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Mahatma Gandhi: By Royal E. Alsup, Ph.D.
The holographic universe is a metaphor used to demonstrate that all reality is connected and interrelated through its inwardness. This inwardness of relationship and interdependence makes reality a seamless whole. Inner and outer realities are two aspects of the holographic universe. As defined by O'Murchu (1998, p. 55), "The hologram provides a concrete illustration of the principle: 'The whole is greater than the sum of the parts,' but there is added a new and intriguing dimension which states: the whole is contained in each of the parts." The holographic universe is an interactive, self-aware cosmos or Reality, in which the parts and the whole work synergistically for harmony and love. We get a sense of the holomovement (Bohm) of the universe through the synchronistic events in our lives, when things seem to come together in some hidden connectiveness, as an ineffable gift of generosity, carrying a message of meaning and gratitude. These synchronistic events confirm that we live in a panpsychic reality (Hartshorne) where all parts of the universe are imbedded in or contain consciousness. In an I and Thou experience, the Absolute Other-the Thou-and the I are separate in appearance. But the I and Thou interact in the space between them where the many become the one. The intuitive awareness of the holographic universe addresses and questions each of us in our every day life situation, which, when responded to, creates meaning in our lives. God and human beings are co-creators, both deconstructing and constructing the world in a partnership of existence. God is embedded in the world process. The Spirit in the betweenness or relatedness connects the visible and invisible in one seamless order of reality. The universal is expressed in the particular, and the particular is a physical expression of the universal. This is how we hear the celestial song of the earth in our metaphysical society. To paraphrase Bohm (1985), in the holographic universe an implicate, invisible order of enfolded forms and ideas unfolds into an explicit order-a celestial earth that reflects all creation. The implicit order of the universe contains the archetypal wisdom of the ages. Through hunches and ideas - our inner subjective aim (Hartshorne) - we experience the implicit order of reality trying to persuade and influence us to bring these archetypal realities into the explicit order of our everyday, concrete lifeworld. This holographic universe is never complete. It is always growing as every part and piece of the universe gains new experiences. This is a process reality. Process reality pursues what Gandhi calls Satyagraha-a force that works powerfully through love and truth to change a violent warring universe into a nonviolent loving reality. The Love-force or Truth-force is Satyagraha moving through the holographic universe as the underlying structure of all reality, the soul-force of the universe. Satyagraha is Gandhi's term for the pursuit of love and truth in his everyday reality. It is a force that we pursue but can only know relatively because we are imperfect human beings. The absolute is pursued in the particular. The absolute needs the "mysticism of the particular," (Friedman) of the concrete experience of the human, in which to reveal itself. In this way the absolute is a dialogue of both the everlasting and always changing. Gandhi called himself a practical idealist who pursued the absolute, but as a person in a human body he could never perfectly embody the absolute in his lifeworld. He did not believe in dogma, but he had hypotheses about God, human beings, and the world that he experimented with in his life. He retained the hypotheses that worked, that brought him and his people satisfaction and that contributed to world peace. This makes Gandhi a great pragmatist:
Process reality is always being formed; it is open-ended, and it never can be perfectly predictable because in everything there is a shadow content that can never be controlled. We are fallible and limited human beings, and evil interferes with our goals because our personal life processes and the holomovement of the universal are always incomplete. Our conscious is an aspect of the holographic universe. Gandhi strove for Love and Truth through his spiritual inward journey, which included the practices of fasting, meditating, and the repetition of the Ramanama-the constant inner repetition of Rama, the God of abiding joy. His outward journey was through the practices of selfless service, nonviolent direct social action, to gain the civil rights of the poorest of the poor to temple worship and struggling for the rights of women. In fact, movement against Gandhi's struggle for women's rights was one of the main reasons he was assassinated. Gandhi was not a foundationalist in religious thinking, holding on to rigid belief systems. He was able to accept and to struggle for different perspectives and to have a clear vision of reality within different contexts or situations. Because of his integration of heart-mind he was a metaphysician, a realist, a pluralist, a contextualist and a process-oriented philosopher. His flexible and creative thinking made him a true peacemaker and one of the most important people of the millennium. Fasting as a Spiritual Practice Fasting is a powerful spiritual practice that Gandhi used in his social action to change the way the harijan-the poorest of the poor-were treated in his society. Gandhi fasted for penance, for self-restraint, and for self-control. Fasting was a way of voluntarily suffering in order to change