Yes indeed, Life is Complicated. The most complex issues of Life involve the problems of interpersonal relationships. In the arena of interpersonal relationships, Love always sneaks in like a thief as Love is an inescapable, inevitable, and unavoidable phenomenon of human existence. Life gets transformed into a Battlefield of Love. In my analysis, the choices, and the moves to formulate love relationships are predestined. The concern must not be about finding happiness, the concern must be about truth, integrity, and trust in one’s own character that guides behavior and actions.
The famous poem, La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats narrates the plight of a Knight-at-Arms who believed he was in a Love relationship with an unknown, beautiful woman to eventually lose his life just like other kings and princes who got enticed by this enchanting Beauty. The Soldier known as the Whole Dude at Whole Foods survives in the never ending Battle of Love for he uses the armor called Self-Love.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci’: A Poem by John Keats
La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ was originally the name of an anonymous fourteenth-century English poem about a cruel woman, but the title ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ is more commonly associated with John Keats’s poem which tells the story of a knight-at-arms who was seduced by a woman who was more fairy than human, lured back to her cave, and then abandoned on the cold hillside.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
‘I love thee true’.
She took me to her Elfin grot,
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
And there she lullèd me asleep,
And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!—
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
Thee hath in thrall!’
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gapèd wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
La Belle Dame sans Merci: summary
La Belle Dame sans Merci.’ ‘The woman is beautiful, but merciless.’ Keats’s title, which he got from a 15th-century courtly love poem by Alain Chartier (La Belle Dame sans Mercy), provides a clue to the poem’s plot: in summary,the poem begins with the speaker asking a knight what’s wrong – this knight-at-arms is on his own, looking pale as he loiters on a hillside. This knight-at-arms has a lily-white forehead (i.e. he’s pale), and a rose-coloured cheek. But symbolically, this rose is withering: love has gone rotten.
It’s at this point that the voice in the poem shifts from this first speaker – the one questioning the knight about what’s up with him – to the knight-at-arms himself. The knight then tells us his story: he met a beautiful lady in the meadows, who the knight believes was the child of a faery – there was something fey or supernatural and otherworldly about this woman. She had wild eyes, which imply an unpredictability in her nature.
The knight tells his interlocutor how he was inspired to shower this ‘faery’s child’ with gifts: a garland or wreath for her head, bracelets for her wrists, and a sweet-smelling girdle for her waist. The woman looks as though she loves these gifts, and moans sweetly. The knight puts the lady up on his horse and rides all day without taking his eyes off her. As the lady delicately rides his horse side-saddle, as befits a lady, she sings a ‘faery’s song’.
As if to complement the three gifts (garland, bracelets, ‘zone’ or girdle) the knight gave her, the belle dame sans merci gives the knight three sweet gifts: sweet relish, wild honey, and manna-dew (implying something almost divine: ‘manna’ was the foodstuff that fell from heaven in the Old Testament). In a strange language, the lady tells the knight she loves him. She takes him to her Elfin grotto, where she proceeds to weep and sigh; the knight silences her with four kisses. The lady, in turn, silences the knight by lulling him to sleep – presumably with another ‘faery’s song’ – and the knight dreams of men, pale kings and princes, crying that ‘La belle dame sans merci’ has him enthralled or enslaved.
In the evening twilight, the knight sees the starved lips of these men – men who have presumably also been enthralled or bewitched by such a belle dame sans merci – as they try to warn him, and then the knight awakens and finds himself alone on the hillside where the poem’s original speaker encountered him. And that’s how he ended up here, alone and palely loitering.
La Belle Dame sans Merci: analysis
There’s a sense of reciprocity between the knight and the lady, but how equal are they? She is the one who is given star billing in the poem’s title, of course, suggesting that the knight is merely the passive observer, used by her, yet another victim to fall under the spell of the beautiful woman without mercy.
Running against this, however, is the to-and-fro of the action: the knight gives the lady three gifts, and she responds with three gifts for him. He silences her sighs with kisses, before she silences him in sleep by singing him a lullaby.
And whether she has even been won over by his gifts remains unknowable for sure. The line ‘She looked at me as she did love’ implies that she loves them, and perhaps even him, but the wording of ‘as she did love’ hovers delicately between two quite different meanings: it could mean ‘because she did love’ or ‘as if she did love’, i.e. ‘but in reality, she didn’t; she only looked as if she did’. And love what? The verb here is left as an intransitive one, without an object, allowing us to guess whether she loves him or whether she merely loves the garland and bracelet he’s fashioned for her (if she even loves them or merely appears to).
Sure enough, we learn later that she loves him truly: she tells him plainly enough. Or does she? She speaks the words ‘I love thee true’, but ‘in language strange’ (presumably her own faery language), and this information is being related to us by the knight, who may have been hearing what he wanted to hear. (She swore she loved me, honest, she just came out and said it: ‘I love thee true.’) Whether he can even speak or understand her ‘language strange’ remains unknown, but the fact that he describes it as a ‘strange’ language invites reasonable doubt.
In short, then, ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ is a fascinating poem because of its unreliability and what it refuses to tell us. We have a mystified speaker relating a story to us which he has heard from a (less-than-impartial) knight who has apparently come under the spell of the ‘beautiful lady without mercy’. John Keats famously advocated something he called ‘Negative Capability’: namely, as Keats himself said, ‘when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.’
‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ inspires such negative capability within us as readers. We cannot arrive at a neat analysis of this bewitching poem: like the lady herself, the strange story is beautiful not least because it remains only half-understood.
What is Love?
Love is a powerful emotion felt for another person manifesting itself in deep affection, devotion or sexual desire. If love is viewed as fondness or affection it may include or based in part on sexual attraction which is related to libido (sexual urge or instinct), and lust (a desire to gratify the senses or bodily appetite that seeks unrestrained gratification).
Love implies feelings that are attached to relationships or objects and assumes various forms such as sexual love, brotherly love, and love of God. The attachment may be felt for inanimate things as well as people, or ideas, or expressed as an abstraction. There are many different kinds of love; different in object, different in tendency, and different in expression.
The problem of the kinds of love is further complicated by the need to differentiate and relate love and desire. The category of love known as sexual love has the tendency to desire possession of the object that is loved. The tendency of desire is acquisitive. Sexual love is a love born of desire, and the drive of desire continues until it is satisfied by possession of the loved object. Physical possession is the basis for the satisfaction of sexual desire, sexual appetite, or sexual hunger, or sexual thirst. The other forms of love do not tend to possess the object loved but seek to benefit the object that is loved. Love is selfish when it acts like hunger, thirst, or appetite which need to be satisfied for the benefit of the person expressing that love.
Love is altruistic when it acts for the good or the benefit of the beloved. Conjugal love may include a combination of selfishness and altruism. The ancient languages have three distinct words for the main types of love; EROS, PHILIA, and AGAPE in Greek language; AMOR, AMICITA or DILECTIO, and CARITAS in Latin language. However, English language has no such distinct words and hence it becomes necessary to use such phrases as “sexual love”, “love of friendship”, and “love of charity” in order to indicate plainly that love is common to all three, and to distinguish the three meanings.
The idea of love expressed in Biblical Scriptures makes no distinction between AMOR, DILECTIO, and CARITAS. For example, in The Gospel according to Saint Matthew, Chapter 22, verses 37, 38, and 39 Jesus proclaims the Great Commandments while endorsing the Laws of Moses: Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the LORD thy GOD with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Jesus brings unity between the idea of self-love, love of God, and the love of one another without making distinction between the three different kinds of love. Jesus does not specify if man should wish and expect to be loved in return. Jesus did not attach any purpose to this act of love, and did not describe the nature of desire, the attachment, and the gratification that may operate the Love Commandment.
THE ORIGIN OF LOVE:
Sigmund Freud’s theory places the origin of love in the sexual instincts, and so for him the many varieties of love are simply the forms which love takes as the ‘LIBIDO’ fixes upon various objects. He states, “The nucleus of what we mean by love naturally consists …… in sexual love with sexual union as its aim. We do not separate from this; on the one hand, self-love, and on the other, love for parents and children, friendship and love for humanity in general, and also devotion to concrete objects and to abstract ideas….. All these tendencies are an expression of the same instinctive activities…. They differ from sexual love only because they are diverted from its aim or prevented from reaching it, though they always preserve enough of their original nature to keep their identity recognizable.”
If love is the passion of the sexual instinct, temperance is an inadequate restraint. Neither reason nor law is adequate to the task of subduing the nature of the sexual instinct. Sexual instinct is a very powerful biological instinct and it profoundly influences human behavior. Hence it becomes necessary to transform sexual love either by repressing it, or sublimating it, or mixing it with tenderness or kindness. In that context, friendship, charity or compassion, and devotion to God could be stated as transformations of sexual love. Sexual instincts are inhibited or actually repressed in the expression of brotherly love, or feelings of deep affection for children and others where the relationship should not be based upon feelings of sexual attraction.
THE COMPLEXITY OF LOVE:
Love is a very complex emotional instinct and it is complex as it may not always provide a sense of joy or happiness. There is a fact about love; love frequently turns into its opposite, HATE. Sometimes there is love and hate of the same object; sometimes love inspires hate, and love may also cause jealousy, anger, and fear. Love seems to be the primal passion, generating all the others according to the oppositions of pleasure and pain and by relation of cause and effect. The individual’s experience of love is extremely variable and it includes the operation of both positive and negative impulses.
The Indian tradition has carefully examined this complex instinctual behavior and it instructs people to understand the three major distinctions or categories of love and to apply a sense of restraint, or that of repression. It brings love under the purview of morality, the code of Right Conduct or DHARMA. Indian Culture does not provide the linguistic tools to express feelings associated with sexual passion without using temperance. There is no linguistic equivalent in classical Indian languages to profess love. The terms and words that Indians use have specific meaning attached to them.
LOVE vs PREMA:
Love is not a universal term and this idea is not expressed in Indian tradition and classical literature. The word “LOVE” appears repeatedly in the Bible, in several different editions of Bible. I am not a language expert and I believe that people who translated Bible have exercised great care to convey the meaning of love. Many editions of Bible have further clarified the meaning of Love in their glossary section or Bible dictionary and define Love as a deep sense of affection, devotion for someone or something and they very carefully exclude sexual desire and sexual passion. In English speaking world, and in English literature, the word Love is used to describe desire, libido, lust, and passion based upon sexual attraction. So, Love is a generic term and it may not always mean brotherly love and goodwill.
