We live in one universe. We all live in the same universe. We live in a universe where everything is connected.
The human condition gives an illusion of separation - this illusion exists only in our own mind. It’s a strong illusion - a mechanism required by evolution itself.
Establishing this truth relates directly to No-Self.
Take your body - it’s made of atoms that were once plants. The water you drink once fell from the sky.
You are built from the universe, inherently and inseparably connected to the environment that you live in.
Take your breath, and feel this constant connection between your body and the environment. Air that once yesterday floated miles above you enters your body and keeps it alive. This air was as much a part of you when it was high above you as when it’s inside your cells.
If the cosmos exists, then the smallest spec of dust exists. If the smallest spec of dust doesn’t exist, the whole cosmos doesn’t exist.
Physically there is no separation. This physical connectedness also extends through time. The First Law of Thermodynamics tells us that matter & energy are never created or destroyed. All the matter & energy we have was with us from the Big Bang right up until this moment. Everything is the same age - the age of the entire universe.
When were you born? When you came out of your mothers womb? At the moment of conception? When the egg and sperm were created? When did you become you?
The first action of your existence was the big bang. You are part of a process that started when everything else started. You will continue to be part of that process well after you die. Interconnectedness gives freedom from birth and death.
In Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig highlights how the modern Western mode of thought creates separation.
Western Science has given us a vast literature, so vast that specialization is required. This specialization prevents closeness.
the real evil isn’t the objects of technology but the tendency of technology to isolate people into lonely attitudes of objectivity . It’s the objectivity , the dualistic way of looking at things underlying technology , that produces the evil .
The way to resolve the conflict is to break down the barriers of dualistic thought that prevent a real understanding of what technology is – not an exploitation of nature , but a fusion of nature and the human spirit into a new kind of creation that transcends both
Good motorcycle maintenance occurs by removing the separation between man and machine. The machine is not separate, we are not spectators of it.
The purpose of scientific method is to select a single truth from among many hypothetical truths … But historically science has done exactly the opposite . Through multiplication upon multiplication of facts , information , theories and hypotheses , it is science itself that is leading mankind from single absolute truths to multiple , indeterminate , relative ones .
The ancient Greeks never separated art from manufacture in their minds , and so never developed separate words for them .
It’s the objectivity, the dualistic way of looking at things underlying technology, that produces the evil.
The truth of interconnectedness applies not only to things we like. Negative, vile and unclean phenomenona are as much a part of this as we are.
Cherish both the garbage and the rose - one is made of and requires the other.
You know the feeling you get when a friend succeeds - that feeling of jealously? This is a Darwinian, zero sum reflex - where the successes of others are bad for me - interconnectedness shows the folly of this position. The successes of others are my successes, my losses are their losses.
Sharing happiness doesn’t mean we have less of it - in fact sharing our happiness increases it. Not only is their happiness my happiness, but sharing my happiness gives them more. In this way interconnectedness is the metaphysical of generosity.
The media have convinced them that what’s right around them is unimportant. And that’s why they’re lonely. You see it in their faces. First the little flicker of searching, and then when they look at you, you’re just a kind of an object. You don’t count. You’re not what they’re looking for. You’re not on TV. - Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Man has the need to be special.
This is one of the cruelest effects of a global, social media. When your social life was constranied to your town, your school or your family, being special and important was easy. Baking, cooking, joking or telling stories - each had their talent.
But the truth is you can’t be special because you are a small part of something much greater - the entire universe, as it is now, and as it will ever be. What is more special than that? Than being able to say you were here, are here, and forever will be here?
Perhaps the most groundbreaking conclusion of temporal interconnectedness is that you will never die. No matter what physical or mental processes start and stop, you will still be just as much a part of this universe as you are today.
Training in morality at its best is grounded in a theoretical or direct appreciation of one more assumption, that of interconnectedness. Interconnectedness at this level means an appreciation of the fact that we are all in this together and that we all share the wish to be happy. When we take into consideration our own needs and the needs of those around us, we are more likely to be naturally kind and considerate of ourselves and others. Thus, we try to make it a habit to try to take into account the feelings, opinions and welfare of those around us - Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha - Daniel Ingram