The Logos
People are often unable to truly comprehend the Logos when they first hear about it. Even once they have learned of it, the knowledge of it remains superficial and does not impact the way they live their lives. This separation between what we know intellectually and how we live and respond to the world is like living in a dream - accepting our first impressions and reacting without mindfulness1.
Some Christian readers will recognize the word Logos, but understand it within a later Christianized context. Today, most Christians simply consider it Greek for, “The Word of God.2”
But our use of the concept here is more ancient. Perhaps the most primal thing we can say about the universe in which we find ourselves is that it operates according to rational principles. This may not have been so obvious to early people, who found their world often confusing, frightening, and unpredictable. Perhaps things happened because of random chance, or the capriciousness of gods, or magic or luck? Even today we may often feel this way. So, to observe that all things happen because of prior causes according to a consistent natural law was (and is) a big deal3.
Heraclitus noticed that all things operate according to a rational order which he called the Logos, which means 'word' or 'reason', but perhaps more in the sense of the word logic4. Later, the Stoics used Logos in similar fashion, as an account which governs all things.
Today, we might refer to this concept as the ‘laws of physics’, but in the concept of the Logos lies a deeper and more profound connotation. It is this Logos which makes possible all of the dynamic events of life and death, which brings all things about, and which takes all things away. Chuang-Tzu said, "The Great (universe) gives me this form, this toil in manhood, this repose in old age, this rest in death. And surely that which is such a kind arbiter of my life is the best arbiter of my death."5 The Tao Te Ching says, "Humanity follows the Earth, the Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows what is natural."
The Stoics also had a high regard for what they described as living in accord with Nature. Thus, the essence of the concept of Logos is that all things are within the natural order and operate through it; there is Oneness rather than duality, as the universe is united under that order and will unfold according to it.
Embedded in this concept is not only an approach of reverence to something sacred, but also a kind of recognition of the beauty, wonder, and majesty of this larger series of events; an appreciation for its role in our existence, and a kind of release to it which lightens us of the burden of trying to manage the universe.
One could say, “well the laws of physics do those things and I have that attitude about them”, but one way we elicit the cognitive responses of sacred tongue is through the use of poetry or by using terms that recall an earlier time when our cultural divisions between the sciences, ethics, and religion were not as distinct. This is why speaking in terms of the Logos works well - as in, “That is a matter for the Logos”. When we transcend the filter the ego places on our perceptions; when we think and act intuitively or wisely in accord with the nature of reality, we are One with the Logos.