Oneness of all creation is the fundamental truth of spirituality. What this means is that there is one divine essence in all things and beings in creation.
This essence has many names such as the Self, Higher Self, Spirit, Pure Consciousness, the Supreme Reality, Ultimate Truth, or in Sanskrit, Brahman or Om.
Since the Self is in all, it is also in you. In fact, it is your real nature.
At the bottom of this article is a guided meditation to help you expand your vision and feel this oneness. But before you scroll down to it, here are two basic facts that will help to clarify why there is this oneness and ensure that you will have a successful meditation.
Fact #1 on oneness
The entire world of names and forms arises from the Self, exists in the Self and goes back into the Self when they die away.
Although this fact may make one think that creation is separate from the Self, but the truth is all are expressions of the one Self.
To explain this, the spiritual masters of Vedanta compare the Self to the ocean and all the various things and beings in creation to the numerous types of water forms that are seen in the ocean.
Whether they are waves (big or small), whirlpools, ripples, froth, foam, spray or bubbles, they are all essentially the ocean in various forms.
They look different and have different characteristics but are inherently all nothing but various forms of the ocean.
In the same way, underlying the diversity in all things and beings in this world, is a fundamental essence that is the Self. This is where the concept of oneness comes from.
Fact #2 on Oneness
Even though the Self is in all, it is not affected and remains untouched by the outer changing forms.
How is this so? Taking the example of the ocean again, although the innumerable water forms exist in the ocean, the ocean is not affected by them. And so, when waves begin to rise up, the ocean doesn’t start to rejoice and say, “Look at how I am rising! I am so big! Wow! I’m travelling such a far distance!” And, as they begin to die away, the ocean doesn’t lament, “Oh no! I’m dying!”
Whether the waves rise or fall and disappear, the ocean remains unaffected by the changes that occur at its surface. None of these changing conditions change the ocean’s intrinsic nature; the ocean remains the ocean.
Similarly, none of the changing conditions of things in beings can affect you, the divine Higher Self.
In the meditation below, you will be guided to experience your own higher nature and the oneness in creation.
It involves shifting your awareness from the tangible to the intangible, from the microcosmic to the macrocosmic aspects of the Self.
Experiencing oneness, step by step
Experiencing oneness is done in steps, taking your awareness from your:
- Physical body to the total physical world of things and beings,
- Individual mind to the Total Mind,
- Individual subconscious to the total subconscious and finally,
- Remaining identified as the silent inner Observer of all of these. This Observer is the one Self, the real you who is the source of everything. You are conscious of all the experiences but unaffected by them.
Now, the idea of the oneness between the individual and total needs a little explanation.
Individual physical body and total tangible universe: An individual physical body cannot exist alone. It must come from a larger total field. For example, the water in a pond must have come from the totality of all water everywhere. A pond cannot come into existence on its own.
Similarly, your physical body is made up of elements that are found in nature. It does not and cannot exist separate from nature. The five elements in nature are space, air, fire, water and earth. They are all found in your body.
Individual mind and Total Mind: Just as there is a total physical world, there is a total mind. The individual mind which is made up of thoughts cannot exist without there being the totality of thoughts called the Total Mind.
You are able to think thoughts because they exist at a subtle level in the Total Mind.
I know what I’m going to say is hard to grasp but the thoughts that you think you are thinking are neither unique nor your own. All thoughts exist potentially in the cosmic Total Mind. The particular type of thoughts that arise in your individual mind are determined by subtle impressions laid in your subconscious from your past actions.
The Total Mind is not a static bank of thoughts but a dynamic, changing potential of all possible thoughts. Each individual being is constantly adding to, and modifying the thoughts in the Total Mind
In the guided meditation, you will be led from your individual mind to the Total Mind.
Individual subconscious to Total Subconscious: The type of thoughts you think is determined by impressions from your own past experiences stored away in your subconscious mind.
These impressions remain in a dormant state until they emerge as thoughts in your mind. Even while they are dormant, they continue to influence your thinking.
This is the exact mechanism that occurs at the macrocosmic level.
The subconscious impressions of all the living beings in the world exist in the total subconscious field. These impressions remain in a dormant state until they rise up into the Total Mind.
You are spirit, the Self who is of the nature of pure consciousness and fully aware of all the impressions, thoughts and forms of the world.
From you, all these emerge, exist and die away. You are the one divine essence within all and expressing as all. And yet, you are beyond them all. You are that immanent and transcendental one Self.
This is why the spiritual masters affirm that there is an inherent oneness in creation.
You are now ready to begin the guided meditation.
Guided Meditation on Oneness
Like this post? Sign up for the free fortnightly Spiritual Solutions Newsletter and receive the latest articles, news and updates in your email inbox!
