A trinity within us: The awesome prayer of the three-way conversation.

Most prayer is for things we want and need such as relief from suffering or for forgiveness, peace, justice, love or health. But the prayer of mindfulness, of just observing and being with what is, is a prayer of communion. In this we are taking care of the God we find within us. In this way we bring the conscious mind and the unconscious mind closer together.

The following is a prayer that came to me in a half-awake reverie that called me to crawl out of my dozing recliner and get it down before it turned to the dust of consciousness. It went something like this…

“Musing on what’s going on in and around me I talk to my familiar, he whom I don’t share with any other.

Sometimes it’s as a prayer, deep, fervent, grateful or pleading and it is then that the third in me joins in.

We three are always talking though all too often I think that only the two of us closest to the outside are in private discourse.

But the third is always there, noticed or not, and always informing the conversation.

It is not the third who joins, but I as first and second who joins it. It is the primordial me that continuously touches but is often hidden by the chatter of the other two.

Lost in our incessant conversation and removed from immediate experience. Number one and number two going on and on in abstraction are often brought to kneel by the true touch experience of the third.

We treat our third as Other, apart as though outside but in prayer we hear it coming from within and as part of. When it comes to our table it is as though it’s always been there though we hadn’t noticed. We can only see this when we pay attention and are not lost in our own thoughts.

We are always in relationship, never alone, though it most often seems so when we are running amok and aren’t being quiet sort of like perennial kindergarten school children.

Afraid to look beyond the me of one and two all my energy goes into how I look to myself and to others and I ignore the void within me shunning the contribution of the third.

Nearly always lost in the meaningless conversation of the first two it’s only when he and I include the third that we touch real meaning. In the three-way conversation what seems like me and what seems like not me join together and no longer need perform as though we’ve got it altogether and I begin to see wholeness without the void.

It is the aware conversation of the three in relationship that creates the existence of fully being.”

The difference between objective reality and spiritual reality

What defines the parts of ourselves? Take the hand for example, what defines a hand? Is it the five digits radiating from an elongated palm configuration? Is it its color, its ‘jointedness’, its purpose or usefulness? Or is it defined by what it isn’t– the empty space around it? The emptiness surrounding anything creates the essence of the experience. There is the objective reality of the hand and the ineffable experience of the space within which it exists. The content of hand exists within the context of not hand, emptiness. For me this is the spiritual, the context for the objective.

The spiritual is what defines, makes room for, the existence of everything.

Without nothing there would be no things. From the emptiness arises beauty. And beauty enlivens the soul. Within the beauty of an object there is the experience of impermanence, silence and if just experienced as is, meditation. All three are spiritual truths– an expression of the soul.

Each of us are also defined by what we are not i.e. the context created by all the things, nature and people around us create room for what we’re being. But that only makes us a proper noun within reality. Its only when these conditions interrelate that we become context for our lives. It’s only when we are creating that we become something other than mere objects. For example, when we consciously create beauty we create a portal to the soul, the unknown and unknowable.

When we get lost in that space between objects we are confronted with the mystical, the ineffable. But it is these spaces in our consciousness that can be vivifying i.e. enlivening. It can be the empty spaces that connect us with all there is and highlight the soul within. The rational mind cannot perceive what lies within the empty space for there is nothing rational in there. But there is a presence that defies definition though when sensed can cause the conscious mind to transcend its objectivity and enter the realm of the spirit.

That same presence exists between the sounds we hear, it is in the silence between words, it is Turiya, the fourth state of consciousness– that which follows the sound of the universe.

Capturing the divinity in everyday things

The mystical is not so lofty as we make it out to be. Standing before a multicolored canyon at sunrise, or above a misting forest or wooded trail, staring at the fog rolling in across the hills and into a valley, the crash of waves upon the shore, the first cry of a baby’s borning, a rose in full bloom, falling in love, a piece of music that stirs the soul sending waves of joy throughout your body, the sight of a feast after the fast, middle schoolers swarming the local coffee shop at the end of their day, swarms of birds dancing to the setting sun, or a deceased loved one visiting a dream are all common mystical experiences that speak clearly about the divine in the everything of the everyday.

These moments are sacred and point to the infinite being that we are. When connected with the whole of the every day we are never alone, never lost, or confused. When standing in the moment we are in a religion of our own and open to all that there is and the imagination soars set free from the petty restrictions of the ego.

