In Defense of a Western Spiritual Tradition, or,

Why I Write Strange Books

By David Bruce Albert Jr., Ph.D.

 

Any reasonable student of metaphysics must reject Wittgenstein's idea of language games, and come to terms with the fact that science has something to say about metaphysics and the religious practices associated with it, and visa versa.  Science is, after all, about learning from experience, and if religious or "spiritual" metaphysics is to have any relevance in the world, then it must in some fashion cohere with what is known about the world.  And so the Dali Lama teams up with neuroscientists to study the effects of meditation on the brain. I see that as a positive sign, that whatever science is about and whatever religion is about is a convergent phenomenon, and that the application of scientific study can tell us much about how traditional practices work, just as those practices can tell us much about how the brain itself works.

 

That is, however, Eastern tradition.  The Eastern traditions including Buddhism, Taoism and others, have largely escaped the ridicule of Western philosophy, in part because their vocabularies and their mystical systems are difficult for Western philosophers to understand, and no doubt in part because they have many competent and well respected defenders.  Particularly within the sciences, including Einstein, Bohm, Oppenheimer and many others, leading theoreticians have found important connections between physical theory and the spiritual teachings of the Eastern systems.  Western philosophers, who by and large avoid the metaphysical implications of the theoretical sciences, are more than happy to retreat from the analyses of Eastern mysticism invoked by scientific theorists.

 

Western spiritual tradition and its advocates, on the other hand, suffer endless ridicule and ostracism at the hands of academic philosophy whose professors, steeped in their own atheology of materialism and social constructivism, see the idea of "spiritual" as nothing but nonsense or the refuge of social outcasts.  It is not hard to see why.  When the available examples of Western tradition are spell books explaining how to fill glass jars with urine and rusty nails to keep the bill collectors away, or "love spell kits" for sale on EBay; when the most vocal examples of the tradition are feminist Wiccans and their ceremonial crotch worship, or their chromosomal opposite but intellectually equal Promise Keepers celebrating their phallic worship with Himmleresque torchlight rallies, it is entirely understandable why those who believe such things would be considered, "No one who matters," to quote Professor Nielsen.  And I have to agree, those who believe those things do not matter, at least as far as anything of philosophical interest.  All things being equal, water seeks the lowest level, and it would appear that the brain, being mostly water, has indeed found the lowest possible level in such examples.

 

But...

 

All things are not equal, and what the Western traditions may have degenerated into in the hands of modern culture neither reflects the content of its ancient teachings, nor the potential value of its mysticism in relation to physical and metaphysical theory.  It is a contingent fact about modern culture that Western mysticism has fallen to the level of spell books and gender fixation, and not a logical or necessary truth about its theoretical and spiritual foundations.  It must be remembered that, for all intents and purposes, the intellectual, philosophical and spiritual development of Western tradition in Europe came to full arrest with Caesar's invasion of Europe some 2000 years ago; in the Americas with the Spanish conquests; and in Africa with the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.  While there have been momentary flashes of insight and progress since then, it has not enjoyed the cultural acceptance or intellectual stature that have marked the Eastern traditions.  Western tradition has been forced into the shadows, first by military attack, followed by the persecution of organized religion, and now the intellectual and moral ridicule of "scientific enlightenment," so that whatever progress there has been has not found its way into philosophical discussion or cultural expression.

 

It must also be remembered that while the Eastern traditions have an affinity for modern science, at the same time they maintain their connections with what they describe as "spiritual."  The Dali Lama works with scientists, but he is still a religious leader, and still believes in his own spiritual tradition, and still engages in the ritual practices that maintain the connections between consciousness and spirituality.  That connection is, first and foremost, what is missing in the Western tradition. As Jeremy Taylor wrote centuries ago:

 

"So is every man: he is born in vanity and sin; he comes into the world like morning mushrooms, soon thrusting up their heads into the air, and conversing with their kindred of the same production, and as soon they turn into dust and forgetfulness... to preserve him from rushing into nothing, and at first to draw him up from nothing, were equally the issues of an Almighty Power."-- Holy Dying, 1651.

