by physicists and those made by mystics seemed very striking to me, but I was also skeptical. After all, I thought, these may just be similarities of words that will always occur when one compares different schools of thought, simply because we have a limited number of words at our disposal. In fact, I began my first article, "The Dance of Shiva," with this cautious remark.
However, as I continued my systematic study of the relation
ship between physics and mysticism, and while I wrote The
Tao of Physics, the parallels became deeper and more signifi-
HOWLING WITH THE WOLVES 47
cant the more I investigated them. I saw very clearly that I was not dealing with any superficial similarity of words, but rather with a profound harmony between two world views that had been reached through quite different approaches. "The mystic and the physicist," I wrote in that book, "arrive at the same con
clusion; one starting from the inner realm, the other from the outer world. The harmony between their views confirms the ancient Indian wisdom that Brahman, the ultimate reality with
out, is identical to Atman, the reality within."
Two different developments led me to that realization. On the one hand, the conceptual relationships I studied showed an astonishing internal consistency. The more areas I explored, the more consistently the parallels appeared. For example, in rela
tivity theory the unification of space and time and the dynamic aspect of subatomic phenomena are very closely related. Ein
stein recognized that space and time are not separate; they are intimately connected and form a four-dimensional continuum
space-time. A direct consequence of this unification of space and time is the equivalence of mass and energy and, further, the fact that subatomic particles must be understood as dy
namic patterns, events rather than objects. In Buddhism the situation is very similar. Mahayana Buddhists speak of the in
terpenetration of space and time, a perfect expression to de
scribe relativistic space-time, and they say that when it is re
alized that space and time are interpenetrating, objects will appear as events rather than as things or substances. This kind of consistency really struck me, and it appeared again and again throughout my exploration.
The other development in my study was connected with the fact that one cannot understand mysticism by reading books about it; one has to practice it, to experience it, to "taste it," at least to some extent, in order to have an idea of what the mys
tics are talking about. This involves following some discipline and practicing some form of meditation that leads to the ex
perience of an altered state of consciousness. Although I have not gone very far in this kind of spiritual practice, my experi
ences nevertheless enabled me to understand the parallels I was
investigating not only intellectually but also at a deeper level
through intuitive insight. The two developments went hand in
hand. While I saw the internal consistency of the parallels with
increasing clarity, the moments of direct intuitive experience
48 UNCOMMON WISDOM
occurred more frequently and I learned to use and harmonize these two complementary modes of cognition.
In both of these developments I was greatly helped by an old Indian scholar and sage, Phiroz Mehta, who lives in South London writing books about religious philosophies and teaching meditation classes. Mehta very kindly guided me through the large body of literature on Indian philosophy and religion, gen
erously offered to let me consult his excellent personal library, and spent long hours with me discussing science and Eastern thought. I have very clear and beautiful memories of these reg
ular visits, when we would sit in Mehta's library in the late afternoon, drinking tea and discussing the Upanishads, the writings of Sri Aurobindo, or some other Indian classic.
As the room gradually got darker our conversation would often give way to long moments of silence, which helped to deepen my insights, but I would also push for intellectual under
standing and verbal expression. "Look at this teacup, Phiroz,"
I remember saying on one occasion. "In what sense does it be
come one with me in a mystical experience?" "Think of your own body," he replied. "When you are healthy, you are not aware of any of its myriads of parts. Your awareness is that of being one single organism. It is only when something goes wrong that you become aware of your eyelids or your glands.
Similarly, the state of experiencing all of reality as a unified whole is the healthy state for the mystics. The division into separate objects, for them, is due to a mental disturbance."
Second visit to Heisenberg
In December 1974 I finished my manuscript and left London to return to California. This was another risk, because I had again run out of money, the book was nine months away from pub
lication, I had no contract with any other publisher, nor had I any job. I borrowed $2,000 from a close friend, which amounted to most of her savings, packed my bags, put my manuscript in my shoulder bag, and booked a charter flight to San Francisco.
Before leaving Europe, however, I went to say good-bye to my parents, and again I combined this trip with a visit to Werner Heisenberg.
At my second visit, Heisenberg received me as if we had
known each other for years, and again we spent over two hours
HOWLING WITH THE WOLVES 49
in animated conversation. Our discussion of current develop
ments in physics this time was concerned mostly with the
"bootstrap" approach to particle physics in which I had become interested in the meantime and about which I was very curious to hear Heisenberg's opinion. I shall return to this subject in the following chapter.
The other purpose of my visit, of course, was to find out what Heisenberg thought about The Tao of Physics. I showed the manuscript to him chapter by chapter, briefly summarizing the content of each chapter and emphasizing especially the top
ics related to his own work. Heisenberg was most interested in the entire manuscript and very open to hearing my ideas. I told him that I saw two basic themes running through all the theo
ries of modern physics, which were also the two basic themes of all mystical traditions-the fundamental interrelatedness and interdependence of all phenomena and the intrinsically dynamic nature of reality. Heisenberg agreed with me as far as physics was concerned and he also told me that he was well aware of the emphasis on interconnectedness in Eastern thought. How
ever, he had been unaware of the dynamic aspect of the East
ern world view and was intrigued when I showed him with numerous examples from my manuscript that the principal Sanskrit terms used in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy-brah
man, rita, lila, karma, samsara, etc.-had dynamic connotations.
At the end of my rather long presentation of the manuscript Heisenberg said simply: "Basically, I am in complete agree
ment with you."
As after our first meeting, I left Heisenberg's office in ex
tremely high spirits. Now that this great sage of modern sci
ence had shown so much interest in my work and was so much in agreement with my results I was not afraid to take on the rest of the world. I sent Heisenberg one of the first copies of
The Tao of Physics when it came out in November 1 975, and he wrote to me right away that he was reading it and would write to me again once he had read more. This letter was to be our last communication. Werner Heisenberg died a few weeks later, on my birthday, while I was sitting on the sunny deck of my apartment in Berkeley consulting the I Ching. I shall al
ways be grateful to him for writing the book that was the start
ing point of my search for the new paradigm and has given me
continuing fascination with this subject, and for his personal
support and inspiration.
z
N o Foundation
Dalam dokumen
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