THE METAPHYSICAL LOGOS
In the Greek tradition, the metaphysical Logos was viewed as the indestructible structure of divine wisdom inherent within the divine mind, and it was suggested that these pure ideas exist independently of the human mind.
They were often described as the ideal forms or eternal archetypes that underlie all empirical appearances, and therefore represent the true form of everything prior to the appearance of mental impressions within the human mind.These pure ideas were also described as forms of divine speech. In the same way that we can compare a sequence of ideas within the human mind to a form of mental speech, which we use to talk to ourselves, the Greeks compared the sequence of ideas within the divine mind to a form of divine speech, which God uses to talk to himself. For this reason, the term logos is often translated as “speech” or “word.” The Logos was commonly viewed as embodying the word of God or the thought of God.
In the same way that a speaker is identified with his or her speech or a thinker is identified with his or her thoughts, the relation between God and the Logos was viewed as one of identity. This is precisely the view expressed in the opening passage of the Gospel of John in which the original Greek Logos is commonly translated as the Word. We can substitute the original term:
When all things began, the Logos [Word] already was. The Logos dwelt with God, and what God was, the Logos was. The Logos, then, was with God at the beginning, and through him all things came to be; no single thing was created without him. All that came to be was alive with his life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has never mastered it.1
We can translate this into more modern scientific terms. If we equate the subjective essence of God and the field of pure consciousness, then the elementary excitations of the field can be described as sonic and luminous in nature. Whereas the sonic modes constitute the sound of consciousness, the luminous modes constitute the light of consciousness. In the ancient Vedic tradition, the vibratory modes of pure consciousness were described as forms of transcendental sound (param nada) and transcendental light (param jyotih). Here, the sages were talking about virtual waves of sound and light—which transcend all means of direct empirical observation.