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Spiritual Symbols and Patterns

Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns

Oneness is reflected as many, a seeming multitude of forms.We see reflection everywhere we look. We hear reflection in everything we hear. The eyes perceive light reflecting off surfaces. The ears hear sound reflecting off surfaces. Reflection is more than just a common pattern in the universe: it is the way in which the universe appears. Let's explore the world of reflection.

In my first book, Philosophical Contemplations, I started using the term The World of Opposites to describe the world that we experience. It occurred to me that opposites were everywhere and opposites were the means by which the world appears. It's not a new recognition really: the Taoist Yin and Yang understanding is well known. High and low, near and far, good and bad, happy and sad - this is the play of the world. It was clear that without opposites nothing can appear. The contrast is needed for something to appear out of nothing. Light needs darkness for it to be evident. Silence needs sound for it to be 'heard', or rather known. Without ever knowing sound, silence is overlooked. It is only when sound is gone that the silence is noticed.

But it's not just that the world is made of opposites. The apparent World of Opposites is itself a reflection of Reality. There are certain qualities that are timeless and formless, and these cannot become apparent without the appearances of opposites. Oneness, Stillness, Harmony, Endlessness, Being - these qualities are imperceptible. These are the qualities of reality that can only seem to be expressed by aid of their opposites. It is in expressing the inexpressible that the universe appears as a World of Opposites and the Reflection of Reality.

Oneness is reflected as many, a seeming multitude of forms. We see many different objects, or at least we think we do. It is the mind or mental activity that defines and divides. We call this a cat, that a dog, this a building, that a person. The mind breaks up the world into components or individual elements. But these apparently individual objects are not separate. Nothing is truly divided and separate from the rest of the world. It only seems that way. The world remains forever One, throughout this seeming reflection of division and separation.

Stillness is expressed in its opposite of apparent movement, and in the movement of the universe stillness can only appear as an illusion. Look around and see the illusion of stillness. The ground feels still, buildings seem still, furniture seems still. Even parked cars seem still. But it's only a relative stillness whilst the planet swirls through space. True Stillness is inexpressible.

Harmony is expressed as imbalance or disharmony, where opposites seem to fall out of Oneness and fluctuate through seemingly different levels of 'harmony' and disharmony. The World of Opposites is really an appearance of disharmony, reflecting the unseen Harmony that is the true nature of reality.

Endlessness is reflected in the world as the seeming limits and divisions of things. It is only an appearance of limits and division, as the true nature of reality is Endless.

Being is expressed in the World of Opposites as not being, or death. Being is Life itself. The quality of existence. In this world we experience the illusion of non-existence - humans live and die. Life seems to come to an end. But it is only an illusion or play of relative life and death. The planet continues its play of life through the change of form. As one life form breaks down it transforms into other life forms. This play of life and death is the expression of unending and imperceptible Life. Being.

These special qualities that are the nature of reality are not created. Creation and destruction are reflections in the World of Opposites. Being doesn't require creation. Oneness doesn't require creation. Stillness, Harmony and Endlessness don't require creation. They are the qualities of Life, What Is. These crucial qualities of Life, to which we could add Clarity, Peace, Completeness and Contentment, are the same One Infinite Beingness. It is in reflecting this Infinite Beingness that the world appears. The world is not something else, just as the reflection of trees on a pond are not other than the pond. The reflection of reality, the illusion of the world, appears within the Reality, made of the Reality.

Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns

The Cross represents separation in unity.The cross is a prevalent spiritual symbol, most notably prominent in the Christian religion, where it signifies the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But the cross can also be found in relation to other religions or spiritual beliefs, such as the Ancient Egyptian Ankh and the Hindu and Buddhist Swastika. Why is the Cross such an important spiritual symbol?

The Cross represents separation in unity. It is a symbol for the world, where the world flows outward from the source in the symbolic four directions. The world appears by this magical method of apparent separation. The top and bottom points of the cross stand as opposites, as do the left and right points of the cross. The opposites go out in separation from the central starting point.

Importantly, although it appears that the starting point separates out into four, it nonetheless remains one. The arms of the cross are not truly separate. They only give the appearance of separation. The world is not truly separate. It only appears to be separate whilst remaining indivisibly one.