Indian Culture has erected subtle barriers and has not provided linguistic tools to use the word Love as we like. It separates Love into various categories and sets them apart. The feelings of affection, or fondness that are associated with sexual attraction are specifically known as ‘KAMA’ and intense sexual passion or desire is called ‘MOHA’. Any intense or passionate desire could be called KAMA and to act under its influence could be stated as MOHA. My love for God could only be expressed in terms of Bhakti or Devotion, and the desire could be called PREET. The desire called PREETI or Preet is a legitimate desire. It is also called “ISHTA.” I am allowed to seek or desire certain things in my life and that desire is subject to the rule of Good Conduct or Dharma. I can express the sentiment of Preet only when, and where such desire is allowed to be stated in a legitimate manner, and is acceptable to tradition and established conventions and social norms. If I entertain thoughts of sexual attraction about my attractive and rich neighbor, I am not allowed to express my feelings as Preet. It can not be called “ISHTA”. I can call it Kama or Moha. In the epic poem of Ramayana, when King Ravana, the King of Lanka desired to marry Princess Sita and had attended her ‘Swayamvara’, his desire was legitimate as he intended to seek the gratification of the feelings of sexual attraction through rightful conduct called marriage. But, when he abducted her while she was lawfully married to Prince Rama, that desire and sexual attraction represents an impulsive action of Moha, and Kama. King Ravana was not entitled to express his Love for Sita if it is formulated by Kama, and intense sexual passion known as lust or Moha. Similarly, a man can express his love or Preet for a woman in a respectful or legitimate manner and to seek a valid relationship based upon trust, respect, and commitment. If the relationship is illegal, it can not be called Preet. A father’s love, or mother’s love, or brother’s love is described as “VATSALYA,” a natural sense of affection and fondness which is not related to sexual attraction or desire. The word “PREMA” or “PREM” is used to describe the feelings of affection, fondness, Friendship (SNEHA or Maitri)), Kindness (DAYA, or KARUNA), Compassion (KRUPA), Happiness, Joy (ANANDA) that have no direct relationship to the satisfaction of sexual desires and passions. The deep sense of affection between husband and wife is often called “ANURAG” which indicates an intimate friendship. I can not literally translate this word LOVE into any of the Indian languages as such expression is not allowed without stating the nature of its contents.
If Jesus gives the Commandment of Love your neighbour as thyself; I would not be able to express that thought in Indian languages. Jesus has not stated that idea in terms of Friendship (SNEHA), Kindness (DAYA), or giving Happiness (ANANDA). Only when, and if those qualities of friendship, kindness, and giving joy or happiness are specifically included; Jesus could Command others to express PREMA to one another.
However, in the Indian tradition, the deep sense of affection or fondness of God is stated as Bhakti or Devotion. Mirabai has expressed such deep sense of affection and I would not describe it as her love of Krishna. Jayadeva in his famous description of Lord Krishna’s creative activities in Brindavan (Vrindavan) has depicted the intense erotic feelings of the young maidens as a product of their intense devotion to the Lord. I can not use the word Love to describe the sexual passions of the Gopi or the young maidens of Brindavan.
SELF-LOVE AND NARCISSISM:
My concern is not about PREMA or LOVE. My concern is about self-love, a man’s love of himself. In psychology the word ‘NARCISSISM’ is used to describe excessive self-love. In my medical practice, I have not encountered such narcissistic tendencies among people of Indian origin. The Indian tradition has erected barriers and would not easily let us identify ourselves with the physical-self. The Indian tradition repeatedly instructs us about our Essence and true Identity and reminds us not to get attached to the physical-self. If I have no feelings of attachment to my physical-self, I can not really love myself. If I can not truly love myself, I can not also love my neighbor in the same manner, or to a same degree of my self-love. If man is not expected to love himself, the issue of loving the neighbor is redundant.
The Concept of Whole Love to Formulate Wholesome Interpersonal Relationships
Who is Whole Dude?
The word ‘Whole’ as an adjective describes quality of being healthy, sound, auspicious, not broken, not defective, entire, undivided, complete, containing or constituting the entire amount, or having all of its natural elements. The word ‘Whole’ is also used as a noun to describe a thing or entity that is complete in itself and which lacks none of its parts. Whole Dude is a phrase that refers to Whole Man in all aspects of one’s being, including physical, mental, social, moral, rational, creative and spiritual. The man exists because of functional unity of the entire system and hence the singularity of the multicellular organism called man may not be divided into its constituent parts like body, mind, and soul which have no independent existence of their own.
I prefer the phrase Whole Dude over other often used phrases such as Whole Man, Whole Person, Whole Self, and others. Just like ‘White Light’, the singularity described as a man is in reality a spectrum of seven colors. The seven dimensions of the man are, 1. The Physical, 2. The Mental, 3. The Social, 4. The Moral, 5. The Spiritual, 6. The Creative, and 7. The Rational. The description of the man as a created, spiritual, and rational being is fundamental to defining the man as a Whole Dude.
Who is Whole Cookie?
