In his youth, there were many things outside of the scope of this writer’s philosophy. He laughed at vegetarianism and scoffed at astrology. Now he embraces both enthusiastically. He has studied astrology for 57 years, has taught the fundamentals of astrology since 1969, and has tried to use astrology to help others for 52 years. His use of astrology is usually in one of two ways. One, is to work together with another to resolve an issue or problem from a spiritual outlook. [Please do not bombard him with requests.] The other use is as a vehicle to understand spiritual principles. Despite his experience, most astrologers would not consider him a good astrologer. They are right. He does not intend to become a good astrologer by their definition, any time soon. This writer does marvel at the complicated, mathematical methods of good astrologers. It is amazing how they can correlate earthly events with astronomical events through mathematical astrology. Even though the correlation is often after the fact, it is still impressive. That said, the complicated mathematics used to predict events does not seem to enhance the understanding of the events.
There is a distinction between prediction and prophecy. The former is more about when events will occur, and the latter is more concerned with why the occur. Events in the material world are culminations and convergences of causal forces, but that is only the outer part of it. Simultaneously, they are precipitations of causes from the higher spiritual worlds, the source of prophecy. The human soul, or psyche, in the higher worlds, is also complicated, and the spirit behind it is deep beyond our current comprehension. However, many of the most important things of the psyche can be gotten at with simple, rudimentary astrology and prayerful pondering. This writer doesn’t shrink from astrological complications, but the complications must correlate to things in the psyche or they aren’t of much use.
Research and the practice of technical astrology will continue, and that is good because it is progressive and evolutionary. Evolutionary progress is exceedingly slow, whether in the gradual perfection of nature, or in individual, spiritual evolution. Even with ardent aspiration, our spiritual growth is slow. It takes many years of many, many tiny good deeds and positive thoughts to produce noticeable progress in soul growth. However, sometimes there are giant steps and radical changes in both nature at large, and in us. When great changes occur in nature, it is often in cataclysms. In our lives, they come in calamities. After major giant steps, conditions are new and different.
Newness is rich in unknowns, which constitute a large part of it. Even the timing of cataclysmic changes that bring about radical new opportunities is unknown to our current astrology. At the moment the meteorite struck, ending the times of the dinosaurs, the heavens may have held numerous planetary trines. Knowing this makes one feel “penny wise and pound foolish” in one’s stance about life. One also feels vulnerable to greater things. Nonetheless, little things accumulate to produce large changes, and the ability to thrive in them. Every one of those little good deeds and positive thoughts is necessary to bring about a major change in life, like initiation.
We don’t have an astrology for many of the little unknowns of our lives either. Take, for instance, what are called cosmic rays. The earth is continuously struck by tiny charged particles and waves of radiation, but we don’t always know when they will strike. We know that some come from solar flares, whose frequency and arrival, we can only roughly estimate. We do not know when cosmic rays will come from outside of our solar system. It is known that some come from sources in our galaxy, but we don’t always know when. There are also powerful extra-galactic cosmic rays which are also unpredictable. Scientists suspect some come from supernovae and even galactic collisions, but we don’t when these events will occur either. Cosmic rays are important because they do affect our well-being in ways other than interfering with radio reception. They can change DNA, cause cancer, cause cataracts and produce other conditions conducive to illness. Flying increases our risk of danger from cosmic rays, because there is less atmosphere to dissipate them. As this essay was being edited, a scientific paper was published indicating that at least one mass extinction on earth was caused by cosmic rays from an exploding star.
The findings of reliable mystics do not always agree with those of material science. The methods of material scientists are usually excellent. They are careful and thorough. At the same time, adherence to some beliefs prevents them from seeing, or even trying to see, some things. They claim to be open, neutral and unbiased. After a career working for particle physicists as an outsider, this writer can say that isn’t true. It is not that they are bigots or anything like that. It is that their education has been indoctrination as much as education. It isn’t like political indoctrination. It is indoctrination by qualified truth. Students learn how scientists have come to scientific principles whose validity is demonstrated by experiments. The conclusions are undeniable, but the attitude is that material science is the only valid way to truth. Science is sure, and it is sufficient for them. The fact that the scientific principles apply to the extent of the material universe cements this attitude. This writer once had a discussion with one of the physics professors. In it, the mystical approach, which includes what alchemists called the “great experiment”—that involves living all of one’s life and being with total dedication and vigor, inside and outside of the laboratory—was put forth. Inner worlds, and examples of them in our consciousness, was also part of the discussion. The response was,“that’s fine, but what I am doing works.” Subsequent discussion brought out that he wasn’t implying that mysticism doesn’t work. What he was trying to say was that the rigor of the lab and the material world were sufficient for him. What he was doing was true, which it was. He didn’t want to commit himself so completely to something that he didn’t know would work, no matter how great the potential scientific rewards. He was content with a qualified truth. One cannot judge him, because all of us, in our fallen materialistic blindness, cling to what works in this world more than is good for us. Anyway, this outlook influences how materialistic physics deals with uncertainty and knowing in little things.
