A cosmic theophany

Concluding our series of posts on Dr Wolfgang Smith's 2019 monumental monograph: Physics & Vertical Causation, the End of Quantum Reality. (Angelico Press, 2019, also available on Amazon Kindle). 
For further reading on this and related material, see the Philos-Sophia Initiative website.

According to Smith and the authorities he cites, the cosmos constitutes a theophany: a manifestation or appearance of God to man [from Greek θεοϕάνεια and θεοϕάνια (neuter plural), < θεός god + ϕαίνειν to show].

He recalls the parable of the three measures of meal (see previous post) and its relevance to the conception of a cosmic trichotomy, as signified by the cosmic icon (left). Here are the correspondences, tabulated:



Measure                        Macrocosm                                          Microcosm
1st measure                   Cosmic centre point ''O''                      Spirit         
2nd measure                  Intermediary realm                              Soul (psyche, anima)
3rd measure                   Corporeal realm, moving ''P'' >           Body & blood

Apart from the trichotomous correlation, there is also the use of the word ''measure'' itself, pointing to the very act of measurement by which the three cosmic domains were brought into being. The cosmic icon itself is produced by just such an act of measurement.

Mandukya Upanisad (part).  Ms Sarah Welch. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Smith brings to a close his reflections on the trichotomy by introducing his readers to the sapiential literature known as the ''Upanishads''[1].One of these ancient Sanskrit texts presents the tribhuvana, a theory of three states of consciousness or modes of knowing:

• the state of dreamless sleep               [cosmic/spiritual]
• the dream state                                   [intermediary]
• the waking state                                 [corporeal]

Readers may detect a correspondence to the three elements in the table of the three measures above. If the correspondence is valid, the dream state stands midway between the corporeal and the spiritual worlds in that it transcends the bound of space but not of time. It is true that in dreams we experience entities more or less like the things we perceive in the waking state, including their spatial boundaries, but they do not exist in space.

The state of ''dreamless sleep'' poses a conundrum because it implies we do not access anything at all. Smith argues that, from a Christian point of vantage, this is explained by the effect of Original Sin. He cites St Paul's words:

[14] Animalis autem homo non percipit ea quae sunt Spiritus Dei : stultitia enim est illi, et non potest intelligere : quia spiritualiter examinatur.But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined.[1 Cor 2]

Some people are able to make such progress in their spiritual life that they do gain access to the spiritual realm: to ''things that are of the Spirit of God.''

Intriguingly, the upanishad makes a tantalisingly brief reference to a fourth state of consciousness: the turiya, which word simply means ''the Fourth''. It appears that the dream state transcends the waking state and the dreamless or spiritual state transcends the dream state. The dreamless or spiritual state partakes of what Smith earlier terms ''æviternity'' and is to be contrasted with the trans- or ultra-cosmic eternity of the ''leaven''.  Now, because the turiya transcends even the dreamless/spiritual state,  Smith concludes that it is both immanent and transcendent in respect to the integral cosmos. Accordingly, the turiya corresponds to the ''leaven'', to Christ and the Triune God!

Postscript

Dr Smith concludes his monograph with a Postscript that is hard-hitting and yet moving. It seems wise to let his words speak for themselves. I have added subheadings.

Vertical causality: a dimension rediscovered

It remains to point out that having thus initiated what might broadly be termed a rediscovery of the vertical dimension, we may have prepared the ground for a shift in the Weltanschauung of Western civilization.
...a scientific metanoia, based on a rediscovery of vertical causation, is apt to inaugurate a cultural metanoia as well, which may “open doors” bolted shut centuries ago.

Galileo and Einstein unmasked

...the decentralization of the Earth goes hand in hand with a corresponding decentralization of man.
What has in effect been lost are both the macro– and microcosmic manifestation of that central point in the cosmic icon: that “pivot around which the primordial wheel revolves.” There are in truth two centers: the macrocosmic and its counterpart in the microcosm, the anthropos; and the two centers are in fact inseparable. How, then, are they connected? And by now the answer cannot but stare us in the face: that universal and transcendent Center of the cosmos is connected to its counterpart in man by an act of vertical causality, which is none other than the cosmogenetic Act itself. Neither spatial distance nor temporal duration, thus, separates our Center from that “pivot” around which “the primordial wheel revolves.” And this, I surmise, constitutes the Mystery wise men have pondered ever since the world began: their Quest has ever been for that “punto dello stelo” hidden deep within the heart, which is “the eye of the needle” through which “the rich man” cannot pass, the “narrow gate” the “pure in heart” alone can enter.

