“Perhaps the biggest misconception in the history of human thought is the idea that it is even possible for anything to be completely separate from anything else. “
- Jamie Janover
- Jamie Janover
The Connected Universe
Connected Universe based upon a universe that is abundant at its foundation, oriented towards order and organization, is wholly interconnected and cooperative, and is filled with a fundamental network that permeates all matter and energy to create a natural feedback-loop of interconnected self-awareness at all scales.
☯A New Worldview☯
☯A New World-view☯
“When you see the Earth from space, you don't see any divisions of nation-states there. This may be the symbol of the new mythology to come; this is the country we will celebrate, and these are the people we are one with.”
-Joseph Campbell
I was watching the "Power of Myth" last night (again) and I always loved this quote and Metaphor by Joseph Campbell in this excellent Documentary with Bill Moyers.
This idea of oneness, holism and connectedness represents the next quantum leap we as humans need to accomplish. Instead of focusing on our differences, we need to see that we all have a common source, we are all spiritual beings embued with consciousness and regardless of our race, nationality, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation, color, etc. We are fundamentally all interconnected, interdependent and one with each other. This is a fact based on cosmology and quantum field theory as well as spiritually at a deeper level.
But this metaphor goes even deeper. The earth itself, our beloved Gaia, both nutures and protects us, gives us life, health and a divine playground for happiness.
(In my book PEMF, the fifth element of health, I go into detail on the deep connection with have with our earth, our Mother Gaia).
So its time for a quantum leap, a shift into connectedness, love and respect for each other and for our planet earth. This beautiful image of Earth from space with no clouds, provides a compelling metaphor for a new Worldview (both figuratively and literally), a world with no boundaries or division, a world that is sublimely beautiful and bountiful if we take care of it, a world where we are all brothers and sisters of the same family, the human family. A world that we all can call home.
----
Before we get into the many aspects of a creating a New World, let's first understand what is meant by "Worldview".
In the simplest of definitions, the term “worldview” means:
▪ The way someone thinks about the world
▪ The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world
▪ A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group
The way you think of the world or Universe as a whole, really directs everything you do.
And it directs us globally. How it thinks of Nature. How it thinks of Humanity. How should be treated.
Education and what should be thought. Fundamental and Basic point to start.
Identify worldview today and what needs to change in this worldview. So we can trans
Worldview Shift. Biggest picture to start with. Physics informs a larger perspective.
Disconnected worldview. Economically, environmentally, socially, spiritually , health and body.
Connected worldview - wholeness of all things. Integrity of wholeness that is foundational.
Our worldview directly shapes our beliefs, and in turn our beliefs form the foundation of the values and principles upon which we make decisions and take action in our lives. It defines our society as a whole, the kinds and applications of technologies and systems we create, and how we relate to each other, nature, Earth and all life.
Evolution Consciousness manifests in worldview
What is a worldview - How we view the world and it effects everything we do.
a. Parenting -Parents and siblings as infant. Impressions - trusting or untrusting.
b. Religion - A least once a week shapes our worldview. Tells you what to believe.
Positive - ethics, sitting still, prayer and mediation. Negative too.
c. Science - Rational Thinking. Evidence based Belief
Parents, Teachers, Friends, Books/textbooks, Religious leaders, scientists,
Worldview is based on Beliefs … Facts, Values, Faith. Beliefs about how things are
Beliefs, like a garden, need to weed out some. What it is, where it came from.
Compare Below Chart to My Book - connected, interconnected, interdependent.
Need a New WorldView
We don't just need a Healthcare reform, we need a science reform ;-)
Integration - Connected ----Wholeness----- Cooperation---Purposeful---Coherent----Free Will/Spontaneaity- dynamic and flowing---Process/Verb/feel/experience/Action/Evolution-downward-causation
Reduction - Disconnected---Separateness-- Competition--Chance------ Incoherent---Determinism - static and rigid --- Thing/Noun/Being/cold/unfeeling/theory/Object-upward-causation
Derivatives vs Integrals (theorems in math that are isomorphic)
The Unified Field ---> Memory-information-Space-time-energy-matter and scale(fractal/holographic).
