We are all One…really?

This is a complicated subject, as we all have the same potential, but not at the same time. If we were all one, then if one was enlightened, we would all be enlightened! We’re not 😉

There is a ‘New Age’ idea that we are all one. This masks any effort on our part to recognise and realise our actual potential. Phrases such as “I do not need a teacher,” “I do not need to meditate,” “I need no path,” “I place no one above my head” and “We are all one” are sound bytes which satisfy the mind in that moment, but have no lasting benefit.

The complicated part is…this is all true – at an advanced level. And there is the rub (the core of a difficult situation). At any moment, we have different capacities or levels of understanding. This is the same in any subject, and to the ego, this is annoying…very annoying!

It’s like ‘New’ Age Art – “Don’t bother learning to draw, just throw the paint!” We have been falling for that psychology for a very long time.

In Tibetan Buddhism, there are superior, middling and inferior capacities, as well as the nine vehicles (levels). And this is how we progress. It’s a natural process. Believe me, there is absolutely no point in running before we can walk…because we will end up having to walking anyway. This is to do with wanting golden roof teachings when uncontrolled emotions are not tamed, thus providing a firm foundation.

 This ‘New Age’ wants to level us all off, so that we all stay confused together, guessing and not knowing. I sometimes wonder what sort psychology is behind it all. It plays down to our inner fantasies, such as “I have special powers.”

Unfortunately, the internet with all its marvellous facilities, allows a social interaction where people type the first thing that come into their head, as if it were gospel – or even interesting – and don’t then review how silly it sounds. So you want me to be one with that? Crazy! I look at stuff I’ve written in the past, and I wouldn’t want to be one even with that!

However, saying all this, there are moments where there is a meeting of minds. A sort of mutual recognition – but it never lasts long. Oneness is there all the time, but our claiming of it destroys it.

Better than oneness is zero-ness, with no expectations.
This is true emptiness.
True oneness comes from the unity of the two truths.

Awareness and Emptiness

Emptiness is sacred space,
allowing experiences to take place within it.

 Awareness without emptiness:
everything seems real,
and so we struggle.

Emptiness without awareness:
everything seems unreal
and so everything seems pointless.

The two
– awareness and emptiness –
are a unity.
By virtue of one, the other is known.
This is the Middle Way.