Nature shows us that every creature is unique. All creatures flourish in their own unique ways. When we see a field of wild flowers, we are impressed by a broad gamut of colours and beauty. Diversity is necessary to maintain complex ecosystems. What we often do not notice, however, is the common ground that underlies and nourishes this diversity.
The word “common”
I love the English word “common”. Other languages do not have such a versatile term for things we have in common. Historically the commons are the natural and cultural resources that are freely accessible to all members of a society. Common is also used in Commonwealth and all people with a healthy mind are able to use their common sense.
In fact, I see the Gamma Tao as just a common sense philosophy of life. It offers a common ground of basic human values that everyone can observe and practice, without the need of a teacher or guru.
Two new books on the common good
Recently I read two interesting new books that in different ways addressed the importance of the common good: Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times by Jonathan Sachs and The Tyranny of Merit. What’s Become of the Common Good by Michael J. Sandel.
Morality by Jonathan Sacks
Jonathan Sacks is a British orthodox rabbi, a public intellectual and author of many books. Sacks states that we live in an age of cultural climate change. In order to restore the common good, we cannot leave this to politics or the economy. We need “morality, a concern for the welfare of others, an active commitment to justice and compassion, a willingness to ask not just what is good for me but what is good for all-of-us-together. It is about ‘Us’ not ‘Me’, about ‘We’, not ‘I’”.
Chapter after chapter Sachs describes the perils of our times, such as unsocial media, identity politics, post-truth, public shaming and the lack of civility. His picture may seem a bit conservative and biased against the prevailing culture of individualism, but this is not a book of contemporary history.
As you may expect from a religious thought leader, this book is more like an extended sermon, a modern sermon, not backed up by traditional biblical quotes, but by recent insights and cases from many non-fiction books and scientific studies.
Wise elder
Reading Morality is like listening to a wise elder. We may not agree with everything the rabbi says. He may even come from another tradition than our own, but that should not make us blind for his perspective, stop listening or pick out and magnify the points we disagree with, as happens so often nowadays. On the contrary. That would go against everything Sacks stands for and writes about in this book.
Rabbi Sachs is a courageous and at the same time courteous debater himself, as he we can see here in his debate with the famous atheist scientist Richard Dawkins.
If you are planning to watch this video, please note that at 39:45 minutes into the debate there is a special moment, when the host asks the two debaters for points of agreement. She asks whether the rabbi and the atheist do have some common ground.
I think it would be great if questions like this one were asked more often during a debate, because it may cause debaters to take a new constructive perspective.
The kind of common ground Sachs tries to promote in Morality is not political, but a convenant between active citizens sharing collective responsibility.
“Convenant is what we have in common despite our differences”.
The Tyranny of Merit
Michael J. Sandel is one of the most popular philosophers of our times. His lectures in the form of Socratic dialogues attract millions of viewers all around the world.
In his latest book The Tyranny of Merit. What’s Become of the Common Good he shows how successful people who flourish in modern meritocratic societies come to believe that their success is all their own doing. They fail to understand how much of their success depended on favourable circumstances, unfair opportunities and often pure luck.
This “meritocratic hubris”, as he calls this attitude, produces deeply divided societies of “winners” and “losers” in which the losers seem to have no one to blame but themselves.
Sandel summarises the central argument of his book in this recent TED talk.
Sandel recommends to renew the dignity of work by acknowledging the important contributions workers without a college degree are making to the common good of modern societies.
The present pandemic is also giving us a new perspective on what kind of work is really essential in our societies.
Nurturing common ground
The books of Jonathan Sacks and Michael J. Sandel contain important advice on how to start mending the strong divisions in modern societies and how to focus on the common good.
If we want a human society to flourish in all its diversity, we should never forget to nurture our common ground.
It is a day to celebrate the launch of this website, exactly five years ago.
It is a day dedicated to human flourishing and diversity.
In the last five years this website and the Gamma Tao itself have continued to evolve. Its pace, however, has been rather slow, much slower than I intended at the beginning. Back then I even had missionary ideas on how the Gamma Tao could bring more unity to our divided human world.
In recent years the focus has gradually shifted from this external mission to my own personal growth.
External mission
The external mission is still alive. More than ever than ever humanity needs to find common ground to face the huge challenges of this age. While technology is connecting us more and more, we seem to become hopelessly divided. Strong opinions matter more than open mindedness. The willingness to listen to each other’s point of view is fading.
This website is not a place to make strong statements or affirm personal opinions. It is strictly dedicated to the Gamma Tao, a dynamic model or symbol, a wisdom compass based on universal principles. Nothing more and nothing less.
Personal growth
I would love to have more time and means to build a better, more sophisticated platform for the Gamma Tao, but even then I already have enough work to do to fully integrate its fundamental principles into the practice of my own daily personal life.
Next to this, I spend a lot of time transcending the Gamma Tao by freely exploring all wisdom traditions. The Gamma Tao is an excellent starting point for such explorations. It offers a solid common ground to stand on. It is like a spiritual safety belt.
