Grothendieck, Bohm, Sheldrake, Leyton and Theosophy - 3

-

 Let us continue our of recognition - a recognition that some of the best and most controversial mathematician (Grothendieck), physicist (Bohm), biologist cum chemist (Sheldrake), artist (Leyton), psychologist (Weiss) and mystic or esoteric philosopher (Blavatsky) of past two centuries were all pointing to a sort of unified Knowledge (which was termed as Theosophy by mystics which unified western esotericism especially neoplatonism with Hinduism and Buddhism) through their works giving a broader perspective on most of the widely studied fields under modern science and medicine. The knowledge whose five foundational cornerstones as per my intuitive grasp of their works are as below :

1. Holistic transcending limited modern reductionist approach

2. Interconnected rather than limited view of fragmentation

3. Creative and Intelligent rather than simply mechanistic

4. Having a purpose or goal-oriented rather than simply random with no seeming rational purpose

5. Evolutionary 

Grothendieck’s emphasis on universal properties across mathematical structures and his perspective considering arrow being more fundamental than object (this perspective is intuitively hinting towards first two cornerstones as enumerated above in my view) gave impetus to other prominent mathematicians of his time especially Saunders Maclane and Lawvere to bring category theory on equal footing with set theory pertaining to foundations of modern mathematical philosophy.

Bohm's Magnus opum "Implicate Order and Wholeness" mainly deals with understanding the nature of reality in general and of consciousness in particular as a coherent whole, which is never static or complete, but which is in an unending process of movement and unfoldment. (this perspective is intuitively hinting towards first two and fifth cornerstone)

Blavatsky's magnus opum "The Secret Doctrine" shows that Nature is not “a fortuitous con-
currence of atoms,” and tries assigning to man his rightful place in the scheme of the Universe. It attempts to rescue from degradation the archaic truths which are the basis of all religions; and to
uncover, to some extent, the fundamental unity from which they all spring. It also argues how the occult side of nature has never been approached by the Science of modern civilization. Her perspective encompasses all the above corner stones and points to something which she terms as a unification of philosophy, science and religion.

Leyton's magnus opum "Generative theory of Shape" argues how maximisation of transfer and recoverability is fundamental to intelligence and more generally why geometry is equivalent to memory storage. His perspective to me seems intuivitely hinting towards third and fifth cornerstone.






 
   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Yoga of Synthesis Diary Leaves 4

-
Image
 Album The Yoga of Synthesis  Dated 22 January 2025 The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali give us four stages of meditation and when applied on symbols we find: 1. First, as the form is pondered upon, the realisation begins to dawn that it is but a symbol of an inner reality. 2. Second, there is a recognition of the quality or nature of the form—its subjective energy, the quality of the force that seems to flow through it, the emotion that the symbol arouses. 3. Third, as we concentrate on considering the quality, we arrive next at the purpose, the motive, and the idea that the symbol has held concealed. 4. Fourth, in the final stage of identification, one becomes at one with the symbol; one shares its quality; one participates in its purpose, and through these stages one arrives at a unity with the creator of the form. When applied to the four symbols (of Helena Blavatsky, Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Alice Bailey, and the category-theoretic model of Cause-Meaning/Quality-Effect), we...
Read more

A Buddhism Retreat - Part III

-
Image
Dated May/June 2025. 1. A Darshan As we meditated and learned some key concepts of Mahayana Buddhism, the air within the monastery was mildly perfumed with the delicate scent of Tibetan essence. Outside, the bees hummed among the native flowers, intoxicated by their fragrance. On the nearby trees, the monkeys leaped and swung, and the outside air was filled with the chirp of small birds and insects.       Deceived by material prosperity and addicted to comforts (I am not against either of these, but against the ever-increasing production of goods or the culture of consumerism to gratify men's insatiable desires; or to hide the unpleasant facts of life), the majority of "modernistic" men have deprived themselves of the opportunity and privileges of leading a truly satisfying life of spiritual freedom as their ancestors once did. As I took a Tibetan Buddhist retreat on the Himalayan heights, I could readily experience that it was immensely easier for the materially “ba...
Read more

A synthesis of Savitri and Theosophy - Painting No 15

-
Image
 Today we continue to contemplate on the remaining lines from Page 5 of the Symbol Dawn of Savitri.  "Here too the vision and prophetic gleam Lit into miracles common meaningless shapes; Then the divine afflatus, spent, withdrew, Unwanted, fading from the mortal’s range. A sacred yearning lingered in its trace, The worship of a Presence and a Power Too perfect to be held by death-bound hearts, The prescience of a marvellous birth to come." 'Here' stands for our ordinary human world where the vision and prophetic brief light of Goddess lit the ordinary shapes miraculously into divine meaning for few moments. But then the divine creative impulse or inspiration was spent and feeling unwanted withdrew and faded from the range of mortal men. Once gone it left behind a sacred yearning in the hearts of those later realized what had happened. The presence and Power of Divine Goddess was too perfect to be worshipped to be held steady by death-bound hearts of ordinary mortals. ...
Read more