The phrase Whole Dude somehow misses the flavor called Woman. God created both man and woman in His own image and hence God is both male and female at one and the same time. In the common usage of the term God, most often writers refer to God as if He is exclusively Male or of the masculine gender. From the very beginning, the Indian tradition views God as the First Male and the First Female and named the Male Principle as Father and the Female Principle as Mother. Father is the Originating Principle, and Mother is the Source Principle. The Indian tradition describes the Mother as the Divine Source of Matter, Energy, Knowledge, and Life or as the Constitutive Principle. Father is described as the LORD, the Owner, the Ruler, the Governor, the Controller, the Protector, the Sustainer, the Maintainer, the Preserver or as the Regulative Principle that rules, regulates, and governs all the operations of matter, energy, knowledge, and life in the created, natural Cosmic Order.
Just like the phrase Whole Dude, I coined the phrase Whole Cookie to specifically refer to the feminine gender created by God. The word Cookie is often applied to describe a young, attractive woman, a sweet thing, whose flavor is reflected in the language, behavior, and mannerisms that contribute to the constitution of the female personality. I love Whole Cookie for she brings to my experience the sweetness of the Divine Mother called Madhavi. The name Madhavi is derived from the word Madhu, a sweet substance found in nectar, honey, wine, sugarcane, and others.
Whole Dude – Whole Discovery:
On Wednesday, July 30, 2014, I discovered the meaning of Whole Love. I am the ‘Creme’ just like the Creme of a Sandwich Creme Cookie and my original human nature reflects the sweetness of God’s Love. I discovered the three fundamental dimensions of Love, which must come together to give the experience of Whole Love.
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) discovered America on October 12, 1492 for he was determined to reach India by sailing West. He had indeed discovered the New World but failed to discover Love or the meaning of Love. The Land that Columbus discovered was not India and he mistakenly identified its people as Indians. The Discovery of America by Columbus resulted in the introduction of sexually transmitted infection like Syphilis from the New World to the Old World. That is the reason I choose to compare my Discovery with the historical Discovery of America. My discovery is not about the New World, or the Old World. My discovery will be known as the Whole Discovery, the discovery of all the dimensions of Love, a discovery with a potential to transform the Whole World.
Love is about relationships and it is central to the man’s connection with God, and the man’s relation to other persons.
WHOLE FOODS–WHOLE PROMISE
Bringing Your Whole Self
Your whole self isn’t just the way you dress or show up to work. For us, it’s expressed in the very way we do business. We volunteer at and donate to organizations that matter to you. We build a career path around your goals. And we hire teams that feel like families. When you’re here, you can be you.
I received a letter from the Whole Foods Market inviting me to shop at Whole Foods, Ann Arbor. The letter reads:
“We’re growing something good and we want you to be part of it. If you’re ready to make a difference, bring your Whole Self to Whole Foods.”
WHOLE CREME – WHOLE COOKIE – WHOLE DISCOVERY – WHOLE FOODS:
At Whole Foods Market, Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Whole Dude has formally announced his Whole Discovery, the discovery of the experience called Whole Love. Love is an emotional experience and it is both a Subjective, and an Objective experience. Love is a personal experience and the experience can be objectively verified. The mental experience called Love demands a Subject who may experience the feelings termed as Love and at the same time, Love demands an Object that may experience those feelings described as Love. Love is always manifested as a connection, a relationship, as an attachment, a bonding, or a cementing feeling that brings together the persons involved in the attraction called Love. Hence, there are three fundamental aspects of the experience called Love. These are, 1. The Subject who experiences Love by expressing Love of another person which is identified as the Object loved, and 2. Experiencing Love for being the Object of another person’s Love, and 3. To have the experience called Whole Love each person needs to be both the Subject who is Loving, and also be the Object that is Loved.
It may be very easy to claim that Love is a mutually shared experience and state that the partners in a Love relationship experience Love for one another to the same extent. When you examine the reality of the present day world, very few people may truly claim that they have discovered Love. To be the Subject who is Loving and simultaneously be the Object that is Loved on a reciprocal basis is not happening as frequently as people would expect to find. There is a gap or a ‘Mismatch’ between the feelings expressed and the feelings returned. Many relationships are simply ending when they find this gap or Mismatch a bit overwhelming. For Love involves mental attachments, a person in Love needs the experience of an emotional attachment from the person that he truly loves and get the feeling that he is the most loved person when that person feels attached to him through expression of the sentiments of love. To explain the three aspects of Whole Love, I invite my readers to taste the 365 Everyday Value Mismatched Sandwich Cremes, exclusively sold at the Whole Foods Market.
On Wednesday, July 30, 2014, I purchased 365 Everyday Value Mismatched Sandwich Cremes to declare that, “I am the Creme of Life. The Vanilla Cookie gives me the feeling that I am the most Loved Person in the World. And the Chocolate Cookie gives me the feeling that I have never, ever experienced for being so much in Love during my entire Life.” For I am the Creme of Life, I can experience all the dimensions of Whole Love at the same time. The Two Cookies, get transformed into a singularity that I call Whole Cookie by getting intimately attached to my Whole Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul, giving me the Full, Total, Complete, and the Whole experience called Whole Love.
