a view on oneness
Much has been said in esoteric circles and spiritual teachings, maybe all in footsteps of the Buddha, that we are all one, that there is no place, from the point of view of Spirit, where one individual ends and another begins. In the third book of Conversations with God, Neale Donald Walsch even goes on to explain how this understanding of ourselves and the Universe makes it possible to consider that time does not exist. Indeed, if there is no separation between anything, if we are truly all one, there is no distance possible and, therefore, there ends the need for time as a measure of the distance between objects.
Conceptually, intuitively, I get all this, but it did not cross from an intellectual reality to a felt sense of truth until one day when I did a simple visualization of our Universe which has since allowed me to accept that to look at things as separate entities can only lead to a mistaken perception of reality, and therefore to all the chaos, drama, and suffering we take for granted in this capitalist, dog eat dog society we seem to be stuck with.
We have also been told that there is a limit to how fast things can go. This one appears to be true for all physical things, although science has seen dramatic changes of thinking more than once in human history. There is indeed something that can go faster than the speed of light— our Mind. I can always, easily picture or imagine myself anywhere in the world, or the Universe for that matter, just by thinking it. So, here’s my simple visualization. Please join me if curious.When I am asked to show where the Universe is, I most often am tempted to point outward into the night sky, at the vastness of the unknown that extends beyond our earthly physical plane. So, let’s take a little trip outward bound, shall we?
Picture yourself, if you would, on the confines of our infinite Universe, looking back this way, and imagine yourself pointing outward once again, pointing at the Universe from somewhere in its infinity. Anywhere you put yourself in this Universe of ours will do, and imagine that your finger is in fact pointing toward an area of darkness, that is, no stars are shining in that general direction. Entirely possible, really. Now, not that long ago, it was shown that if one points a telescope anywhere where it’s black, aside toward a black hole, that, eventually, photon upon superimposing photon, something luminous will appear. The suggestion now is that there is nowhere in the Universe where there is nothing. Quite astonishing, isn’t it? So, let’s begin traveling toward one of those dim sources of light.
Because we can travel at the speed of Mind, we soon realize that this source of light is rather brilliant after all. And large! Let’s just assume that we have in fact stumble on our own Milky Way Galaxy. Not the biggest but still 100,000 lightyears in diameter, and composed of 100 billion stars. (Note that our nearest galactic neighbour is at least 1 million lightyears away!) Continuing our journey of unending curiosity, let’s pick one of the stars of this galaxy, the one star that has 8 distinct objects circling it at various distances, plus a ‘belt’ of stellar dust on the outside (now known as the Kuiper belt and in which, it turns out, Pluto, a non-planet after all, resides). Getting closer still, we begin to notice, as we tone down the traveling speed of our Mind, that these objects have different colours and that some have their own objects circling around.
Let’s pick the pretty blue planet. Way before we reach its satellite, we realize that there is also white and other colours on this blue planet. Getting closer still, we discover shapes of continents, and could those be veins, the ones with their own shades of blue here and there? Eventually, we notice things moving about, some with extensions to propel themselves rather organically, and others which seem to only travel linearly. Getting closer still, at ground level, we realize that the ones standing on only two of their extensions are very similar except for the colour of their skin, or the choice and amount of garment they hide their body behind, and that the ones moving about on their fours vary enormously in their shape yet all seem to be in agreement on how much fur, and what colour and pattern, to wear.
So, here’s the question that allowed me to flip my understanding: when can it be said along this journey back from the confines of the Universe that I am, we are, separate from the whole? From way out there, I cannot even fathom that any of these distinctions exists. Looking outward from our earthly viewpoint, it seems undeniable that the Universe is essentially ‘out there’. Going to that ‘out there’, it seems undeniable that we cannot but be part of this Universe. In fact, from the point of view of the Universe itself, we are, as humans, no different than a sub-atomic particle in my body - it is impossible to even imagine this particle as separate from the rest of me, or not linked somehow to the other neighbouring particles. We also know from science that every cell of our body, although distinct from its neighbour through the boundary of its outer shell, carries the information of the whole within its DNA encoding.
