{"id":5469,"date":"2011-12-29T17:36:31","date_gmt":"2011-12-29T22:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/?p=5469"},"modified":"2014-02-03T15:03:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-03T20:03:00","slug":"emily-dickinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/enlightenment\/emily-dickinson\/","title":{"rendered":"Emily Dickinson: \u201cThe Soul\u2019s Superior instants\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

1830-1886 \u2022 UNITED STATES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Her grandfather founded Amherst College. Her father was a multi-term state legislator and US Congressman. But Emily Dickinson<\/a> lived a rather less worldly life. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, she traveled outside her home village only a few times, outside of Massachusetts but once. <\/p>\n

After the age of 42, she rarely left her house and yard. She never married. She deliberately chose a life of Thoreau-like simplicity \u2014 her vocation was poetry. <\/p>\n

Of the 1,775 poems she wrote, fewer than a dozen were published during her lifetime, all anonymously and usually reworked by editors to conform to contemporary standards. Only in 1955 was a complete and unmodified collection<\/a> of her poems published. Dickinson forged a brilliantly original style, full of power, and is acclaimed today as one of America\u2019s greatest poets. <\/p>\n

In a number of her poems she appears to describe experiences in which the mind settles inward, moving beyond perception, beyond thought itself. Here is an example:<\/p>\n

The Soul\u2019s Superior instants\"\"
\nOccur to Her\u2002\u2014\u2002alone\u2002\u2014
\nWhen friend\u2002\u2014\u2002and Earth\u2019s occasion
\nHave infinite withdrawn\u2002\u2014
\nOr She\u2002\u2014 Herself\u2002\u2014\u2002ascended
\nTo too remote a Height
\nFor lower Recognition
\nThan Her Omnipotent\u2002\u2014
\n.\u2002\u2002\u2002.\u2002\u2002\u2002.\u2002\u2002\u2002.\u2002\u2002\u2002.\u2002\u2002\u2002.\u2002\u2002\u2002.\u2002\u2002\u2002.\u2002\u2002\u2002.
\nEternity\u2019s disclosure
\nTo favorites\u2002\u2014\u2002a few\u2002\u2014
\nOf the Colossal substance
\nOf Immortality [1]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As in all her work, Dickinson\u2019s language here is highly compact, telegraphic. But her meaning seems clear. She is describing what she regards as her most exalted inner experiences, \u201cthe soul\u2019s superior instants.\u201d These occur when the soul is alone and all ordinary experience is \u201cinfinite withdrawn.\u201d She feels her soul has \u201cascended\u201d to \u201ctoo remote a Height\u201d for lower sense perceptions to reach. The soul can experience only its abstract yet omnipotent self. In this state, she says, the soul opens to \u201cEternity,\u201d to \u201cthe Colossal substance \/ Of Immortality.\u201d This experience, she tells us, is given to only a fortunate few.<\/p>\n

What is she describing? <\/p>\n

\"\"

Emily Dickinson at about age 10. From the Dickinson Room at Houghton Library, Harvard University.<\/p><\/div>Readers who practice the Transcendental Meditation<\/a> technique will likely feel an affinity with this poem, for they will see it describing an experience they have during their meditation practice \u2014 a natural experience in which the mind \u201cdives within.\u201d Like the waves on an ocean settling down, mental activity becomes increasingly still. There may be moments when one transcends the thinking process altogether. Then one experiences consciousness in its pure state \u2014 unbounded and eternal. Dickinson evokes the unbounded and timeless nature of this experience when she associates it with eternity and immortality.<\/p>\n

Scientific research studies have determined that this state represents a fourth major state of consciousness, distinct from waking, dreaming, and sleeping. In this state the mind is fully awake and alert, yet deeply settled; the body is also deeply settled, and one experiences a state of deep rest. Brain functioning shifts from a more or less random style of functioning to a highly integrated state, suggesting that all parts of the brain are functioning in concert and the brain is accessing its full potential. Maharishi<\/a> calls this fourth state of consciousness Transcendental Consciousness<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We find experiences of this state in the writings of great men and women throughout time and around the world. It is a universal experience, and highly prized \u2014 but, as Dickinson intimates, normally exceedingly rare and fleeting. <\/p>\n

\"\"Maharishi\u2019s gift is a technique<\/em> for transcending, the Transcendental Meditation technique<\/a>, so that this extraordinary yet natural experience need not be left to chance \u2014 it can be available at will (twenty minutes twice each day).<\/p>\n

The benefits are also extraordinary \u2014 ranging from increased creativity and intelligence to improved learning ability, from reduced stress and anxiety to improved health and increased longevity, from improved relationships to increased productivity \u2014 even increased peace and harmony in society as a whole.<\/p>\n

Dickinson hints in a number of poems that she had spontaneous experiences of Transcendental Consciousness. Here is another example:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is a solitude of space
\nA solitude of sea
\nA solitude of death, but these
\nSociety shall be
\nCompared with that profounder site
\nThat polar privacy
\nA soul admitted to itself\u2002\u2014
\nFinite infinity. [2]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are many forms of solitude, Dickinson observes in the first three lines. But these are all \u201csociety\u201d next to the far more profound solitude one gains when the soul is \u201cadmitted to itself\u201d\u2008\u2014\u2008when consciousness turns within to become aware of itself alone. This is a state of \u201cfinite infinity\u201d \u2014 the experience of unboundedness within the boundaries of individual existence. <\/p>\n

With the technique for transcending Maharishi has given to us, coupled with the thorough understanding of the nature of this experience he has provided, we can look back on the literature of the past with a new light. We find people like Emily Dickinson telling us about \u201cThe Soul\u2019s Superior instants,\u201d the experience of \u201ca soul admitted to itself\u201d \u2014 the direct experience that deep within each of us is a field that is transcendental, infinite, eternal. <\/p>\n

This is what Maharishi calls the Self. It is your Self, my Self, the Self of everyone, the Self<\/a> of the universe \u2014 and now this exalted experience, venerated through the ages, is available to everyone.<\/p>\n

REFERENCES<\/p>\n

[1] Emily Dickinson, Untitled poem, \u201c306,\u201d The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson<\/em>, ed. Thomas H. Johnson, first edition (Boston: Little, Brown, copyrights 1890 to 1960), 144.<\/p>\n

[2] Dickinson, Untitled poem, \u201c1695,\u201d The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson<\/em>, 691. <\/p>\n

————————————————-<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/a>\"Craig<\/a><\/strong>Dr. Craig Pearson<\/strong> is Executive Vice-President of Maharishi University of Management<\/a> in Fairfield, Iowa. He has served the University in a variety of roles over the past 33 years, including Dean of Faculty, Dean of Students, Director of Maharishi University of Management Press, Director of Freshman Composition, and Professor of Professional Writing.<\/p>\n

He holds a PhD in Maharishi Vedic Science from MUM and is the author of two books on the development of full human potential, The Complete Book of Yogic Flying<\/em><\/a> and The Supreme Awakening: Developing the Infinite Potential Within<\/em> (forthcoming). He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson traveled outside her home village only a few times, outside of Massachusetts but once. After the age of 42, she rarely left her house and yard. She never married. She deliberately chose a life of Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,53],"tags":[120,126,123,299],"class_list":["post-5469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enlightenment","category-people","tag-craig-pearson","tag-emily-dickinson","tag-enlightenment-2","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}