1.2.7 The Forces that Drive The Matrix

“Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognised; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law.”

In this chapter, we delve into the fundamental forces that shape and animate our perceived reality. We examine how consciousness, matter, and mental factors interweave to create the matrix of existence, with particular focus on karma as a primary driving force. Through understanding these mechanisms, the aspiring alchemist gains crucial insights into how their own consciousness simultaneously creates and navigates reality, setting the foundation for eventual transformation. While the concepts may seem complex, they provide essential tools for understanding the nature of existence and the path toward alchemical transformation.

The early task of the alchemist is to recognise that objective reality is a myth and construct based only on individual experience. They may not realise this explicitly; indeed, it often starts with a distrust or paranoia regarding reality itself. Through exploration, they either explicitly or gradually replace this consensual objective reality with a more accurate version that includes subjectiveness. This is the mystical path, where the sensory experience is felt to be closer to truth than ideas and concepts about reality.

I have started to outline a model of Conditional Reality that was brought to us by Gautama Buddha, which I find useful and thus wish to share. In this model, reality is conditioned with the exception of a place/destination/state called Nirvāṇa, which has something to do with our goal. The three parts of this model are:

1. Consciousness
2. Matter
3. Mental factors that support consciousness

Now, we must introduce the forces that drive and animate these systems, ultimately creating a reality which we experience. Firstly, to set the tone, we are well into Advanced Buddhism. The Abhidhamma is already considered lofty, and the bit which describes these conditions is probably the most complex bit. Don’t worry, if you have got this far with me, you’ll get there!

There are 24 different types of condition that shape how mind and matter interact (some are exclusively mind-mind or matter-matter). These 24 conditions describe the relationships between elements in our model, and how one causes another to happen. At this stage we will just focus on one of these forces — karma — as this is important to understand how most of the operations work. But remember karma is just part of a larger group of conditional relations that give stability, direction and animate reality.

An Introduction to Karma

Firstly, unless you have studied it, you probably have a completely wrong idea about what karma is. Rather than dismissing this model, let us adopt a specific Abhidhamma definition of karma.

Karma is the name of the force that causes a later moment of awareness to arise, in relation to the current one. Remember, at the atomic level, consciousness is a point-instance of awareness, called the citta. Although we cannot be aware of this, unless we develop very high meditative skills, consciousness is like a strobe light. It is a single citta that arises and perishes, followed by another, in a sequence that continues until death.

Karma arises in every moment of awareness but in most citta it is so weak as to be discarded. In certain citta, that occur during cognition, most (practically all) of the karma is generated. These citta are ones where a decision or choice is made. If the choice is predominantly selfish, this is called unskilled use and leads to future awarenesses that are dissatisfactory. The citta that condition are therefore labelled unwholesome.

If one makes a choice that is predominantly selfless, this is called skilled use (of karma) and this leads to future citta being accompanied by satisfactory states of being.

The Two Phases of Normal Awareness

1. Active stage of cognition: A series of exactly 17 citta that result from either a sense object entering a sense field or an object coming to mind. This phase is extremely brief, yet thousands of these processes make up what we perceive as normal thought.
2. Background awareness or unconscious: This deeper awareness underlies cognition, existing even in deep dreamless sleep. It is called the life continuum, a single type of citta that always has the same object and repeats continuously from the start of life to its end. This mind-door allows objects to enter consciousness.

Self and Karma

In order to understand how karma conditions the citta, we must introduce the concept of self. The concept of self exists in most multicellular beings to some extent. While crucial for physical survival, it acts like a cancer to consciousness, generating suffering. Once the concept of self has developed it taints every choice the mind makes. Fundamentally, the mind asks, “What’s in it for me?” at every decision. Struggles with greed or anger arise because the mind expands its criteria for attachment and rejection. And the root cause of both desire and anger is illusion — the illusion that you are either your physical body or have an inner soul we call self.

This can be confusing—if we discard the concept of soul, what then is it that reincarnates? We answer this through a proper understanding of karma. Karma is the conditioning force that causes subsequent moments of awareness to arise.

A Practical Example of Karma

To illustrate, consider we found a bag of cash. This preoccupies our thoughts. It’s not our cash, but maybe if nobody finds out, we might keep it. We know stealing is wrong. But our sense of self makes what should not be a choice into one. We hesitate. If we keep the cash, we create karma that conditions future unpleasant states of mind — guilt, anxiety, worry. If we hand it in, we avoid those burdens. Even without recognition or reward, we condition the mind towards peace and decency. These micro-decisions accumulate, shaping our karma continually.

Why Karma Matters for the Alchemist

Firstly for practical reasons. Our work requires solitude and peace. Being in trouble with authorities, neighbours or others disrupts the peace necessary for inner work.

More importantly, the breakthrough from mundane awareness into transcendental requires the mind to be tranquil. One must develop samatha — mental tranquillity — where the mind settles upon and becomes absorbed in a single object. This is called jhāna, a bridge toward transcendence. But it is not sufficient to merely learn jhāna. One must transmute the entirety of subjective experience through skilful use of karma. When this jhanic consciousness arises at the centre of a balanced being, the breakthrough occurs. The transmutation of being is called Albedo — the next stage of the Great Work. For now, we remain focused on defining the raw substance: Nigredo.

In the next lesson, we move from atomic-level karma to grand cycles of rebirth and explore how karmic force conditions samsāra — the great cycle of rebirth.

“All conditioned things are impermanent — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.”

Summary Table: Conditioned Reality

Table: The Noble Eightfold Path in Alchemical Transformation

This text is excerpted from the book Nigredo: A Course in Modern Alchemy. The complete book includes additional study guides, resources, and appendices. View the full book here.