Richard Tarnas in his recent book, Cosmos and Psyche, marks Copernicus, more specifically his heliocentric theory, as the impetus to transforming the human psyche from a belief in the divine will of God to a more science-driven world view. The heliocentric theory put the sun in the center of the universe with the planets orbiting around it as opposed to its geocentric counterpart, which put the earth in the center of the universe. Tarnas explains the heroic efforts and boldness of the Copernican Revolutionaries, who stood up against the Catholic Church and forged an entirely “new conception of reason.” All conventional paradigms of our place in the universe had to be redefined. Needless to say, it took generations.
While I do not assume to have any deep understanding of Tarnas work (which I hope you will explore) or the historical contexts within it, he has my attention and for purposes of my fodder here, suffice it to say whether it was this revolution or something else, the power of scientific discovery began to carve out a superior spot for us on the planet. While linguistic symbolization stands as a precursor to what is separating us (subject) from that which is not us (object), the sense of superiority we gained from science gave us a greater sense of personal autonomy and freedom. The residual effects are still being seen.
Though empowering and innovative, with us as the subject and everything else as the object this worldview has reduced planet earth and everything else in the universe to something to be exploited as a canvas, a treasure chest, or trash can. It has distanced us from Nature. Most ancient and spiritual teachings allude to the paradox of dualism to subject and object; matter and anti-matter. Regardless what you choose to call it, prakrati and purusa, yin and yang, or any other duo without our otherness or opposite there could be nothing to learn from or play off of –no ally or enemy, no heaven or hell, no canvas, treasure chest, or trash can.
It’s interesting how much we admire our reflection in everything we create or destroy, (look what I made from that forest of trees) and yet we turn a blind eye to our connection to it. Science came about as an antithesis to religion, yet now is discovering micro units of matter and a proposed smallest unit that ended up with the nickname, “God particle”. It is uncovering things on a macro level as well with the possibilities of an ever-expanding universe or multiverse. Lately, the more we uncover, the more we learn about our interdependence and interconnection with it and a seemingly magical interplay at work of which our ego is not always creating.
These discoveries have brought about words like limitlessness and non-linearity, which all sound fun; however, in the vein of a non-dualistic world with its actuality of vast nothingness even iron-willed Existentialists might become anemic. Like Tarnas points out Nature seems indifferent to our presence much less our ego needs. As the light of knowledge keeps shining ever brighter through our windows, we can try to keep the curtain closed.
We don’t want to end up like the students of the sage Patanjali. The story goes that after Patanjali took the form of Adesesha, the 1000-headed cobra, he set out to carefully and systematically shed the light of knowledge on his 1000 students one-on-one. However, despite his warning not to peek behind the curtain that shielded them from the true brightness of all that Adesesha knew, curiosity got the best of them and they all burned to death. It might behoove us to be more like the one student who survived. The one who ultimately received all of the knowledge of Patanjali even after he disobeyed the rules and left in the middle of class to answer the call of Mother Nature.
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