By Mike Soika
I’ve become fascinated with the idea of fractals, in which the smallest part of an item reflects the full shape of the whole; where a natural pattern repeats itself over and over and over again. Think of snowflakes, or clouds, or shells, or cauliflower, or galaxies. In fact, we are told that fractals can be found throughout nature. And fractals are found throughout the human body as for example, the lungs, the nervous system, the cardio-vascular system, blood vessels, brain neurons, and even our most basic cell structure.
This concept led me to a spiritual question: are we humans a fractal of the Divine? Or taken even more broadly, is all of creation a fractal of the Divine? On the surface, it seems logical that the essence of God is found in all things. But saying that the essence of God is everywhere is different from saying that everything is a fractal of the Spirit. The smallest sliver of a fractal has the same shape as the entire object from which it came. There is no discernable difference other than size.
The Buddhist monk and renowned spiritual teacher Thích Nhất Hạnh wrote often about how we see ourselves as a wave, but we fail to realize that the wave is part of – and no different from – the ocean. Hanh explains that “enlightenment is when the wave realizes it is the ocean.”
My wife and I recently spent two weeks traveling 1500 miles across the Alaskan wilderness and the grandeur often caused me to pause and wonder about the essence of God and how it connects to what I was seeing and to what I was feeling and to who I am in relation to it all.
We were there during peak fall color season, one the locals say was the most vibrant in a decade. I would stand in awe, looking at the red colored tundra leading up to the white snowcapped mountains that would peek in and out from the drifting clouds like a shy child at a school recital. And as I stood there in quiet gratitude for the gift of these wonders and the gift of being able to view them, I felt a connection to the mountains that was visceral and personal. This wasn’t some mystical sense of oneness. It was simply me being open to the energy of the moment and feeling enveloped by it. I allowed myself to be present with the mountains, just as I did when we encountered grizzly bears (from a safe distance,) Orca and Beluga whales, sea otters and sea lions, eagles, and of course, moose.
I whispered a prayer of gratitude each time I encountered these glorious creations and felt blessed to be able to share in, and give honor to, their existence.
There is a fundamental Quaker tenet that I thought was clear, but now I’m not so sure. When we Quakers state there is that of God in each of us, does it mean that we and the Spirit somehow share the same conscious mind? Or does it mean that we and the Divine are one, and if so are we one like a fractal where the essence of my being is a replication of God, or are we one in a more general sense like me standing apart from, but connected to the mountains of the great Alaska range?
If we go back to the many fractals that help make up the human body (brain neurons, cells, cardio-vascular system, respiratory system, nervous system) do we then see a God-pattern for the universe, where self-replicating forms work together to create a complex whole?
Perhaps a lesson can be found in the search for the peak of Denali, the largest mountain in north America. Denali is so large that it creates its own weather system and as such is often shrouded in clouds. Less than half the people who visit the area get to see the entire grandeur of the mountain. Denali is quite like a spirited child playing hide and seek with those who come to experience it.
Mountains are made up of fractals, just as are clouds. My eye beholding the mountain is made from fractals as is my nervous system and my brain, which is processing the information.
Without fractals, there would be no mountain, or clouds, or me. Without fractals, there would be no experience of awe and grandeur.
As a Catholic, I was taught that humans are made “in the image and likeness of God.” I don’t believe this implies that the Divine has a human form, but rather, the “image and likeness” refers to the transcendental energy and spirit of God.
The mountains contain the transcendental spirit of God.
The clouds contain the transcendental spirit of God.
We humans contain the transcendental spirit of God.
The essence of the Divine doesn’t change, but rather it manifests itself in wonderous forms which evoke a sense of gratitude and awe, and for me, a feeling of coming home.