The Gamma Tao helps me to get a better understanding of wisdom traditions. These days it is leading me towards a new appreciation of the Christian Trinity.
I am becoming ever more interested in debates on the nature of human consciousness. It will probably take some time before I get my head around the hard problems that are often discussed at the quantum level. I would love to write about this here one day.
Events around the world
One of the best things the Gamma Tao has brought into my life in the last five years is the discovery of many interesting events that take place around the world.
Due to the Corona Pandemic many of these events have moved to the digital domain. In the last months I have been able to attend several online events like Wisdom in Times of Crisis by Science and Nonduality (SAND), HowTheLightGetsIn and the Rebel Wisdom Festival.
Thanks to the non local quality of the internet, you can now be in different places at the same time!
If the Gamma Tao had developed into a community or organisation, it would probably be a partner now. This initiative expresses exactly the external mission I had in mind five years ago.
The fact that Sunflower Day coincides with World Unity Week is for me an extra reason for celebration.
Normally this would be a day of celebration for me. In recent years I even made pelgrimages to Delphi and Rome on this day. This year, not surprisingly, I stay at home.
This is not a time for celebrations. We are in the midst of a worldwide health crisis and there is no end in sight. Just like everybody else I worry a lot about the impact this crisis will have on our lives.
On Gamma Day I usually celebrate how the Gamma Tao came into existence. This year the focus is on reflection.
What is the use of the Gamma Tao in times of crisis?
The Gamma Tao originated from a personal crisis, exactly seven years ago. My dear father fell terminally ill and while I was coping with this difficult situation, unexpectedly I found a wave of inspiration. Three months later I had this Gamma symbol, a simple model containing almost everything I wanted to say.
This symbol continues to inspire me to this day. The magic of the Gamma Tao is for me its profound simplicity. It works like a tool to calibrate your mind set. I have used it countless times now. Sometimes even several times during a day. And it helps me. Time and again.
So, how does it work?
Key values and golden treasures
First of all, the Gamma Tao constantly reminds me of the key values gratitude, compassion and just proportion (or balance) and the three “golden treasures” related to these values: the Golden Gift (human creativity), the Golden Rule and the Golden Mean or Golden Ratio.
In its active form the γ itself is a model for resilience, indicating a step-by-step approach to face the challenges of life. Let’s follow these steps in the context of the crisis we are now facing.
Step 1: Acceptance
A crisis usually happens unexpectedly. We do not see it coming and when it finally reveals itself it in its entirety, it may absorb all our attention. We need this kind of focus to survive an acute crisis. In a prolonged crisis situation like this global pandemic, we cannot keep high levels of concentration all the time. There is also no need for this. We have the opportunity to step back and assess the whole situation.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. In a crisis there will be some of all of these.
If you can, start to find the Good in this crisis. Count your blessings. A crisis rarely touches every aspect of our lives in the same destructive way. It can be very difficult to feel any gratitude in the midst of a crisis, but most of the times there still remains a lot to be grateful for.
It is good for your mental health to try to be as grateful as you possibly can. In this way your mind set remains positive. Research has also shown that there is a strong correlation between happiness and gratitude.
You may ask: grateful for what? Grateful to who? Personally I do not always need an object for my gratitude. You can be grateful in many ways. Believers can be grateful to their God(s), some of them even in the most miserable of circumstances. Non-believers can be grateful to other people (or to their pets who do not seem to suffer at all now).
During this particular crisis it is easy and almost mandatory to be grateful to all the working people who keep vital services running and to health care workers in particular.
Unfortunately, there is no crisis without the Bad and the Ugly.
Acceptance is the zero value on the scale from gratitude to misery. Many philosophies of life, both from the East and the West, recommend to accept whatever comes to us with a degree of detachment.
Philosophies like Buddhism and Stoicism can therefore help us to beat feelings of misery and avoid that our state of mind falls below zero for an extended period of time.
And then there is always Hope. Many religions offer us hope for better times. Hope is a powerful idea to fight mental misery. Life is hope. Without hope there is no life.
Spiritual practices like meditation and prayer can help us to set our mind straight. It may be a good idea to try meditation these days, if you do not already have some experience with it.
Daily rituals can also provide a lot of comfort for the mind. These rituals can include physical exercise.
Anyway, we will not be able to solve this crisis all by ourselves, so it is very useful to keep The Serenity Prayer in mind these days:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Step 2: Compassion
When we have accepted the crisis as good as we possibly can, we will be less prone to misery and panic. Now we can start to deal with the crisis itself in the best way we can.
Be aware that the Gamma Tao only offers remedies for the human mind. It offers no cure for our physical bodies.
The Romans strived for a mens sana in corpore sano: a healthy mind in a healthy body. The two are intimately connected. A healthy mind will certainly increase your resistance, but if you feel sick or want to keep your body healthy, please, follow your doctor’s advice.
