"Logos, the Infinite Word, the universal and absolute origin of thought, language and worlds, is the source of all cultural forms of life."
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"The Quest for the Primal Word"by Dr. Ashok K. Gangadean from Parabola, The Magazine of Myth & Tradition Vol. XX, Number 3; August 1995 |
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Click here to download the PDF version of this article. The deepest drive in human life is the quest to discover our origin. A natural intelligence, which informs all experience, spontaneously gravitates to some primal condition that illumines the world. So deep is this drive that the evidence of it may be seen across the spectrum of human cultures through the ages. This global quest is expressed in so many diverse ways that it is difficult to see that human cultures are in search of one and the same first principle. The circumstances of our cultural evolutions led to divergent development – the creation of different cultural "languages" – so that to discern a common origin is almost impossible. There is no consensus that there is a common origin and no agreement on the preferred language in which to express the universal origin. While this is an intensely disputed issue in the global evolution of cultures, it is vital to see that all cultural forms of life derive from the same origin, and to name the primal form. One common theme that emerges from our different accounts is that the origin must be infinite in its nature and power, and that infinitude implies such a profound unifying power that it must have absolute authority over all forms of life. The universal power of origins generates and sustains the widest possible diversity of cultural forms and linguistic expressions. This depth insight has founded the perennial traditions of all cultures. Furthermore, the perennial traditions, in their rich diversity of expressions of the universal origin, concur that the objectifying ways of conventional egocentric thinking eclipse the origin and fail to approach real depth. A more potent and higher–order thinking demands a radical reorientation consistent with the unifying dynamics of origins. With the recentering of natural reason, awakened human intelligence finds itself in a primordial Unified Field in which thinking, language and world are mutually constituted in an essential Continuum. Human life is the search for the Unified Field, the quest for the primal Word. We shall use the word Logos for this Word. 1 The essence of Language emerges only when mind, word and world are recognized as originally inseparable. At this deeper, ever–present dimension the world and its relationships are seen as a play of Language: a living text, a creative script unfolding. Because conventional thinking separates thought, language and existence, egocentric cultures falter at saying how these domains touch and pervade each other. Nonetheless, it is impossible to sever the dimensions of thought, word and world from each other. In the Unified Field of Logos, the world is saturated with the power of the word or language, which in turn is pervaded by mind, thought or consciousness. To speak of language is to invoke the existential power of thought and the field of reality. Existence is the creative play of the Word, the dynamic process of language. The text of reality is saturated with mind – with thought–force and meaning – and is an expression of the process of continual creative self–expression. Creative evolution is the expressive power of Logos. Logos, the Infinite Word, the universal and absolute origin of thought, language and worlds, is the source of all cultural forms of life. The infinitude of Logos, rightly seen, implies the global power of the Word – global in the sense that no cultural world or language could exist or develop apart from the Logos. However, since all cultures express a particular world–view, each cultural language has its own rules and patterns for making sense of things; thus, humans still lack a shared universal name for the common ground of all worlds. Our discourse may not have reached a global consensus concerning our shared roots, but the deepest reflections on existence and experience continually reaffirm the idea of an infinite, universal origin.
For example, in our Judaic roots the Infinite Word is the Living God, the original cause of the universe, the ground of all existence. Since God is infinite and absolutely One, the connection is made between His infinitude and His infinite unitivity. This is a monumental advance in our evolution which diverse traditions echo. Because infinitude implies unfathomable unifying power, it commands our consummate attention and priority:
"Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." (Deuteronomy 6:4–5) 2
In the Hindu tradition, the Word is Aum, sacred symbol and infinite unheard Sound which is the origin of all names and forms. Aum is beyond description and predication, objectification and duality:
"Aum – this syllable is the whole world. The past, the present, the future – everything is just the world Aum. And whatever else that transcends threefold time – that too, is just the word Aum. . . . This is the lord of all. This is the all–knowing. This is the inner controller. This is the source of all, for this is the origin and end of beings." (Mandukya Upanishad, verses 1 and 6) 3
Meditative thinking invokes the primal power of mind to enter Logos. In this awakened state, the entire world is recognized as Brahman, the single, undivided field of Aum.
