In conversation with a friend, I described my previous post. My brush with experiencing consciousness at the level of the Universe.
My friend suggested that I write more.
I realize that such experiences are truly rare. It could be considered some kind of wondrous gift. Many, perhaps most people live their entire lives without ever experiencing such a vision. And yet there I was, half awake, half asleep, with my consciousness floating somewhere in a distant galaxy, looking back at our planet and realizing that I was completely integrated into all of it, and that everything around me, even to the farthest reaches of the universe, was one with me. The moons of Jupiter were as much a part of me as the very air I breathed; the farthest star no further than the end of my big toe.
It was so much more than time and space, however. I read somewhere that Einstein is supposed to have said that time was God's way of making sure that everything didn't happen at once.
But in that moment of enlightenment, when I felt that I was experiencing consciousness at the level of the Universe, I realized that Einstein was only kidding. That's not the way time works at all. In fact, everything IS happening all at once. Every moment of history, every experience, event, all of human history is happening right this second. But not just the past. The future too. It truly IS all happening at once. Past and present do not exist, really; they are conventions that we have created to make sense of things.
Our reality is certainly not wrong. It is perfectly real for us. We understand it and live our lives in it. But it isn't the only one. In my glimpse of Universal Consciousness, I saw and understood for just a moment that all other realities also coexist. I was able to see them and with my fully expanded mind, understand them.
I hesitate to say "my fully expanded mind," however. It wasn't me. I was not controlling it or "participating" in some way. Yet, at the same time, I was one with the Universe, and I saw and understood it from the perspective of myself. I looked back at Earth and saw that we are all one. I saw that everything is connected and interconnected. Con-substantial.
To say that this was a religious experience would be inaccurate, although I'm sure that some people might easily feel that they had touched the face of God. I didn't see God because I didn't have to. I WAS God, for all intents and purposes.
It may be sacrilegious to say such a thing, but that was how I felt. Not only was I God, but I was every person who has ever lived or ever will live. I was earth and trees and sand and water and stars and space and time. Planet and galaxies. A blade of grass and a supernova. A million billion grains of sand and an equal number of stars. I was emotion and longing and love and hunger. I could see everything everywhere all at once, and it was completely effortless. It just was and is.
I have only a recollection of this feeling; I can't summon up the actual state at will. Perhaps the most profound aspect of the experience, however, was that it was so completely, profoundly positive, joyful. The Universe is a good, happy, positive place. As I lay there awash in a feeling of omnipresence, amid the wonder and awe of it all was the overwhelming emotion of gratitude.
I was nudged away from this state by the sound of my own voice. "Oh wow, oh wow," I said, over and over again. The sense of connection became diminished as I awoke, and my refrain of "oh wow" became "thank you, thank you." I realized that I had been given the gift of enlightenment.
Except in that realization I knew that it was NOT enlightenment at all.
The secret to enlightenment is that it is not a secret. Enlightenment is here, all around us, everywhere, in every moment. It is in every breath we take, in every speck of dust, in every molecule, atom or electron that surrounds us. We ARE enlightenment and it is us. We are all one, inseparable and complete. In the same way, we are all other things, all together. We are sand and stone, we are wind, light, and sound. We are complete and whole and fully unified. It's not something we can discuss or describe, really; it simply is.
I can prove it to you right now. This is a neat trick. As you read these words, you also see the things that I see. Our minds have come together. In this brief moment, our minds are one. In that unity, you can see my thoughts and I can see yours. We become connected.
(Except we don't have to become connected; we already are; we always have been and always will be. We just have to remember that we are.)
That's the thing: we forget about it. We get so wrapped up in our lives that somehow the most essential thing about is is lost. Enlightenment is not a state that you must strive to achieve. It is not something you do. It's something that you remember.
Here's the thing, however, once you're informed of this, you will see it too. In describing it to you, I'm only pointing out something that you already know. Think about it. You know this, too. Remember? It's there, inside you. You just have to remember.
You already know that you're connected to me, that we are in fact one being. I can feel you and if you think about it you can feel me, too.
That doesn't make me God, however. Any more than you are. Any more than we all are. (Except that we are.)
I'm sure it sounds like I'm talking in circles, and I suppose I am. It's curious to know something and to be unable to describe it. Oddly, I feel like I don't have to describe it. I have only to help you remember it and then you'll know it too.
In this understanding, Time exists in a different way than we normally experience it.
The implication for this fascinating. For example: I know how to fly. I can make myself fly just like Superman. All of us can. We can all fly around the galaxy without space suits or special protective gear. I know this to be true, since I have done it.
Except I can't do it on command or any time I want. It's not that I don't want to, it's only that I don't remember how.
I also know all the inventions that we will ever know. All the great hit songs that will ever be written. I know them already. If only I could remember them.
All research into any subject. It's right on the tip of my tongue. If I could just remember it.
All knowledge is not the product of research or discovery. No, it is simply an act of remembrance. We just need to be reminded of it and we will remember.
Have you ever had an "aha"moment when something suddenly "clicks?" You get it. Well, I would argue that this sentiment is not actually learning, it's remembering something you already knew. It is moments like that when we are most connected to the Universe.