Looking outward from our planet, just like looking outward from the perspective of the sub-atomic particle, isn’t it folly to even suggest that I am, we are, separate from the whole of the Universe and, by extension, to the rest of everything?
Something to reflect, and meditate upon. That's my invitation to you.
Conceptually, intuitively, I get all this, but it did not cross from an intellectual reality to a felt sense of truth until one day when I did a simple visualization of our Universe which has since allowed me to accept that to look at things as separate entities can only lead to a mistaken perception of reality, and therefore to all the chaos, drama, and suffering we take for granted in this capitalist, dog eat dog society we seem to be stuck with.
We have also been told that there is a limit to how fast things can go. This one appears to be true for all physical things, although science has seen dramatic changes of thinking more than once in human history. There is indeed something that can go faster than the speed of light— our Mind. I can always, easily picture or imagine myself anywhere in the world, or the Universe for that matter, just by thinking it. So, here’s my simple visualization. Please join me if curious.When I am asked to show where the Universe is, I most often am tempted to point outward into the night sky, at the vastness of the unknown that extends beyond our earthly physical plane. So, let’s take a little trip outward bound, shall we?
Picture yourself, if you would, on the confines of our infinite Universe, looking back this way, and imagine yourself pointing outward once again, pointing at the Universe from somewhere in its infinity. Anywhere you put yourself in this Universe of ours will do, and imagine that your finger is in fact pointing toward an area of darkness, that is, no stars are shining in that general direction. Entirely possible, really. Now, not that long ago, it was shown that if one points a telescope anywhere where it’s black, aside toward a black hole, that, eventually, photon upon superimposing photon, something luminous will appear. The suggestion now is that there is nowhere in the Universe where there is nothing. Quite astonishing, isn’t it? So, let’s begin traveling toward one of those dim sources of light.
Because we can travel at the speed of Mind, we soon realize that this source of light is rather brilliant after all. And large! Let’s just assume that we have in fact stumble on our own Milky Way Galaxy. Not the biggest but still 100,000 lightyears in diameter, and composed of 100 billion stars. (Note that our nearest galactic neighbour is at least 1 million lightyears away!) Continuing our journey of unending curiosity, let’s pick one of the stars of this galaxy, the one star that has 8 distinct objects circling it at various distances, plus a ‘belt’ of stellar dust on the outside (now known as the Kuiper belt and in which, it turns out, Pluto, a non-planet after all, resides). Getting closer still, we begin to notice, as we tone down the traveling speed of our Mind, that these objects have different colours and that some have their own objects circling around.
Let’s pick the pretty blue planet. Way before we reach its satellite, we realize that there is also white and other colours on this blue planet. Getting closer still, we discover shapes of continents, and could those be veins, the ones with their own shades of blue here and there? Eventually, we notice things moving about, some with extensions to propel themselves rather organically, and others which seem to only travel linearly. Getting closer still, at ground level, we realize that the ones standing on only two of their extensions are very similar except for the colour of their skin, or the choice and amount of garment they hide their body behind, and that the ones moving about on their fours vary enormously in their shape yet all seem to be in agreement on how much fur, and what colour and pattern, to wear.
So, here’s the question that allowed me to flip my understanding: when can it be said along this journey back from the confines of the Universe that I am, we are, separate from the whole? From way out there, I cannot even fathom that any of these distinctions exists. Looking outward from our earthly viewpoint, it seems undeniable that the Universe is essentially ‘out there’. Going to that ‘out there’, it seems undeniable that we cannot but be part of this Universe. In fact, from the point of view of the Universe itself, we are, as humans, no different than a sub-atomic particle in my body - it is impossible to even imagine this particle as separate from the rest of me, or not linked somehow to the other neighbouring particles. We also know from science that every cell of our body, although distinct from its neighbour through the boundary of its outer shell, carries the information of the whole within its DNA encoding.
Looking outward from our planet, just like looking outward from the perspective of the sub-atomic particle, isn’t it folly to even suggest that I am, we are, separate from the whole of the Universe and, by extension, to the rest of everything?
Something to reflect, and meditate upon. That's my invitation to you.