God’s Unconditioned Love goes beyond Good and Evil. However, the human interpersonal relationships will not be Wholesome unless they are based upon the pillars of trust, respect, and commitment. In other words, the human love relationships will never last unless the feelings of mutual attraction include the foundational values of trust, respect, and commitment. Whole Love in its essence reflects the three dimensions of Love. These dimensions are, 1. Self-Love, 2. Love of another person, and 3. God’s Love.
If finding Whole Love is difficult, do not panic, it is easy to find these Mismatched Sandwich Cremes and enjoy that experience of Whole Love by spending $3.99 (a Whole Value Price) for a 20 oz box. I fully assure you that you will experience the Whole Satisfaction. The Whole Deal of finding Whole Love from a box of Whole Cookies is truly rewarding.
Rudi Lives in Love, the Force that sets Life in Motion:
Yes indeed, Life is complicated. Rudi cannot support his mortal existence on the basis of his physical and mental work. Rudi Lives in Love, the Love that brings together Whole Foods, Whole People, and the Whole Planet, the Force that sets Life in Motion.
PHYSICS OF SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – LOVE IS A FUNDAMENTAL FORCE
Physics of Spirituality Science – Love is a Fundamental Force. PHYSICS MAY NOT ACCOUNT FOR INTERACTIONS BETWEEN LIVING AND NONLIVING MATTER. PHYSICAL FORCES CANNOT ACCOUNT FOR TWO TYPES OF MOTION. THESE ARE, 1. OBSERVED VARIATIONS IN ROTATIONAL SPINS OF PLANETS, AND 2. MOTION OF LIVING MATTER.
In Physics, the term ‘Fundamental’ is used to describe a Principle, Theory, Law etc., serving as a basis forming a foundation that could be essential to explain other interactions in the natural world. In Physics, the term ‘Force’ is used to describe the cause or agent that puts an object at rest into motion or alters motion of a moving object.
Physics of Spirituality Science – Love is a Fundamental Force. Physics accounts for Four Fundamental Interactions. In Natural World, there are Interactions between Living and nonliving Matter which are fundamentally different from Interactions explained by Physics.
All known physical interactions of Matter occur through the agency of four basic, or ‘Fundamental’ kinds of ‘Forces’; 1. Strong Nuclear Force, 2. Weak Nuclear Force, 3. Electromagnetic Force, and 4. Gravitation Force. Most natural phenomena can be accounted for in terms of Four Fundamental Interactions. Gravitation and Electromagnetism act over long distances and it is easy to observe their effects. Strong and Weak Nuclear Forces act over subatomic distances and the range of their effects is limited.
Physics of Spirituality Science – Love is a Fundamental Force: LOVE IS A FORCE THAT CANNOT BE MEASURED BY INSTRUMENTS INVENTED BY PHYSICISTS.
Gravitation is the pervasive Fundamental Interaction. Every particle of Matter seems to attract every other particle with a Force that is proportional to the Mass of each and inversely proportional to the square of their separation. This relationship was first proposed by Sir Isaac Newton. His Theory of Gravitation is ‘Fundamental’, in the sense that all Motion due to the gravitational forces exerted on all objects can be described as a result of the same Force. Gravitation causes apples to fall from trees and determines the orbits of planets around Sun.
Physics of Spirituality Science – Love is a Fundamental Force: FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL FORCES CANNOT ACCOUNT FOR VARYING ROTATIONAL SPINS OF ASTRONOMICAL BODIES.
Mechanics is the branch of Physics that deals with motion of material bodies and the phenomena of action of forces on bodies. Celestial Mechanics is the study of motion of astronomical bodies as they move under the influence of their mutual gravitation. If the forces acting on a System do not cancel, Motion will result. Calculation of such motions is complicated because many separate forces are acting at once and all bodies are moving simultaneously. Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion and Theory of Universal Gravitation provide a great understanding of the simple elliptical orbits as described by Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion.
Physics of Spirituality Science – Love is a Fundamental Force: KEPLER’S LAWS MAY ACCOUNT FOR ORBITAL MOTIONS OF PLANETS. HOW ABOUT EXPLAINING ROTATIONAL SPINS OF PLANETS?
It is interesting to note Hindu Scriptures called Vedas may describe or mention Earth’s rotational spin. Neither Vedas, nor Science have accounted for a ‘Force’ that initiated rotational spin of various celestial bodies. Rotational Spin is different from orbital motion displayed by planets. Rotational Spin of planets cannot be explained as caused by physical forces of mutual attraction between celestial objects. Newton maintained that mere Motion does not require application of Force. In Space, there is no friction to restrain motions of celestial bodies.
Physics of Spirituality Science – Love is a Fundamental Force: PHYSICAL FORCE SUCH AS GRAVITATION ACCOUNTS FOR EARTH’S ORBIT OR REVOLUTION AROUND SUN. THERE IS NO PHYSICAL FORCE TO ACCOUNT FOR EARTH’S ROTATION ON ITS AXIS.
The man’s existence on surface of Earth cannot be fully accounted by physical force of Gravitation that explains Earth’s orbit or revolution around Sun. Man travels about 67, 000 miles per hour during Earth’s yearly orbit around Sun. Man’s lifetime or lifespan on Earth is determined by alternating periods of Day and Night caused by Earth’s rotational spin. Physical Forces act mechanically without sense of purpose or goal. Earth’s rotational spin serves a specific purpose for it directs Biological Rhythms of Living Systems.