The Gamma Tao reminds us to stay compassionate. The Golden Rule treasure teaches us that we should not treat others in a way that we do not want to be treated ourselves. We must be mindful that in a crisis we suffer in much the same way as others.
During a crisis compassion and kindness are very important. We all need each other more than ever. We must not try to pass our burden on to others, let alone try to make an excessive profit out of this crisis.
Many wisdom traditions teach us how we can cultivate compassion. This is probably a good occasion to listen to these teachings again and again.
The current crisis offers many opportunities for us all to practice compassion.
Compassion has great benefits to our mental health. Just like gratitude, helping others gives us a good feeling about ourselves and generates happiness and joy.
Step 3: Balance
Feelings and emotions are at the heart of the Gamma Tao, because ultimately they give value and meaning to our lives. In some wisdom traditions you may have to separate yourself from your emotions as much as possible. This may be true for these higher wisdom paths. The Gamma Tao is only a beginners path.
There is a place for feelings of grief, anger and despair. These feelings can also offer some relief. It is unnatural not to feel pain in the face of real suffering.
Feelings and emotions however have no limits. Their intensity varies constantly and they cannot always be trusted. Especially in times of crisis emotions can become so intense that they become dysfunctional and block our capacity to take the right actions.
We cannot be led by the chaos of our emotions. We need our rational faculties to find balance. The Golden Ratio or Golden Mean is the treasure that stands for balance or just proportion.
In order to find the just proportion we need to put things into perspective. Our own personal perspective is limited. We need to keep our hearts and minds open for the different points of view that others can provide.
We also need scientific and logical methodology to assess the situation in a systematic way.
Comment sections on websites often show strong opinions. In the current health crisis many seem to have become epidemiologists overnight. They jump to conclusions and even condemn others who do not share their recently acquired insights.
We always tend to overestimate our knowledge. This is called the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Good scientists are much more careful. They keep in mind how little they actually know, even when they are making a lot of progress or when their advice is needed.
Socrates was once considered the wisest man of the world by the Oracle of Delphi, because he knew his own ignorance. This helped him to keep an open, always examining mind.
In a crisis like this there are no simple solutions. We have to proceed with the limited knowledge we have and try to make wise decisions.
In a health crisis it is good to be extra careful. Beter safe than sorry.
Step 4: Creativity
Finally, we have to find our way out of a crisis and make a turnaround. The Gamma Tao always tries to lead us to a wise and positive mind set. The final leg of the γ clearly goes in an upward direction.
We need our Golden Gift treasure, human creativity, to make this shift.
We can already see an explosion of creativity in the way people respond to the corona crisis. There is a lot of creativity in the way people work from home and try to help and entertain themselves and others.
The creativity in the Gamma Tao is not limited to so-called creative people. We all possess the Golden Gift of creativity.
Creativity is probably the most distinctive trait of our species. We use to call ourselves “sapiens”, but that claim may very well turn out to be a tragic exaggeration. We are certainly a “homo creans”, a creating human being.
We respond to situations not only by our instincts. We appear to have a degree of creative freedom to respond to a given situation. In this way we create culture. And the enormous diversity of our cultures is a clear indication of our creative freedom.
We are not talking here about Creativity with a capital C. We do not need to be artists to be creative in real life situations.
There is also no need for big gestures (all though they may be welcome in a crisis like this).
We can all be creative in countless small ways. Giving up a craving is a creative response. These days you can help the community already by simply staying at home.
A crisis forces us to change our habits. A crisis is also an opportunity for change.
We should try to make these creative responses transformative. Transformation means that we overcome our habitual self, our ego, and become a better version of ourselves.
All religions and philosophies of life share this and aim for positive personal transformation. If you just perform your daily or weekly rituals as a cultural habit, you are most certainly missing the essence of your own wisdom tradition.
In the Gamma Tao this transformation is represented by the seed and the sunflower.
The black and white peel of the sunflower seed symbolise the good and bad circumstances we are experiencing in the present moment. Our creative potential is the actual seed within the peel.
We should strive to transform every situation into a sunflower.
These are my reflections on this weird Gamma Day. I hope it is useful. Everybody is free to try to use it or just leave it.
This week the UN Interfaith Harmony Week is observed for the 10th consecutive year. All over the world people with different religious backgrounds are invited to hold interfaith events and reach out to each other.
Since one of the objectives of the Gamma Tao is to build bridges and create more harmony among religions and life philosophies I fully support this initiative. Last year I proposed to exchange or offer sunflower seeds as a symbolic act during these interfaith encounters. In my enthusiasm I even submitted this idea to the platform of the World Interfaith Harmony Week.
It was just an idea and not a real event, so it did not qualify.
I still believe it is a nice and simple symbolic idea that could help to increase the awareness of the Interfaith Harmony Week.
Exactly seven years ago I woke up in the middle of the night with a determination to write a book about religion and philosophy. It was the seed for what a few months later became the Gamma Tao.