17th , 18th, and 19th century
Newtonian/Cartesian/Reductionist/Mechanistic or Disconnected Worldview/scientific materialism
0) Particle / Matter Primary, so reductionism is the model to understand
1) Determinsim (based on an isolated or disconnected system)
2) Solidity (space divides or disconnects objects)
3) Separateness - Speed of light is the limitation. In 4D the speed of light is the constant, space and time relative. Both the speed of light separates us by being finite. (Disconnecting or dividing)
4) Objectivity (Subjective world disconnected from Objective)
5) Mechanistic/Reductionist - Reductionist is (micro making up the macro) the whole can be studied by looking at the parts
5) No Vitalism, energy fields
5) Isolated systems and linear equations
6) Disconnected from Nature and its elements
7) Evolution - Competition… Survival of the fittest… Life a chance random event
8) Chaotic/disorder, reductionist, part dissected, centrifuged and smashed
9) Static Dead analysis (Force equations - Derivatives)
10) Entropy - equilibrium thermo
10) Upward causation ---> from random molecules
11) Continuous Evolution -- random mutations and natural selection. Continuous like pre-quantum physics (continuous energy, position, momentum, angular momentum, spin, etc)
Linear - step by step incremental chance and necessity??
12) Survival of the fittest.. Dog eat dog work.Selfish… Survival
13) Things are tagged, labeled defined and confined.
Note: Classical Thermodynamics is the statistical cousin of Newtonian Mechanics.
Quantum/Wholeistic/Connected Worldview/Cooperative - Cooperation
0) Field based on consciousness Primary, quantum field theory (a theory of wholism needed). Consciousness --> Information fields ---> Energy fields ---> Matter (field for every particle in standard model. Organismic with purpose and free will (all possibilities in quantum field).
Quantum Fields and Quantum Systems
a) Wholistic and interconnected field via faster than light entanglement (reductionism , mind / body dualism).
b) All possibilities exist as a superposition… Quantum possibility wave --> spontaneity and free will (determinism - human body determined machine)
c) Consciousness , Information and energy fields (vitalism returns) primary (vector and scalar potentials)… Matter is just excitation in the field. (primacy of matter .matter and particles primary)
d) A conscious observer creates reality. (consciousness epiphenomenon of brain)
1) Free will and spontaneity - open system, intention directed energy or Action. Process is connected\
2) Emptiness of Vacuum is near infinite energy - Space connects us with a sea of energy instead of dividing us.
3) Entanglement/Bells Theorem/Nonlocality - faster than light interconnections.
in certain conditions there is an immediate connection between particles.
Tested by Bells Theorem and Aspects Experient. Tested experimentally and independently.
Indivisible whole. All laws of quantum mechanics are concerned with it.
4) Obeserver Effect - Subjective world connected to Objective. We create the universe by observation.
5) Whole-o-graphic - Wholeistic, holographic and fractal (whole in the part and part contains the whole). Everything is connected, interconnected, and interdependent
5) Vitalism coming back… Energy fields, QED, Meridians, Chakras, etc.)
5) Open systems and chaos/ nonlinear and coupled equations - feedback loop in system of equations.
6) Connected to Nature and its elements
7) Evolution - there is cooperation, synergy and an intelligent direction of evolution.
8) Holographic, Fractal and properties of emergence and phase relations.
9) Living dynamic analysis (principle least action - Integrate)
10) Negative EntropyNegentropy/Syntropy/Extropy/Ectropy/entaxy - non equilibrium thermodynamics
10) Downward Causation ---> from God, Intelligent Design, Organizing Principle. Morphogenetic fields
11) Discrete evolution … Long periods of stasis than abrupt change or "jumps" like quantum jumps… Cambrian Explosion (542-543 billion years)
12) Altruism in evolution… Group Natural Selection. supposedly helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness
13) No definitions, all possibilities exist each moment.
“When you see the Earth from space, you don't see any divisions of nation-states there. This may be the symbol of the new mythology to come; this is the country we will celebrate, and these are the people we are one with.”
-Joseph Campbell
I was watching the "Power of Myth" last night (again) and I always loved this quote and Metaphor by Joseph Campbell in this excellent Documentary with Bill Moyers.
This idea of oneness, holism and connectedness represents the next quantum leap we as humans need to accomplish. Instead of focusing on our differences, we need to see that we all have a common source, we are all spiritual beings embued with consciousness and regardless of our race, nationality, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation, color, etc. We are fundamentally all interconnected, interdependent and one with each other. This is a fact based on cosmology and quantum field theory as well as spiritually at a deeper level.