It is at those times of the common mystical that we can sink down into our deeper self and find our true being. We cannot define the experience but when it happens we know that we have transcended the ordinary and connected with something much bigger, much grander than our limited selves.

The mystical is not limited to visions and dreams. Look for the common experiences of the mystical in every facet of your life. They’re there and will make themselves known if you open your mind and heart to them.

Causes of world unrest: Thinking that only your point-of-view is the right one.

 

There seems to be so much unrest in the world and intolerance of each others points-of-interest appears to be at an all time high.

Some of my dreams express my own intolerance, points-of-view, and how resistant I can be sometimes to those points-of-view that don’t agree with mine (of course there is a remote possibility that I’m right).

First a few definitions might be in order before we dive into the factors that may be energizing the world’s current unrest.

Self-questioning

noun

1. examination of one’s own actions and motives, self-contemplation, self-examination, self-questioning, self-reflection, soul-searching.

Intolerance

noun

1. unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one’s own. “a struggle against religious intolerance” Bigotry, narrow-mindedness, prejudice, bias, partiality, inequality, partisan

Literalism:

noun

1. adherence to the explicit substance of an idea or expression. Adherence to the exact letter or the literal sense, as in translation or interpretation: as in biblical or religious literalism.

 

Intolerance leads to contraction (vs. growth), insularity (vs. openness), imbalance (unbalanced point-of-view, unbalanced behavior, psychological disturbance) and death. Basically, the soul embraces diversity and the ego does not.

Literalism can cause intolerance and intolerance can sustain literalism and that cuts off any further development and over time leads to a diversion from reality. When this diversion becomes too severe it becomes a psychosis, defined loosely as an “abnormal condition of the soul” characterized by a loss of contact with reality and exhibiting thought disorder. Some who show psychotic behavior exhibit an extraordinary belief in something that just isn’t true, that the facts will not support e.g. women are weak, men are strong therefor men must control and protect women for their own good.

What usually keeps a false belief (or bias) in place is that the mind that has it has been conditioned to not explore the truth or inner motivations and causations behind the belief. Literalism, again, trumps inner or outer questioning and the false belief remains entrenched. Anyone who begins to question thus becomes a danger to the prevailing dogma and has to be either brought back into the system or expunged from it. Many extremists and militants can be said to exhibit delusional qualities even though they themselves can’t recognize it.

So who’s reality are we talking about? Is the mystic psychotic? Is the fundamentalist psychotic? Is the zealot psychotic? How delusional does one have to be to qualify and when does the imbalance become a danger to themselves and/or others? Usually one needs to exhibit the symptoms over an extended period of time and to a great degree. When the delusions take on paranoid qualities and the person begins to act on or against them they can be injurious to others as well as themselves.

Some people experience momentary breaks with material reality when going through an epiphany or have been under prolonged stress or deprivation while some show only mild forms of delusion due to environmental and cultural influences. These don’t usually trigger the diagnosis of psychosis.

Some of the symptoms of psychoses, especially that of delusions, seem to reflect in those having a mystical experience. However, these are temporary. There’s a shift in awareness that persists over time but the disconnect from reality that the psychotic experiences is only temporary in the mystic. The mystic learns to work with the reality of the everyday through the shifted point-of-view whereas a person with psychosis becomes broadly, if not permanently if no intervention is available, delusional and unable to reliably work with reality in a balanced way.

Also under the right circumstances the psychosis of a few can generate a contagious reaction amongst the many and is usually reinforced and maintained through external psychological and sociocultural influences e.g. religious interpretation, regional cultural beliefs.

As I’ve suggested before reality is an expression of our level of consciousness, what we see is a reflection of our inner development or lack thereof i.e. if you only perceive variations of negative, guess where that’s coming from? And until we come to grips with that realization reality will run us ragged with fears and hatreds and resentments and harden our hearts and minds.

Essentially reality will support our level of development e.g. if we are prejudiced, intolerant, fearful and exclusive, the universe, aka reality, will present us with all kinds of experiences along these lines. In other words, if we say “fuck you” to the world the world will return it in kind– put out negative energy and that’s what you’ll get in return– often the energy is not out there it is within yourself. Without self-examination one is doomed to frequent failure (not total failure because even a broken clock is right twice a day).

