Inventions of Isolation

 

It is well documented among the great yogis of Varanasi, India, that they possessed this uncommon skill - the ability to control their fart. It is said that before they go to their marathon meditation, they prepare their bodies from the arduous task by controlling first their diet. Lentils and beans are prevented. After that, there will be no more food intake--fasting. Then they will finally go to a trance-like hibernation. Of course, without the inconvenience of releasing air.

A story goes about an Austrian professor 's experiment on soul levitation or this out of body experience done among the monks of a Tibetan temple at Lhasa. One particular monk was said to have mastered the ability to use an animal-vehicle (vahana). His soul could enter the body of an animal, acquiring its skills and of course, the instinct plus emotion to see the world around. One day, after another experiment, the monk went back to his earthly body in pain and in anguish. It was later discovered that due to what he claimed as poor meditative preparation, his soul ended up inside a young bull in a castration station.

Why do humans go to isolation? Why the need for solitude, for a new experience? It seems to be that there is this hidden desire to control the mind and body against the curse of being earthly. The planet appears to be one big prison that we want an escape from its limitation and the imperfections it brings us. On earth we go hungry, so we need to work to have food. We also get sick, and we are always at the mercy of the elements. Yes, it is highly improbable but still possible that a meteor can hit your house right at this moment.

It seems to be also that isolation is part of the thing we call "healing". It got to be profound, though. In the Judeo Christians tradition, prophets and teachers went into isolation. As what Moses did in Mt. Sinai when it is said that he had communicated with God, coming back later with two stone tablets. He did come back strong and imposing. Jesus went into the wilderness, where even the devil was no match trying to tempt him. When he came back, the so-called message of human redemption was well in place.

The magic number seems to be forty -- τεσσαράκοντα -(tesarakonta or saranta) in Greek, "quadraginta" in Latin and finally "Quaranta" in Italian. That's the etymology or the origin of the word "quarantine". It needed forty days and a vast amount of meditation and fasting that divines like Jesus or Buddha (49 days) to become of the full reality.

Yet it is said that during the great flood, as described in the biblical story of Noah, it rained for 40 days without ceasing – God seemingly abandoning His creation. Some believe, however, that it was during this time He was in extreme isolation, meditating, while the world was cleansing itself and healing.

Meditation? I have to invent my own solitude, my own isolation. Perhaps then, the line I am taking right now will be much more profound.

Pasig City. August 2023