But this metaphor goes even deeper. The earth itself, our beloved Gaia, both nutures and protects us, gives us life, health and a divine playground for happiness.
(In my book PEMF, the fifth element of health, I go into detail on the deep connection with have with our earth, our Mother Gaia).
So its time for a quantum leap, a shift into connectedness, love and respect for each other and for our planet earth. This beautiful image of Earth from space with no clouds, provides a compelling metaphor for a new Worldview (both figuratively and literally), a world with no boundaries or division, a world that is sublimely beautiful and bountiful if we take care of it, a world where we are all brothers and sisters of the same family, the human family. A world that we all can call home.
----
Before we get into the many aspects of a creating a New World, let's first understand what is meant by "Worldview".
In the simplest of definitions, the term “worldview” means:
▪ The way someone thinks about the world
▪ The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world
▪ A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group
The way you think of the world or Universe as a whole, really directs everything you do.
And it directs us globally. How it thinks of Nature. How it thinks of Humanity. How should be treated.
Education and what should be thought. Fundamental and Basic point to start.
Identify worldview today and what needs to change in this worldview. So we can trans
Worldview Shift. Biggest picture to start with. Physics informs a larger perspective.
Disconnected worldview. Economically, environmentally, socially, spiritually , health and body.
Connected worldview - wholeness of all things. Integrity of wholeness that is foundational.
Our worldview directly shapes our beliefs, and in turn our beliefs form the foundation of the values and principles upon which we make decisions and take action in our lives. It defines our society as a whole, the kinds and applications of technologies and systems we create, and how we relate to each other, nature, Earth and all life.
Evolution Consciousness manifests in worldview
What is a worldview - How we view the world and it effects everything we do.
a. Parenting -Parents and siblings as infant. Impressions - trusting or untrusting.
b. Religion - A least once a week shapes our worldview. Tells you what to believe.
Positive - ethics, sitting still, prayer and mediation. Negative too.
c. Science - Rational Thinking. Evidence based Belief
Parents, Teachers, Friends, Books/textbooks, Religious leaders, scientists,
Worldview is based on Beliefs … Facts, Values, Faith. Beliefs about how things are
Beliefs, like a garden, need to weed out some. What it is, where it came from.
Compare Below Chart to My Book - connected, interconnected, interdependent.
Need a New WorldView
We don't just need a Healthcare reform, we need a science reform ;-)
Integration - Connected ----Wholeness----- Cooperation---Purposeful---Coherent----Free Will/Spontaneaity- dynamic and flowing---Process/Verb/feel/experience/Action/Evolution-downward-causation
Reduction - Disconnected---Separateness-- Competition--Chance------ Incoherent---Determinism - static and rigid --- Thing/Noun/Being/cold/unfeeling/theory/Object-upward-causation
Derivatives vs Integrals (theorems in math that are isomorphic)
The Unified Field ---> Memory-information-Space-time-energy-matter and scale(fractal/holographic).
17th , 18th, and 19th century
Newtonian/Cartesian/Reductionist/Mechanistic or Disconnected Worldview/scientific materialism
0) Particle / Matter Primary, so reductionism is the model to understand
1) Determinsim (based on an isolated or disconnected system)
2) Solidity (space divides or disconnects objects)
3) Separateness - Speed of light is the limitation. In 4D the speed of light is the constant, space and time relative. Both the speed of light separates us by being finite. (Disconnecting or dividing)
4) Objectivity (Subjective world disconnected from Objective)
5) Mechanistic/Reductionist - Reductionist is (micro making up the macro) the whole can be studied by looking at the parts
5) No Vitalism, energy fields
5) Isolated systems and linear equations
6) Disconnected from Nature and its elements
7) Evolution - Competition… Survival of the fittest… Life a chance random event
8) Chaotic/disorder, reductionist, part dissected, centrifuged and smashed
9) Static Dead analysis (Force equations - Derivatives)
10) Entropy - equilibrium thermo
10) Upward causation ---> from random molecules
11) Continuous Evolution -- random mutations and natural selection. Continuous like pre-quantum physics (continuous energy, position, momentum, angular momentum, spin, etc)
Linear - step by step incremental chance and necessity??
