Dr. David Sanders
On my news feed an article appeared touting an important discovery. It was titled: Helium escaping from the atmosphere of a nearby rocky exoplanet orbiting in a habitable zone. It caught my eye because of the lead author’s name, Collin Cherubim, who upon investigation is a 26-year-old Harvard researcher. The Cherubim, referenced a number of times in the Torah, are mythical beings who are the keepers and revealers of secrets.
A theme has developed in the study and class discussions this summer that can be summarized as: If reality consistently presents observations that our senses cannot adequately explain, is it more logical to dismiss the observations or to reconsider the model?
These observations have been shared in our courses on dreams, past lives and the convergence of science and kabbalah. The commonality of what is shared is the inexplicable experience of what can only be called mysterious.
There were two trees in the Garden of Eden story that are specifically named. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad and the Tree of Life. Which is the more mysterious? The one Eve and Adam ate from or the one they didn’t eat from? As the story unfolds, we have little doubt that these humans will eat the forbidden fruit. Curiosity could only be coiled up and contained for so long before it would wind its way with enticement for them to know what was “forbidden” to be revealed. Indeed, their perception changed “their eyes were opened” after partaking of the fruit.
If there is mystery in what transformed at that moment for them, we are guided by the name of the tree. It is a tree of knowledge. Knowledge depends on distinctions, categories, reasoning and logic. It is the basis and approach of science (the Hebrew word for science is the same Hebrew word for knowledge). What then is implied by the name of the other tree, The Tree of Life?
In the continuation of the story God banished Eve and Adam from Eden Garden “lest they eat from the Tree of Life and live forever”. Admittance to the “path of the Tree” is guarded by the Cherubim. Sealed away, this mystery tree is adopted by the Kabbalists in the 12th century as a symbol and path to enlightenment and eternal life.
The remarkable finding of grad student Collin Cherubim, and the other fourteen collaborators, may shed light on biologic life in another region of our galaxy. My inclination to pay attention and find meaning in his name can be attributed to a human tendency to detect patterns where they don’t exist. Perhaps no hidden cosmic order, no mysterious entanglement is to be deduced. My listening to the many profound and inexplicable experiences shared these past weeks in class causes me to pause and consider alternative explanations—perhaps not about this particular name but about small and significant examples of synchronicity. One story shared, after another, has reinforced what we set out to explore in the course on the convergence of science and mysticism. Whether science or mysticism, each path asks whether the apparent randomness of the world conceals a deeper order—one that becomes visible only when we adopt a more encompassing framework of understanding. That is the function of the Cherubim, keepers and revealers of the path to the Tree of Life.
One Response
Had me singing “with Cherubim and Seraphim harmoniously joined” from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus. In the Hallelujah chorus. Had to listen to it on You tube. Missing my Louisiana choir. Thanks for this convergence!