I was just listening to some workshop tapes on ACIM while driving today, and found myself thinking about the idea that we're all One. There are lots of ways to think about it and different religions each phrase the concept uniquely.

Also, Vivamis posted some great "thinking points" about this:


So.... what if we're all One? What are the ramifications?

I think that being one has to be defined. I believe in my oneness with the father which is in spirit, but I have encountered some that believe oneness means to be one with everything. That includes thair chiar I sit on, the car I drive and the plane I fly in. To me the physical are our ideas, because of our identification with being humans. Are there cars and chairs and planes in "heaven"? Will we take anything we see and have here on earth with us?

I don't think so. I think we as humans have created chairs to sit on to be comfortable, vehicles because we believe we need "tools" for transportation and houses to protect us.

Everything we see in this physical realm was/is an idea, I AM was/is before we took thought.

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May your awareness be perfection

Angeleyes


It would mean that we were demonic since nothing existing as unified consciousness could participate in and deny genocides.

The oneness of mankind is a favorite theme in the Baha'i Writings and recently I learned about how DNA connects all of us..There's a good video on this about the Genographic Project which is being done by the National Geographic Society and IBM:

http://www.newscientist.com/ibmvideo.ns

Some of the implications:

World order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the oneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences confirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human species, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life. Recognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudice--prejudice of every kind--race, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material civilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves superior to others.

Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite for reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is essential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should therefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly asserted in every nation as prepa- ration for the organic change in the structure of society which it implies.

In the Bahá'í view, recognition of the oneness of mankind "calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world--a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units."


- Art

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"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

I was just thinking about this today too.

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"There is one thing that organized religion is not qualified to teach and that is an individual's purpose."-GOD

I don't think that there's any doubt that we are all one.
If the cosmos is seen as a living, conscious entity, then by definition there is only one life-force - and one consciousness - in the cosmos.
It seems to me that it's currently expressing and experiencing itself via a multitude of individual-seeming entities, but that the individuality is only in the perception of the 'individual'.

I think that in order to resonate with the rest of the cosmos it's necessary to realise that - as we are all a part of the same entity - it is allowing us as individuals to express ourselves as we wish, and therefore we should allow others to express themselves as they wish, without belittling nor criticising their beliefs, because this only creates disharmony in the refrain of the cosmos.



Edited to add:
I'm not sure if that's got anything at all to do with the question..... but....


Peace, Love, & Light

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"An object is perceived, or not perceived, according as the mind is, or is not, tinged with the colour of the object. "
Patanjali - Sutra 4:17

A_H


But we already do this. Acknowledging the importance of freedom of expression is what allows us the luxury to participate in and deny genocides. If, on the other hand, we acknowledged genocides for what they were, people would get upset, insulted, and disrupted not to mention the possible resulting cosmological ramifications.

I believe we are all connected. The excerpt I posted from Science of Mind touches on this briefly.

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RevKathyV

http://www.myspace.com/divinelightinterfaith



www.divinelightinterfaithministry.com

Are you and vivamis becoming Buddhists?

The above is one of the central teachings in dharma, whereas all in the cosmos are interrelated, and divisions tend to be more of our own creation.

For example, what are "you"? "You" are composed physically of what you eat, breathe in, absorb through your skin, and the sources of the above come from not only our own earth, but the sun, our solar system, and our universe in general.

And mentally, what are "you"? "You" are affected by your parents, friends, schools, "churches", and anyone else you've learned from, whether it be intentionally done or not.

Once we come to grips with this, then one can see why the Buddha would say to treat our enemy as we would our own mother. Sound familiar? Didn't Jesus say we should love our enemies as ourselves, including even those who wish to persecute us?

However, the above is not to imply that "you" are exactly the same as everyone else and that differences should be totally ignored. Again, a return to dharma, which states "everything in moderation, nothing to extreme"-- the Middle Path.

Shalom & have a great weekend,
Vern

LOL Metis.

I don't believe I am (we are) one with the cosmos. If I can leave the cosmos behind me (physical death), I can not be a part of it. I don't believe in Dharma, Karma or any arma LOL

I see "you" being different from "You". Yes "you" makes up all the things you listed, but if you took all these things away "You" would still be.

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May your awareness be perfection