 

And this is the whole problem with the Western traditions: having lost their connections with the "spiritual," they have become nothing but dust and forgetfulness.  It is this connection with the spiritual that has prevented the Eastern traditions from falling into the same philosophical pothole that the Western traditions now find themselves, and allows the Eastern mystic to confront Western science on an equal footing, and to learn from it without being intimidated by it.

 

So what is this thing we call the "spiritual," in Taylor's words the "Almighty Power," that draws humanity up from nothing, that draws consciousness above the level of genitalia worship and spell books, and that inspires Western scientists and Eastern mystics to see each others' reflections in their ideas?  What is it that makes the brain more than water and minerals, and draws it to metaphysical speculation and ritual enlightenment?  The main problem with trying to answer this question is that the atheism and materialism of modern Western philosophy leaves no room for any answer to exist; indeed, it is founded on the assumption that there is no such thing.  To find the answer, we must therefore look elsewhere.

 

One way to get at that answer is to follow the path of Eastern mysticism, through the religious and metaphysical traditions that have grown through many unbroken lineages for centuries, and continue to grow and develop today.  I have the greatest respect and admiration for those who do so, but at the same time, I also believe that there are other paths and other traditions, and to confine the idea of the "spiritual" to one or more Eastern traditions risks losing much of the variety and complexity in which spirituality has expressed itself in human consciousness and culture.  Most importantly, by ignoring those aspects of spirituality that are unique to Western traditions, we forfeit important clues as to the origins of human consciousness itself, for much of what we see as "new" in the sciences was in fact understood by the ancients, and played a formative role in the origins of human consciousness.

 

"Spiritual" cannot be understood in itself; it can only be understood through the ways it has revealed itself in and to human consciousness.  Perhaps the most important "revelation" of the spiritual is the existence of human consciousness itself, for it is consciousness that makes the difference between a brain of water and minerals, and a mind that contemplates its own origins and destiny.  If that is true, then to understand what is meant by "spiritual," we must first understand what is meant by "consciousness."  But it is something of a chicken-and-egg problem, for the "spiritual" and consciousness are not objectively separate phenomena, nor is one the cause of the other.  They are participatory phenomena, related much as chicken and egg, and to get at one we must get at the other.  This is a difficult idea for Western philosophy, so accustomed to the cause-effect relationships of classical science, to understand.  It is not a difficult thing for the Eastern schools to comprehend, anymore than it is a difficult thing for those versed in the science of the last hundred years or so to understand.

 

I believe, however, that it is not necessary, nor necessarily beneficial, to turn to the Eastern schools for the answers.  There are answers to these questions buried in the traditions of Western spirituality as well; different answers, and not easy answers, but answers that, together with what is known in the sciences and other traditions, give us a more complete picture of who and what we are, and what our relationship to the Universe might be.  Not in the spell books or the torchlight rallies, but hidden within ancient teachings preserved, often unknowingly, in myths and folklore, like a hidden code waiting to be deciphered and revealed.  Hidden in the strange images of Tarot decks and the customs and superstitions of scattered villages are clues to an ancient knowledge that neither Roman legions, nor Christian inquisitors, nor scientific debunkers could wipe away; clues that lead us down a path that converges with the same Truth toward which science and Eastern mysticism progress. 

 

While I think that the Eastern traditions, because they are still spiritually "alive," probably have better answers at the moment to the questions of what to do with consciousness and where it is going, those answers are from the Eastern perspective, and are not the only possible answers.  The Western traditions have answers, too, but to get at those answers, paths will have to be cleared.  Those paths have been blocked by the thorns and underbrush of ridicule, oppression and ignorance.  Clearing those paths will require great strength and force; we will invoke the same science that gave us the hydrogen bomb, and we will force the reader to part company with mainstream belief, because it is mainstream belief that has obscured the path to truth.  This is my purpose in the books I have written -- to try, as best as is possible, to clear a path to an understanding of human consciousness and its participation with the Universe through the application of scientific principles within a Western framework.  These ideas are not opposed to Eastern philosophy, but rather are a complement to other traditions, and together with them, giving a richer understanding of what is meant by "spiritual" and the human consciousness with which it is a participant.