The Enigma of Deep Sleep – 9
The Lower Quadrants:
[Needless to say we are now entering the subtlest part of our enquiry with regard to the Deep sleep state. It is hoped that what I am trying to express here within the limitations of the language (in its structure and syntax) and the words and the meaning they carry resonate in the reader in the same way that I intend to convey. If clarity is lacking at any point, it is necessary that flags are raised by the reader so that I can attempt to take care of the problem and clarify the issues in a subsequent post. I suggest that the reader may kindly write to me at my e-mail address so that I will come to know of your observation immediately. I can be reached at: vemuri dot ramesam at gmail dot com]
As we move to examine the third and fourth quadrants of our Model, we are up against a peculiar problem. In case of the two upper quadrants, we know that mind (thought) is present and active. We also know that the mind with the assistance of the sensory organs is the one that facilitates an observation, makes a record of it (as memory) and provides the means to communicate the experience to a third party (in verbal or other form). When once we cross the first quadrant, the assistance of senses is no more available and as we proceed from the second quadrant to the lower quadrants, even the mind is not available. Yet ‘mind’ is the only tool we have at our disposal to make a surmise of the issue we are investigating into! Therefore, we have to be extremely cautious and careful before we can accept as valid any inference we may draw about the lower quadrants from our wakeful state. At each step, it is necessary to be very weary and ask ourselves about the entity that is observing and from which platform or reference point the observation is being made.
Moreover, we should never lose sight of the fact that our cognition apparatus (mind and sensory organs) is not only inadequate but also could be misleading us about what exactly exists ‘out there’ as we have enumerated in the earlier Posts of this Series. Compounding this difficult situation is the additional fact that we are carrying out our investigation from the awake state with an active mind about the conditions of the states where both wakefulness and the mind are absent. Hence it is safe to say that anything that the mind may conclude and say about the lower quadrants would be at best an intelligent guess about a state unknown and unknowable to it. And more importantly, whatever be the statement or finding of the mind, that will be from the reference frame of only the awake state of the mind and can never be from the reference frame of either the third or the fourth quadrants itself. Therefore, any statement made, howsoever scholarly or authoritative a person may sound to be, remains suspect unless it is made with no hidden or taken for granted presumptions and explicit declaration of the limitations.
Let us approach to understand the third quadrant based on the model of Peter Smith and the Shakespeare drama we talked about in the previous parts of this Series.
Peter Smith never stopped being Peter Smith. “Being Peter Smith” is his innate Knowledge. It is not something he has to learn or acquire from an extraneous source. In fact, the Knowledge “I am Peter Smith” and being Peter Smith are not different from one another. In other words, there is no separate entity having the knowledge “I am Peter Smith” and a distinct being called Mr. Peter Smith. This is a very important point to be noted. Even at the cost of redundancy, let me say it again: Peter Smith does not have the knowledge “I am Peter Smith.” The Knowing “I am Peter Smith” is non-different from actually being Peter Smith.
When Peter Smith appears as Antonio in a scene of the Shakespeare drama, The Merchant of Venice, Peter Smith does not stop to be what he is; it is only he who takes the shape of and appears as Antonio from time to time. When Antonio appears, Peter Smith does not disappear but is tentatively veiled underneath the costume of Antonio. As soon as the scene is completed, it is Antonio who disappears and Peter Smith shines through back again.
Let the straight line (P.S.) in the Figure 2 (A) to the left represent Peter Smith. Let the different appearances of Antonio in different dresses in different scenes of the drama be represented by the different shapes as shown in the lower part of the figure (B).
Whenever Antonio appears, we can see that there is a gap in the line P.S. (Fig 2 (B)) as though Peter Smith is absent during those times. To say that Peter Smith is absent when Antonio appears is not really correct. We can see that the line (P.S.) itself continues without a break taking a curved shape which is now referred to by the name ‘Antonio.’ Thus it can be seen that Antonio is only a modulation of Peter Smith who is never absent.
Secondly, as each appearance of Antonio originates in a scene, he comes full-fledged, and ready to act his role. He is not born to some parents each time and then grows to be what he is in age. Thirdly in-between two appearances, Antonio has no existence. Who exists is Peter Smith as himself in his original or true form.
Fourthly, Antonio has got certain acquired knowledge stored in his memory. The acquired knowledge is the belief that he is a person separate from Peter Smith, has a distinct ID and a name Antonio, a storyline of his own and a few memorized dialogues. Though the true Knowledge that “I am Peter Smith” exists in his heart of hearts, it stays hidden, unexposed. As Antonio, it seems as though, he forgets that he is Peter Smith; for, he can’t be Peter Smith as long as he identifies himself with the character Antonio.
If the arguments made in the above Model of Peter Smith and Antonio are convincing, we can easily take the next step to extend the model to tease out the deep sleep state.
Replace Peter Smith with Deep sleep, Antonio in Scene 1 with awake state, Antonio in Scene 2 with dream state and so on in the Fig 2. The analogy made herein will tell us that whatever that is in Deep sleep modulates itself as the awake and dream worlds like Antonio appearing in different scenes. Just like the character Antonio is not born as an infant in each scene and grow to be what he is, each time the awake, dream etc. states appear, as they are in their entirety. They manifest full-fledged and fully grown. It is also clear that a previous state is not causal to the next state. Each state is a modulation of “whatever-that-is” that exists as the deep sleep state. Just as the ‘curved shape’ (Antonio) would not know the straight line (Peter Smith), the awake state does not know what deep sleep is. Every time a movement (mind) takes place in P.S., the deep sleep state takes the shape of the awake or dream states.
With this understanding, we are in a position now to examine what is ‘time.’
‘Time is a book-keeper of change’, as famously expressed by the eminent theoretical physicist, Prof. John A. Wheeler. It means that ‘time’ is an index for change. There cannot be a change unless a thing is disturbed. Disturbance is a movement. Mind is the name for movement. In other words, time arises where there is mind. In the absence of mind, there is no change and hence there is no time.
In the absence of any change, “whatever-that-is” stays put as it IS. It will be an eternal “Now” – no flow of a future through a sliver of present to become the past. Deep sleep thus happens in a timeless ‘Now.’ In contrast, time occurs along with the appearance of the mind.
The upper two quadrants of our Model of The Four Outcomes represent the states when the mind is present and active. Hence they are subjected to time. Time does not exist in the lower two quadrants. Consequently, Deep sleep and the fourth outcome are beyond the ‘domain of time.’
The upper quadrants are an appearance of the modulation of the deep sleep state when mind arises. Their reality has been described as ‘mithya’ (??????). Because there is no change at all in the lower quadrants and they represent “whatever-that-IS,” without modification or modulation, their reality has to be just absolute “Beingness.” The Sanskrit name for that is ‘sat’ (???). One cannot, strictly speaking, describe the absolute Reality as ‘unchanging’ or ‘changeless’ because all such terms define something in a relative sense with reference to a ‘change’ taking place. So it is an inconceivable situation beyond change and changelessness.
(To Continue …… Part 10)
