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The belief that these fragments – in ourselves, in our environment and in our society – are really separate can be seen as the essential reason for the present series of social , ecological and cultural crises. It has alienated us from nature and from our fellow human beings. It has brought a grossly unjust distribution of natural resources creating economic and political disorder;
Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics, pg. 23
TECHNOLOGY
In many respects, mankind has evolved a modern day paradigm in which technology is a substitute for Union as a means of achieving contentment. Technology attempts to achieve contentment through control. Control of the forces of nature, control of nature’s food supply, control of information, control of our habitat, control of mind and body (through methodical techniques such as Yoga) and so forth. The greater the level of successful control, the greater the degree of contentment. In contrast, Union achieves contentment through the total and unconditional release of control. The greater the degree of successful release or surrender of control, the greater the degree of contentment.
Yet the technical approach has proved through recorded history to be of limited long-term effectiveness. The forces of nature, man, and evolution always seem to create a new obstacle for technology. It has been argued that modern technologically advanced societies are in most cases not significantly more contented than most societies of old. Union, in contrast, to use popular 20th century concepts, is a “strategic alliance”, or “partnering” with the Cosmos and Nature. It works with nature, attempts to become one with it, and internalizes it in the most intimate manner possible. To indulge in a limited degree of hyperbole, it can be said to break through the barriers to true contentment with the full and mighty force of the Cosmos. A force which no technology, whether outer materialistic technology, or the inner technologies of meditation, can ever match.
BUSINESS
The corporate world has long awaited the business equivalent of the “unified field theory of business” which would reveal how to create and sustain the spark of business success. Business analysts and authors such as Tom Peters have tried to reach such a theory through examination and analysis of the common elements of successful companies. And yet by those measures many companies that should succeed often fail and vice versa. What is the critical missing element?
Today, the drive needed to succeed in business, even in the most ideal of circumstances, can be thwarted unless there exists a greater vision beyond return on investment for shareholders. That goal is simply no longer sufficient to justify the extremes that managers and employees must go to in order to generate success for the company.
The missing link, is a greater vision of not only the position of the company, but its contribution to that of the world, beyond simply the profit motive. A vision of greater environmental responsibility, a vision of responsibility towards the well being of not only the employees of the company but of the world which will support their great grandchildren, and a vision of humanistic technological progress. It is this added global vision of the role of a company that sustains the drive of its employees at the ‘super energy’ levels needed for success.
There are of course successful companies which exist without regard to such humanitarian goals, and even which actively work contrary to them. However, the growth of such companies is usually stunted in comparison to what might have been had they engaged in grander visions. Ultimately, such parasitic behaviors are not accepted by society and through one means or another, are eventually extinguished. Every company and individual must put back into society at least as much as it consumes.
The original aim of capitalism was never that of profits alone. Rather, profit was always seen as a reward for a job well done in the benefit of society. A gift from society to those who invested in the company. As the individual or company which continued to contribute to society, he was allowed by society to keep a little of the value of what was contributed towards society.
RELIGION
All world religions tell us that there is a living breathing “super entity”, the creator of all things, which is ever present everywhere watching over us. If such a God exists, how is it then that we fail to see, (or why does he fail to make himself visible) ? The answer may lie in the nature of man’s attention and focus.
To draw an analogy, we can view mankind as a group of children obliviously playing in a sandbox. We are ever preoccupied and deeply immersed in the business of building our sandcastles, knocking down the sand castles of others, rebuilding, and so on while Mother keeps a watchful eye from a short distance. Now and then, to reassure ourselves, we sometimes look upwards to see if Mother is watching, but before we have a chance to perceive Mother, our attention is quickly drawn again back into the sandcastle. Mother realizing that we are busy at play, allows us to return to play without disturbing us.
If there is a God, the model of Mother and child seems to be one of the most probable and natural models which we can devise to examine the relationship between ourselves and our creator.
Eventually however, as we slowly become bored with the sandbox and the endless stream of activity and noise within it, our attention towards what lies outside slowly starts to increase, until one day, we can fix our attention on the outside just long enough to catch a glimpse of Mother before our attention is again caught by some noisy child trying to play with our castle.
Could this be why so many spiritual leaders who claim to have seen God, also emphasize the need to calm the mind of distracting influences and develop greater attention so as to be able to focus on this God, who we complain cannot be seen and is ever elusive ? Is it God who is elusive or is it our limited attention span that makes him invisible to us though he is ever-present right in front of us?
Why then one may ask, if God is ever present, does he allow us to be hurt through wars, robberies, and the other many treacherous activities that take place so frequently. Again it is a question of perception. The child playing in the sandbox also takes every event with extreme seriousness. If another child enters his part of the sandbox and knocks down his castle, it is as if it is the end of the world for him. Mother, although seeing this, and seeing her son crying is not deeply disturbed, because she knows that he will pick himself back up and eventually start playing once again. She smiles and continues watching her children with keen, loving eyes.
To see God, if one exists, is then to develop a sufficiently strong yearning to do so, so that the ‘habit’ of being lured by constant distractions from within the sand box begins to weaken, and sufficient attention and concentration can be turned around and fixed on the outside of the sand box where mother quietly watches. To climb out of the sandbox, is to look towards, and achieve inner connectivity with the quantum field of the universe - the greater reality. However, we must distinguish between our desire to leave the sandbox in order to achieve surrender or to use the quantum field as our greater sandbox.