the conscience of India, which was prejudiced against the untouchables and against women. Gandhi's voluntary suffering demonstrated a practice of humanistic psychology through fasting to transform his own internal violence and also systemic violence. Fasting was a nonviolent way that Gandhi changed the consciousness of the world by using the body for prayer so as to connect with the holographic universe in a way that would have influence on all the people of the world and global peace. People all over the world noted this practice of fasting until death to make a drastic change. Gandhi's nonviolent love ethic influenced the American Civil Rights Movement and Nelson Mandela's work in ending apartheid in South Africa. Gandhi definitely believed that the individual was the microcosm of the macrocosm, and as such, an individual act could have worldwide influence and effect. Fasting is a way to discipline oneself for self-restraint, which is a first step to self-rule as a country, the first step to democracy. We can't have self-interest and greed, and still have a global democracy. Gandhi did not want his country to repeat the greed of the West. He felt that world peace could not be successful without individual voluntary self-restraint. If our wants and desires cause us to take more than what we need to live, then we are thieves stealing from the poor of the world. We are causing world hunger, and allowing the earth to be polluted and pillaged in order to fulfill the selfish needs of the developed countries. Fasting, spiritual disciplines, and selfless service were Gandhi's answer to the greedy capitalism of America and the bureaucratic totalitarianism of Great Britain. Meditation as a Spiritual Practice Transpersonal psychology includes meditation to reach the Higher Self, or what Gandhi calls Self-Realization. Meditation is a practice of being one-pointed or using our concentration to connect with the divinity within our own psyches. We can use the art of meditation to increase the love and truth in our own consciousness by unfolding the Love and Truth of the implicit order into the explicit order, the action of our lives. We are servants of the holographic universe as we unfold the enfolded Love-force of the implicit order. Getting up early each morning, and denying pleasure in the evening, by using at least a half hour each morning and evening for meditation is the essential self-sacrifice that is needed to transform our own inner self-interest. Such selfless service improves our lives by connecting us with the Universal Heart-Mind so that we can have mind, body, and spirit working in unity to improve our world. We would be much better at our work and family life if we could incorporate meditation as a daily practice. Our loved ones and fellow workers would benefit from our daily sacrifice of setting a period of time aside for the pursuit of Love and Truth. Eventually we would feel that we are a different person. We would be experiencing less fear and anger and become better instruments of love and justice for God's work in our families, communities and our global villages. Remember, this is a process reality that is never a path of perfection, but a path of life. The Outward Journey - Repetition of Ramanama Practicing the Ramanama-repeating constantly the name Rama, the God of abiding joy-was how Gandhi enfolded and unfolded spiritual reality when he was faced with racism and violence in his outward journey of confronting the evils of his society. The struggle to confront evil in us and in our society comes from the best teachings of existential psychology and is needed for peace in the new millennium. The mantram, or spiritual formula, helped Gandhi remember in all concrete situations the deeply present Love, Truth and abiding joy. He repeated this affirmation constantly from his childhood until his death. In his daily early morning walks he would repeat this formula as he walked for miles. This spiritual practice helped him to focus on God and to transform his fear and anger into love, courage, and peace in the mist of danger and violence. Repeating the name of God from morning until night might seem to be a mechanical activity, but Gandhi learned that this spiritual formula prayed him, instead of him praying the formula. The name of Rama would enter his heart and mind automatically during times of confrontation with the British. The sudden experience of Rama and abiding joy filled his whole being in an uplifting peak experience that replaced his fear with courage and faith to continue his outward journey of direct action. It enabled him to put his body on the line and to risk death for his beliefs in love and justice. The Ramanama was such a powerful practice of love that Gandhi repeated over and over, "Rama, Rama, Rama," blessing his own assassin as Gandhi fell to ground. This was Gandhi's demonstration during his very dying process, showing us by example, that if we are going to have world peace, we have to love and forgive our enemy. References Bohm, D. (1985), Unfolding meaning: A weekend of Dialogue with David Bohm. New York: Ark Paperbacks. Friedman, M. S. (1999). The Affirming Flame: A Poetics of Meaning. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. Gandhi, M. S. (1957). An Autobiography: The story of My Experiments with Truth. Boston: Beacon. Gragg, A. (1976). Charles Hartshorne. Waco, TX: Word Books. Kripalani, K. (1982). All Men Are Brothers. NY: Continuum. O'Murchu, D. (1998).Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics. NY: Crossroad. Talbot, M. (1991). The Holographic Universe. NY: Harper Collins.
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