 

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

–Socrates

 

Socrates’ statement here might be a little over the top. But he was suggesting that each of us in order to be fully human need to be self-examining otherwise we don’t rise above the level of the animals. I wouldn’t suggest that those who don’t internally question life shouldn’t continue to live or aren’t worth as much as might be implied by such a statement as Socrates’.

But life becomes so much richer and so much less fearful when one examines life while they’re living it. Being free to question life liberates the soul and keeps people balanced while an unexamined and unquestioned life restricts a person’s soul and creates imbalance. As I said at the beginning of this post, “The soul embraces diversity the ego does not.“ Another way of saying that is what rejects diversity is not of the soul, not of the divine that is boundless, but of the small bound-up “skin encapsulated ego” *.

_______________________________________________

* A phrase attributed to Alan Watts (theologian and philosopher– 1915 to 1973, though some might say he was an Eastern Mystic in an Englishman’s body). I am suggesting that this socially conditioned “skin encapsulated ego” is the ultimate definition of separateness e.g. what is ‘me’ and what is ‘not me’ and is therefore the foundation for all exclusion, prejudice, intolerance, fear and bigotry.

 

 

“and Grace will lead me home”

 

The other night I had a dream where I was being acknowledged for something I felt I hadn’t really earned. This morning I wondered where in my life I might be claiming unearned acknowledgement when I realized that perhaps the negative might also be true. Where in my life might I be rejecting acknowledgment e.g. claiming unacknowledgment? Then it came to me that I’ve often received acknowledgment that seemed to come from nowhere, unbidden and having done nothing to earn it.

This is the stuff of religions as in the mystical hand of the universe intervening for no reason into the lives of ordinary people. Some people would call this Grace.

Sometimes acknowledgment is just acceptance, assent and affirmation i.e. a declaration of your right to exist, just as you are and as an appreciation of that fact.

There were many times in my life when had not grace been there, I might not physically still be here. Many of us have those traumas in life where we wonder why we’re still here. I’ve been in a situation where in combat the person near me died while I continued to stand. I have stumbled on many occasions where I could have met my death, or suffered extreme trauma and yet I survived unscathed. There have been times when events have presented themselves in such a way that doors of opportunity opened that I had never known existed and I’ve walked through into a whole new world.

None of this happened because I was more special, or had somehow earned the grace offered. The truth is I don’t know why–why me, and why not them? Many of them certainly deserved it more than I.

 

“Through many dangers, toils and snares…

I have already come.

T’was Grace that brought me safe thus far…

and Grace will lead me home.”

–John Newton

 

That line from the hymn Amazing Grace speaks to me like never before. Its meaning for me has evolved over the years. The use of the word, “home” not only refers to a spiritual home, but to the place where my soul resides and where the body rests, or interacts with the other “bodies” of this world. In a very profound way, everywhere I find myself is my home in that it is becoming a reflection, or projection, of the home I carry with me. I consider it grace to have lived long enough to experience my life in this way, not that I’m always conscious of that experience in that I still need continuous reminders like the other night’s dream.

I hope you experience your life as the Grace that it is.

 

Everything you wanted to know about Easter

“The term ‘Easter’ is not of Christian origin. 

It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles
of the Chaldean (Babylonian) goddess….
the pagan festival of ‘Easter’… was introduced into
the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt
to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity”
– Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary
of Old and New Testament Words
(1985, p. 192, “Easter”).

 

Easter is full of symbolism. Here are a few of those symbols and their origins:

 The Egg as a Symbol of New Life:

In many cultures, the egg is viewed as the symbol of new life. It is, after all, the perfect example of fertility and the cycle of rebirth. In early Christian cultures, consumption of the Easter egg may have marked the end of Lent. In Greek Orthodox Christianity, there is a legend that after Christ’s death on the cross, Mary Magdalene went to the emperor of Rome, (Tiberius Caesar) and told him of Jesus’ resurrection. The emperor’s response was along the lines of “Oh, yeah, right, and the egg in your hand is red, too.” Suddenly, the egg turned red, and Mary Magdalene joyfully began preaching Christianity to the emperor.

