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We may observe & feel a deep interconnectedness with all, yet we may also witness & experience the perpetuated illusion and state of separateness.
A duality unfolding & existing concurrently.
In quantum physics, the photon is both the particle and the wave. That everything is simultaneously both particle and wave.
Perhaps this is true of Self, most of the time we experience Self in its particle state, yet through conscious practices (meditation & meditative practices etc) we may access the wave state.
The illusion of separateness: there’s you and I, and we are separate entities with boundaries and unique needs. Perhaps then further fuelled & unhealthily exacerbated by a deep societal conditioning designed to keep one, and a wider collective distracted & focused on trivialities.
Trivialities like ever increasing productivity, perpetual busyness, outsourcing every aspect of our lives to maintain said busyness, overwork, acquiring more, both subtle & overt materialism, a view that one’s needs are more important than another, division of of states, of countries by illusionary lines, division by religion, division by just about any perceived difference, justification for war and related atrocities (for which there is none) and so on.
The polarity, or perhaps even the antidote is the reflection upon & the embodiment of the understanding of the interconnectedness & unity of all. We are so deeply interconnected in our thoughts, actions, energy & ultimately, existence.
Thich Nhat Hanh, a renowned Buddhist monk, offered such a beautiful example of our interconnectedness, our interdependence & our interbeing. This example is shared below.
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Interbeing & interconnectedness of all
If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are.
“Interbeing” is a word that is not in the dictionary yet, but if we combine the prefix “inter-” with the verb “to be,” we have a new verb, inter-be. Without a cloud and the sheet of paper inter-are.
If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. If the sunshine is not there, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. The paper and the sunshine inter-are.
And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And we see the wheat. We know the logger cannot exist without his daily bread, and therefore the wheat that became his bread is also in this sheet of paper. And the logger’s father and mother are in it too.
When we look in this way, we see that without all of these things, this sheet of paper cannot exist.
Looking even more deeply, we can see we are in it too. This is not difficult to see, because when we look at a sheet of paper, the sheet of paper is part of our perception. Your mind is in here and mine is also.
So we can say that everything is in here with this sheet of paper. You cannot point out one thing that is not here-time, space, the earth, the rain, the minerals in the soil, the sunshine, the cloud, the river, the heat.
Everything co-exists with this sheet of paper.
And from this we realise that we cannot just be by ourself, alone. We have to inter-be with every other thing. This sheet of paper is, because everything else is.
As thin as this sheet of paper is, it contains everything in the universe in it.
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From this above example, we can gage a fairly solid understanding of how deeply reliant on, and how interconnected we are with Mother Nature & our fellow man & woman. Therefore, what we do to Self & what we do to one, we ultimately do to all.
May we reflect upon the earlier statement that in quantum physics, the photon is both the particle and the wave. That everything is simultaneously both particle and wave. This means that every thought, deed & action from within Self (particle) has a ripple effect on the whole (wave).
Beyond surface appearances, everything is fundamentally one.
And, despite the observation of two polarities, interconnectedness & illusion of separateness potentially co existing; may we realise that we also have the immense ability to facilitate a deeper connection with Self, and ultimately to all through simple conscious daily practices (creativity, meditation, Self care, conscious breathing, movement, intentional acts of service within community & so on). In doing so, we each pierce through the veil, the illusion of separateness and contribute to the rise & expansion of the collective consciousness.
As humans, as part of Mother Nature, we are an expression of a collective energy & consciousness moving through the ether, impacting one another through our thoughts, actions & behaviours.
What we do to & for ourselves is effectively what we do to & for all, including our natural environment.
For example:
If we are connected to Self through daily practices, if we embody Self love, compassion & kindness, then, broadly & simply, we feel connection to, & embody that love, compassion & kindness towards Mother Nature & all sentient beings also.
Love for Self is love for all.
Compassion for Self is compassion for all.
Awareness of Self is awareness of all.
The rise & expansion of a collective consciousness such as that of humanity will see (we are already seeing) profound shifts and change emerge, on both the micro and macro (global/planetary) scale.