Noetic Code

 

“What is the noetic code?” Dara asked.

“Well, as you know,” Darwin explained to the NASA scientist, “the genetic code is the language of the genes, the chemical blueprint for life. It’s what makes a mouse a mouse, a man a man, a woman a woman, a dolphin a  dolphin. It codes for ‘grow thyself.’

“The noetic code, however, is the language of the soul. It guides the development of our interior life. It codes for ‘know thyself.’ One codes for growing, the other codes for knowing. Noetic evolution is ‘growing through knowing’.”

“Remind me again what ‘noetic’ means.”

“It’s a kind of super-intuition, a highly evolved state of consciousness.” Darwin explained further:

“Whenever science probes nature, the best it can do is understand the mechanics of the world. Scientists talk about ‘unlocking nature’s secrets,’ as if mathematics could decode the language of the wild. But nature loves to hide. Numbers reveal only one layer of the mystery. The deeper layers must be accessed using noetic consciousness, direct soul-to-soul contact. It opens the way to a new kind of knowledge—noetic science.”

Darwin fell silent as he let the new information settle into the NASA scientist’s mental database. Dara struggled to grasp what it all meant.

The dolphin angled his flippers and flapped them to create a series of overlapping waves. Dara felt the ripples lap against his chest, and they seemed to silently convey messages from the ocean itself. The waters of the lagoon felt alive. In a way he could not put into words, the sea seemed to be whispering to him in a language beyond the grasp of intellect. Wordlessly, his body responded and understood, and Darwin’s teaching began to make more sense.

“That’s the noetic code,” Darwin continued. “It translates the wisdom of the world soul into messages we can understand in our own souls. It is a way of listening through sacred silence. We learn this code by feeling, not by figuring.” The dolphin gently nosed the NASA scientist in the chest.

“The noetic code, then, is a key that unlocks the relationship between mind and body, between consciousness and matter,” Maya sang out, raising her slender arms jubilantly toward the sky. She pirouetted like a nymph, dancing with the water, and Dara, feeling her exhilaration, silently shared the sense of celebration. He could feel, even if only dimly, the deeper meaning of Darwin’s teaching.

“Yes,” Darwin agreed. “It is a bridge between the spiritual and the physical. Mastering the code will transform your people from lone, isolated selves into full-hearted beings living with a deep sense of connection—with all other people, with nature, with cosmos, and with spirit.”

Maya slowed her acrobatics, and glided over to Dara. She put her arms around his neck and, looking him straight in the eyes, whispered softly:

“The first step, then, to cracking the noetic code is to learn about the way mind and body are united through feeling.” She smiled.

“Quite right.” Darwin said. “Through feeling we open up to the body’s own consciousness. We can then learn to understand that language, logic, and the senses are all expressions of the body’s native intelligence. And through paying close attention to messages from the body, we can enter the gateway of intuition. Then, we can learn the language of the soul.”

Man and woman, now nose to nose, entered each other through the windows of their eyes, and for a timeless instant they held the world inside them. They felt each other’s smile.

Darwin swam up to join them, and shared the moment of intimacy. Then he gently nosed his way between both scientists so that they now looked into his eyes. He held their gaze, focusing their attention. He was about to reveal something special.

“When we learn to read the code that translates inner being into outer action, one of the first things we notice is the importance of compassion. Our personal inner being is connected with the outer world through feeling. And this ‘outer world,’ we soon learn, is actually an inner world, too.”

He singled out the NASA scientist with a special look that said, “Listen carefully to what I say next.”

“The ‘outer’ world is alive with its own currents and patterns of feelings. It is populated by other sentient beings with whom we are related by sharing feelings. ‘My’ feelings flow and mingle with ‘your’ feelings in a dance of communion. That’s the way the world works.”

Dara felt something shift inside him. At first it seemed to rise up from the pit of his stomach, then circulate in his chest. He was surprised to feel it had a distinctive color—kind of greenish black. It was a knotted ball, about the size of his clenched fist, highly charged with emotion. He recognized it as a painful knot of memories long buried inside from early childhood.

“We are not individuals, alone in the world,” Darwin went on, “connected only through physical links. That’s just a common illusion.” He repeated, “We are not alone and isolated—we are, instead, nodes in an ever-changing web of relationships. Each one of us is a meeting place where the universe converges and takes on a unique identity. And through these connections we actually create each other.”

The knotted ball moved up to Dara’s throat, choking his Adam’s apple. He burst into tears, and sobbed like a baby.

“Relationship itself lies at the foundation of who we are as individuals. We are not simply in relationship—but, in a very real sense, we are relationship.”

Darwin nudged Maya to one side to let the NASA scientist’s sobs do their work. After a while, Dara felt the ball of emotions begin to dissolve, seeping out of his body through his tears. The ocean did the rest. He floated motionless for a short eternity, then heaved a deep sigh, scooped up a handful of water and splashed it over his face. He licked his lips, and they tasted of salt. He laughed. Darwin let the moment of release complete itself, then resumed:

“We co-create each other in a never-ending dance of self and other, of I and you. If you want to find a meaning in life, this is it. You need look no further.”

Maya pressed her face against Dara’s and kissed him.  “We become ourselves when we love.”

Darwin agreed. “Cracking the noetic code comes down to this: It is learning the language of love, knowing and living our profound interconnection. It is knowing, ultimately, that all is One.”

Darwin fell silent. Maya switched off the recorder and put it back in her jeans spread out on the sun-bleached rock.

“I know that’s a lot to take in at one go,” Darwin continued conversationally. “Remember, though, these are only words. They prime the rational mind for other ways of knowing.”

The dolphin pulled away and swam out to the mouth of the lagoon, performed a backward somersault, and torpedoed directly toward them.

“The body needs to move,” he announced. “Too much staying still is bad for you. Get out and shake up your centers. Dance in the sun. Make love. Feel the force of your soul coursing through your bodies. Then come back. We have just begun the journey.”