Science converging with spirituality
During Openhand work we frequently 'dip into' the latest science theories to add volume and solidity. We find that if we can 'balance the mental equation', restless minds become more peaceful, encouraging people deeper within. I studied quantum theory at Oxford University in the early 1980's when the global science community was getting really excited about 'string theory'. It didn't mean much then until I actually started EXPERIENCING it directly, finding myself suddenly expanded and able to contemplate through multiple dimensions of reality. Well now, the latest evolution of string theory, what's know as "M theory", is coming tantalisingly close to uniting both spiritual experience and scientific thinking...

Aspiring dreams
At university, quantum theory was for me a great mystery. I certainly can't claim to have mastered it then. Amongst Oxford's dreaming spires - the university of many aspiring dreams - it did little to tempt me from a pleasurable afternoon's rowing on the Isis. What I couldn't know then, was that quantum theory would become very real for me and every bit as enjoyable and exciting as the power, finesse and pure poetry of a fast racing eight.

Many years later, as I found myself sitting behind the wheel of a smashed car on the M40 motorway just outside Oxford, I was beginning to put my 'hands' right through the fabric of reality - the strings were fast becoming thread-bare! As I awaited what I thought to be my certain death, that part inside which had been hanging on for dear life, suddenly let go. Now, as the tightness of life rapidly unwound like the broken spring on a worn out clock, I found myself being washed through with wave upon wave of lightness - of unconditional love. I rapidly unfolded into multiple plains of reality. I was suddenly able to make sense of what the quantum theorists had been postulating.

This was no theory. I had stepped right through the natural weave of life into absoluteness. University professors had told me that all matter was consciousness, that it is interconnected and consists of waves of energy that exist everywhere and nowhere. To them, it may have been the latest 'sexy' science theory; to me, it had suddenly become my blissful reality. I remember thinking, "perhaps if they changed their terminology from 'an increase in neg-entropy' to 'wave upon wave of unconditional love' they might get out of their minds and into their hearts where their theories actually become real!"

The great convergence
Since the crash, I've always known in my heart that one day, science and spirituality would converge - the debate would come full circle. After all, the great Einstein himself who launched quantum theory in the first place, was one of the world's spiritually 'converted'...

"A human being is a part of a whole,
called by us 'universe', a part limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings
as something separated from the rest...
a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature in its beauty."
Albert Einstein

Why is it so relevant and important that this poetic convergence happens? It seems to me that in some ways religion has done humanity a great disservice. The endless attempts to control minds and hearts has driven countless away from their spiritual nature. It's taken them from the heart and into the mind. I find many religious texts extremely powerful, but only when they are used as I believe they we're originally meant to - as doorways into direct experience. To me, they're simply not meant to be taken literally.

Consequently, countless millions have abandoned the esoteric and adopted the scientific. Well now, the divine paradox that melts my heart, is that the scientists are unwittingly leading the lost sheep back to their spiritual pastures.

M-theory
It's all begun to happen very rapidly with a new scientific 'revelation' called "Membrane theory" or "M-theory" (now at this point we get a little scientific, so please Openhanders stay with it - don't glaze over!). String theory had begun to present the scientists with a problem. Their calculations revealed that there was not just one string theory that could explain the fabric of the universe, but five. To ordered and sceptical minds this was becoming increasingly untenable and the string theorists risked spinning off the universal roundabout altogether!

But then a major breakthrough was made. They discovered that if the universe was arrayed in not just one dimensional realm but many, their string theory calculations began to converge again. What's more, if the universe was comprised of 11 dimensions something truly poetic happened - the five string theories became one! Now I find this truly fascinating because spiritual people everywhere have been talking about and actually experiencing 11 dimensions of existence.

Not an end, just the beginning
However, this was still not the end of the chapter. 11-dimensional string theory still couldn't explain the bigbang. Why was there a sudden outpouring of light? What prompted that to happen? Then another revelation landed for the scientists (if only they had attended an Openhand "unfolding into light" course they could have saved much gnashing of teeth and heavy hearts!). They discovered that in the 11th dimension, the strings of quantum energy unite to form two 'membranes' of consciousness. At Openhand we actually call them "Unity consciousness" and "Separation consciousness".

They are concentric circles. Actually when I meditate, I often experience them directly. As I let go of the heavier ballast of the lower dimensions, I find my soul spiraling ever higher to the source which I experience as two 'doughnut' shaped bands each of a different colour, one green and the other indigo. The bands oscillate like huge amorphous jelly fishes. It's fascinating really because the science theory agrees that thay oscillate around one another and that when they collided, the release of energy caused the bigbang.

Separation consciousness then evolved into multiplicity of form creating the known multi-dimensional universe. What the scientists haven't yet figured out, is that Unity consciousness also evolved at light-speed and as "soul", infused Separation Consciousness. The interplay between the two flows of energy provides universal relativity - "this" and "that" - the means by which we as the "Seer", get to experience life itself.

Poignant juncture
So science and spirituality have converged to a very special and poignant juncture. They are tantalisingly close. It's as if they're stood in adjacent cubicles trying on the same garment. At the point where leading scientists come out of the closet and embrace their spirituality, I believe that's when they'll make the final breakthrough into understanding who and what we really are.

The circle will complete itself and as a direct consequence, I believe the convergence will lead many wayward souls back home again. Of course, they could always come on our next unfolding into light course here in Glastonbury. I humbly believe that would accelerate things quite a bit!

In love and light

Chris
PS - there's a truly powerful BBC documentary which explains the latest "M-theory" in a down-to-earth and easy-to-understand way. You can view it here...