Currently, physics has different theories about the large and the small, the macrocosm and the microcosm. Relativity is for the large, and quantum mechanics is for the small. Currently, the two theories contradict each other because each has a different assumption about time (one relative and one absolute) and each has a different view about fields. The following is a nontechnical look at the science of the small with extreme brevity. This is not an essay on science. It is about unknowns and uncertainty. We are seeking principles in mystical philosophy that can be used to better our lives by contrasting mysticism with material science. The physics of the small, including quantum mechanics, deals more with unknown and uncertainty, so it is more relevant.
There are three principles relevant to us concerning the very small in physics – particle physics. One is called the observer effect. It states that the at tempt to measure a very small changes in very small things, changes the phenomenon being measured. Thus, the phenomenon cannot be measured, one can only estimate. By very carefully calculating the energy used in attempted measurement and observing the outcome, scientists do quite well at estimating how the phenomenon would have proceeded had there not been a measurement, but the result is still only an approximation. Uncertainty. Another principle is referred to as the wave-particle duality. What are called “particles” can be studied either as waves or as particles, but either viewpoint is incomplete. Both studies have to be complementary to derive a complete description. Again, the description derived is quite accurate, but not the same as Max Heindel describing an atom from etheric vision, which is complete. Then there is the uncertainty principle. It states that complementary variables, such as momentum and position, in a conjugate relationship phenomenon cannot be expressed in a simultaneous, single value even if all of the initial conditions are known. In other words, the exact single momentum-position at a given moment cannot be derived, only approximated.
These principles are firmly established by experiments. According to physics, the stuff of the chemical world we live in is uncertain. There is no alternative to uncertainty in the materialistic view. However, the degree of variance is very tiny, so the world seems stable. This is the kind of outlook that one gets when one views the world from the outside, which is what material science does exclusively. It is quite different when the world is seen inwardly, as mystics see it. A well-trained clairvoyant can see things as they are, in the fluid universe. A magician or a saint performing a miracle can actually control some of the flow with certainty for a moment.
Before moving on, it is interesting to note that materialistic science, even physics, seems to be becoming closer to agreement with mysticism in describing the universe. For example, there is a phenomenon called,“quantum entanglement,” which maintains that two particles that interact become entangled in such a way that they affect each other when they are apart, even far apart, like the other side of the universe. Thus, the mystical idea of a sensitive universe, where even the smallest act affects the whole, is no longer far-fetched to physics. Recently, physicists found evidence of a particle they call the “Higgs Boson.” They are “particles” of massless energy in a field in which, when they are clustered together, attach themselves to cosmic energy streams enough to slow them. When energy streams are slowed down, they assume mass, according to the principle described in Einstein’s equation of energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. The mass, in turn, is the basis of the particles that build matter. A verbal description of the assuming of mass is nearly identical to the descriptions of the formation of matter found in an ancient gnostic mystical text as found by Peter Canova. Since it is the same universe, one would expect that the enquiries of materialistic science and mystics would eventually come to the same conclusions.
This essay is about unknowing, uncertainty and a life of spiritual aspiration. Its author doesn’t pretend to have answers to the questions that arise en passant. He isn’t a physicist, only someone thinking about the ideas of physics. He doesn’t even know if the questions asked are valid questions. The hope in this is that by enquiring together, we can come closer to answers. The questions about the three principles of unknowing and uncertainty in particle physics are more about the materialistic methods of obtaining knowledge from without than they are about the fundamental nature of physical matter. Only relativity and the quantum uncertainty principle raise questions about what mystics would call the far reaches of the creation. Is the foundation of the physical world uncertain? Einstein, who came down firmly on the relativity side of the mutually contradictory relationship between relativity versus quantum mechanics, thought “no,” but could not prove his view. Metaphorically speaking, he did not think “God was shaking dice” and said he was uncomfortable with “spooky action at a distance” of quantum entanglement. He also said, “No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.” A few astrophysical observations have supported his relativity theses. There are also experiments that support quantum mechanics. To this writer’s knowledge there is no experiment that proves either of them wrong. To date, the contradiction remains, even though some String Theorists claim to be able to reconcile relativity with quantum mechanics, but their ideas are not near experimental testing yet. The works of some alchemists, and magicians, and the “miracles” of saints would seem to favor the Einstein view about “dice shaking.” Christ, in St. Matthew’s gospel, also seems to support that view: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father.” Yet, the experiments that back quantum mechanics are sound. Perhaps a different approach to this can clarify uncertainty for us the mystical mind.
