Recognizing the oneness of all beings has profound implications for society, politics, and ethics, leading to a society founded on the principle that everyone is ultimately one.
Love and ethical behavior stem from the recognition that we share our being with others, challenging the notion of separation and calling for aligning our thoughts, feelings, and actions with the principle of love.
The path to freedom and authentic expression lies in recognizing our true nature as awareness and releasing attachment to external forms, effortlessly flowing in the world from a place of truth and recognition of our shared being.
Deep dives
The Non-Dual Understanding: Peace, Happiness, and Shared Being
The non-dual understanding encompasses two key aspects: the recognition that peace and happiness are the nature of our being, and the understanding that we share our being with everyone and everything. This recognition has profound implications for society, politics, and ethics, as it highlights that we are all interconnected as one. If politicians and individuals embrace this understanding, it could lead to a society founded on the principle that everyone is ultimately one.
Expanding Circle of Love and Ethical Behavior
Love and ethical behavior stem from the recognition that we share our being with others. Love is the experience of recognizing that another's self is our self, and hence we would never consciously hurt someone we love. Similarly, ethical behavior requires extending our circle of love to include all beings. By recognizing the oneness of all beings, we can cultivate a sense of compassion and refrain from consciously hurting any living being, including animals. This recognition challenges the notion of separation and calls for aligning our thoughts, feelings, and actions with the principle of love.
The Path to Freedom and Authentic Expression
The path to freedom and authentic expression lies in recognizing our true nature as awareness. While individuals may have various ways of expressing this recognition, such as activism, wealth creation, or leading a quiet life of contemplation and aesthetic creation, the crucial aspect is to establish ourselves in the understanding that we are already inherently free. By releasing attachment to external forms, including spiritual traditions or teachers, and investigating our essential nature, we can effortlessly flow in the world, acting from a place of truth and recognition of our shared being.
The Illusion of Individuality
The speaker explores the illusion of individuality and the human tendency to assert an individual self. This assertion implies a finite reality, denying the infinite nature of reality. However, in a state of complete unity, there is no sense of self. The speaker suggests that feeling like an individual in a state of contemplation on the inside and gratitude on the outside places one in the correct relationship with the whole.
The Complexity of Evil and Devotion to Truth
The conversation delves into the question of how to justify devotion and prayer to a God that manifests as evil, using Hitler as an example. The speaker clarifies that hating Hitler as an individual substantiates the belief in a separate self and validates his behavior. However, hating his actions, which violate love and truth, is justifiable. Furthermore, the speaker distinguishes between positive and negative polarities of service and emphasizes the importance of delving into the depths of one's own mind, taking personal responsibility, and not projecting negativity onto external entities or deities.
In this latest Rupert Spira Podcast episode, Rupert has a delightfully philosophical conversation with the Oxford Psychedelic Society that delves into many facets of the concept of oneness as the nature of reality, illustrating how we experience it in our daily lives.
With the understanding that we are all one — the essence of the non-dual understanding which forms the basis of all major spiritual and religious traditions — how do we reconcile the fact that we share the same being with the apparent separateness of everybody and everything? And in a world where we do realise the truth of oneness — or infinite consciousness — what are the implications that has for the way that we structure society?
Covering ethics, metaphysics, infinity and the finite mind, good and evil, suffering, love, self-enquiry, the illusion of ego, panpsychism, consciousness, the universe and the Buddhist notion of emptiness, this in-depth and wonderfully illuminating discussion leads us to the inevitable conclusion that is summed up beautifully by the Indian sage Ramana Maharshi: “Your own Self-Realisation is the greatest service you can render the world.”
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