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THE UNITY OF ALL THINGS

        SEPT 1, 2014     

In This Issue
CHANT CLUB
THE UNITY OF ALL THINGS
JENNIS CONCERTS IN KINGSTON, OTTAWA AND GUELPH
BIG BEAT IN GUELPH
'WHY IS LIFE' - ONLY $6
Greetings Dear Friends
  
Summer is racing by. Despite the strange weather, it has been lovely. I had taken a bit of a summer break from the newsletter with its accompanying articles, but now it's back on track. The last set of articles was on the topic of mysticism, providing a brief overview of several of the mystical traditions, which have so much to say about the nature of our reality and our journey through life. The next set of articles comes from a section in my book, 'Why Is Life', called 'The Parallels Between Mysticism and Physics'. Both of these seemingly opposite points of view have startlingly similar things to say about the nature of our reality. This month will feature the first in that series entitled 'The Unity of All Things'.

Also in this newsletter, some upcoming events including some Jennis concerts and the equinox Big Beat. See details below.

 

Something I'd like to tell you about - I'm involved with a group who are building an intentional community in Guelph - a place where we can live in an environment of shared values. If you are interested in such a thing and you'd like to know more about it, please feel free to contact me. 

 

If you'd like to access past newsletters containing articles on the Big Shift, as well as articles on the Physics of Mysticism, Magic, the Power of Mantra and other topics, please visit the 'newsletter' page of my website: 

 whyislife.com


Peace and love, Dennis.
  

CHANT CLUB ON SEPT. 3 -
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!


GUELPH CHANT CLUB  
DATE                                        CITY                                 VENUE   
WED., SEPT 3rd, 2014              Guelph,                        Unitarian   Church
7:45 to 9:30 pm                         Ontaro                   

The Unitarian Church is on the corner of
Harris and York Streets in Guelph.

For more detailed directions, check out guelph-unitarians.com

SUGGESTED DONATION - $15

THE PARALLELS BETWEEN

MYSTICISM AND PHYSICS

 

"For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, even if a stubborn one."

Albert Einstein

 

Part 1

The Unity of All Things

 

We can clearly see that there are some interesting parallels between what ancient mysticism and modern physics have to say regarding the nature of reality. Both the scientific and the mystical perspectives allude to the idea that much of what we think of as reality is an illusion. There is no matter as we know it. There is no time, flowing in a constant, linear way. There is no such thing as empty space. For a body floating in space there is no up, no down. We can't determine what is moving and what is at rest. Relative to something else, everything is in motion. What appears to be solid, static matter, when sufficiently magnified, reveals a frenzy of activity. Energy is continually changing form. Particles are flying around furiously, popping in and out of existence. Empty space, when magnified sufficiently, reveals the same thing - it's not empty at all. It must be clear by now that we can't rely on our five-sensory experience to see through the illusion. In this next series of articles we'll discuss the parallels between science and mysticism.

 

There is an old African word, 'ubuuntu', which means 'all is connected'. One of the most clearly stated tenets of mysticism and the very essence of eastern philosophy is the idea of the unity of all things. We are all part of a greater whole that some people like to call 'God'. This is alluded to in the Christian tradition as the concept of the Corpus Christi, the idea that we are all 'cells' in the body of Christ. In one form or another, many mystical traditions embrace the idea that the universe is a vast, interconnected web. Everything within the web is cut from the same fabric, different aspects of the same thing. Every part of the universe contains the whole; the universe is a system of systems, a hierarchy of wholes, which make up the ultimate whole. This holographic image of reality is represented by the 'flower of life' in sacred geometry and by the granddaddy of all mystics, Hermes Trismegistus who said, "As above, so below."

 

Science has arrived at much the same conclusion. In particle physics, each particle 'contains' other particles. The forces holding particles together are themselves particles. Although these things can be very difficult to envision, they can be expressed mathematically. At the sub-atomic level, solid matter becomes a 'probability' of interconnected patterns of energy. All matter, all forces, are interdependent and composed of the same substance. What that substance actually is, we don't know, but we tend to call it 'energy'. Science has looked at what energy does, how it behaves, but it doesn't really know what it is.

 

According to eastern mysticism, the observer's consciousness is an integral part of the perceived reality. No reality can exist separate from the self. The reality we perceive is continually created and shaped by the collective mind, of which we are all a part. Scientific thought is headed in this direction, acknowledging that no observation is totally objective. The presence of the experimenter affects the outcome of the experiment. Science is in accord with mysticism when it admits that we can know nothing with true certainty, largely because we cannot separate ourselves from whatever it is we are trying to observe. With all the further observations of the parallels between science and mysticism, this notion of the underlying unity of all things keeps recurring.

 

In the next newsletter Part 2 of this series will talk about the dualities that define our physical reality

and the concepts of space and time. 

 

JENNIS IN KINGSTON, OTTAWA AND GUELPH

Jen Gillmor and I have a new musical project called Jennis, featuring original songs and a fresh new sound. We have some upcoming concerts in Kingston, Ottawa and Guelph. See details below.

To listen to some sample music and to download a free song, please visit our website at jennis.ca

  
 

  
'WHY IS LIFE?'- NOW ONLY $6

My book, Why Is Life?, has been released as an e-book, available for approximately $6 or less, from a list of online bookstores:
Apple i-Books, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony Reader Store, Koby, Copia, Gardners, Baker & Taylor, eBookPie, eSentral, Scribd and PagePusher.
The book can be purchased at any of these outlets, searching with either the title or this ISBN number: 9781483515403
OR, just click on one of these links: 
New to e-books?
Click this link for a wikipedia article about e-books:
If this is the first time you've bought an e-book, you may need to download an app - the most popular ones are from Amazon and are free to download. You can read an e-book on your computer, laptop or an e-book device like a Kindle (Amazon) or an I-Book or I-Pad (Apple). For an article comparing them, click here:

To download a Kindle app for any reading device including Apple products, click here:

ABOUT 'WHY IS LIFE'
To read a variety of reviews of this book, click here and then, once in the website, click 'reviews':