We are in a creation. It is a divinely conceived and controlled, evolutionary creation, but it is still a creation. Creation means something new. Robert Frost, the poet, once said, “…no surprises for the writer, no surprises for the reader.” This applies to the creation and the Creator. What joy would there be in an “old hat” or “run of the mill’ creation for the Creator? Speaking from his mystical experience, Meister Eckhart said, “God is enjoying Himself.” The Elohim in Genesis looked back on their work and “saw it was good.”
When an artist creates, the creation is a projection into the unknown. Usually, the projection is an intuitively inspired dream, an exciting possibility. In creation there is a struggle between the creator and the unknown, which carried on through the dream and the projection. In the struggle, something new is realized. It is as though the new is born out of the unknown. In Rosicrucian philosophy we learn that our creation is an involution into matter and an evolution out of matter. The involution is a materialization of spirit, a projection. The evolution is a spiritualization of matter through the compounding of soul out of matter. The result is an evolution of consciousness from soul absorbed into spirit. In this activity, matter, in its various grades, can be seen as a congealed unknown, and spirit as known knower. There is much more to it than this exceedingly brief and fleeting statement, but this should be enough for our immediate purposes. The chemical subdivision of the physical world, especially the solid part, is the farthest reach of the Creator in our creative manifestation. It is the front line in the battle with the unknown. Mass is produced out of potential in cosmic root substance at the frontier, where life (everything from the lively, energetic ethers to the substance of the worlds of pure spirit) meets the inert unknown. It should not seem surprising then, that creative activity would not be constant, because everything in the scheme of the evolutionary creation happens in waves of activity and rest. Most of the creative activity is regular and rhythmic, but not all. Uncertainty and irregularity might even be expected. Not knowing, or uncertainty, is not insecurity, nor is it ignorance, which is something much different. One can have faith and confidence in the spirit, in the face of unknowing and uncertainty. One would expect that an attitude of divine adventure would be the best way to approach the unknown.
At the time of writing, this the author is uncertain about uncertainty in quantum mechanics. He does not know whether the spirals in the materialization of spirit have anything to do with the waves of quantum mechanics. He is sure that he will know someday, and he is also sure that mysticism is a better path than physics to follow to come to that knowledge.
It is known that there will be bursts of radiation from solar flares and other solar phenomena. People have even developed algorithms to roughly predict them. It is not currently possible for material science to predict the magnitude of bursts of cosmic rays from a solar flare before they occur. Cosmic rays from beyond the solar system, which are more powerful, are also not predictable. By averaging the data from cosmic ray detectors, it is estimated that one secondary particle, called a muon, from a cosmic ray strike, hits every square centimeter of the earth every minute. The uncertainty of quantum mechanics is another matter. There is a field called statistical quantum mechanics. It applies statistical methods to determine a probability of the possible quantum states in a given quantum experimental model. The uncertainty is usually within a small range.
Statistics is the mathematics of organizing, analyzing, and interpreting data. It is used to determine the probability an event. For example, mathematically analyzing the data gathered from past instances of an event can indicate the likelihood of that event happening again. More data results in a more accurate prediction of recurrence. Statistical methods to determine probability apply to many more things than quantum mechanics. Statistical probability used in this way, is educated guessing. Insurance companies use sophisticated guessing, called actuarial science, to determine the likelihood of all sorts of events in life. Of course, insurance companies base rates on the safe side of actuarial findings. To insure is not to ensure. Many life events seem as uncertain as subatomic events seem to be uncertain. Consequently, faith and reliance on spirit is as necessary in life as it is at the frontier of the materialization of spirit in the evolutionary creation. Statistics and probability can only provide a modicum of confidence in life, never certainty. Ninety-nine out of one hundred people may not die in an automobile crash and that is comforting but one still wants to know if one is the one or one of the ninety-nine. Since death is currently a certainty, faith and abiding in the immortal spirit is a better way to deal with the unknowing and uncertainty of life.
Probability can be abstracted away from phenomenal data. It then becomes the mathematics of permutations and probability, the mathematics of chance. Yes, we are back to wondering if God is shaking dice.
In some primitive societies, dice are used to communicate with the gods. When it is not mediumistic, it is called divination. Horary astrology is sometimes a form of divination which uses the astrology of the moment as a focus for intuition to determine an answer to a question born in the moment. Are these forms of divination truly divine communication? If there is true intuition, and not a desire impulse, they are. If we don’t know ourselves well, it is uncertain whether something is impulse or intuition. Another unknown.