Most children and families who color or hide Easter eggs as part of their Resurrection Sunday tradition have no knowledge of the origin of these traditions. Easter egg activities have become a part of Western culture. Many would be surprised and even dismayed to learn where the traditions originated. “The egg was a sacred symbol among the Babylonians (those nasty people who nearly wiped out the Jews and destroyed the Temple). They believed an old fable about an egg of wondrous size that was supposed to have fallen from heaven into the Euphrates River. From this marvelous egg – according to the ancient story – the Goddess Astarte (Easter) [Semiramis], was hatched. And so the egg came to symbolize the Goddess Easter.”

The idea of a mystic egg spread from Babylon to many parts of the world. In Rome, the mystic egg preceded processions in honor of the Mother Goddess. The egg was part of the sacred ceremonies of the Mysteries of Bacchus. The Druids used the egg as their sacred emblem. In Northern Europe, China and Japan the eggs were colored for their sacred festivals. The egg was also a symbol of fertility; Semiramis (Easter) was the goddess of Fertility. The Easter egg is a symbol of the pagan Mother Goddess, and it even bears one of her names.

Easter egg hunt:

As for the Easter egg hunt, a fun game for kids, actually has a darker meaning, For centuries pagans due to Because of centuries of religious propaganda and misinformation, Pagans were once killed for their Religious belief.

As Christianity rose and the ways of the “Old Religion” were shunned, people took to hiding the eggs and having children make a game out of finding them. This would take place with all the children of the village looking at the same time in everyone’s gardens and beneath fences and other spots.

It was also customary to leave food and drink out for the fairies on the nights of festivals, and it is believed that if the fairies were not honored with gifts at these times, they would work mischief in the lives of the town folk.

Pre-Christian Eggs:

Mary Magdalene and the red egg (see above) was not the earliest example of an egg as a spring symbol. In Persia (modern day Iran), eggs were painted for thousands of years as part of the spring celebration of No Ruz, the Zoroastrian new year. Today in Iran, the colored eggs are placed on the dinner table at No Ruz, and a mother eats one cooked egg for each child she has. The festival of No Ruz predates the reign of Cyrus the Great, whose rule (580-529 BCE.) marked the beginning of Persian history.

Bunnies, Hares, and Ostara:

There are some claims that the original Easter eggs were Pagan symbols from Europe, but there’s little evidence to support this. Instead, it seems to be a more middle-eastern tradition. However, in Europe there may have been a goddess named Eostre, whose name gave us both Ostara and Easter. The Saint Bede, known as the father of English history, described Eostre as a goddess with fertility associations, which loosely connects her to both rabbits and eggs. Author Jacob Grimm (of Grimm’s fairy tales) suggested that eggs were a symbol of early European Paganism.

In some early cultures, the nocturnal hare was actually considered a symbol of the moon. In addition to feeding at night, the hare’s gestation period is approximately 28 days — the same as a full lunar cycle. In European folklore, the rabbit connection to eggs is one based on confusion. In the wild, hares nest in what is known as a ‘form’ – basically, a nest for bunnies. When the hares abandoned a form, it was sometimes taken over by plovers that would then lay their eggs in it. The locals would then find eggs in the hare’s form.

The character of the “Easter bunny” first appeared in 16th-century German writings, which said that if well-behaved children built a nest out of their caps or bonnets, they would be rewarded with colored eggs. This legend became part of American folklore in the 18th century, when German immigrants settled in the eastern U.S.

Today, the Easter business is a huge commercial venture – Americans spend nearly $1.2 billion a year on Easter candy, and another $500 million on Easter decorations each year not to mention the average of $26.11 spent on special Easter clothing per each celebrant. Up to 700 million Easter “Peeps” and 57 million Easter cards are sold today during the Easter season as well.

The Easter Rabbit

The rabbit is well known as a sexual symbol of fertility. In various parts of the world, religions that developed from Babel also associate the rabbit with cycles, both human and lunar (Egypt, China, etc.). As you may remember, the Mother Goddess Semiramis (Easter) is associated with the Moon. In other words, the Easter bunny sometimes symbolizes the Mother Goddess. Springtime fertility rituals were associated with worship of the Mother Goddess and Tammuz, the reincarnation of her husband Nimrod.

 

“The consort of Eostre – was none other than a hare
(rabbit) – that great animal symbol of fertility.”
-The Origin and History of the Easter Bunny
by Allen Butler

 

And at Ostara, it is customary to leave something sweet (honey, or mead, or candy)–could this be connected to the Easter basket tradition?