It was a moment of exaltation. I was full of ideas and felt an urgency like never before to put them out to the world. I thought my ideas could contribute to interfaith harmony, restore wisdom traditions that had fallen into disrepute and even make the natural world a little sacred again.
Nothing of this happened.
The world seems more divided than ever. The reputation of wisdom traditions has not improved at all and our relation with nature is turning more and more into an existential crisis.
I also did not write a book (yet). Instead I built a website that on a day to day basis does not receive many visitors. I am not actively promoting it either. Only occasionally I find the time to post something.
So, what is there to celebrate?
A lot, actually.
Since that 27 December in 2012 the Gamma Tao has been an almost magical journey for me.
In little more than three months my ideas for a book merged into one unifying symbol. I am still amazed by the way the Gamma Tao developed itself in my mind. And it continues to evolve to the present day.
The Gamma Tao started as one unified theoretical symbol. A few years later it also got a practical form. This year the Gamma Tao expanded even further, going beyond itself with a vision on the lights of higher spiritual paths (the “Gamma Trinity”) on the one hand and the shadows of excessive behaviour (the “Lambda Path”) on the other.
I still believe that the Gamma Tao can be useful to others. It is basic, open, visual, non-dogmatic, practical and easy to understand. It is compatible with wisdom and scientific traditions. I cannot think of a better tool to start a wisdom journey.
Compared to other attempts to integrate wisdom traditions, it is also unique in its modesty. It is only a lower path. The γ is like a silent consonant. It is seldom pronounced. The Gamma Tao does not replace anything and yet it can support everything.
Anything loud and new would only create more division, while we just need a basic connection that underlies our flourishing diversity.
While there has been limited resonance from the outside world, the Gamma Tao now really flourishes inside of me.
The Gamma Tao has turned out to be exactly what I need for my own personal development. Its values and principles are a daily source of inspiration and, more than that, it continues to lead me to new sources of inspiration. The Gamma Tao even helps me to go through difficult moments.
In religion and philosophies of life I have always been a free spirit. I grew up as an Atheist. As a student I started to consider myself an “Epicurean Stoic”. After a spiritual awakening during a study year in Italy I became a “spiritual humanist” and later, when I started to explore Eastern traditions, I often called myself a “Socratic Buddhist”.
All these traditions still resonate with me, but the Gamma Tao has opened me up to so much more. My aversion for the Abrahamic traditions has disappeared and the wisdom of Indigenous traditions inspires me more and more.
Thanks to the Gamma Tao I am open and better prepared to leave the intellectual comfort zone of sceptical rationalism and freely explore spirituality.
At the same time my interest in the natural sciences has grown.
The Gamma Tao supports all this. It is a perfect way to develop spiritual, emotional and rational intelligence.
Thanks to the Gamma Tao, my personal wisdom journey has become more interesting and profound. I have read more books, listened to more lectures and attended more events on religion, science and philosophy than ever before.
Two highlights were my visit to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto in 2018 and the Science And Nonduality (SAND) Conference in San José this year. I am also very glad to have discovered the HowTheLightGetsIn Festival. I attended the last four editions of this philosophy festival in Hay-on-Wye and London. I am already looking forward to the next edition.
As I try to absorb all the information I receive during these activities, I become more and more aware of how little I know and how much there still is to discover from the limited perspective of a free spirit in a gigantic universe.
My wisdom journey may seem very eclectic and superficial. It is a kind of criticism that is often used against free spirits that do not stick to a particular tradition, but I do not just pick and choose what I like. The Gamma Tao and its values are coherent and dynamic. They give me direction and strengthen my commitment to explore in depth various spiritual and philosophical paths.
The Gamma Tao offers me a stable common ground to keep my balance while I climb the heights of multiple wisdom traditions.
In these seven years the Gamma Tao has really become my basic personal religion or philosophy of life. In the end religion is something deeply personal. My own inner wisdom journey is at least as important as any external success the Gamma Tao may or may not have in the future.
Apart from this, I think that any personal religion or philosophy should always be grounded in universal values. It is something different than a set of opinions.
The Gamma Tao is both personal and universal. Tailor-made for me, ready-made for others. Its values set a standard that also challenge me. I am often not grateful enough, my compassion still needs to grow and sometimes my behaviour is excessive. I am not a saint, nor a guru. I am not perfect.
The Gamma Tao is also not perfect. “Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in” (Leonard Cohen). And yet, the way it came to be was some kind of magic.
Enough reasons for a celebration.
The Gamma Tao needs a few rituals. Apology Week has become a meaningful tradition and I observed it also this year. Gamma Day on the April 1st remains the most important day to celebrate the Gamma Tao, but without a seed no sunflower.
This website remains open like a temple. Visitors and fellow travellers are always welcome.
The Gamma Tao is a basic and positive philosophy of life. The aim of the Gamma Tao is to develop a wisdom mindset. Such a Gamma mindset is like a sunflower always facing upwards towards the sun in order to make the best of all possible circumstances. The Gamma Tao is rooted in common sense and open(-minded) towards all wisdom traditions of humanity, whether it is science, philosophy or religion.
