Marigold.ch

I was born in 1920. The first world war was over and our planet was beautiful and apparently at peace… In my mind the war had just been a tragic event which would certainly never be repeated. I grew up, went to school and by the time I was in college adults were talking about a certain Adolf Hitler with his growing ambitions and greed and the certainty that if he was to be elected there would doubtlessly be a war. I went on dreaming until reality cruel and senseless put an end to my dream, fear and anguish took its place.

Radio and Television were not yet popular and it was easy to ignore that nations and individuals were constantly fighting each other all over the world. .

Life became unliveable. But how was it possible that an omnipotent loving heavenly father could allow such monstrous - apparently unjustified cruelty? I had to understand. or suicide seemed the only alternative. It was then that I received Paramhansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi. I was agreeably impressed by many of his statements which were more scientific than religious so I will go on quoting them for the benefit of those which have overlooked them. « Without doubt and investigation you will never find the answer to your questions »

Well I certainly doubted the church so all I had to do was to investigate, but where and how to start?

« Science and religion should go hand in hand « says Yogananda but I knew nothing about science and it was then that someone gave me Fritjorf Capra’s TAO OF PHISICS a book which compares science to spirituality in a way that even I could follow.

The first thing I was to learn was that there had been a Big Bang: an explosion of positive and negative energy and their complimentary opposites which fight each other ever since for domination. .The so called law of the jungle reigned supreme. Our first reaction is to want to chose which of the two forces we will sustain until we realise that - strange as it may seem – competition and destruction are necessary to Evolution of the species.. Grasp that and you will start understanding human nature!

What is a Satori ? It is a kind of flash of inner awakening which is practically impossible to describe in our human dimension. In Satori self is not present, there is only awareness and when one returns to normal consciousness there is an overwhelming feeling of pure inner joy and gratitude for having understood.

I had one the other day - like - when years ago - I was sitting on the banks of the Ganges - (described in one of my books) just sitting with open or closed eyes ,consciously thinking of nothing, when suddenly the whole Law of Universal and individual Karma became apparent -

This time it was the vision that our planet was concerned with (perhaps) one of the first stages of Evolution which will probably continue on other different planets according to the degree of individual Evolution.

I mentioned this experience to one of my dearest friends who was not specially interested in spirituality but was usually very broad-minded. This time she blew up like a balloon with indignation. How could one ignore our highly developed scientific achievements : proof of the high degree of our evolution……? Unfortunately we were interrupted and I had no time to tell her that in my mind they were of minor importance within the global plan of Evolution. I doubt Evolution is measured by our capacity for making atomic bombs or even of reaching far-off stars or planets and landing on the moon but rather by our capacity of reducing the conflictual chasm which separated spirit from matter by merging completely into the unifying Whole or source

I like to share some of my spiritual experiences which I feel can be of help to some but I always admit that they – even Satori – might be the fruit of pure imagination though it is undeniable that they can often give a plausible explanation__ to many hitherto unanswered questions.

There are still so many things we know nothing about but we should not be ashamed of our ignorance for we will, in time, have to admit – like Socrates - that the more we know the more we realise how little we know. And never forget to leave the doors which lead to knowledge, wide open !

Let us never refuse what we still ignore, it can be incredibly enriching !

It can help us to understand why every effort for improvement seems so hopeless. We cannot change the system but we can learn to deal with life in a more positive and constructive way by improving our personal outlook.