More dream symbols related to Easter:

Chicks

To see a chickadee in your dream indicates that you need to pay attention and become aware of something unique and special occurring in your life.

Spring

To dream of the season of spring, suggests new beginnings and creative endeavors. It is also a symbol for warmth, virility and fruitfulness.

Fields

To see green fields in your dream (often represented by green grass in an Easter basket), symbolize great abundance, freedom, and happiness. You may also be going through a period of personal growth.

Basket

To see a basket in your dream, symbolizes the material body. It also represents the things that you are holding onto.

 

A Blog about Soul

Recently I received an email asking why I write about Faeries and gods, goddesses, things that go bump in the night, and alchemy? Why don’t I just write about dreams given that it’s a blog about dreams?

Fundamentally it’s all a dream whether you’re awake or asleep. We assign meaning to every object and event in our experience whether awake or asleep.

We don’t know reality no matter how much we study it, assign names to it or try to understand it. My blog is not about reality. It’s not really about dreams either.

Ultimately my blog is only a reflection of my soul. I am trained as a scientist holding advanced degrees in behavioral science, psychology, and education. I believe in the scientific process toward understanding the world about and within. But I also have an indefinable something called a soul that is not always fed by science and the secular understanding of the world. The more I learned and thought I understood I still found an empty place within me, a void if you will that could not be filled by intellect alone. The truth seems to be that there is a great something that cannot be defined with all our science and technology.

I write about mystery, deep wonder and awe for these are at the core of our being, our soul. I dig deep within the imagination to find the grist of what sustains me emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. I call this soul and soul is the felt vitality and essence of being human.

Our dreams come from the imaginal, the core of our being, and can open us to the ineffable, the indefinable part of ourselves that gives us life, vitality, and meaning. Without soul there is no meaning just mechanics. Without soul you and I cannot touch each other and we would feel hollow and empty.

Our dreams come from the soul and are continuously telling us what is needed and wanted in order to feel vital and truly alive. Our dreams reflect all our aspirations and where our meaning can be found. They come from the place of our myths, poetry, creativity, and art of all kinds. In short, they reflect who and what we really are.

So my answer to the above question is that I write about soul as I discover all its parts and variations through the medium of my dreams and my reflection upon them.

Recognizing a holy dream: An interpretation

 

 

“Vocatus atque, non vocatus, deus aderit.”

 

This saying is carved above the door of Carl Jung’s house near Zurich and translates as “Bidden or not bidden God is always there”. It was the message that the Oracle at Delphi gave to the Lacedemonians as they were planning their war against ancient Athens. This was also the message to Jacob in his dream of angels descending and ascending a staircase or ladder to heaven.

The spirit is always there whether you are conscious of it or not was the message I got one evening long ago. At that time I was in graduate school and full of all kinds of ideas that were heretical to not only my upbringing but also the prevailing social and culture acceptance of the day. When I felt alone in my growing awareness, when I felt lost and had trouble finding my way because I had allowed myself to walk far outside the boundaries of my culture I discovered that all I had to do was to look within to find my core self– the spirit that was always with me. It got me through a lot of tough times.

Before I was even aware of the old-testament story of Jacob and his dream I had a dream where a woman dressed in blue and hovering above a road beckoned me to follow her into the mountains beyond. As I stood there in the dream debating whether I should go

Jacob’s Ladder by RJ Cole from The Book of Dreams

I noticed that to my left were a group of angels going up and down a ladder into the sky. The dream was one of those that I knew was important, a sort of special dream aka a ‘holy or sacred dream’ even though I didn’t know what it meant at the time. It wasn’t until years later when I started to write my dreams and try to interpret them that the Jacob’s Ladder image dream came back into my life and took on immense importance.

In dreams this kind of image often represents the symbolic path between heaven and earth– the connection between your physical and spiritual aspects. It can also represent the connection between your conscious and unconscious self. Some envision the spiral of a strand of DNA as a Jacob’s ladder. In my old dream of a ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ the staircase seemed to represent my own struggle with the polarities within me (we all have conflicting aspects and personalities, desires and urges)– those aspects of myself that I either accepted or rejected.

As with the tree with its roots in the physical ground and its branches touching the heavens the staircase in Jacob’s ladder reminds me that we are bound both soul and body and is encouraging us to accept all of ourselves i.e. the dark as well as the light, the intellect and heart, body and spirit.

