Words Worth: The Hidden Truth

By Dr Siladitya Ray
Consultant Psychiatrist
Kolkata, India

In spite of being a psychiatrist and one with strong rational leanings, I seem to be undergoing an internal change which has made me increasingly inclined towards the mystical and the intangibles. Not only me, a growing number of people, mostly, with a scientific bent of mind are gradually getting their ‘existential equations’ correct with their new-found incorporeal connect. Over the years, I have consciously managed to develop a useful balance between the material and the non-material worlds. To my mind, that is the ideal amalgam you can have in your life. No one is saying that you give up on the pleasures of life entirely, but then what is prudent is that you tread the middle path.     

Over the years, I seem to have become more of a Determinist than a believer of Free-Will. Several experiences have compelled me to believe that everything in this world is destined and that everything is written for us above, to our last breath. My argument for that is very simple. Take a casual glance at the world around you and  you will see a Flawless Order and then again, think about each passing day and there again what you see is a regular rhythm without any hitches, as though  a preconceived drama is unfolding in the broad ‘Universal Canvas’ !

Then the question is, as many people have asked me – ‘If everything is already written, then why work or live at all?’ That is the whole paradox! Well, do we have any other choice? It may sound strange but, that is also a part of destiny.

Destiny is the ultimate truth in this Universe, and the rest is only what it ‘appears’ to our senses! According to Plato, in his final work, ‘The Laws’ – God is the measure of all things. For many, God is a human-like being with supernormal abilities, whereas, to others, it is nothing but a faultless powerhouse of seething energy. Well, it is also said that you come with your breath counted. There is no way of knowing it, but then, everyone’s days seem to be numbered. It as though, predetermined as to who will live how long and who will become what.

At a time, when frivolity is the order of the day, such esoteric subjects may appear as shockers! Many of us detest such discourses and see them as too ‘grandiose’ or pretentious. But, if you care to take a little bit of interest in it, you will see that it is very easy to understand. What is simply required of you is faith. Mind you, not Blind Faith.

It may be argued that we give too much importance to ourselves, talking about things like – there must be a purpose to each of our lives, there is life after death, so on so forth.  They may be true. It may also be true that we are just a happenstance. In the absence of proof, we can keep debating though. Interestingly, I find this debate healthy and I can tell you that it is taking a persuasive shape and this entire subject do not look contrived at all, anymore.

It is not entirely true that we are excessively preoccupied with spiritual (read inconsequential) issues. On the contrary, most of us are far too obsessed with fatuous things. Being a psychiatrist, I can strongly testify to that. Recent studies have shown that while 8 out of 10 urban dwellers are ‘infatuated’ with earthly pursuits, only 1 is ‘inclined’ to non-material preferences. As long as Occultism remain unverifiable (by the conventional scientific paradigms), we will have to make do with personal belief and faith. And, in many instances, faith can work wonders. Take the case of many of my terminally-ill patients who sprang back to life, simply because I taught them to have faith in ‘mental resilience and self-healing’!  

And mind you, everything is not amenable to scientific scrutiny. Had it been so, then scientists would have already proclaimed – Soul is the 13^th State of Matter and that God is made up of ‘buffoons’ and ‘morons’! I tell you, these days anything is possible!

The fact is that over the years, I have found that most scientific paradigms are flawed and that there is definitely ‘something’ beyond what our sense perceptions allow us to comprehend about this world. Scientific approach has been successful not because the system is ingenious, but because, the ‘cosmic reality’ is ‘multi-truthful’, meaning that there are various truths which can be apparently explained by different avenues of reasoning. And, science is one of them. This is precisely where the ‘conundrum’ steps in. How can a single, self-contained and homogenous system (read Universe) have a ‘multi-layered reality’ and simultaneously, have a ‘core truth’, which can be arrived at, from different start-up points!  This in itself defies scientific logic!

Several physicists have already begun to draw parallel between the sub-atomic world and Eastern Mysticism. And the news is that there is indeed a similarity and it is pretty striking!

That’s a long, but nonetheless, very interesting story. In essence, the cosmic order that we get to see around us, may appear very complex and abstruse, but if you go below the ‘surface of things’, what you see is a single entity with a very simple structure. And that is an Apocalypse! Anyone reaching that point will have a profound revelation of the ‘Final Reality’, beyond which lies the endless domain of ‘Nothingness’!

It is hardly important whether you believe in Determinism or not, but then what matters is the fact that you are ‘determined’ by a ‘force’ which cannot be seen but ‘felt’!