Physics of Spirituality Science – Love is a Fundamental Force: Physical Force may account for the Speed of a point on the surface of Earth. Living Systems have synchronized their Biological Rhythms with Rotational Spin of Earth which serves specific purpose by causing alternate periods of Light and Darkness called Day and Night.
Physics of Spirituality Science – Love is a Fundamental Force: Man travels nearly 67,000 miles per hour in yearly orbit around the Sun. Earth’s Orbital Motion does not determine Man’s lifetime or lifespan. Man’s lifetime is measured by alternating periods of Day and Night caused by Earth’s rotational spin.
Within our Solar System, no celestial object shares rotational spin characteristics of another object. Each planet spins at a different speed or exhibits different rotational axis. On each planet, we will experience Day and Night and Seasons in different manners as they orbit around Sun. Each planet is unique, distinctive, original, and one of its own kind of celestial object. Space Exploration discovered thousands of planets, but none of them share identical rotational spins, in fact each planet displays individualistic variation in its spin characteristics. So, we need to recognize existence of an”UNKNOWN” Force that may have imparted energy to initiate rotational spin of each celestial object.
Physics of Spirituality Science – Love is a Fundamental Force: TILT AND ROTATION AXIS OF PLANETS SHOW INDIVIDUALISTIC VARIATIONS. EARTH’S TILT AND ROTATION AXIS ARE PURPOSIVE AND GOAL-ORIENTED AS IT DRIVES BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS.
I am using the term ‘LOVE’ to define it as a Fundamental Force that brings Unity and Harmony in Interactions between Inanimate and Animate Matter to establish Natural Order. LOVE is Fundamental to existence of Sensible or Living Matter. Living Things have the ability to perceive LOVE which instruments developed by man cannot measure.
Rudolf is reborn as Rudi to describe the spiritual connection between the Cell and its Energy Provider
Rudi acknowledges his German heritage at Whole Foods when he discovered the spiritual connection between man, food, and Providence. Whole Foods, Whole People, and Whole Planet are connected by a material substance called Protoplasm or Cytoplasm, a divine plan to provide nourishment to Life.
The Rudolf and Rudi Connection at Whole Foods, Ann Arbor can be best described as the concept of Whole Spirituality, the three dimensional spiritual relationship between the multicellular human organism, food, and the Divine Providence.
SPIRITUALISM – THE CELL THEORY OF SPIRITUALITY:
In Biology, cell is the basic or fundamental unit of structure, function, and organization in all living things or it is the building block of life. Let me begin with my respectful tribute to some of the people who contributed to ‘The Cell Theory’, one of the foundations of Biological Sciences. Cells were first observed in the 17th century shortly after the discovery of the microscope. Robert Hooke, british curator of instruments at The Royal Society of London, during 1665 coined the word cell. Dutch microscopist Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) made over 247 microscopes and examined microorganisms and tissue samples. He gave the first complete descriptions of bacteria, protozoa (which he called animalcules), spermatozoa, and striped muscle. He also studied capillary circulation and observed Red Blood Cells.
Improvements in microscopy during early 19th century permitted closer observation and the significance of cells had received better understanding. Matthias Jakob Schleiden (1838), german botanist, Theodor Schwann (1839), german physiologist, and Rudolf Virchow (1855), german pathologist, and others made important contributions to the Cell Theory that describes cell as the building block of all Life.
The Cell is the smallest unit in the living organism that is capable of carrying on the essential life processes of sustaining metabolism for producing energy and reproducing. Many simple, small, single-celled organisms like Protozoa perform all life functions. In higher, complex, bigger, multicellular organisms, groups of cells are structurally and functionally differentiated into specialized tissues and organ systems. Thus, the Cell Theory includes the following foundational principles of the Biological Sciences:
1. All living things are made up of cells. Cell is the most elementary or basic unit of Life.
2. Cell is a fundamental unit of structure, function, and organization in all living things including plants and animals.
3. Cells only rise from division of previously existing cells.
4. All cells are similar in composition, form, and function. All cells are basically the same in chemical composition (in spite of variations) in organisms of similar species. For example, all the solid tissues in the human body can be shown to consist largely of similar cells; differing it is true, but that are essentially similar to an Ovum.
5. The cells exhibit functional autonomy. The activity of an organism depends on the total activity of ‘INDEPENDENT’ cells.
6. Energy flow (metabolism and biochemistry) occurs within cells.
7. Cells contain hereditary, biological information (DNA) which is passed from cell to cell during cell division.
THE CELL THEORY OF SPIRITUALITY:
The basic or fundamental unit of life in the human organism is derived from the fertilized egg cell that eventually develops into a complete organism. The most significant feature of similarity between the cells of the human body is the presence of a soft, gelatinous, semi-fluid, granular material inside the cell. This substance known as Protoplasm or Cytoplasm, or Cytosol is similar to the ground substance found in the Ovum or the Egg Cell.
This viscous, translucent, colloidal substance is enclosed in a membrane called Cell Membrane, Plasma Membrane or Biological Membrane. A small spherical body called nucleus is embedded in the Protoplasm of the cell. The three essential features of any living cell in the human body are that of the presence of protoplasm, the nucleus, and the cell membrane.
