“Parts are seen to be in immediate connection, in which their dynamical relationships depend, in an irreducible way, on the state of the whole system (and, indeed, on that of broader systems in which they are contained, extending ultimately and in principle to the entire universe). Thus, one is led to a new notion of unbroken wholeness which denies the classical idea of analysability of the world into separately and independently existing parts … We have reversed the usual classical notion that the ‘independent’ elementary parts of the world are the fundamental reality, and that the various systems are merely particular contingent forms and arrangements of these parts. Rather, we say that inseparable quantum interconnectedness of the whole universe is the fundamental reality, and that relatively independently behaving parts are merely particular and contingent forms within this whole.”
David Bohm and Basil Hiley ‘On the intuitive understanding of nonlocality as implied by Quantum Theory’
Isn’t it funny that while (in some quarters at least) acknowledging the oneness of existence, we continue to conceptualise it as something we’re separated from? Oneness is oneness. It cannot be anything else. So it’s not like we have this tendency to return to oneness, because something can’t “return” to what it already is. If everything is one, then the perception of things as separate can only be a contingent and temporary illusion, a momentary perturbation in the fabric of unity which allows it to reflect upon itself.
If you follow this to its logical conclusion, then there are some interesting ideas to confront.
Like the fact that if everything is one, then our conceptualisations of individual soul/spirit existence beyond this earthly life (if we entertain such conceptions) are every bit as delusional as the illusion of separation we have in this earthly form.
Like the fact that if everything is one, then all of it is perfect as it is. No good or bad, no right or wrong, no should or shouldn’t be. So all this striving to be good, to be holy, to be loving, and on and on, through this lifetime or through multiple lifetimes, has got nothing to do with “returning” to oneness. Quite the opposite! It’s just a function of the dualistic dream. By the very act of striving to be all those things (as opposed to their opposites), we merely perpetuate the illusion and cling ever more firmly to the delusion of separation! Such a glorious paradox!
Of course, our drive to maintain this illusion (while believing that we’re doing the opposite) is what keeps the whole of manifest existence manifest. If all of existence simultaneously dropped the dream, then there would only be a Singularity. All would instantaneously become unmanifest, and return to the state It was in before It conceived of the idea of looking in a mirror.
Tags: oneness
