Manifest/Unmanifest
/My favorite metaphysical conceit: the relationship between manifest/unmanifest.
We are all well acquainted with manifest reality: it is the path beneath our feet, the blood in our veins, the hills, the trees, the oceans, the earth, the stars... The manifest universe is everything physical in existence, and it is all polar through and through. But what lies beneath this physical realm? Where does physical reality exist? You must first have a room in order to fill it with furniture, right? And what of the room itself? If polarity is the common denominator, what exists in polar contrast to physical reality?
Welcome to the unmanifest.
And so again, we find polarity at work in the duality between the manifest/unmanifest; because something needs the symmetry of nothing -- absolute nothing in order to be something, and infinite vice versa. However, the nothingness of the unmanifest is very special because while it is absolutely non-physical, this void cannot help but brim with possibility simply because it creates the space for possibility to appear. As a field of pure potential, the unmanifest plays a integral role as the underlying springboard for physical existence.
The relationship between the unmanifest and manifest is porous and fluid, energy moves in and out; but at first this can be hard to fathom, because this universe of ours appears so solid and consequential. There are physical laws, after all, like gravity, magnetism, entropy, etc… But keep in mind that physical laws must exist a matter of course, because it is an absolute inevitability for matter to organize itself logically in polar contrast to the free form nothingness of the unmanifest. In this way potential is able to explore itself through finite consequences, and eventually things become what they were meant to be. With inevitability leading the charge, potential consciousness becomes definitive consciousness -- evidenced in this little thing we call life.
“We are the local embodiment of a Cosmos grown to self-awareness. We have begun to contemplate our origins: starstuff pondering the stars; organized assemblages of ten billion billion billion atoms considering the evolution of atoms; tracing the long journey by which, here at least, consciousness arose. Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.”
The energy of life itself finds it source in the unmanifest. Slowly, it seeps into the manifest world, very small in the beginning, but growing more complex and defined until fully formed. As life cycles through this progression from the small to the big, we find yet another expression of the golden mean — that mathematical concept that so beautifully articulates the relationship of the manifest/unmanifest. So it should come as no surprise that virtually every embryo has a similar spiral shape to it. This doesn’t strike me as uncanny anymore, given our origins, given the nature of movement and time. With our polarity powered toroidal universe continually cycling inward and outward, it is not surprising that we see this movement take form on earth as well. I mean, how could it not? After all, we are all objects in motion.
What is it with all these fractals, anyway? They seem to be everywhere.
We can dig and burrow into the earth, or fling ourselves outward into the sky. A tree draws nutrients inward from the ground, and its growth expands outward through concentric rings, leaves, nuts, fruits and seeds. And those seeds in turn sprout and unfurl and expand outward into the cosmos as representatives of a never ending program, endlessly repeating the cycle as long as nutrients are sustaining the process. And when resources deplete and the process ends, another expression of polarity takes over: death, and we cycle back into non-existence. Even something as basic as a family tree can be a hologram for this flow of movement — think of all the ancestors that go into the making of a single being, as well as all the descendants who can trace their origins back to a single being. This mechanism is how the unmanifest maneuvers through the word. New life always arises from within existing life, because the seat of consciousness always lies within, where it powers and constructs an “outward” physical form. Babies grow inside their mothers as a little singularity of cells, before emerging through the white hole of birth.
Speaking of the everything…. Do you wonder where inspiration comes from?
Ideas pop in “out of the blue,” and everyone seems to have a lot of them. Here on earth we are in no short supply. Everything starts as an idea, a concept, an thought unmanifest in form before it’s constructed. Then someone somewhere somehow plucks it out of the ether and manifests it into existence. Heck, the human world we’ve built on this planet is a perfect example of inspiration and inevitability run amok! Shoes, cars, harmonicas, spoons, the stories we tell ourselves, our social customs, even the internet — a rather efficient means of transporting information from one conscious mind to another, don't you think? Absolutely everything begins as a fantasy; but whether or not all the ideas sparking around the unmanifest within you escape and manifest into something impactful/tangible, will be a reflection of not just the choices your consciousness makes to summon them into being, but the choices made by others who your interact with. Both individually and collectively, we are the arbitrators of this phenomena. Your physical reality reflects your conscious and subconscious choices, and those of others in your sphere.
The branches of a tree mirror the roots under ground. The roots take, the trunk transforms, and the branches give.
The manifestation process we collaborate mirrors the polar mechanism that underscores our physical existence. It’s soothing to me, and there’s an elegant truth to the process because it exhibits how each of us are a holographic fraction of the whole. We’re all looking for consistency, something to put our faith in, proof of “divinity” in the “mundane.” This can be achieved by viewing the mundane as the inextricable product of an exceptional phenomena — a phenomena anyone can witness within themselves whenever they create something — like making soup for dinner. The idea appears, and the next thing you know you’re focused on chopping vegetables and gathering spices, stirring the pot.
“The principle of the universe will be simple and beautiful.”
"FRACTAL 1" by AddIena, Deviant Art
Every night when you go to sleep and experience the phenomena of the dream, there’s a good chance you’ll return to your waking life with memories. Sometimes these dream memories can be as vivid as your waking life. So whether experiencing life via reality or in a dream state, it seems your consciousness is in a state of duality -- persistently awake even when your body is not, and experiencing its own polarity of existence. In the dream state, we’re generally not aware that we’re having a dream -- that's what makes dreams so powerful. The experiences within your dreaming mind feel concrete despite their unmanifest properties because your consciousness is in unmanifest form right along with them! So given the polar and holographic nature of reality and consciousness, it begs the question:
“Is physical reality the dream of consciousness?”