Also in my dream the “blue lady” who beckoned me turned out to be my feminine aspect, the intuitive wisdom aspect reflecting my soul and was encouraging me to take the road less traveled that would take me into the spiritual heights represented by the mountains in the distance. It was a long road representing a long journey that disappeared into the unknown, perhaps the land of my unconscious mind. She also was implying that I was not to fear the journey for she would be with me all the way. This was of course my first conscious experience of the spirit being at my side i.e. the manifestation of the oracles’ verbal missive, Vocatus atque, non vocatus, deus aderit.

 

Heart and mind: A dichotomy?

 

In western cultures the heart and mind are seen as a conflicting dichotomy. In the west people generally identify the mind or brain as the main instrument of thought, rationality, and intelligence, whereas the heart represents the irrational or emotional aspect of ourselves. For efficiency decisions if they are to be rational, must be made from the mind and not the heart or so it is believed.

This may have caused the west to become a culture of doing and making as well as forcing and struggling to make things happen. In short, the western culture as represented by the conservative mindset has become very masculine in nature.

Insight: The word for heart and mind in Hebrew is the same word, “lebh”. This is also true in Chinese (xīn 心 ). In these cultures heart and mind work in tandem or together as one as in heart/mind with regard to thought and intelligence.

It is said by many of the wisdom keepers that in order to grow one needs to open both the heart and the mind.

There are many stories from mystics through the ages of how the void within became filled via the heart versus the mind alone. One such story is as follows: Thomas Merton told the story of Saint Lutgarde a 13^th century mystic from Belgium. In this story the Saint claimed to have been visited by Jesus in a vision offering whatever gift of grace she desired and she asked for a better understanding of Latin so that she could understand the word of God. At once her mind was flooded by the psalms and readings of the Bible. But still she felt a painful void and emptiness in her soul. She then asked the Christ for an exchange. “And what would you exchange it?” and she said “Your heart Lord”. He granted her wish and took her heart into his breast.

Had Lutgarde discovered that the heart filled the void where things of only the mind did not?

To the artist, poet and writer it is the heart that is manifest as the soul of creativity, but it takes the mind to translate it to the page or canvas. They must work in tandem or there is only emptiness– the void.

To be kind is more important than to be always right. Sometimes all what we need is not an intelligent mind that speaks but a patient heart that listens.

(from: http://www.searchquotes.com/search/Heart_Vs_Mind/)

The balance between heart and mind

 

OM

 

I was reading an article in Science Illustrated about a team of scientists translating the shock waves from a black hole into sound waves that you and I can hear. It was said to be a low Bb tone. There was also a link to this sound that one could listen to. When I went to the link and listened I knew that I’d heard that sound before. It was a low rumble sounding like an Australian didgeridoo, or Tibetan long horn. As I listened I recalled another sound the sound of AUM or OM, the sound of the universe that many meditators use to focus and quiet the mind.

This also seems to be the sound of our sun. Yes, I know one can’t hear sound in space because there’s no air for the vibrations to pass through but the waves of electrons that pass through ionized gas or plasma can be detected and translated into a sound that our ears can hear.

This is the sound that the ancient Hindus described in the Vedas thousands of years ago. This sent a chill up my spine and raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Ancient mystics could quiet the mind and tune into a sound that represented the cosmic sound of the universe. Some might even say it is the sound of God, ultimate reality, the essence of all life, and the self within.

This ancient mantra and spiritual icon is not just another man-made ritual sound but the actual sound of the universe around us. OM is the connection of humankind with God. OM is also referred to as Pranava i.e. something that pervades life and is the container for the supreme, God or Brahman. It wouldn’t be too difficult imagining the universe as the container for what we call God and all brought to a singular point through OM.

As explained in the Hindu Upanishads the sound represents the four states of consciousness. The A sound in AUM or OM represents the waking state; the U sound represents the dream state, and the M sound represents deep sleep. And the fourth state is what is called turiya that is the sound of silence that follows the mantra.

So it turns out that the sound of the universe is also the sound of our consciousness i.e. our waking and dreaming mind.

To hear this sound permeating the cosmos I realize that only now the world of science is beginning to catch up to and open us to the spiritual world– a reality beyond our imaginings.