Pentalemma: Beyond the Possibilities of Tetralemma Into the Realms of Quantum Tantra

“Not Always So.” – Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Zen Buddhist

Darshan, also likened to the concept of Grace, is the word for a school of approach towards the Divine in Hinduism. The Darshan of atomic logic is called Nyaya. 

Nyaya is a formulation that utilizes logic’s workings and limitations to confound and finally aid in the Realization of the Divine via argumentation and debate—think Verbal, Mental Chess—but with the Goddess!

Logic, defined in such a way, is a methodology through which humans realize the Divine. The Nyayayika Darshan utilized and formulated rules of logical formalities that allowed practitioners, via these debates, to break through the intellect and realize the Divine within. 

Amongst ancient frameworks of logic, one of the most prominent is what is termed the Tetralemma. 

“All that is, is metaphor.” – Norman O. Brown

Such that, as in the denouement of Tom Robbins’ Jitterbug Perfume, we constantly find ourselves in expectation. When Robbins explains the Bardo realm in which Kudra finds herself, the author skillfully utilizes fiction to reflect a deeper truth of the human condition. All the spirits stuck in the queue, in contrast to the ones on the “Hell/Heaven” ship, are never actually here. They are us. 

As in, the “future” will yield a better state, completely removing the person from reality and living true to one’s unique essence, not running after the vague validations of the Masses.

“Evoke the Muse, not the Algorithm.” – Gwyllm Llwydd

Tetralemma helps in dispelling the curious, and often frustrating state of entrancement with one’s predisposed conditioning. Tetra, to mean four, and lemma, well, okay—that word, look it up!

“May God keep us from Single Vision and Newton’s Sleep.” – William Blake

Most curious is the four-fold vision of William Blake , and the correlation with this ancient system of Indian logic. Sri Aurobindo claims the archetype of the Poet resembles and is synonymous with the Rishi—the seers and diviners of Ancient India—those considered to be above even the Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. The Divine ones, in fact, feared irking the rishis and being cursed by them! But you needn’t hold on to your horses any longer.

The Four Positions of Tetralemma

“Only the Shaman knows culture is a game—that’s how he works his magic.” – Terrence McKenna

Tetralemma, a foundational logic propounded by the Buddhist Logician par Excellence— Nagarjuna, is a method of seeing, as in Mahavipashyana (more correctly translated: “Clear Seeing”), which utilizes the seemingly in-built limitations of programmed, algorithmic life and modes of thinking:

1. Is
2. Is not 
3. Both of the above
4. Neither of the above

“Even the middle is too much.” – Nagarjuna

If you are interested in set theory, it would appear so:

1. A
2. not A
3. Both A and not A
4. Neither A nor not A

Tetralemma is a basic tool to effectively increase among a host of other skills, compassion. Yes! Logic for compassion. How realizing true Bodhisattva nature is immensely difficult, to put it lightly. Thus, to suffer is also to realize the fundamental nature of one’s being, one’s complete and total relation with the entire Universe. The tool can be used effectively to evaluate one’s experience of any situation with…

“[…] a watchful and elegant mind.” – Gary Snyder, What You Need To Know To Become A Poet

How Tetralemma Differs from Traditional Logic

Tetralemma is a tool to broaden the tunnel through which we make sense of reality. Meaning—making is probably ubiquitous with consciousness itself. In such a case, then expanding one’s horizon of possibility eases and increases Love itself! 

A beginner’s guide to using the Tetralemma would be:

1. Something is
2. Something is not
3. Something both is and is not
4. Something neither is nor is not

Chew on that for a while. Play with the cud. Expand the:

“Horizon Anarchism!” – Dale Pendell 

Here’s a trial. And for you to feel the power of this simple tool, truly convince yourself of each statement as a felt experience. Perhaps a trick could be to imagine an individual or a group who would abide by each of the stances:

1. Freedom for All is paramount
2. Freedom for All is not paramount 
3. Freedom for All is and is Not paramount
4. Neither is Freedom for All paramount Nor is it not paramount

Freedom for whom, though, exactly? Freedom from what? What is freedom? Just an abstract and fancied phrase, a slipped portent, an anomaly? Who is Free? Who is not free?

