great variety of colorfulness. But, in one form or another, it is the same. As for us lay-people, an atom is a ‘collect’ of energy vortexes established and maintained by a precise balance of ‘selectivity’.
Ultimately, an atom is not solid. Never has been. Never will be. It is a collective of what we refer to as ‘energy vortexes’. What is an ‘energy vortex’? This has been defined, in a metaphorical manner, for many thousands of years. In the Christian Bible, the Quran, texts long before these, the essence of the substance of creation has been defined.
“In the beginning was the Word”, and God said, “let there be light”. These two statements, for example, are in complete agreement with the physics of past and present sciences. The two primary elements of creation are a ‘resonance’ (a sound current, a frequency) and the omnipresent qualities of light (primary, ultra-violet, and countless prisms of light). These two qualities are present in all things and throughout what we consider the vacuums of space. And, it all originates and sustains its-self in a matrix, an inexplicable ‘consciousness’ we refer to as the ultimate ‘God’.
With these essentials of ‘awareness’, the fields of science and religion have more common ground than we may assume. Whether intentional or not, the sciences will expand and verify the presence, the omnipresence, of a ‘catalytic creator’ …God. Whether religions are aware of it or not, each is evolving into a ‘Great Awakening’ that will forego the small and bigoted presumptions of the past and embrace a universal omnipresence far beyond their previous imaginings.
One significant adjustment in the human paradigm will be the view of a personal ‘god’. The first impression will be that this new awareness makes their God indifferent and irrelevant to them, personally. The reality is precisely the opposite. ‘God’ is no longer somewhere else. The awareness that everything, including the entire composite of one’s ‘self’, is alive and an inseparable manifestation of their ‘God’, is the ultimate ‘personal’.
The subject of an ‘animated’, living universe is the essence of Animism. As for me, and most folks, simple awareness is enough. How it all works is up to the curiosities of others. Living a life with respect for this ‘miracle’, attuned to the resonance and light of this manifested creation, is a personal/inside job and responsibility that does our part in preparations for the ‘Great Human Awakening’.
Clay
Latest Comments