The Universe in a grain of sand
by Vajira Fernando
The Buddha basically said that various components get
together; some of them physical, some of them metaphysical,
and at a certain point that combination acquires a
consciousness and says “Hey, I exist. There is me”. The
concept of “me” comes up, and the whole thing in Buddhism
is to dissolve the self. That is what I believe to be the basis
of Buddhism. Now, in terms of modern science, at what point
does the consciousness arise? This is what I was thinking
about. What is the scientific explanation for the point at
which consciousness arises? Modern scientific knowledge tells
us that one of the most fundamental units is the biological
cell. Now, we know that the cell is alive. Either the cell
is alive or the cell is dead. There’s nothing else that’s
alive because - if you look at your father - he’s a massive
aggregation of cells, right? So - consciousness arises at
the cellular level, and then, as the cells aggregate, the
consciousness increases. Now, recent scientific discovery
shows us that cells in isolation die more quickly than those
that are linked together. In other words, community is required
for them to exist. So what happens is, the cell says
“Hey, I’m here. What the hell am I supposed to
do?” And it looks around. And then if there is a cell next
to it it says “Hey, produce something”. It now has a purpose
to live, and reproduces itself into several other
cells, all of which are now happily producing something. So
eventually you get a functionality developing at an organ
level. So you can live at the cell level, and you can live
at an organ level. At an organ level, you can do everything
that you’re doing at the next level, which is as an
aggregate of organs. So organs combine to form the “being”,
the so-called “sentient being”. You see, there is a thing
called “synergy”. It’s where if - for example - 10 people get
together and start to discuss something, the sum of the ten
people is actually more than that of the individual. Or in
other words, there is some extra component that is referred
to as a synergy [or what some would call a collective
consciousness]. Now those synergies are what
consciousness is made up of. So at the cellular level there
is a consciousness that says “I am alive.” At the organ
level, consciousness says more than “I am alive”, it says “I
am productive”. Then, at the human level, it acquires
mobility, the feature of an individual. Even in a plant
there is relative mobility. So what is unique at the third
level is the ability to move. So, then at that level, you’re
looking around for a purpose. And that purpose is society.
You now live in a cooperative manner. To me, that’s
basically what consciousness is.
Now, when I was a small fellow I was very playful and so my
father used to take me to listen to a famous Buddhist monk.
He was Burmese, and he came to Sri Lanka and gave a series
of lectures. I was taken under compulsion so I had no choice
but to listen to him. Now, he was a Burmese monk and his
speech was translated into English, so what he said and what
I thought he said could be totally different. But what I
thought he said was this: the whole purpose of
meditation… Now, you see, your mind - at the moment - is
continuously flipping from one thought to another. There is
a seamless transition from one thought to another thought
and so on. The theme may be whatever it is but there is
continuous reeling, it’s like looking at a reel. But if you
slow that reel down until you get to a freeze-frame
situation you get two frames, side by side. And then there
is a tiny gap. A human being is surrounded by this tape and
you’re in the middle! So there’s no way out, you’re trapped
by this reel that is going around. Now, if you slow it down
to a point where you can see the gap between two frames,
that is the gap you get out of.
When Buddhism talks about
enlightenment, it is – metaphorically - shooting through that gap.
When you meditate, you look inwards. You first start with
your breathing, then you break the breathing into its
components, exclude thoughts from outside, and look inwards.
Then, you reach your organs. Like this, you are actually
drilling down to the cellular level. In other words, all the
synergy which constitutes the term consciousness is quietly
being peeled away.
Until you get to that one single cell that you are.
- Vajira Fernando is my Uncle, a seventy-something yr-old man with lots of love, a questionable taste in music, and Mafia undertones. He spent the first 40-odd years of his life in Sri Lanka, and currently resides in Melbourne, Australia. Having attained theoretical enlightenment, he now spends his days using satellite navigation to more effectively harass his children via Bluetooth connectivity.