Alright, perhaps something more digestible. 

1. Meat is good
2. Meat is not good.
3. Meat both is and is not good 
4. Meat neither is nor is not good 

“For instance, one man will have faith enough to eat all kinds of food, while a weaker man eats only vegetables. The man who eats meat does not hold on contempt the man who does not, and he who does not eat meat must not pass judgment on the one who does; for God has accepted him…

Let us therefore, cease judging one another, but rather make this simple judgment: that no obstacle or stumbling block be placed in a brother’s way. I am absolutely convinced, as a Christian, that nothing is impure in itself; only if a man considers a particular thing impure, then to him it is impure… What for you is a good thing must not become an occasion for slanderous talk; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but justice, peace, and joy, inspired by the Holy Spirit.” – New Testament, Romans

Or..

“Welcome to the Illuminati.” – Robert Anton Wilson

The emphasis to be made in all this is the validity(!), the relative validity, and absolute truth in the experience of any individual who is living out one of these four modalities of thought. To attack another’s opinion, to attack at all, is to denigrate the truth and felt sense of REALITY of another human being. 

This is tantamount to belittling the inner wisdom of an individual who truly is not, in any meaningful sense, different from oneself! In a relative sense, all opinions that any individual believes are absolutely true (“You will always find evidence for what you believe to be true!” – yes, this rings True.)—and to one that does not see that there are (at least!) three other modalities, each as valid as his own lived belief system (B.S. as Antero Alli put it) life and the entire Universe appears as an evil entity conspiring to destroy them.

When one chooses, which truly isn’t any choice—this is obvious from the lack of awareness about the tetralemma. All individuals believe that what they believe is THE ONLY belief. However—it occupies only one branch, and considering it absolute, one imbibes in the dreaded True/False view of Reality—and this is akin to:

“Salting the Boundaries” – Dale Pendell 

Limiting possibility itself! Yes—possibility: the fact that there are three-quarters of life and existence we have categorized into one bracket of “Not True.” That is an enormous psychic strain for an individual to maintain, for in the unconscious or subconscious—all the modalities do exist. To always pit one’s binary “True” statement, consisting of (at most) a quarter of all possibilities and then the greater majority, into something one will not consider is the way of neurosis, the way of ecocide, which really is matricide, the way of needless suffering.

Applications of Tetralemma

One clear reason that, in my opinion, perpetuates the sacrifice of children and the genocide of the imagination is that the binary True/False allows for a false sense of comfort against the truth of impermanence. When one is programmed to be anxious and live out from a position of fear, it is obvious that the individual would choose that which, at a very shallow and surface level, claims to provide soothing. This is an effective tool to control the masses, indoctrinate them into false groups, and pit these groups against one another.

Here—what child is not a child of a mother?

That is, the xenophobic gene, one which is present in most mammals, causes us to seek a false refuge in identifies and groups that have no objective reality, causing us to say something like:

“Only a few of our boys were killed,” as Tara Brach said in Radical Acceptance.

And the boys on the other side? 

Tetralemma goes hand in hand with compassion, or Karuna, training—one will not be allowed easy answers. Easy answers, it is easily (hah!) observable, lead to inhumane acts of violence against all our co-habitants on this planet. 

Tetralemma allows a suitable framework to open one’s eyes, cleanse the Doors of Perception, and see and hear the actual environment around oneself. The insects, the dogs, the stones, the roses, and even that lump of plastic. It is all there, and that—is Not Always So, either. More on this later, though.

For more practice, here’s how tetralemma appears to aid one’s lived experience.