12) Survival of the fittest.. Dog eat dog work.Selfish… Survival
13) Things are tagged, labeled defined and confined.
Note: Classical Thermodynamics is the statistical cousin of Newtonian Mechanics.
Quantum/Wholeistic/Connected Worldview/Cooperative - Cooperation
0) Field based on consciousness Primary, quantum field theory (a theory of wholism needed). Consciousness --> Information fields ---> Energy fields ---> Matter (field for every particle in standard model. Organismic with purpose and free will (all possibilities in quantum field).
Quantum Fields and Quantum Systems
a) Wholistic and interconnected field via faster than light entanglement (reductionism , mind / body dualism).
b) All possibilities exist as a superposition… Quantum possibility wave --> spontaneity and free will (determinism - human body determined machine)
c) Consciousness , Information and energy fields (vitalism returns) primary (vector and scalar potentials)… Matter is just excitation in the field. (primacy of matter .matter and particles primary)
d) A conscious observer creates reality. (consciousness epiphenomenon of brain)
1) Free will and spontaneity - open system, intention directed energy or Action. Process is connected\
2) Emptiness of Vacuum is near infinite energy - Space connects us with a sea of energy instead of dividing us.
3) Entanglement/Bells Theorem/Nonlocality - faster than light interconnections.
in certain conditions there is an immediate connection between particles.
Tested by Bells Theorem and Aspects Experient. Tested experimentally and independently.
Indivisible whole. All laws of quantum mechanics are concerned with it.
4) Obeserver Effect - Subjective world connected to Objective. We create the universe by observation.
5) Whole-o-graphic - Wholeistic, holographic and fractal (whole in the part and part contains the whole). Everything is connected, interconnected, and interdependent
5) Vitalism coming back… Energy fields, QED, Meridians, Chakras, etc.)
5) Open systems and chaos/ nonlinear and coupled equations - feedback loop in system of equations.
6) Connected to Nature and its elements
7) Evolution - there is cooperation, synergy and an intelligent direction of evolution.
8) Holographic, Fractal and properties of emergence and phase relations.
9) Living dynamic analysis (principle least action - Integrate)
10) Negative EntropyNegentropy/Syntropy/Extropy/Ectropy/entaxy - non equilibrium thermodynamics
10) Downward Causation ---> from God, Intelligent Design, Organizing Principle. Morphogenetic fields
11) Discrete evolution … Long periods of stasis than abrupt change or "jumps" like quantum jumps… Cambrian Explosion (542-543 billion years)
12) Altruism in evolution… Group Natural Selection. supposedly helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness
13) No definitions, all possibilities exist each moment.
Connected yoU-niverse
Key Ideas, GET CONNECTED, PLUGGED INTO NATURE, LIFE FORCE, LOVE, The universe, Cosmic Consciousness.
Consciousness is never experienced in the plural, only in the singular. Not only has none of us ever experienced more than one consciousness, but there is also no trace of circumstantial evidence of this ever happening anywhere in the world. If I say that there cannot be more than one consciousness in the same mind, this seems a blunt tautology — we are quite unable to imagine the contrary...
--Erwin Schrodinger
"Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else"
- Leonardo DaVinci
Deepen your connection to Nature, the stars and each other.
Big questions of life and the universe.
We live in an age where we are connected to every point on the globe.
Yet we are more disconnected in so many ways.
Us against them, you against me.
Speed of Life… Race through life so quickly.
Hard to see the big picture when we are chasing money, careers and things.
All we simply want to be is connected.. to each other and god.
FEeling of resonance and connection to everything in the natural world.
How everything is contained in everything else.
Everything is connected and one at the same time.
The Human Body is an incredible connection interconnection and synergy. All the systems working together without even a conscious thought. Brain is one of the most amazing things we know about in the universe. Billions of operations per second and doing everything it can to keep you alive. Heals cuts, fights disease… Choose to love your body for the incredible miracle it is.
Internet and technology is connecting us in ways like never before, but it can be a two edge sword.
We don't have to go through life with blinders on and see things as separate.
See the beauty of the connections all around us...
Einstein wanted to create a single unified equation.
Science is still searching for a Theory of Everything to Connect all the forces and particles.
Maybe we should seek an Experience of Everything vs a Theory?
