Umwelt

Umwelt is a term invented by a German biologist, Jakob von Uexkull, in 1909 to connote the sum total of the experience which informs the reality of a particular biological organism. For example, a bee sees only ultraviolet light. The bee also flies and so its reality is affected by seeing things from the air. When we see a garden with colourful flowers, we think the bees will be attracted to the coloured flowers. In fact, the bee sees most colours as dull black or grey except for the colour white which is fabulously sharp – just as we experience white clothing by ultraviolet light in a night club. So a bee flying into the garden is fascinated by the boring bush with white flowers and is not impressed by the roses. The tree with white flowers dresses itself for the bee’s eyes, not for human eyes. Likewise, a rattlesnake sees only infrared light and slithers on the ground so its world is based on heat emissions; a bloodhound has 200 million olfactory cells and a long nose and big nostrils, and floppy ears which drag on the ground and throw up additional scents. When you take him to a park, even though the park looks deserted and boring, he smells the scents of everyone who visited that park in the last 24 hours! He smells so intensely he can track someone who left the park the day before! His life is enriched by a world of scent and his reality is quite different from ours.

Human beings have very limited senses. Their sense of smell, sight and hearing is just enough to avoid predators, eat, socialize and mate. In fact, a human being can see only one billionth of the electromagnetic spectrum. The human umwelt is really nothing to boast about and yet human arrogance is such that, based on one billionth of the evidence, we declare that God does not exist. Our ego is such that we think that “what I see is all there is”. If we could face the fact that our umwelt is very limited, we might not be so quick to reject the unseen truths that mystics reveal.

One of the reasons that worldly wealth disappoints is because our umwelt remains the same – no matter how rich we become, we can experience only the same limited palate of tastes, see only the same sights and hear only the same sounds as any poor person. The Masters advise that meditation is the way to change our umwelt. This is the miracle the true Masters offer – the ability to see the unseen and hear the unheard.

Great Master discusses how rising in consciousness can change one’s vision, effectively change one’s umwelt, so that hidden things become revealed.

1. The individual, clothed in coarse material form, sees only the external material forms. His sight does not go deeper than that.

2. If he were to rise up to Sahansdal Kanwal, the same individual would see the mind actuating all forms. The form would be only secondary; mind would be the prime mover in all.

3. The same individual, from Daswan Dwar, will see the spirit current working everywhere, and will see how the mind gets power from the spirit.

4. From Sach Khand, the whole creation looks like bubbles forming and disappearing in the spiritual ocean.
   _{Maharaj Sawan Singh, Spiritual Gems}

Hazur Maharaj Ji refers to this limitation in the human umwelt in the answer to the following question:

Q. What is the citation from Guru Nanak which you regularly use?

A. It is very difficult for me to know because I use so many, not just one. But there is one that I generally repeat, ‘Akhi bajhon vekhana, vin kanna sunana.’ It means: ‘You see it without eyes and hear it without ears.’ You cannot see it with these eyes, nor hear it with these ears. Neither can you touch it, nor reach it walking with these feet. You can only get it when you die while living, when you withdraw your consciousness to the eye centre. And only through Shabd or Nam can you go back to the Father. So that is a very convincing citation which I generally give in my satsang. As Christ said: ‘Having eyes ye see not, having ears ye hear not’.
_{Spiritual Heritage}

To develop higher faculties of sight and hearing which enable us to access subtle experiences – this is the mission which saints place before us. In short, they invite us to expand our umwelt!

Proof that Sant Mat is the path to expanding human umwelt can be found in the following statement by Great Master:

He pervades all and is ever with us. But because we are always engrossed in objects of the world, we cannot see Him. The sun is not to be blamed if the bats cannot see it. The sun is shining equally for all. The Lord is all-pervading. Then why do we not see him? The reason for this is that the eyes that can see him are as yet unawakened. Those eyes that can see him everywhere are different from the physical eyes. We can see subtle things only when we ourselves become subtle. The Lord is extremely subtle. Unless we become as subtle as he is, we do not get connected with the Lord. It is a basic principle that the instrument with which we see must be appropriate to the thing to be seen. Our eyes cannot see light that is extremely bright or extremely dim. Similarly, we cannot hear a sound which is either above or below the range of our hearing.
_{Philosophy of the Masters, Vol. IV}

We need to cleanse the instrument of the human mind and raise our awareness through meditation so that our umwelt is adequate to include the sight and sound of God.

Turn to the Lord with all your heart,
  forsake this sorry world,
  and your soul shall find rest.
Learn to turn from worldly things,
  and give yourself to spiritual things,
  and you will see the kingdom of God come within you.
_{Thomas A Kempis, The Inner Life}