Even atheistic, materialistic scientists, who pride themselves in their reason as being anything but primitive, believe that all of the magnificent, multifaceted life we see around us began from random chance events. They also believe that some of the changes in the evolution of life forms, come about by chance events like cosmic ray strikes changing DNA, and not from a divinely guided evolutionary creation utilizing cosmic rays. Can chance and logical certainty coexist? A materialistic scientist will swear that reason is certain, but if the entire structure in which reason is born has its roots in chance, can one be sure? It might be just a house of cards. Mathematicians are closer to mystics, in that they say something is logically true because it can be shown that the results of their reasoning are true intuitively. They are even more like mystics, when they believe that the intuition of other reasoners will concur, without realizing the metaphysical implication of a shared, universal spirit of truth in that belief.
In some mythologies the gods do shake dice and there is even cheating. If the dice are loaded (given a weight bias) or shaved (slightly beveled at some edges), some desired combinations are more likely to occur than others. This is more sure than the insurance company being on the right side of statistics. Just as there is nothing new for a creator when there is nothing unknown and uncertain in a creation, there is no honesty when certainty feigns uncertainty. That is what cheating is. Cheating removes that divine feeling of adventure, when facing the unknown, which is the essence of creation. It is assuming. Experience then becomes as dull as a dress rehearsal.
That feeling of adventure can be abused and perverted, even addictively. This writer has been fortunate enough to have worked with the horoscopes and psychologies of gamblers. Several different combinations are often found in these horoscopes, but one is found most often. It is discordant interactions of Uranus and Jupiter. Uranus is the planet of spiritual newness, the future, and unpredictability. Jupiter rules goodness, pride, optimism, confidence and overconfidence. Their combination produces an irrepressible, undying confidence in one’s future. In the psychology of such a gambler, there is a belief that the goodness of his/her being carries into the future. There is often also a sentiment that destiny owes them something. The extreme pride and the allure of the unknown, heats the personality into something resembling a psychological fever. There is a feeling of certainty in the face of uncertainty. There is no giving up, because there is an undying optimism that a change of luck is immanent. Even intelligent gamblers, who intellectually know better, will sometimes go against the odds. This writer has literally heard an intelligent gambler say, “my luck is as good as anyone’s,” when placing an unsound bet. A divine fever.
Uranus rules other things beyond newness, things such as altruism, irrationality, creativity, discovery and spiritual rejuvenescence. Altruism is of the Life Spirit. Life Spirit is, in one of its attributes, the selfness from which selves are precipitated in Human Spirit. To know Christ in Life Spirit, is to know anyone, or everyone, as one’s self. “Love thy neighbor as thy self.” Life Spirit is the pure truth of which truths or principles in abstract thought are precipitated. It supersedes any logic. The irrationality of Uranus, when it represents Life Spirit intuition, is better described as supra-rational. Life Spirit is whole. In its wholeness even paradoxical opposites meet, perhaps even certainty and uncertainty. In the Book of Revelation the being representing Christ, the Lord of Life Spirit, says, “Behold I make all things new.” Life Spirit is new even to itself. Perhaps the newness born out of matter at the frontier of the unknown is complemented by a discovery of newness in Life Spirit to itself. The ethers, as the energy at that frontier, are a reflective projection of Life Spirit. Perhaps the two seeming newnesses are the same thing. After all, Max used to love to say, “God is closer than hands and feet.”
The feeling of discovery, also ruled by Uranus, is another manifestation of that divine excitement that feels like a fever. Many discoveries, such as semi-conductors and penicillin, were accidental. In our life experience, we often learn that what are called “accidents,” which are also ruled by Uranus, are actually benign events, awakening events. In our fallen, materialistic blindness, we cannot always tell whether something is a random event, a divine creative stroke, or both. Is a cosmic ray changing the DNA of a species causing a mutation a random event or a creative manifestation? Being the one out of one hundred that dies in an automobile accident might be a benign event. If that is true, then the adage, “all things work for the good,” is true, and all we have to do is free ourselves from egoism, and the insecurity attached to it, to know. We all want spiritual security, even in the face of unknowing and uncertainty, but are we willing to pay for it? If that price is surrendering egoism, the price might be more like a bonus.
Perhaps the probabilities of pure, abstract mathematics are more than postulates. Perhaps God is shaking dice, and mathematical probability is one of the ways the Universal Spirit manifests itself via macrocosmic abstract thought, and randomness and certainty do meet in Life Spirit. As beings of faith, we want to believe this is true. As truth seekers, we want to know this is true. In this we have a promise. We remember that promise every time we go through the Rosicrucian Fellowship Temple Service. “For now we know in part and we prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away…” promises us that we will transcend self and egoism. In manifestation we will still have to face unknowing and uncertainty, but it will be with an attitude of spiritual surety. For now, this is a matter of faith for us, but St. Paul, who did transcend self in the experience of Christ from Life Spirit, tells us, “…faith is the substance of things hoped for.”
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
then are dreamt of in your philosophy.
