Читать книгу Luminous Life - Jacob Israel Liberman - Страница 11
ОглавлениеWhether in the intellectual pursuits of science or in the mystical pursuits of the spirit, the light beckons ahead, and the purpose surging in our nature responds.
— ARTHUR STANLEY EDDINGTON
At daybreak in a large lake on the island of Palau in the Philippine Sea, a dance begins. Millions of golden jellyfish, each the size of a teacup, race east toward the light of the rising sun. Once they reach the sun’s early morning rays, they halt. Then slowly, as the sun makes its way east to west, the jellies follow its arc. As dusk falls these unique invertebrates come to rest on the lake’s western shore. The following morning, the dance begins again.
These jellies are just one of countless species whose life journeys are guided by the sun’s light. According to marine biologists, humpback whales use sunlight, along with the stars and the earth’s magnetic pull, to guide their ten-thousand-mile yearly migrations. Despite ocean currents, the whales swim in a straight line — north to feed and south to mate — varying less than one degree longitude from year to year.
Each fall in Antarctica, emperor penguins march, single file, on a treacherous seventy-mile journey inland to their breeding grounds. Once there, they pair off and mate. After the female lays an egg, she carefully transfers it to the feet of the male, who incubates it in the space between the base of his belly and the top of his feet. The female then returns to the ocean in search of food. For two months, the males huddle together without food, balancing the eggs on top of their feet, while temperatures descend to one hundred degrees below zero Fahrenheit and wind speeds reach one hundred miles per hour. In an intricate dance, the males on the inside of the group move toward the periphery as their body temperatures rise, while those on the outside gradually move in to get warm. Later, after the females return and the chicks hatch, the penguins trek en masse seventy miles back to the sea, as if they were one organism — each one a cell in an intricately connected body of life.
In addition to jellies, whales, and penguins, many other creatures — ranging from butterflies to songbirds — take part in extraordinary migratory journeys guided by something outside themselves that is inseparably aligned with something inside them. When we learn about such feats, we often marvel at these creatures’ amazing ability to travel from point A to point B. In the absence of maps, printed directions, and GPS technology, how do they find their way to their locations — never varying their routes, never getting lost, never second-guessing themselves, and never bickering with one another about the right route to take?
Most of us only hear about these stories on the Discovery channel or from documentaries such as March of the Penguins. But when we come upon this phenomenon in our own lives, it stops us in our tracks and makes us realize that we miss a lot of activity happening around us.
When I moved into a rented cottage on Maui, Hawaii, some years ago, I found a little Russian Blue cat with gray fur and yellow eyes sitting on the porch staring at me. I learned that she was feral and that my neighbor Koa called her Pepper, and that she came by around the same time every day. I bought a few cans of cat food from a nearby market, opened one, and left it on the porch. She gobbled it up, so I left food and water on the porch and each day Pepper came to eat. This went on for five months, and we began to grow friendly toward one another.
One day I saw Koa carrying a cardboard box with Pepper inside.
“Where are you taking her?” I asked.
“I have a friend on the other side of the island who wants her.”
The friend lived thirty-five miles away, and though I was fond of Pepper, I knew it was for the best as I was leaving for Europe within a few days.
Three months later, after a friend picked me up from the airport and drove me back to the cottage, I found Pepper waiting there for me.
Surprised, I stepped over to Koa’s cottage. “When did you bring Pepper back?”
“I didn’t.”
Together we walked back to my cottage. Once he saw the cat, Koa said, “Oh my God.” Then he called his friend and asked, “Why did you bring the cat back?”
The friend replied, “I didn’t. She ran away almost as soon as you dropped her off. I never saw her again.”
Amazed that she had found her way home at the very moment I arrived, I renamed her Lani, which means “heaven” in Hawaiian. Soon I moved to a new home and I took her with me.
To us, such a journey sounds impossible, especially if we often find ourselves lost within an unfamiliar city or even just within a mall parking lot. In reality, we humans are equipped with the same guidance technology as jellies, whales, and these other amazing creatures. Birds, for instance, appear to have a built-in compass in their eyes, as their retinas contain high concentrations of the light-sensitive protein cryptochrome, which affords them the ability to detect the earth’s magnetic field. But cryptochrome is not unique to birds; it is a prehistoric protein found in microbes, plants, and animals that helps control daily rhythms and the detection of magnetic fields in an increasing number of species. Some researchers believe that birds can actually see these invisible fields superimposed above their normal vision.