A Profound Unity Although we live in a world of seeming division and multiplicity, the perennial wisdom is unequivocal in asserting that a profound unity underlies the appearance of separation. Here are a few examples of this affirmation of wholeness, which is found in every spiritual tradition, in every culture and in every age:
“For those who are awake the cosmos is one.” 203
--Heraclitus, ancient philosopher who lived in ancient Greece.
“...the flickering film of the phenomenal world is an illusion which cannot obscure the eternal unity that lies behind it...”204 --Arnold Toynbee, a scholar of the world’s civilizations and religions.
“Each element of the cosmos is positively woven from all the others.... the universe holds together, and only one way of considering it is really possible, that is, to take it as a whole, in one piece.” 205 233
--Teilhard de Chardin, Catholic theologian
“Ultimately, the entire universe...has to be understood as a single undivided whole...” 206
--David Bohm, physicist
“Heaven and earth and I are of the same root...are of one substance.”207
--Sojo, a monk and scholar from the Zen tradition.
"Know in thyself and All one self-same soul;
banish the dream that sunders part from whole."
-- Old Hindu Poem
“I am in some sense boundless, my being encompassing the farthest limits of the universe, touching and moving every atom of existence. The same is true of everything else.... It is not just that ‘we are all in it’ together. We all are it, rising and falling as one living body.”208
--Buddhist scholar, Francis Cook, Hua-yen Buddhism
“That which is the finest essence—this whole world has that as its soul. That is Reality. That is Atman [the individual self]. That art thou.209 --Hindu tradition, Chandogya Upanishad
When Jesus was asked, “When will the kingdom come?” He replied: “It will not come by waiting for it.... Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.”210 Jesus also said, “...the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.”211 --Gospel of Thomas, Gnostic Gospels
“...the Self is not reached. You are the Self; you are already That.”212 --Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage
“God is nearer to me than I am to myself; He is just as near to wood and stone, but they do not know it.”213 --Christian mystic Meister Eckhart
“The Absolute...dwells within the flux of things: stands as it were at the very threshold of consciousness and knocks, awaiting the self’s slow discovery of her treasures.”214
--Evelyn Underhill, from her book Mysticism
“We may imagine that the One, since It is absolute, must be distant from us spiritually or even spatially... We forget that the absoluteness of the One includes absolute immanence, or omnipresence. Thus the One is here and now, not a stranger, not even an other, but the very nature of what we are.”215
--Lex Hixon, from his book Coming Home
“Earth’s crammed with Heaven, and every common bush afire with God.” 234
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet
“Not knowing how near Truth is, People seek it far away—what a pity! They are like him who, in the midst of water, Cries in thirst so imploringly.”
--Hakuin, from the Zen tradition and Japan.216
"Like the empty sky it has no boundaries, Yet it is right HERE, ever serene and clear. When you seek to attain it, you cannot see it. You cannot take hold of it, But neither can you lose it.217
-- Yung-chia, Zen tradition
“Each being contains in itself the whole intelligible world. Therefore All is everywhere.”218
--Plotinus, a Neoplatonic philosopher who lived in ancient Greece
A subtle Life-force infuses, sustains and unifies our cosmos. The wholeness of our reality is so complete that we are not separate from “God” or “Nirvana” or “Brahman” or “Tao” or the countless other names given to the unnameable presence that pervades the undivided universe. We don’t have to do anything to become a part of the wholeness of reality—we are already completely at one with it. We are beings that the universe inhabits as much as we are beings that inhabit the universe. An appreciation of the unity of existence is not an experience to be created; rather, it is an always manifesting condition of our existence waiting to be welcomed into awareness.
Consciousness is never experienced in the plural, only in the singular. Not only has none of us ever experienced more than one consciousness, but there is also no trace of circumstantial evidence of this ever happening anywhere in the world. If I say that there cannot be more than one consciousness in the same mind, this seems a blunt tautology — we are quite unable to imagine the contrary...
--Erwin Schrodinger
"Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else"
- Leonardo DaVinci
Deepen your connection to Nature, the stars and each other.
Big questions of life and the universe.
We live in an age where we are connected to every point on the globe.
Yet we are more disconnected in so many ways.
Us against them, you against me.
Speed of Life… Race through life so quickly.
Hard to see the big picture when we are chasing money, careers and things.
All we simply want to be is connected.. to each other and god.
FEeling of resonance and connection to everything in the natural world.