Even though the Gamma Tao is a lower path laying at the foot of the greater and higher wisdom traditions, it is a challenging path. For most of us (and that includes me) it is difficult to develop a wisdom mindset. One thing is to stay focused on the positive side of life, but if we really want to become wise, we also need to confront our shadows.
Lambda (λ) Shadows
A human personality can have many shadow sides. We are probably not even fully aware of all of them. The Gamma Tao concentrates on three basic shadows:
the Lambda (λ) Shadows.
These shadows are part of the “Lambda Path“, a symbolic shadow beneath the Gamma Tao.
The λ-Shadows are:
Greed: Greed arises when we are attracted to something and we desire more than our fair share.
Hate: Hate arises when we are repulsed by something and we develop a negative obsession towards it.
Ignorance: Ignorance arises when we close our mind for new insights and perspectives.
The Three Poisons
The λ-Shadows correspond more or less with the Three Poisons (or “kleshas”) in Buddhism. These kleshas are considered to be the roots of all mental afflictions. In Buddhist iconography they are often depicted as a rooster (greed), a snake (hate) and a pig (ignorance).
In order to attain enlightenment these three poisons need to be eradicated completely.
Nothing in Excess
Since the Gamma Tao is only a basic beginner’s path the stakes are not so high. Attractions and repulsions are natural and necessary fluctuations of our minds. These emotions make us move. In fact we need these emotions to determine what is valuable in our lives. On the Gamma Tao we should only avoid to fall into shadows of excessive behaviour. Greed is excessive attraction and Hate is excessive repulsion.
(Just) Proportion is one of the three basic values of the Gamma Tao, as it was in Ancient Greece. Meden Agan (μηδὲν ἄγαν) or “Nothing in Excess” was a famous maxim written on the Temple of Apollo in Delphi.
Ignorance can be both a virtue and a shadow. The Oracle of Delphi considered Socrates the wisest man of his age, because he was the only man in Ancient Greece aware that fundamentally he did not know anything. Ignorance becomes excessive when we believe that we already know and close our minds for new insights and perspectives.
Metaphysics
Our shadows have their origins in our subconscious mind. They are mostly based on Fear, a deep existential fear rooted in our biology. Our subconscious mind is mysterious territory, formed by collective and personal traits and experiences.
If our shadows are rooted in our subconscious mind, our virtues may be part of it as well. Studies of animal behaviour by Frans de Waal show signs of compassion in animals. Our virtues are often necessary for survival.
Our deeper motivations may also be inspired by a mysterious supra-conscious mind, formed by universal principles that go beyond human comprehension.
Metaphysical ideas like these go beyond the Gamma Tao, but it can be useful to speculate about these things. In order to develop a wisdom mindset we do need to learn as much as we possibly can about the nature of the human mind.
Also here we can quote a famous Delphic maxim: Know Thyself (γνῶθι σεαυτόνor gnōthi seauton).
Neuroscience is making much progress nowadays, but how impressive pictures of brain scans may look, these coloured psychographics do not yet make us much wiser. The so-called “hard problem” of consciousness is still unresolved. In fact, we are no way near any explanation of how consciousness arises, let alone our subconscious (and, for that matter, any form of supra-consciousness).
There is still much to learn about the nature of our mind and how we can use that knowledge to build a wisdom mindset. As they always have, the great wisdom traditions can help us here. Their insights, techniques and practices are based on hundreds and sometimes even thousands years of human experience.
Symbolism
The Gamma Tao is inspired by all these wisdom traditions. Just like these traditions the Gamma Tao uses symbolism. The symbolic picture above this post can be used as a simple model that encourages and reminds us to conquer the λ-Shadows ignorance, hatred and greed and to practice the γ-values of gratitude and compassion in a just proportion.
The Gamma Tao is an alternative way to present perennial values that everybody already knows inside. It does not replace any wisdom tradition. On the contrary, it reinforces their foundations. The Gamma Tao is only basic and therefore ultimately even stimulates the practice of these higher paths. On the road to wisdom we need all good signs and directions that are available to guide us.
Merit
From a Gamma perspective the three λ-Shadows are no cardinal sins or part of negative karma. Principles of cosmic justice may exist and they may even be helpful to encourage ethical behaviour, but they are beyond the Gamma Tao.
Hope for rewards or fear for punishment are not part of the Gamma Tao. A Gamma wisdom mindset is compassionate and grateful by its own merit and with a just proportion of detachment.
“Sun seeding”
If we want to acquire a wisdom mindset we cannot allow λ-shadows to be present in our minds. We need to work on our shadow sides. We can enlighten them by “sun seeding” practice.
The practice of “sun seeding” is part of the sun flower symbolism of the Gamma Tao. The sun flower is to the Gamma Tao, what the lotus flower is to Buddhism.
The sunflower seed stands for the present moment: the Now.
The light and dark spots on the shell of the sunflower seed indicate the good and bad conditions we face in the present moment.