Humans were thought to have only five senses, while animals such as birds, whales, and turtles had a sixth sense that allows them to orient themselves during these long migrations. Recently, however, a team of scientists from the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that the human eye also contains high concentrations of cryptochrome. Moreover, when the human cryptochrome gene is implanted into a fruit fly, after its normal magnetic sixth sense has been altered, it restores its ability to sense magnetic fields like its normal peers. These experiments demonstrate that human cryptochrome can act as a magnetic sensor, suggesting that we too may be equipped with such a sixth sense, aligning us with the intricate navigational system of the planet.
One obvious difference between these animals and us: they do not override their inner guidance system with thinking. They do not question the arc of the sun. They do not choose to follow or not follow it. They do not trust the light, nor do they distrust it. They merely follow the light as it leads them to their destination. But this begs the question: What is light?
What Is Light?
Since humanity’s first sunrise, seers have wondered about the nature of light and suspected that this mysterious and all-pervasive phenomenon must be fundamentally related to our deepest questions about God, life, and the meaning of existence. The Bible tells us that life began with the dawning of light, and virtually every spiritual tradition identifies light with the Creator, speaking of the “divine light,” the “light of God,” and describing spiritual evolution as the process of “enlightenment.”
Health and well-being are commonly thought of as an emanation of light — or “glow” — a radiance that cannot be described. Glowing physical health is primarily a function of the power of our “inner sun,” and our glow seems to increase as our awareness expands. At full illumination, this radiance becomes visible to the naked eye, which is why great actors are often likened to “stars,” and saints are traditionally depicted as being surrounded by brilliant halos and described as “illumined.”
Many of our verbal expressions also illustrate the countless ways in which light manifests in our everyday lives. We say that pregnant women are “glowing,” and when we feel inspired we say we have had a “flash” of insight. When someone is very smart, we say they are “brilliant”; and when they have changed their beliefs or thinking, we say they have “seen the light.” When we speak of a new idea, we might say “a light bulb went off.” When we want someone to calm down, we might suggest they “lighten up.”
Scientists have also puzzled over the nature of light. In 1640 the Italian astronomer Galileo wrote a letter to philosopher Fortunio Liceti stating, “I have always considered myself unable to understand what light was, so much so that I would readily have agreed to spend the rest of my life in prison with only bread and water if only I could have been sure of reaching the understanding that seems so hopeless to me.” Around 1917 the physicist Albert Einstein wrote to a friend, “For the rest of my life I will reflect on what light is!” By 1951 he confessed that he had spent fifty years of “conscious brooding,” trying to understand the nature of light yet was no closer to the answer than when he began.
In the process of chasing the mystery of light, however, Einstein developed the theory of relativity, establishing that at the speed of light, time ceases to exist. In addition, a photon, which has no mass, can cross the cosmos without using any energy. So for light beams, time and space do not exist.
More recently, however, quantum physicists have described light as the foundation of reality. This is profoundly significant when we realize that quantum theory is considered the most successful scientific formulation in history and that 50 percent of our current technology is based on it. According to theoretical physicist David Bohm, “Light is energy and it’s also information, content, form, and structure. It’s the potential of everything.”
We live in a universe that appears to be created and nourished by light. According to German writer and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “All life originates and develops under the influence of. . .light.” This becomes obvious when we experimentally place plants, animals, or humans in darkened environments and notice that their vitality and well-being gradually diminish, bringing their lives to a halt. Without light, there is no will to live. We are literally robbed of the spark that propels our spirit.
With such recognitions, the artificial distinctions we have between science, health care, and spirituality are dissolving, and each is being traced back to light. Mystics, scientists, and healers now agree, in their respective terms, that light holds the secret to human awakening, healing, and transformation. Yet we still do not understand what light is.
Light is made up of photons, and it is believed that subatomic particles are composed of photons, which are the fundamental building blocks of what we call matter or reality. Photons are formless, invisible, and without attributes. They have no mass, weight, or electrical charge, and thus cannot be directly perceived or measured.