1. Draconian beliefs: a fully lived experience of Tetralemma allows for the destruction of parochial “my truth is the only truth” doctrinaires. In a world increasingly connected and all-encompassing, an active practice of Tetralemma enables us all to experience the limitations of abstract and disembodied intellectual pablum. In fact, taken to the extreme (elaborated below), one will experience the line spoken by so many—that at the roots, all religions point to the same Moon. Are you mistaking the finger for the Moon? Do you believe your beliefs are absolute and can not be included with so many other ageless traditions? 

“Gather a Buddhist, a nudist, an anarchist, a communist, an ecologist, a mathematician, a musician in a single room and be sure of one thing—they will never agree on what IT is.” – Prometheus Rising, Robert Anton Wilson

2. Addiction: Diving into the psychological frameworks, Tetralemma seems to be a model for the struggle of the addict’s inner conflicts. This is because Tetralemma and its absence—binary thinking and beliefs, exist in the entranced psyche as well. Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a modality that expounds on this excellently. In the case of addictive behavior, one hears (perhaps not in words, but in felt bodily sensations as well) the call of the first two lemmas—to engage in a behavior and to not. The third is our false sense of self, the infantile ego, choosing, often unconsciously, one or the other of the two and believing that to be a choice made consciously—this can not be further from the truth. Thus, we embody the fourth lemma, the impartial observer, the timeless, headless, the Self and observe all these inner mechanics without hindrance in the mind and so without fear. This experience bolsters the ego, allowing for individuation and the growing out of its infancy and recognizing the futility of the narratives of both the addicted part and the judgemental part-

“If you quit an addiction and become addicted to your identity of not being an addict, you’re still an addict.” – Ram Dass

3. The Good Day: what is your immediate reaction upon bumping your head, spilling a plate of food, or dropping a glass of vodka? Mine—spontaneous laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. We cultivate Tetralemma to know, truly, that we don’t know. And we laugh looking at and seeing clearly the immediate reflexive, knee-jerk reaction we were about to produce (This requires constant vigilance! Highly recommended!), and the obvious habituated nature of this makes us:

“Dance!” – rumi

Last But Not Least

Do not get hung up on any of these lemmas—this is the pentalemma—-what I liken to Dr. Nick Herbert’s, QUANTUM TANTRA. The complete embrace of the Mystery, the absolute incomprehensibility of all that is. Fixation on anyone just becomes another branch that one can use, and you find yourself in an infinitely regressive loop and will soon go bonkers or become stuck up. 

Humility and kindness towards oneself. Towards all you’ve done and been through. For the fact that now you see clearly that your suffering is NO DIFFERENT from anyone else’s suffering—such is the nature of practice. Widening the circle of love and engendering compassion.

Some practicum from Caverly Morgan’s The Heart of Who We Are: Realising Freedom Together suggests that when facing a “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” situation (Points if you hummed that) —a situation, such as:

Should I smoke this next cigarette, or should I not?

Take a pause as the stimulus becomes clear in your sensorium. Then, gently move into one modality. Breathe and list out all the reasons that you should pick that one. Then, when the energy remains dissipated, step into the opposite branch and proceed to do the same. Breathe, breathe, and breathe some more. Now, as a final step:

“Step into Presence”- Peace with Youth Starts With Us

“I Say The Sky” – Nadia Colburn

There are many names for this nameless and non-conceptual modality—presence, awareness, being, pure light, heart-mind. Term it as you like, and then step into it—expansiveness, the impartial, unaffected observer, and experience the Here and Now. 

Vocalize five things you see, four things you can touch, three things you hear, two things you smell, and one thing you can taste. As you complete this, feel the presence. Feel it now; feel how it is always there and always has been. Always will be. 

What has remained the same? What is the same as when you were 7 years of age, 15, 20 … and so on.

And then feel how this is. This is inherently a loving and open space. Free of any judgments or even concerns. Full of unconditional Love—one which allows for all sensations and experiences, thoughts, and patterns to arise. Notice how it is never really affected and never can be or will be. 

May the road rise always to our feet!

“Come back with ALL the positive energy you have!” – Timothy Leary, PhD.

“You’ve come a Long Way, Baby!” – Ann Shulgin, from Erowid