An “entangled” sunflower seed is also visible on the Lambda Path. This indicates that in many moments of our life we have a choice to enter either the Gamma Tao or the Lambda Path.
The sunflower seed inside the shell is our actual potential. If we want to make good use of this potential, we need to go for the Gamma Tao. Only on the Gamma Tao our potential can symbolically grow into a sunflower and catch the light.
“Sun seeding” consists of all the practices that help us in that right direction. They can come from established wisdom traditions, but also from self-help books or other unexpected sources. They can also be invented on the spot. “Sun seeding” cannot be a fixed set of practices, because we are all different. The main criteria is that they actually work. Meditation is certainly an important part of it, but in the end action in real life is the main practice.
Faith
Continuous “sun seeding” practice can transform our mind in such a way that we conquer our inner fears and develop some kind of faith.
In the first place this will be the faith to face the next step in our lives.
Ultimately “sun seeding” practice may reinforce the Faith required for higher paths beyond the Gamma horizon.
We live in an age of science and technology. Science determines our view of the universe and technology the way we live. Nowadays revelations of the universe happen through measurements of the Higgs boson or “God Particle”, gravitational waves or a even a vague picture of a black hole. Ordinary people do not understand mysteries like these and need scientists as contemporary priests to explain their meaning and importance. In our daily lives we are overwhelmed by technology. We have the whole world in our handhelds. These miraculous devices are often revealed in annual rituals that are supposed to leave the spectators in awe.
Rescuing the Sacred Texts
Who needs scripture? Sacred texts seem to be completely irrelevant in our modern world. Only traditionalists still seem to hold on to these texts, but they often do so in such a literalistic and self righteous way that they completely miss the spirit and intentions in which they were written.
In her new book The Lost Art of Scripture Karen Armstrong is on a mission. She wants to save the sacred texts. Karen Armstrong is one of the world’s leading commentators of religious affairs. She has spent seven years of her life as a Roman Catholic nun, but left her order in 1969. She has written over a dozen of bestselling books on a broad range of religious topics and comparative religion in particular. She is a passionate campaigner for religious liberty and has received many honorary titles and awards, among which the TED Prize in February 2008 that marked the beginning of the Charter of Compassion, a charity that has grown into a worldwide organization.
The central theme of her new book is that in modern societies we have lost the skills to read sacred texts. Sacred texts are not ordinary texts. They are written to transform our mind and hearts. The underlying scope of most religious texts is to attune our mind to a higher order of things, a transcendent state of mind that goes beyond our immediate worldly concerns.
Armstrong shows in her book that nearly all the scriptures
“insist that men and women must … discover the divine within themselves and the world in which they live; they claim that every single person participates in the ultimate and has, therefore, unbounded potential”.
How to read scripture
Therefore scripture cannot be read superficially. They require special treatment. Sacred texts have to be interpreted and we need our imagination to understand their meaning. Myths are not fake news from a distant past. Most of the time they represent a timeless truth that in some sense happened once but which also happens all the time. Sacred texts require full engagement. In rituals we can even involve our own bodies to bring the meaning of scriptures to life. According to Karen Armstrong scriptural exegesis is an art, a holistic art that is never finished and will always be work in progress.
In her book she shows how interpreters of all living wisdom traditions have approached their scriptures, continuously adding multiple new perspectives from the times in which they lived.
Insights of neuroscience
Karen Armstrong regrets that in our own times we seem to use scripture mainly to confirm our own views. This may seem an opinion from a grumpy old lady, but she based her book not only on historical documents. She even used the latest insights of neuroscience to come to this conclusion.
Neuroscience is hot. Neuroscience determines more and more the way we think about ourselves. Dutch neuroscientist Dick Swaab famously wrote that We Are Our Brains, reducing the most famous of the Delphic maxims from Ancient Greece “Know Thyself” practically to “Know Your Brains”.
Brains have a right and a left hemisphere, each with a different perception of reality. The right hemisphere always tries to construct a holistic picture of reality. It is aware of its surroundings, understands the interconnectedness of all things, is less self-centred and is at the same time the seat of empathy. The left hemisphere on the other hand constructs a reductive version of reality. This part of our brain is analytical, selective and more pragmatic. It favours concrete, material things and tends to suppress information that it cannot grasp conceptually.
According to both Armstrong and McGilchrist the left hemisphere of our brains has become the most dominant part in modern Western culture. Both agree that this has been an unhealthy development. In the metaphor used by McGilchrist the Emissary has taken precedence over its Master. Karen Armstrong shows how the left hemisphere makes us approach scripture in a literalistic way, sometimes with a ridiculous focus on details. The Art of Scripture has been lost in the process.
Parallel missions
The Lost Art of Scripture is an important and timely book. It has a clear vision and scope. The historical picture of scriptural exegesis through the ages presented in this book will be open to debate. Neuroscience will also progress in the coming years and undoubtedly provide us with new revolutionary insights about our brains. In my evaluation of The Lost Art of Scripture however I will not activate the left hemisphere of my brains too much to dissect this book in minute detail, because my dominant right hemisphere is in total agreement with its central message.