PROTOPLASM – THE GROUND SUBSTANCE OF SPIRITUALISM AND SPIRITUALITY:
I seek the existence of Soul or Spirit in a substance that is basic to life activities, and in a material that is responsible for all living processes. I, therefore, propose that the understanding of the true or real nature of this ground substance of all living matter will help man to discover peace, harmony, and tranquility in all of his internal and external relationships while man exists in a physical environment as a member of a social group, social community, and Society. In this blog post, I would like to pay my respectful tribute to Jan Evangelista Purkinje and Hugo Von Mohl for their great contribution to the scientific understanding of the living substance, living material, and living matter.
Purkinje conducted his research on human vision at the University of Prague and later on, he served there as a Professor of Physiology (1850-69). He went to Germany and was appointed the Chair of Physiology and Pathology (1823-50) at the University of Breslau, Prussia. There Purkinje created the world’s first independent Department of Physiology (1839) and the first Physiological Laboratory (Physiological Institute, 1842). He is best known for his discovery of large nerve cells with many branching extensions found in the cortex of Cerebellum of the brain (Purkinje Cells, 1837). He discovered the fibrous tissue that conducts electrical impulses from the ‘pacemaker’ called Atrioventricular node or A-V node along the inside walls of the ventricles to all parts of the heart to help in Cardiac contractile function (Purkinje Fibers, 1839). In 1835, he invented and introduced the scientific term ‘Protoplasm’ to describe the ground substance found inside young animal embryo cells. He discovered the sweat glands of the skin (1833); he discovered the nine configuration groups of Fingerprints used in biometric identification of man (1823); he described the germinal vesicle or nucleus of the unripe ovum that now bears his name (1825), and he noted the protein digesting power of pancreatic extracts (1836).
Hugo Von Mohl named the granular, colloidal material that made up the main substance of the plant cell as “Protoplasm” in 1846. Purkinje invented the word, but Hugo gave more clarity, understanding, and knowing the nature of this ground substance. He viewed cell as an “elementary organ” and in Physiology he explained Protoplasm as an organ of Motion or Movement, Nutrition, and Reproduction. It is the preliminary material in cellular generation. He was the first to propose that new cells are formed by division of preexisting cells and he had observed this process of Cell Division in the algal cells of Conferva glomerata. His observations are very important to understand the Cell Theory that explains cells as the basic building blocks of Life. He was the first to investigate the phenomenon of the stomatal openings in leaves.
Protoplasm is a complex, viscous, translucent solution of such materials as salts and simple sugars with other molecules, mostly proteins and fats, in a colloidal state, that is dispersed but not dissolved in one another. Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen constitute more than 90 percent of Protoplasm.
It exhibits properties such as Protoplasmic Streaming or Cytoplasmic Streaming or Motion that is called “Amoeboid Movement.” It has the intrinsic power to change its shape and position. It has the power of Nutrition by which it can attract and obtain the materials necessary for its growth and maintenance from surrounding matter/environment.
The living functions such as Nutrition, Cellular Respiration, and Reproduction performed by Cytoplasm involve acquiring, processing, retaining, and using information to perform tasks in a sequential manner for a predetermined purpose and hence describe Consciousness, Memory, and Intelligence.
The terms Soul and Spirit belong to the materialistic realm where the Physical Reality of man’s biological existence is established. I have not yet discovered any good reason to use the terms Soul and Spirit as a metaphysical or transcendental Reality.
The Inheritance of Cytoplasmic Membrane or Cell or Plasma Membrane:
The Functions of Cytoplasmic Membrane or Cell Membrane or Biological Membrane:
1. Protection: It protects the cell from its surroundings or extracellular environment. Plant cell possess wall over the plasma membrane for extra protection and support.
2. Holding cell contents: Plasma membranes hold the semi fluid protoplasmic contents of the cell intact; thus keeping the individuality of the cell.
3. Selective Permeability: Cell membrane allows only selected or specific substances to enter into the cell and are impermeable to others.
- Gases like O2 and CO2 can diffuse rapidly in solution through membranes.
- Small compounds like H2O and methane can easily pass through where as sugars, amino acids and charged ions are transported with the help of transport proteins.
- The size of the molecules which can pass through the plasma membrane is 1-15 A0. This property is responsible for keeping a cell ‘as a cell’, an individual unit.
4. Shape: It maintains form and shape of the cell. It serves as site of anchorage or attachment of the cytoskeleton; thus providing shape to the cell (especially in animal cells without cell wall).
5. Organelles: Cell membrane delimits or covers all sub-cellular structures or organelles like nucleus, mitochondria, plastids, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum, microbodies etc. thus protecting them form the surroundings and also helps in maintaining a constant internal environment.
6. Compartmentalization: Cell membrane separate the cells from their external environment and cell organelle from cytosol. It help the cells and their organelles to have their own microenvironments, structural and functional individuality.
7. Cell Recognition: With the help of glycolipids and glycoproteins on its surface, cell membranes are able to differentiate similar cells from dissimilar ones, foreign substances and cells own materials. Cell recognition is useful for tissue formation and defence against microbes.
8. Antigens: Cell membranes possess antigens which determine blood grouping, immune response, acceptance or rejection of a transplant (graft rejection by MHC’s on plasma membrane).