That is why we never truly see light. And yet everything we see, hear, smell, and touch is made of photons. According to American polymath and author Walter Russell, not only is seeing “a sensation of feeling light waves through our eyes,” but “hearing is a sensation of feeling light waves through our ears. Tasting and smelling are sensations of feeling light waves reacting upon mouth and nostrils.”
David Bohm took things a step further when he stated, “All matter is frozen light.” The quantum reality Bohm describes is founded on a simple principle: light and life are the same energy in two different states of existence, form (matter) and formlessness (light). In its formed or frozen state, light energy composes all the matter in the universe — everything we see, touch, and measure. Bohm’s statement refers to the transformation of light into matter — how light becomes life, its potential energy, described by Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2. What is just as important, however, is how life or matter can, once again, become light.
You might be able to more easily picture the seamless interplay between the form and the formless if you think of plants and how they are guided and transformed by light throughout their life cycle.
First, a plant “sees” where light is emanating and naturally positions itself to be in optimal alignment with it. This ability to sense different qualities and quantities of light is crucial to a plant’s survival, as it ensures the leaves are in prime position to collect sunlight with the least effort while guiding the roots toward soil with its ideal moisture.
This miraculous process of a plant being in the right place at the right time facilitates the process of photosynthesis, whereby sunlight bonds carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) to create sugar, the essential fuel that powers organic systems. When humans and animals consume plants, that bond is dissolved once again, dividing sugar into carbon dioxide and water. The carbon dioxide is then eliminated via the lungs, and the water via perspiration and urination, leaving only light within the organism.
In essence, we live on sunlight. Plants absorb the formless energy of light from the sun and store it in their leaves. When we eat those plants, we literally ingest frozen light, use it, and what remains is its formless essence. . .light.
In the second edition of his book Opticks, published in 1717, Sir Isaac Newton says, “Are not gross bodies and light convertible into one another; and may not bodies receive much of their activity from the particles of light which enter into their composition? The changing of bodies into light, and light into bodies, is very conformable to the course of Nature, which seems delighted with transmutations.”
We respond to light like plants, continuously moving toward greater alignment with the light and the consciousness that underlies it, while interacting with the qualities and quantities of light that best support our physical, emotional, and spiritual development. We are all creatures of light.
How Light Guides Us
In this very moment, light is guiding your eyes to these words, illuminating meaning and creating a connection between you and this book. That connection is called presence. Without light you would not be able to see these words. They simply would not appear to your eyes. Light literally brings the words to you, creating a sense of inseparability between perception and meaning. The light that brings you the words you read also brings “to light” the people, situations, and opportunities required to spur your evolution. It takes you by the hand and leads you where you need to be and when you need to be there. And light’s guidance has no side effects. However, we must remember how to recognize it.
It is the same with everything we see. Light — from the sun, from lamps, from fire — reflects off objects and interacts with our eyes, releasing energy and information about those objects, which are then magically transformed into an image that appears full of light. But, it is not actually light. It is just a mental interpretation that we experience as brightness.
Many people think of the eyes as two cameras mounted on the face, but in reality they are elaborate and complex extensions of the brain, and each of these extensions is designed to both absorb and emit light. Each eye contains 126 million photoreceptors. Approximately 95 percent of these receptors (called rods) are distributed spaciously throughout the retina. The other 5 percent (called cones) are primarily compacted into a tiny area called the macula. Rods are extremely sensitive, functioning under low-level light conditions and responding to motion. Cones are less sensitive, adapted to color perception and high-resolution vision.
Based on their design, rods seem to be able to sense things before our conscious mind registers their form. In fact, researchers from Rockefeller University and the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Austria recently demonstrated that the human eye can detect a single photon of light. Since a photon is the smallest undividable unit of energy, this discovery clearly confirms that our eyes are designed to operate at the quantum level of reality, and our vision has been honed by evolution to function at its maximum potential.
Yet photons are technically invisible. They do not create an image that the brain can see, yet this minute amount of light still “calls” the eye, giving new meaning to eighteenth-century essayist Jonathan Swift’s statement, “Real vision is the ability to see the invisible.” In response to this infinitesimally subtle invitation, the eye reflexively moves toward that which is calling it, and it does this without our conscious awareness. According to Alipasha Vaziri, the study’s lead researcher, “The most amazing thing is that it’s not like seeing light. It’s almost a feeling, at the threshold of imagination.”