My friend suggested that I write more.
I realize that such experiences are truly rare. It could be considered some kind of wondrous gift. Many, perhaps most people live their entire lives without ever experiencing such a vision. And yet there I was, half awake, half asleep, with my consciousness floating somewhere in a distant galaxy, looking back at our planet and realizing that I was completely integrated into all of it, and that everything around me, even to the farthest reaches of the universe, was one with me. The moons of Jupiter were as much a part of me as the very air I breathed; the farthest star no further than the end of my big toe.
It was so much more than time and space, however. I read somewhere that Einstein is supposed to have said that time was God's way of making sure that everything didn't happen at once.
But in that moment of enlightenment, when I felt that I was experiencing consciousness at the level of the Universe, I realized that Einstein was only kidding. That's not the way time works at all. In fact, everything IS happening all at once. Every moment of history, every experience, event, all of human history is happening right this second. But not just the past. The future too. It truly IS all happening at once. Past and present do not exist, really; they are conventions that we have created to make sense of things.
Our reality is certainly not wrong. It is perfectly real for us. We understand it and live our lives in it. But it isn't the only one. In my glimpse of Universal Consciousness, I saw and understood for just a moment that all other realities also coexist. I was able to see them and with my fully expanded mind, understand them.
I hesitate to say "my fully expanded mind," however. It wasn't me. I was not controlling it or "participating" in some way. Yet, at the same time, I was one with the Universe, and I saw and understood it from the perspective of myself. I looked back at Earth and saw that we are all one. I saw that everything is connected and interconnected. Con-substantial.
To say that this was a religious experience would be inaccurate, although I'm sure that some people might easily feel that they had touched the face of God. I didn't see God because I didn't have to. I WAS God, for all intents and purposes.
It may be sacrilegious to say such a thing, but that was how I felt. Not only was I God, but I was every person who has ever lived or ever will live. I was earth and trees and sand and water and stars and space and time. Planet and galaxies. A blade of grass and a supernova. A million billion grains of sand and an equal number of stars. I was emotion and longing and love and hunger. I could see everything everywhere all at once, and it was completely effortless. It just was and is.
I have only a recollection of this feeling; I can't summon up the actual state at will. Perhaps the most profound aspect of the experience, however, was that it was so completely, profoundly positive, joyful. The Universe is a good, happy, positive place. As I lay there awash in a feeling of omnipresence, amid the wonder and awe of it all was the overwhelming emotion of gratitude.
I was nudged away from this state by the sound of my own voice. "Oh wow, oh wow," I said, over and over again. The sense of connection became diminished as I awoke, and my refrain of "oh wow" became "thank you, thank you." I realized that I had been given the gift of enlightenment.
Except in that realization I knew that it was NOT enlightenment at all.
The secret to enlightenment is that it is not a secret. Enlightenment is here, all around us, everywhere, in every moment. It is in every breath we take, in every speck of dust, in every molecule, atom or electron that surrounds us. We ARE enlightenment and it is us. We are all one, inseparable and complete. In the same way, we are all other things, all together. We are sand and stone, we are wind, light, and sound. We are complete and whole and fully unified. It's not something we can discuss or describe, really; it simply is.
I can prove it to you right now. This is a neat trick. As you read these words, you also see the things that I see. Our minds have come together. In this brief moment, our minds are one. In that unity, you can see my thoughts and I can see yours. We become connected.
(Except we don't have to become connected; we already are; we always have been and always will be. We just have to remember that we are.)
That's the thing: we forget about it. We get so wrapped up in our lives that somehow the most essential thing about is is lost. Enlightenment is not a state that you must strive to achieve. It is not something you do. It's something that you remember.
Here's the thing, however, once you're informed of this, you will see it too. In describing it to you, I'm only pointing out something that you already know. Think about it. You know this, too. Remember? It's there, inside you. You just have to remember.
You already know that you're connected to me, that we are in fact one being. I can feel you and if you think about it you can feel me, too.
That doesn't make me God, however. Any more than you are. Any more than we all are. (Except that we are.)
I'm sure it sounds like I'm talking in circles, and I suppose I am. It's curious to know something and to be unable to describe it. Oddly, I feel like I don't have to describe it. I have only to help you remember it and then you'll know it too.
In this understanding, Time exists in a different way than we normally experience it.
The implication for this fascinating. For example: I know how to fly. I can make myself fly just like Superman. All of us can. We can all fly around the galaxy without space suits or special protective gear. I know this to be true, since I have done it.
Except I can't do it on command or any time I want. It's not that I don't want to, it's only that I don't remember how.
I also know all the inventions that we will ever know. All the great hit songs that will ever be written. I know them already. If only I could remember them.
All research into any subject. It's right on the tip of my tongue. If I could just remember it.
All knowledge is not the product of research or discovery. No, it is simply an act of remembrance. We just need to be reminded of it and we will remember.
Have you ever had an "aha"moment when something suddenly "clicks?" You get it. Well, I would argue that this sentiment is not actually learning, it's remembering something you already knew. It is moments like that when we are most connected to the Universe.
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