How everything is contained in everything else.
Everything is connected and one at the same time.
The Human Body is an incredible connection interconnection and synergy. All the systems working together without even a conscious thought. Brain is one of the most amazing things we know about in the universe. Billions of operations per second and doing everything it can to keep you alive. Heals cuts, fights disease… Choose to love your body for the incredible miracle it is.
Internet and technology is connecting us in ways like never before, but it can be a two edge sword.
We don't have to go through life with blinders on and see things as separate.
See the beauty of the connections all around us...
Einstein wanted to create a single unified equation.
Science is still searching for a Theory of Everything to Connect all the forces and particles.
Maybe we should seek an Experience of Everything vs a Theory?
A Profound Unity Although we live in a world of seeming division and multiplicity, the perennial wisdom is unequivocal in asserting that a profound unity underlies the appearance of separation. Here are a few examples of this affirmation of wholeness, which is found in every spiritual tradition, in every culture and in every age:
“For those who are awake the cosmos is one.” 203
--Heraclitus, ancient philosopher who lived in ancient Greece.
“...the flickering film of the phenomenal world is an illusion which cannot obscure the eternal unity that lies behind it...”204 --Arnold Toynbee, a scholar of the world’s civilizations and religions.
“Each element of the cosmos is positively woven from all the others.... the universe holds together, and only one way of considering it is really possible, that is, to take it as a whole, in one piece.” 205 233
--Teilhard de Chardin, Catholic theologian
“Ultimately, the entire universe...has to be understood as a single undivided whole...” 206
--David Bohm, physicist
“Heaven and earth and I are of the same root...are of one substance.”207
--Sojo, a monk and scholar from the Zen tradition.
"Know in thyself and All one self-same soul;
banish the dream that sunders part from whole."
-- Old Hindu Poem
“I am in some sense boundless, my being encompassing the farthest limits of the universe, touching and moving every atom of existence. The same is true of everything else.... It is not just that ‘we are all in it’ together. We all are it, rising and falling as one living body.”208
--Buddhist scholar, Francis Cook, Hua-yen Buddhism
“That which is the finest essence—this whole world has that as its soul. That is Reality. That is Atman [the individual self]. That art thou.209 --Hindu tradition, Chandogya Upanishad
When Jesus was asked, “When will the kingdom come?” He replied: “It will not come by waiting for it.... Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.”210 Jesus also said, “...the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.”211 --Gospel of Thomas, Gnostic Gospels
“...the Self is not reached. You are the Self; you are already That.”212 --Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage
“God is nearer to me than I am to myself; He is just as near to wood and stone, but they do not know it.”213 --Christian mystic Meister Eckhart
“The Absolute...dwells within the flux of things: stands as it were at the very threshold of consciousness and knocks, awaiting the self’s slow discovery of her treasures.”214
--Evelyn Underhill, from her book Mysticism
“We may imagine that the One, since It is absolute, must be distant from us spiritually or even spatially... We forget that the absoluteness of the One includes absolute immanence, or omnipresence. Thus the One is here and now, not a stranger, not even an other, but the very nature of what we are.”215
--Lex Hixon, from his book Coming Home
“Earth’s crammed with Heaven, and every common bush afire with God.” 234
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet
“Not knowing how near Truth is, People seek it far away—what a pity! They are like him who, in the midst of water, Cries in thirst so imploringly.”
--Hakuin, from the Zen tradition and Japan.216
"Like the empty sky it has no boundaries, Yet it is right HERE, ever serene and clear. When you seek to attain it, you cannot see it. You cannot take hold of it, But neither can you lose it.217
-- Yung-chia, Zen tradition
“Each being contains in itself the whole intelligible world. Therefore All is everywhere.”218
--Plotinus, a Neoplatonic philosopher who lived in ancient Greece
A subtle Life-force infuses, sustains and unifies our cosmos. The wholeness of our reality is so complete that we are not separate from “God” or “Nirvana” or “Brahman” or “Tao” or the countless other names given to the unnameable presence that pervades the undivided universe. We don’t have to do anything to become a part of the wholeness of reality—we are already completely at one with it. We are beings that the universe inhabits as much as we are beings that inhabit the universe. An appreciation of the unity of existence is not an experience to be created; rather, it is an always manifesting condition of our existence waiting to be welcomed into awareness.