In many ways the mission of Karen Armstrong in this book coincides with the mission of the Gamma Tao and this website. You may say that the Gamma Tao is about “The Lost Art of Wisdom”.
The Gamma Tao is not based on scripture, but on a symbol (or visualisation model) that intends to integrate the areas and functions of our brains with three perennial human principles and key values in order to build a wisdom mindset. Just like scripture, the Gamma Tao is work in progress, open to both the latest scientific findings and the insights of all wisdom traditions.
Karen Armstrong has sometimes been criticized for the anti-Western tendencies in her work and her rosy picture of non-Western traditions. There may be such a bias in this book as well, but it does not affect the validity of the central theme of this book at all.
We must certainly not be blind for all the crimes and violence that human traditions, both religious and secular, have caused in the world. Karen Armstrong herself has written a whole book about religion and the history of violence.
All traditions have black pages. But even then, we still may be able to learn something from their golden pages: their scriptures.
If we succeed in mastering the Art of Scripture again, we may first transform ourselves and ultimately even find new creative solutions to the problems of our times.
The Gamma Tao is a beginner’s path. It is a lower path based on basic spiritual, emotional and rational values. Its main goal is to help develop practical wisdom.
The Gamma Tao is only partly a spiritual path. It is a holistic path for the human mind where spiritual, emotional and rational intelligence are interconnected and in balance. The Gamma Tao by itself does not lead to the higher spiritual grounds of enlightenment or salvation.
Exploring the higher grounds
The Gamma Tao does lead to a common ground that is a great starting point to discover the higher paths, the great spiritual wisdom traditions of humanity.
The Gamma Tao is simple and clear. This simplicity is in fact its greatest advantage. The Gamma Tao can easily be brought to mind just by imagining the forms of the Gamma symbol and applying the basic ideas behind it. The higher paths are much more complicated. It is easy to lose your way among the riches of their techniques, rituals, myths, stories, teachings and internal divisions.
Our minds also have difficulties to fully grasp the teachings of the great spiritual traditions. It is easy to stick to a few convenient points we found along the way. We may think that we are good practitioners, while in fact we stop exploring and transforming ourselves.
A spiritual path should always be about personal transformation.
Gamma Tao as spiritual guide
The Gamma Tao can help you to keep the right mindset for the higher spiritual paths. First of all, when you enter a spiritual path it is very useful to keep the basic values gratitude, compassion and the just proportion in mind. These common values will keep you grounded.
On a spiritual path our minds will have to transcend this common ground. When we go beyond the common ground the Gamma Trinity can give us further guidance.
The Gamma Trinity is like a beam of light that has its origin within the Gamma Tao itself and shines its light on the path that lies beyond, indicating the direction from a common ground to the universal spiritual heights.
The Gamma Trinity, just like the Gamma Tao, is nothing new. It is nothing more and nothing less than perennial wisdom in a new form.
The Three Universals correspond to the three main mind spheres of the Gamma Tao.
They are:
Spiritual: Universal Beauty
Emotional: Universal Love
Rational: UniversalTruth
Any spiritual journey should bring you closer to these three Universals. Not only to one of them, but – and this is important – to all of them combined.
So when you are on the higher spiritual paths frequently ask yourself these three simple questions:
Where in this is the Beauty?
Where in this is the Love?
Where in this is the Truth?
If you cannot find real Beauty, Love and Truth in what you are doing on a spiritual path, it may be time to move on.
The Gamma Trinity unites Universal Beauty, Universal Love and Universal Truth. These Universals go beyond common human understanding. Any description of the three Universals will be inadequate, but let’s try to clarify them a little.
Universal Beauty
Universal Beauty is the awe inspiring beauty, present everywhere in the Universe.
It can be experienced in a profound way when we encounter the sublime, that highest aesthetic quality that goes beyond all categories of beauty. An encounter with the sublime can be the start of a spiritual journey. It is the numinous experience we have when we are struck by the beauty of nature, a beautiful sunset or a sky full of stars. Many scientists (and especially astronauts) have had experiences like this when they observe nature from a new point of view. These experiences often change their lives.
Moments of bliss like this come to us unexpectedly. They are like a moment of grace.
Not all spiritual paths talk much about the beauty that is present everywhere in the universe. Physical manifestations may even be considered of a lesser order by some spiritual traditions. They are in fact always determined by conditions, often imperfect and transitory, but that should not make us blind for their beauty. Cherry blossoms or sakura are cherished by the Japanese, exactly because their beauty give them a sense of the fragility and impermanence of all things, the “pathos of life” (物の哀れ, mono no aware).
A spiritual path can help us to see through these imperfections and open us up towards the Universal Beauty that not only manifests itself in wide sublime settings, but is also present in small things.
Universal Love
Universal Love is unconditional love, directed to all beings.