Both the cross and the number 4 represent this apparently physical hardened world of separation. But unnoticed within it is the centre point that isn't separate. The source is not separate from the creation. The number 4 is often used to represent the weighty dense world of matter. The '4 corners' represents the world. The placing of four-legged animal sculptures at the corners of temples and spiritual buildings represents the grounding of spirituality in the material world. The elephant is a good representation of this, as it is a heavy animal, and the material world is weighty in contrast to the spiritual realms.

This link of the cross and the number 4 in relation to the world and the weight of matter brings in its other link to death. The cross often represents death, as obviously so in the Christian religion, but also in Mayan depictions such as the sarcophagus of King Pakal. The tree of life becomes the tree of death. In this material world we experience death. Death is the opposite of the reality of Life, but here in this apparent world of separation we experience the weighty world of dense matter that culminates in death. Separation, and the division into opposites, brings with it beginnings and ends. Human life seemingly begins and seemingly ends. The Tree of Life seemingly divides to become the Tree of Good and Evil, Life and Death.

But this is all only how it seems. As mentioned, the cross isn't really divided. It remains as one. The spiritual aspect is there within the Cross. Although it represents death, it also represents Life, endless life. Although at first it seems to show separation, it truly shows the secret heart of permanence in all apparently separate life. The centre point remains unchanged throughout any appearance of separation. Although the body may rise and fall, the essence remains unchanging. Although the world may appear to be a World of Opposites, in truth there is only the Permanent One, the Infninite One whom we may call God.

It is God that takes the sacrifice of separation, appearing in the world as one who is separate from the source. Yet God transcends the apparent World of Opposites, of life and death, to show the reality of Endless Life. The cross of separation and death is transcended in the recognition of Infinite Timeless Oneness. None are separate from God. There is only God, even in God's manifestation of separation.

Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns

Development of Life Forms Life forms show the pattern of bifurcation and evolution throughout the universe.Bifurcation is a universal pattern where one divides into two. It stems (pun intended) from the 'initial' appearance of division, where the singularity splits into two. We have a theory of The Big Bang, where the singularity exploded from one into many. We don't necessarily think of it as one splitting into two, but the splitting into two would be the start of the explosion, which then multiplied.

An obvious example of bifurcation is a tree. A tree has many branches where the trunk bifurcates and a branch goes out from the main one. This extra branch repeats the pattern and bifurcates, forming another branch, and so on. The pattern can also be seen in leaves where the midrib of a leaf bifurcates to form the veins of the leaf. Bifurcation is further evident in the evolution of the human body, where the limbs have 'branched' outwards from the main torso, and where fingers and toes have developed from the limbs.

The structure of veins in the human body also shows this pattern of bifurcation. Not only that, but each birth of a child demonstrates the pattern. From procreative union, where two people unite, an 'offshoot' develops. If we look at a family tree, we see the pattern of bifurcation, where a 'source' couple have a child that grows to adulthood, unites with another, then has another child, and so on, creating a complex branch of diversity.

Recognising this universal pattern, it should be no surprise that planets other than Earth should form creatures in the same manner. In other words, it should be no surprise that planets can develop creatures or life forms, and these life forms would follow the pattern of bifurcation. Humans have two arms and two legs because of the universal pattern of bifurcation. That doesn't mean that life forms from other planets will necessarily have the same, but there is a good chance that multiple legs and appendages develop. So, just because there are reports of 'alien' beings or Non-Human Intelligence that have two arms, two legs, fingers and toes, it doesn't mean that they must be related to human beings or necessarily from this planet. Rather, their life forms show the pattern of bifurcation and evolution throughout the apparent universe.

Bifurcation is the universal pattern of division and multiplication. One divides into two. Each of the two can then divide again, creating four, and so on. From this pattern the whole universe of diversity is created. Kind of.

Why kind of? Well, the division into two is a play of division and not a true division. The One Singularity from which the universe seems to have expanded and diversified remains complete. The One doesn't really become many different ones. It only seems to do that with the play of division. A tree doesn't really have many different branches. 'Branches' is an idea or term that helps us describe what we see in the tree. But the tree is simply the tree. We have given names to what seem to us to be parts of the tree, but they are not truly separate parts.

The tree is a small-scale example of the whole universe. The division of the universe is only conceptual. In reality the Singularity of the universe remains timelessly as it is.

