Mathematics - A Guide to Your Inner Soul

Jun 25, 2011
Joe Pagano

Beautiful Sunset - W.T.L.

Tolle ushered in the new age movement of presence. His teachings have spurred millions to obtain inner peace. Mathematics can open portals to this state.

It might be a stretch for most to believe that mathematics could lead one on a journey within, to the hidden depths of the soul, but this subject actually can. Because many people have made mathematics their enemy---or at least not their best friend---such individuals never had the chance to experience how a knowledge of this discipline could lead to inner peace. Yet 'tis true. Mathematics is your guide to the inner soul.

The Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus said this about mathematics: "This, therefore, is mathematics: she reminds you of the invisible form of the soul; she gives to her own discoveries; she awakens the mind and purifies the intellect; she brings light to our intrinsic ideas; she abolishes oblivion and ignorance which are ours by birth."

Reflect Each Day

So how does mathematics guide us to the inner soul? Simply from its contemplative aspect. To do mathematics, one must contemplate. Only then do the doors, the portals, to inner consciousness open. If you take moments each day to think, to meditate, to reflect, and to contemplate, the inner doors to the soul must surely open. Just thinking about a concept such as infinity can start the process going. Or let us cogitate on the vastness of the universe. The results will be simply mind-bending.

Yet do you have to be conversant with Einsteinian tensors to take advantage of such portals? The answer is no. All humans are inherent mathematicians although most do not realize this. Man is a thinker, a born philosopher. If this were not so, then human progress would have barely stretched passed the stone age. To wit, man has conquered the skies with feats of aviation, and even launched diverse programs into space: Voyager I and Voyager II are two among many others. Thus only a basic knowledge of mathematics is necessary to enter the realm of inner consciousness, and all men possess this.

The Fruits of Successful Reflection

All kinds of wonders happen when we cease to resist our natural philosophic predispositions and take the plunge into our inner state of existence. Eckhart Tolle calls this plunge presence, a state in which there is stillness, inner peace, and tranquility of spirit. Yet we need to take some action, as in the film the Matrix, when Morpheus tells Neo: "You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland. And, I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." Taking the red pill is akin to embracing the inherent contemplative propensity of man, of taking the plunge into the rabbit hole, a portal to inner awareness, where wonders are the norm.

Entering the Portal

To see how we enter such realm, a person need only consider something as simple as the infinity of the natural numbers, that is the set defined by {1, 2, 3, ...}. This set is big enough to define any man-made construct requiring a numerical assignment; it is big enough to define the vastness of the universe, even big enough to assign a number to the number of atoms in the universe, or even subatomic particles. Yet the rabbit hole goes much deeper as we can still find mathematical sets that display an infinity which is even greater than that displayed by the set of natural numbers. Although not everyone would be aware of this amazing fact, the mere contemplation of a concept such as infinity requires us to enter the stillness of our minds, which act in itself forces us to become present or aware. We then enter the portal where wonders abound and inner peace reigns supreme: a breath is magical, our existence is precious, our meaning becomes clear, and the Buddha's message of relief from suffering becomes self-explanatory.

As Proclus declared, mathematics reveals the invisible form of the soul. The soul is intangible and therefore inaccessible via tactile approaches. Mathematics, as a bridge to span the land of the intangible with that of the tangible, provides the portal to carry us down the rabbit hole and into the realm of pure presence. From this vantage point, we become invincible, incorruptible, and immortal.