Similarly, in Buddhist heritage the primal origin is Sunyata, Absolute Emptiness. The Buddha's great insight was that ego–centered thought and speech generate artificial divisions which break the spontaneous flow of life and discourse. In realizing the emptiness of these ego–constructions, one awakens to the co–arising of all things. Nothing can stand separated or independently exist outside the infinite depth of this unitivity. Names and forms, identities and constructs are dissolved, and the non–dual interplay of all things is revealed as an ongoing dialogical process:
"Here, O Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form; the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness." (The Heart Sutra) 4
The Dharma, the ultimate truth of the co–arising of things, is the underlying principle of mind, world, experience and language, and Logos is the immediate, active source and the power of discourse between these things.
Similar disclosures of Logos are found in the Chinese Tao, in which the origin is the nameless, absolute Presence in all names. As in other traditions, the infinitude of Logos cannot be contained in dualities and dualisms: the Tao is a unified field of reality that includes polarities, oppositions and pluralities. Our objectifying ways of dividing the world into self and other violates the nature of Tao:
"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the Name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; the named is the mother of all things." (Tao Te Ching) 5
The source of life can be found by correcting our discourse and tapping the hidden meaning in everyday language.
In our Greek origins, too, Logos is the light of reason, the arche or first principle that makes all things intelligible. Plato concurs with other traditions of Logos in recognizing that there must be an Absolute Form from which all others arise. He calls this supreme form Goodness and places it beyond knowledge, truth and being since it is the condition that makes these possible:
"This, then, which gives to the objects of knowledge their truth and to him who knows them their power of knowing, is the Form or essential nature of Goodness. It is the cause of knowledge and truth; and so, while you may think of it as an object of knowledge, you will do well to regard it as something beyond truth and knowledge, and precious as these both are, of still higher worth." (Plato, Republic, VI 508) 6
All intelligible discourse refers to Goodness, which releases the light of reason that brings meaning to language.
The evolution of Christian discourse sheds new light on Logos, revealing a confluence between the Judaic Biblical grammar and the Hellenistic Logos.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)
The Christ is the Logos–become–flesh, and Jesus is the living embodiment of the Infinite Word. The image of Christ as the Living Logos presents a profound non–dual meeting of the Infinite and finite in one being. The Christ embodies the Universal Law which makes it clear that ego–centric life is alienated from Logos and is the deep structure of sin. It is through the surrender of the ego by re–centering in Christ that a new and higher Self is born – a resurrected Self through which Logos is manifest. In a preliminary survey of spiritual traditions, we find remarkable diversity and astounding congruities. Yet despite a long, venerable tradition of "perennial philosophy," there is a remarkable absence of a truly global Word. Fortunately, the unitive power of Logos is greater than the divisiveness of egocentric cultures, and its presiding presence continues in all discourse. The Logos is filled with what we might call alterity, an infinite capacity for generating alternatives, differences, pluralities. Diverse narratives of Logos are alter–expressions of one and the same Word. It doesn't matter that humans have not yet agreed on a shared name for Logos, for the Infinite Word is ever–present. Alterity, the differential power of infinite Unity, reveals that Otherness is a feature of Logos; the ultimate nature of language is dialogical, a discourse between self and other. The alterity structure of signs, reminiscent of the Buddhist Logos of co–arising, is the dynamic principle of dialogue. Alterity is the original force of Logos, wherein all diversity arises in Unity and Unity expresses itself in diversity. The world may be seen as a dialogical script unfolding, as the play of Language. There is no contradiction in realizing that Logos is expressed in Yahweh, Aum, Tao, Sunyata, Brahman, Christ. . . . The dialogue of Logos can accommodate multiple grammatical expressions. Realization of this truth is of the utmost importance for the evolution and survival of humanity. In spite of cultural, ethnic, religious and ideological diversity, we are participants in a common dialogical origin: we are different expressions of the same Word. The ultimate Law for human life is the global ethic of dialogical love. The Law of Logos is the universal principle of Love, to love one's other as one's self, since at this deepest level our Other is already found in the heart of our being. The Unity of Logos grounds the expressions of ethics as compassion, as directives of right conduct towards self and other. The authentic experience of Logos calls for the deepest transformation in our lives. To mind Logos authentically, to follow the Law, to enter into the vital power of Language requires us to overcome the divisive, violent ways of ego–centric discourse and rise to the compassionate, dialogical ethics of Logos. This is the essence of being human.
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