What Is Oneness Or Advaita?
Advaita means nondual or not two. This oneness is a fundamental quality of everything. Everything is a part of and made of one substance. Often the question arises, If it is all one thing why dont I experience it that way? This is confusing oneness for the appearance of sameness. Things can appear different without being separate. Just look at your hand for a moment. Your fingers are all different from each other, but are they separate? They all arise from the same hand.
In a similar way, all of the objects in the world including plants, animals, and people are all quite different in appearance and function. But they are all ultimately connected at their source. So, this ultimate Oneness has an limitless different expressions that are experienced as different objects.
It also turns out that your fingers are all made of the same substance. As you explore the nature of your hand with greater subtlety, you discover more and more similarities. Your fingers are actually made up of very similar tissues, cells, atoms, and ultimately subatomic particles. When your experience of reality becomes even more subtle, you discover that everything is just a different expressions of one field of Being.
How about this moment? Is this subtle oneness in your ordinary present moment experience? It is, if you ignore any expectation of oneness being a dramatic spiritual experience, and explore the oneness in whatever is here right now. Just as any drop of water is wet, you can find a degree of oneness in everyday experiences. Everything that exists has this quality of oneness, just as every drop of water has the quality of wetness.
As an experiment, just notice your fingers and the palm of your hand. Can you really say where one starts and the other ends, or are they one thing? To take this further, where does your hand stop and your forearm begin? Can you experience the oneness of your hand and your forearm?
Now what about the other parts of your body? If you notice all of the connections, are your toes and your forehead really a part of one thing even though they look so different? And is there really a separation between your thinking and your brain. Where does your brain stop and then something else begin called a thought? What about emotions and wants? Are these subtle experiences really in any way separate from your body?
Why stop there? For a moment notice the many sensations present: sounds, sights, and the sensations of your skin. When you see something, where does seeing stop and the eye begin? Where does a sound start and something else called the ear stop? What if even hearing and sound and your ear are all part of one thing. Obviously, an ear is quite different from a sound, but when you are hearing they are ultimately one thing.
Then, where does the source of the sound stop and the sound itself start? For example, if a bird is singing outside your window, where does the bird stop and the sound of its song begin? Or are they one thing? If the bird and its song are one thing, and your hearing and the song are really one thing, then is it possible that you and the bird are one thing also?
Advaita, or oneness of Being, has often been thought of as something hidden or difficult to experience, when it is quite ordinary and available in every moment. Of course a big experience of oneness, where you directly experience the oneness of everything, is a rare and dramatic event. But why wait for something so rare when this sweet and satisfying oneness is right here, right now?
In a similar way, all of the objects in the world including plants, animals, and people are all quite different in appearance and function. But they are all ultimately connected at their source. So, this ultimate Oneness has an limitless different expressions that are experienced as different objects.
It also turns out that your fingers are all made of the same substance. As you explore the nature of your hand with greater subtlety, you discover more and more similarities. Your fingers are actually made up of very similar tissues, cells, atoms, and ultimately subatomic particles. When your experience of reality becomes even more subtle, you discover that everything is just a different expressions of one field of Being.
How about this moment? Is this subtle oneness in your ordinary present moment experience? It is, if you ignore any expectation of oneness being a dramatic spiritual experience, and explore the oneness in whatever is here right now. Just as any drop of water is wet, you can find a degree of oneness in everyday experiences. Everything that exists has this quality of oneness, just as every drop of water has the quality of wetness.
As an experiment, just notice your fingers and the palm of your hand. Can you really say where one starts and the other ends, or are they one thing? To take this further, where does your hand stop and your forearm begin? Can you experience the oneness of your hand and your forearm?
Now what about the other parts of your body? If you notice all of the connections, are your toes and your forehead really a part of one thing even though they look so different? And is there really a separation between your thinking and your brain. Where does your brain stop and then something else begin called a thought? What about emotions and wants? Are these subtle experiences really in any way separate from your body?
Why stop there? For a moment notice the many sensations present: sounds, sights, and the sensations of your skin. When you see something, where does seeing stop and the eye begin? Where does a sound start and something else called the ear stop? What if even hearing and sound and your ear are all part of one thing. Obviously, an ear is quite different from a sound, but when you are hearing they are ultimately one thing.
Then, where does the source of the sound stop and the sound itself start? For example, if a bird is singing outside your window, where does the bird stop and the sound of its song begin? Or are they one thing? If the bird and its song are one thing, and your hearing and the song are really one thing, then is it possible that you and the bird are one thing also?
Advaita, or oneness of Being, has often been thought of as something hidden or difficult to experience, when it is quite ordinary and available in every moment. Of course a big experience of oneness, where you directly experience the oneness of everything, is a rare and dramatic event. But why wait for something so rare when this sweet and satisfying oneness is right here, right now?
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