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Just learned something yesterday that blew my mind. Apparently Einstein discovered a state of matter other than solid, liquid, gas and plasma -- it's what happens to the atom as it nears absolute zero.
At that point, the atom is unable to tell where it is, or what it is, and as a consequence it goes it into an identity crisis. At that point it is everywhere and nowhere at once.
At absolute zero, entropy (chaos) reaches the minimum possible value.
In the meditation traditions, the goal is to free oneself from the confines of the mind -- the chaos of the mind. In some spiritual traditions, they believe that God is everywhere/everything, and the ultimate spiritual goal is to melt and merge with God -- to cease to identify, and to relinquish the ego.
Thus, once the human reaches the minimum value in chaos, he ceases to identify as a human, and, giving up his ego, is able to just be one with all that is.
So, here we see that the goal in the meditative traditions actually matches what occurs to an atom when it reaches the minimum value in chaos.
When I said this somehow matches up with the idea of the spiritual goals of meditation, what I meant, is that in the meditative traditions, the mind is seen as a chaotic state. We have so many thoughts crowding our awareness, that we are unable to see objective reality as it truly is. It is the chaos that disturbs our awareness. It is also disturbed by our need to identify: I'm a male; I'm American; I'm Christian; I'm tall; I'm a civil engineer; etc. All of these aspects of identification are centered in the ego.
In the meditative traditions, the goal is to release the ego -- and to be freed of the chaos of the mind. Eventually, the yogi realizes that there is no need to identify with any of the categories to which he belongs. In this advanced state of spiritual evolution, he is content to just melt and merge with all that is -- becoming one with all that is. In that "frame of mind," if you could even still relate that experience to "mind," the person would not need to cling to any aspect of his ego, his personality, his self. He would be content to just have reached his goal -- becoming one with all that is. In this state, he is finally freed from the chaos of the mind. He is everywhere and nowhere at once -- and is one with all that is.
So, when I learned about these atoms and their behavior at absolute zero -- the minimum possible value in entropy, and thus, the minimum possible value in chaos -- I realized that the atom then behaves just as the yogi expects to feel, as he attains to spiritual enlightenment, releasing his ego and melting and merging with all that is.
Just as the atom ceases to identify, and feels itself to be everywhere/everything at once, so, too, does the yogi cease to identify, becoming everywhere/everything at once.
That's why I drew the parallel between this state of matter and the goal of the meditative traditions -- because they are the same goal/state of being.
I don't say any of this from personal experience, but instead from my understanding of the topic (to the extent I can understand it).
I liken the meditative state to just witnessing........ no thinking. When you get good at it, you can do it anywhere, while walking, laying down, sitting etc.
I liken the meditative state to just witnessing........ no thinking. When you get good at it, you can do it anywhere, while walking, laying down, sitting etc.
This is true. Although it takes (at least for me) a great deal of work to get it.
Here's a nice little article about the physics you mentioned. Check out the pic of of the rubidium atoms as they collapse and "go into a meditative state." Cheers!
The description in the video is like drops returning back to the ocean....... as you say, losing their individual identity.
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