The idea of Universal Love can be found in the Greek concept of agape (αγάπη) and jiān ài (兼愛), a central principle of Mohism, a classical school of Chinese philosophy. Elements of Universal Love, like a commandment to care for strangers, can be found in most spiritual traditions. The importance of caring for animals and the environment is also stressed by many spiritual traditions, especially among indigenous tribes.
Universal Love is probably both the most profound and most demanding of the three Universals. It is the ultimate perfection of compassion.
Followers of spiritual traditions often pose conditions on their love. They judge others and make distinctions, while a spiritual path should primarily be about one’s own internal transformation. Jabir ibn ʿAbdullah al-Ansari, an important companion of Mohammed, for example is reported to have said that the greater jihad is the struggle against oneself.
Universal Love is the core Universal, the Universal of the heart, the one that gives sense and meaning to our being in the universe. On a spiritual path we need to develop as much as possible Universal Love within our hearts.
Universal Truth
Universal Truth or ultimate truth refers to the essence of being.
Universal Truth cannot be expressed in words. It goes beyond all conditions and perspectives. It just is. In this way it touches the idea of the Tao (or Dao, 道) of Taoism.
This is not to say that we cannot approach Universal Truth. On the contrary, whether or not we are on a spiritual path, we should always be committed to the truth. Universal Truth is made out of countless states of being. Our own experience of them itself is also part of this reality. Some theories, ideas and beliefs about these states of being are closer to the truth than others.
The practice to approach Universal Truth is in no way the exclusive domain of spiritual traditions. Every change of perspective can give us new insights into the truth. Science and philosophy have valid methods to approach Universal Truth, this most rational of the three Universals. It is important to follow the rules of logic and scientific method when we want to increase our knowledge of reality.
Universal Truth, however, goes beyond rationality. Spiritual paths offer alternative approaches for our experience of ultimate truth. Zen uses kōans, short cryptic conversations to trigger sudden fundamental insights in reality. Western logic is build on the principle of non-contradiction and this could in some cases pose a limit on our understanding. In the Indian logical system of catuṣkoṭi things can be true and false at the same time.
Almost all spiritual traditions have strong claims about the Universal Truth. In some traditions you just have to believe these claims, because they are based on divine revelation. In other traditions you have to rely on the authority of a guru or a spiritual teacher. In Buddhism the importance of personal experience and investigation is often stressed.
Many ways lead to Rome. You may have found your way to approach Universal Truth, but that does not mean that others have lost their way.
A spiritual path can change our connection with the reality around us. This is an aspect of Universal Truth that we can all experience by ourselves. On a spiritual path personal experience is therefore an important touchstone.
Peak experiences
A spiritual path should lead towards a better understanding of ultimate or Universal Truth, but we should never lose sight of the other two Universals. Truth without Love and Beauty has no real value.
On the peaks of spiritual experience the Gamma Trinity can even lead us to a state of Oneness, where Beauty, Love and Truth are unified into One.
It is not for everybody to reach such a high state of mystical union. It is very hard to reach the peaks of a spiritual path, although occasionally, by way of grace, we may catch a glimpse of it.
If we seriously embark on a spiritual journey we need to face many challenges to combat our personal shadows and weaknesses. During these struggles it is even more important to never let the Gamma Trinity out of sight.
Spiritual Practices
And now back to basic.
The universal spiritual heights lay far beyond the common ground of the Gamma Tao itself. Even if you are not on a spiritual path and have no ambition to reach the peaks of spiritual experience, spiritual practices can enrich your life. Even a small walk on a spiritual path may change your connection to the universe around you or transform you into a better person.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the books that Rupert Sheldrake has published about spiritual practices. He set out to show that spiritual practices actually work.
Also on this basic level the Gamma Trinity can be a helpful guide, so we may actually go beyond to find some Beauty, Love and Truth.
Today on April 5th the Golden Rule is celebrated all around the world. There will be a live stream on Facebook with contributions from all parts of the world hosted by GoldenRuleDay.org.
The Golden Rule is one of the three golden treasures of the Gamma Tao. Therefore, just like last year, I fully support this celebration.
At this moment I am inside the Pantheon in Rome. I am on a pilgrimage visiting a few holy places. It is Gamma Day today.
Exactly six years ago the conception of γ symbol was complete in my mind. It was really an eureka moment for me in which everything seemed to fall into place. Ever since April 1st is a day of celebration for me.
The Pantheon is the holiest place of my personal pilgrimage today. This magnificent monument represents perfectly the idea of harmony that lies at the heart of the Gamma Tao:
harmony between religions: this temple was originally dedicated to all the gods (from Greek Πάνθειον, Pantheion: “of all the gods”)
harmony between church and state: apart from the fact that it is a church now, the first two secular kings of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I, are also buried here
harmony between man and nature, in this case through art, symbolised by the tomb of the famous Renaissance maestro Raphael, that says:
“Here lies Raphael, by whom Nature herself feared to be outdone while he lived, and when he died, feared that She herself would die”
