Following up on our discussion of No Permanent Self and our Interbeing With Nature, Alan Wallace provides us with insight into our participatory universe, further clarifying the insight of interbeing.

Alan Wallace holds a Ph. D. in religious studies, scholar, translator for the Dalai Lama, and the founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Conscious Studies.

The Santa Barbara Institute for Conscious Studies emphasizes the integration of scientific approaches with contemplative practices to enhance our understanding of the functioning of the mind and the brain.

Tricycle Daily Dharma November 14, 2013

Our Participatory Universe Mass, energy, space, and time as they are conceived by the human mind have no existence apart from our conceptual awareness of them—no more than our dreams at night. All appearances exist only relative to the mind that experiences them, and all mental states arise relative to experienced phenomena. We are living in a participatory universe, with no absolute subjects or objects. – Alan Wallace, “Awakening to the Dream”

I’ve known about his work as a translator of Tibetan texts for a while and have thought about participating in some of his research. He is quite well respected in Buddhist circles and has participated in the Dalai Lama’s Mind and Life Conferences.

His view about MEST (Matter or Mass, Energy, Space and Time) corresponds with the teachings of the Buddha. The yogi’s of ancient India also taught that the realm of consciousness that we live in most of the time is nothing more than an illusion and Leela, a divine play.

The insight presented here by Dr. Wallace tells us that nothing can be by itself, alone. We all inter-are with everything in the cosmos. Our participation in the universe is exactly what holds us here and keeps us alive. We all share this common experience, and many people are lost in either the subjects or the objects of their perceptions.

This gives us the freedom to create our own reality. We can do this with our minds and our hearts.

What kind of universe would you like to participate in? Please share.