9. Microvilli: They are microscopic finger like projections of plasma membrane present on some cells like intestinal epithelial cells, which are involved in a wide variety of functions, including increasing surface area for absorption, secretion, cellular adhesion etc.
10. Sheaths of cilia and flagella: Cilia and flagella are projections from the cell; made up of microtubules which are covered by an extension of the plasma membrane.
11. Cytoplasmic bridges in plasmodesmata and gap junctions: Plasmodesmata in plant cells and gap junctions in animal cells; meant for intercellular transport and communication, form cytoplasmic bridges between adjacent cells through plasma membrane.
12. Endocytosis and Exocytosis: Bulk intake of materials or endocytosis occurs through development of membrane vesicles or invagination and engulfing by plasma membrane.
Exocytosis: It is reverse of endocytosis that provides for releasing waste products and secretory materials ot of the cells with the help of plasma membrane.
13. Impulse transmission in neurons: The transmission of a nerve impulse along a neuron from one end to the other occurs as a result of electrical changes across the plasma membrane of the neuron
14. Cell metabolism: Cell membranes control cell metabolism through selective permeability and retentivity of substances in a cell.
15. Electron transport chain in bacteria: In bacteria; Electron transport chain is located in cell membrane.
16. Osmosis through cell membrane: It is movement of solvent molecules (generally water) from the region of less concentrated solution to the region of high concentrated solution through a semi permeable membrane. Here the semi permeable membrane that helps in osmosis is the cell membrane. Eg: Root cells take up water from the soil by osmosis
17. Carrier proteins for active transport: They occur in the cell membranes and control active transport of substances. Example, GLUT1 is a named carrier protein found in almost all animal cell membranes that transports glucose across the bilayer or plasma membrane.
18. Plasma Membrane enzymes: Many enzymes are present on the plasma membrane with wide variety of catalytic activity. Example: Red blood cell plasma membranes contain a number of enzymes such as ATPases, anion transport protein, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, protein kinases, adenylate cyclase, acetylcholinesterase.
19. Cell Membrane Receptors: Receptor on the plasma membrane performs signal transduction, converting an extracellular signal into an intra-cellular signal. Membrane possess receptors for hormones, neurotransmitters, antibodies and several other biochemicals.
20. Plasma membrane assisted Cell movements: Undulation and pseudopodia are cell membrane phenomenon involved in cell movement. Amoeba, macrophages and WBCs move with the helps of temporary organelles like pseudopodia. Pseudopods are temporary cytoplasmic projections of the cell membrane in certain unicellular protists such as Amoeba. Some mammalian cells such as fibroblasts can move over a solid surface by wave like undulations of the plasma membrane.
The Ground Substance of Spiritualism and Spirituality. The vital characteristics, the animating principles of Protoplasm could be known by observing Amoeba proteus. The Living Substance works as an organ of Motion or Movement, as an organ of Nutrition, and as an organ of Reproduction to generate new cells which have a life span of their own. In these physiological functions, I describe the characteristics such as Cognition, Consciousness, Memory, and Intelligence as spiritual attributes of Life as they bring functional unity and harmony in the interactions between different parts of the same individual organism while it exists in an environment as a member of a biological community.
THE SPIRITUALITY OF SUBSTANCE, FUNCTION, ORGANIZATION, ACTION, AND INTERACTIONS:
To establish the biological existence of the human organism, I add the concept of Spiritualism and Spirituality to the Cell Theory.
The Single Fertilized Egg Cell has ground substance that is of Spiritual nature and the Spiritualism and Spirituality consists of the following functional, and organizational characteristics:
1. The Cell is Conscious of its own existence and knows its internal condition and knows it external environment.
2. The Cell is intelligent and it has the cognitive abilities like perception and memory to acquire information, to retain information, to recall information, and to use information in the performance of its complex tasks in a sequential manner.
3. The Cell has the ability to show characteristics such as mutual cooperation, mutual tolerance, and display functional subordination and subservience while being independent.
4. The Cell grows, divides, and develops into a complete organism while it acquires substances and energy from an external environment. The power of Protoplasm/Cytoplasm to attract matter found in its external environment is called Nutrition. The Cell continuously transforms matter to build matter of its own kind for its own benefit to sustain its existence with its own identity and individuality. The Organism represents a social group or a biological community of Cells. The Spiritual nature of Protoplasm/Cytoplasm brings this functional harmony and unity in the Social Group or Biotic Community of Cells by bringing together its Essence and Existence.
5. The Cell Theory is incomplete for it does not describe the conditioned nature of the Cell’s existence. The Cell represents a Living System that is thermodynamically unstable. It requires a constant supply of matter and energy from its external environment to sustain its living functions. The concept of Whole Spirituality formulates the connection between the Cell and its external source of matter and energy.
The theoretical claims about Spirit and Soul, the religious and philosophical doctrines of Spiritualism and Spirituality must be verified using the Cell Theory that defines the human organism. To describe Soul or Spirit as nonmaterial or immaterial Self will not help man to know the real or true man.
Simon Cyrene
Whole Foods, Whole People, and Whole Planet come together in a Wholesome Relationship as God is the Energy Provider, the Original Source of Matter and Energy for Life.
The Rudolf-Rudi doctrine of Spiritualism 