Galileo. British Museum. 1624.

How then did the Galilean intervention impact this Quest, this longing, however dimmed? It did so, ontologically, through the subjectivation of the qualities, and cosmographically, by the denial of geocentric cosmology. What remains, following these twin reductions, is on the one hand the phantasm of a clockwork universe driven by a horizontal causality, and on the other a decentered humanity: for when the cosmos loses its center, so does the microcosm, so as a rule does man.


Ottavio Leoni [Public domain]

The overall impact of the Galilean intervention proves thus to be twofold: on the one hand what René Guénon[2] refers to as “the reign of quantity” engendered by Cartesian bifurcation, and on the other what might well be termed “the reign of relativity” symptomatic of a decentralized humanity in a decentralized universe. The congruity of God, man, and cosmos became thus newly compromised, and in consequence of this breach the anthropos himself has begun to disintegrate at an unprecedented rate: the Galilean impact upon humanity could thus be viewed as a second Fall.
In light of these reflections it is evident that the impact of the Galilean revolution upon Christianity and Christian culture at large was in fact bound to be fatal. Christian civilization has need of the pre-Galilean worldview—and this fact was recognized from the start by those who had “eyes to see”: think of the impassioned words of John Donne,[3] penned in the year 1611, when the Galilean revolution had barely begun: “And new philosophy calls all in doubt,” he laments; “’Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone,” he cries! Yet no one has made the point more sharply than Herman Wouk[4] when he proclaimed that Christianity has been dying “ever since Galileo cut its throat.” I find it tragic that our contemporary theologians and churchmen seem, almost without exception, to have not so much as the faintest idea what Herman Wouk was talking about—which only goes to show, however, how profoundly right he was.

Einstein. [Kadumago, CC BY 4.0]

And this brings us finally to the crucial point: in light of the facts delineated in this monograph, it appears that the Galilean arc of history is presently drawing to its close: the rediscovery of vertical causation alone—along with the resultant unmasking of Einsteinian relativity—implies as much.

For as we have come to see, the recognition of vertical causation opens the door to a rediscovery of the integral cosmos—the actual world in which we “live, and move, and have our being”—which not only exonerates geocentrism,but brings to light the existence and the ubiquity of the veritable Center.

The cosmos as theophany

Let Christians—and all who bow before God—rejoice: the scourge of relativism and irreligion has now been dealt a mortal blow! Following four centuries of intellectual chaos and de facto incarceration within his own distraught psyche, homo religiosus is now at liberty, once again, to step out into the God-given world, which proves to be—not a mechanism, nor some spooky quantum realm—but its very opposite: a theophany ultimately, in which:

[20] ....the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable.
Invisibilia enim ipsius, a creatura mundi, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta, conspiciuntur : sempiterna quoque ejus virtus, et divinitas : ita ut sint inexcusabiles.[Rom 1]

[1] upanishad: Sanskrit upa-nishád, < upa near to + ni-shad to sit or lie down. As when a student sits at the feet of his magister. In Sanskrit literature, one or other of various speculative treatises chiefly dealing with the Deity, creation, and existence, and forming a division of the Vedic literature.
[2] René Guénon: (1886-1951), also known as ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥyá, was a French author and intellectual,an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from sacred science to traditional studies.
[3] John Donne: (1572-1631): English poet and cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. 
[4] Herman Wouk: (1915 – 2019) American author best known for historical fiction such as The Caine Mutiny (1951), The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, historical novels about World War II; and non-fiction such as This Is My God, an explanation of Judaism from a Modern Orthodox perspective.As Sloan said to Natalie in Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War, “Don’t you know, Natalie, that Christianity is dead and rotting since Galileo cut its throat” (p. 600).