The Balance - the spiritual and the material

Lent 2020 - Day 19

The question 'how much spirituality do we need'? is always pertinent. I have asked it in previous Lenten posts over the years; the answer is intensely personal and varies from 'none whatsoever' to 'a lot'. For many, the answer is 'one a week for an hour'. For me, sometimes more, sometimes less. Always more at this Lenten time of year.

"Man shall not live by bread alone," words ascribed to Jesus (Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4) quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. I'd read this as "human beings cannot live on materialism alone"; we have spiritual needs too. Needs too often overlooked in our headlong rush to acquire more possessions. The extremes can be seen; at one end of the spectrum, multi-billionaires spending money to acquire more power than can be converted into more wealth. On the other hand, the ascetic mendicant Sadhus of Hinduism, who have renounced all worldly goods. Human beings all.

The need to engage with the spiritual differs greatly from person to person. I have asked the question "how much spirituality do we need"; the stock answer from many believers is "once a week should do", but then even this answer varies greatly from ultra-orthodox Jews who won't switch on a lightbulb on Shabbos to Catholics who pop into church for a 45-minute long Sunday mass - and they're done for the week.

The full Matthew 4:4/Luke 4:4/Deuteronomy 8:3 quote is as follows: "Man shall not live by bread alone/but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God". Rejecting the notion of an anthropomorphic divinity with an oral cavity containing a larynx, I interpret this Biblical injunction to mean - "Listen".

Listen to that inner voice, that comes in periods of meditative calmness, and offers a more universal view of matters. Listen to the inner voice that suggests, guides, consoles. Listen and observe the big picture; that momentary consciousness of the seven thousand trillion trillion atoms that have come together to form you, living on a planet orbiting a star that's one of hundreds of billions in our galaxy, the Milky Way, that in turn is one of a trillion galaxies in the observable universe.

Yet if you were to spend your life obsessively thinking of yourself in terms of your near insignificance in universal terms, you'd never get anything done other than maybe keep body and soul together, the Sadhu's minimum. But forget what you are in a cosmic context, you lose your humility and humanity. Getting this balance right is essential to spiritual well-being; acquiring material comfort and having no money worries - is an important part of piece of mind. But strive not beyond this level.

But I am puzzled - and indeed troubled - by the presence among us of the hyper-rich. If you have tens of millions of dollars in assets - why strive to make yet more millions? These people seem entirely detached from the spiritual world; zombies almost; living organisms conspiring to secure more wealth - and to what end?

There has to be a moment - a cut-off point - at which a rich person says enough is enough, retreats to a monastery, yeshiva or ashram to meditate on God, consciousness, the unfolding universe and the purpose of human life. I fear however, looking at such people, that maybe there is no spiritual awareness behind those eyes. Their greed distorts our society and holds us back from moving forward along the eternally long road from Zero to One, from barbarism to civilisation, from the bestial to the angelic.

Striking the balance is essential to achieving and maintaining inner peace.

Is 'spirituality' the mirror opposite of the physical realm, the tangible, the day-to-day? I'd posit that dwelling deeply on the challenging questions of physics itself is actually quite a spiritual occupation. Astrophysics is at at one end of the spectrum - the search for the furthest galaxies and exoplanets in our own galaxy, understanding the Big Bang and black holes, trying to explain why the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. At the other end of the spectrum is subatomic physics - identifying more and more subatomic particles and forces and making sense of them all.

Such elemental research is as far away from driving a car to the supermarket, mowing the lawn, looking at the bus timetable or buying a new suit as considering the nature of the subjective conscious experience. And whether or not it transcends mortality.

Whatever your worldview, however you consider religion, the quest for knowledge and wisdom should be something that's universally admired. All too often, religious fundamentalists would have you believe that all the answers are in this book or other. And similarly, reductionist rationalists would have you believe that we'll 'soon' crack the final equations and tie all of physics together. And that 'soon' we'll have created artificial consciousness in a computer. Both views are wrong. The idea of an unquestionable authority that cannot be improved upon flies in the face of evolution. (Who knows - are the laws of physics evolve? And do they govern or describe our universe? What do you instinctively believe?)

Just as biology evolves, so consciousness evolves. The borders of knowledge are pushed further away, yet they remain tantalisingly close - and have done so since the time of Leibniz (the last man said to know 'everything') . We are kidding ourselves that a Grand Unified Theory is within our grasp.

Newton's quote about "standing on the shoulders of giants" holds vast truth. Our curiosity drives us further; we observe, we think, we discuss - and we should never stop questing - and this goes for our spirituality too. Having time for a metaphysical marvel at the universe around us.

Building one's own religion means if not abandoning the old dogmas then at least questioning them rigorously. And pursuing a determined quest for to take the next spiritual step for oneself - based on what has gone before, based on discussion with fellow-seekers, based on broad reading and analysis of one's own subjective experiences. The balance between science and spirituality is crucial; a basic understanding of cosmology, evolutionary biology and quantum mechanics goes a long way towards building a new awareness.

This time last year:
Rzeszów and Poznań

This time five years ago:
Spiritual mentors and spiritual leaders

This time six years ago:

Architectural contrasts around Wilanowska

This time seven years ago:

In memory of me

This time eight years ago:

Cleaning sensors on my Nikons

This time nine years ago:
Changing seasons and one's samopoczucie

This time ten years ago:
Stunning late-winter beauty
[these are among my most gorgeous winter photos ever]

This time 11 years ago:
Lenten fare - Jeziorki gumbo

This time 12 years ago:
Digging up Dawidowska