Cones inspect things carefully when the situation demands it but require significantly brighter light to do so. So when your optometrist asks you which is better, number one or number two, your cones allow you to know the difference. As you can see, vision is primarily a global process that continuously aligns us with the greater whole and zeros in on details only when necessary. Our life experiences are primarily the result of the ongoing interaction that links our eyes with light.
The process of vision — our response to what we see — begins within a few quadrillionths of a second after light enters the eye, enabling the information encoded in light to be transmitted to, and interpreted by, the brain and all systems connected to it at light speed. We might think, “Look at that car.” In reality, light bounced off the car, attracted our eye, entered our brain, and sent signals down various nerve endings long before the thought “Look at that” surfaced. Hence the wisdom behind the expression “It caught my eye.” Yet rarely do we ask what the “it” is to which we are referring. My sense is that this “it” is the same light the Bible refers to as “God,” and quantum physicists describe as the formless bedrock of consciousness guiding every step of our lives — the intelligence of life.
Light guides more than just our eyesight. It also guides our breathing, our heartbeat, our sleep-wake cycle, and much more. The eye contains nonvisual, light-sensing cells that are developed and functioning long before the rods and cones that process light into vision are operative. In fact, these cells may be present at birth, confirming that light entering the eyes directs our body’s homeodynamic process from the earliest stages of life.
When light enters the eyes, the entire brain lights up because the light does not just travel to the brain’s visual cortex, enabling us to see. It travels along several different routes that involve the entire brain, significantly affecting all our life-sustaining functions as well as our emotions, balance, and coordination, to name a few. For example, light entering the eyes goes to the “brain’s brain,” the hypothalamus, which regulates the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system, as well as our reaction and adaptation to stress. Using light-activated information, the hypothalamus communicates with the body’s true “master gland,” the pineal. The pineal is the same structure that allows humpback whales to use light during their annual migrations.
Referred to as the “third eye” by Indian mystics and the “seat of the soul” by seventeenth-century mathematician and philosopher Descartes, the pineal gland, the body’s “regulator of regulators,” shares information about environmental light changes and the earth’s electromagnetic field with every cell of the body at the same instance of time. In doing so, each cell effortlessly upgrades and synchronizes its function with Mother Nature, bringing us to our natural state of oneness with no effort or thinking required.
So when light contacts the body’s energy field, it resonates first with the pineal. The pineal, acting as the conductor of the endocrine symphony, then entrains the pituitary, thyroid, thymus, pancreas, gonads, and adrenals, translating light energy into electricity, magnetism, and eventually to chemical energy itself. It has now been confirmed that the order of endocrine entrainment in the human body correlates completely with ancient medical systems that describe the workings of the body’s major energy centers or chakras.
In addition to the visual and nonvisual effects of light by way of the eyes, light also guides the trillions of cells in our body via a process called photobiomodulation, catalyzing a cascade of events that stimulate and/or inhibit cellular activity down to the DNA. This process reveals that when the cell’s powerhouse, the mitochondria, absorbs light, it significantly impacts the production of adenosine triphosphate. This is the energy used by cells to power the metabolic processes that create DNA, ribonucleic acid, proteins, and enzymes, as well as other biological materials required to repair or regenerate cellular components, nurture cell division, and restore homeostasis.
All biological life is composed of, and dependent on, light. The term solar system means “of or derived from the sun.” In fact, 98 percent of the sun’s light enters the body through the eyes, and the other 2 percent enters by way of the skin. Thus, light is the primal nourishment for life. The body is a biological light receptor, the eyes are transparent biological windows designed to receive and emit light, and all physiological functions are light dependent. For example, routine exposure to sunlight reduces resting heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar, while increasing energy, strength, endurance, stress tolerance, and the ability of the blood to absorb and carry oxygen.
After forty-five years of investigating light and its therapeutic applications, I have concluded that the intelligence of life summons us through light, guiding and illuminating our entire life’s journey. Light and life are inseparable.