Category: Spiritual Symbols and Patterns
Symmetry arises from an underlying pattern of reflection.There are a variety of patterns in the world, that point to the underlying nature of reality. Three primary patterns include 'Many from One', Reflection, and the Hollow. Let's explore these and see how they connect and hint at the unseen reality behind them.
 
We can see 'Many from One' almost everywhere we look. The human body, with its central torso, arms, legs, fingers and toes, shows many from one. A tree branching out shows it. Fork lightning shows it. Rivers and streams from the sea show it. The propagation of animals and plants show it: seeds are scattered and multiply. The evolution of species shows it.
 
We physically see Reflection wherever we look, as that's the way the eye works, inverting light that passes through the lens of the eye. What we see is also a reflection of light off surfaces. We can see our reflection when light rebounds from the face onto a smooth reflective surface. Sounds also rebound and reflect off surfaces. The symmetry of the human body is a form of reflection, where the left side is to some degree a reflection of the right side. This symmetry arises from an underlying pattern of reflection. Reflection underlies the appearance of opposites in the world, where we could say that high is a reflection of low, far is a reflection of near, and so on. Furthermore, Reflection and opposites give rise to fluctuation and vibration.
 
The Hollow is perhaps less obvious. The bones in the body are hollow. The lungs are hollow, as well as reflective, breathing in and breathing out. The throat and mouth cavity are hollow and allow the projection of sound as the voice. The stems of plants are hollow. Bubbles are hollow. Caves within the earth are hollowed out holes. Whirlpools, cyclones, and hurricanes are known for their spinning force around a hollow centre.
 
These patterns are all expressed in the natural world and in the human-made world. For example, in music making we have hollow instruments like the flute, the trombone and the drum, and we have instruments that use the fluctuation of strings (stemming from reflection), such as the violin and the piano. When we listen to a recorded piece of music we can pick out the many instruments sounding within it. Delay and reverb effects are used, giving reflective qualities to the sounds. One recording is made and distributed as many across the world. Actually, the delay effect used in music making demonstrates both the Reflection and 'Many from One' pattern, when it is used to imitate a distant echo, with the sound bouncing off 'surfaces' and seeming to multiply.
 
What do these patterns tell us about the underlying reality of the universe? They reflect the Oneness that is the core nature of reality. The Hollow hints at the Full-Emptiness of reality, where the total sum of all opposites equals zero. The hollow central cavity seems empty but is actually full, whether full of air or water etc. It points to the Singularity that was before the universe appeared, which contained all in an unmanifest unity, when everything was nothing. 'Many from One' is how the universe came to appear as it does now. The One seemed to divide itself into itself and its opposite (Reflection) and this bifurcation multiplied in the 'Many from One' pattern, creating a world of reflection and fluctuating frequencies. Note that 'Many from One' is itself a reflection, where the One reflects itself into its opposite, many. Or so it seems.
 
The crucial understanding is that although there seems to be many coming from one, they never really leave the Oneness. The Singularity that contained all in unmanifest harmony (Full-Emptiness) is still present throughout the appearance and disappearance of the world of opposites. The appearance of what is and what isn't (its reflection) is only a seeming separation of the Singularity, which remains timelessly full and empty. There is only ever What Is. Its reflection doesn't really exist, but reflection is the play of opposites which allows the Singularity to look back at itself, within itself. Reflection makes the world appear within itself.
 
Although space and time seems to divide the Singularity into many, rising out of the Full-Emptiness, the completion of space and time is its returning to unmanifest Oneness. All the while the Oneness remains as it is, seemingly at the heart of the universe, as the Hollow Hole, or rather the Hollow Whole.
 
Let's try to explain that a simpler way. What we call space and time is the seeming division of the primordial Singularity. Full-Emptiness seems to have divided into what it is and what it is not, its reflective opposite. Oneness seems to have divided into many, by aid of reflection. Yet the totality remains the same. The universe, or What Is, is timelessly always what it is. It seems that the Hollow, the Full-Emptiness, remains at the Heart of space and time, but it is the totality of space and time. The Singularity remains timelessly as it is.
  1. Lifeform Patterns
  2. The Quintessence and the Four Elements
  3. The Reflection of Perfection
  4. The Wheel - Symbol of The Universe