Entire universe as one

Posted on November 11, 2009
Filed Under East meets West, Guest Columnist, SPIRITUALITY | 1 Comment

by Kimberly Aislinn Badgett

I am not a religious person and I do not believe in god but I do crave to understand the universe in such a way that empowers me to live in it both healthily as well as advantageously. The concept of religious faith has always troubled my desire for logical answers, and that feeling of discord spurned me to outline for myself what makes more sense, with as much foundation upon facts as can be possible. So I now challenge you, my reader, to consider this: Can this universe we live in, full of feelings about what is right and wrong, and full of wondrous things that defy immediate explanation, exist independent of God? I propose that yes, it can, and now I will explain why.

I see the entire universe as one. We came from energy, we are comprised of energy, and in the end return to energy. Even our lifetimes as we know them embody that same energy in action, physically and emotionally.

Just the fact that we are here in the first place beckons many of us to wonder if we are part of something greater, because it is not universally understood why we are here in the first place. And if it is assumed that we are indeed part of something greater, then one might next ask: Is there really such thing as self, or are we all part of one great mass of energy dancing with itself? And do we have an illusion of self only because our limited awareness prevents our seeing the whole to which we “each” entirely belong?

Enter God.

I really don’t believe in “God” (a single omnipotent being that is separate from us). However I do believe there is a marvelous morsel of reasoning which attempts to explain the creation process attributed to God, and deserves comparison to a more material perspective – Energy. On God: We are born from God, we are “in God’s image” and in the end we return to God. On energy: We came from energy, are made of energy, and return to energy. In the second version it especially seems that very little changes. Energy here, energy there, energy here again. So what you really have is energy that just keeps on moving around.

A next logical question in this line of reasoning might go: Why does it move around? And wouldn’t there need to be some hand (such as a God’s hand) holding the spoon to stir things up?

Concluding that there is a separate force stirring existence produces a logical dilemma. How can there be two truly separate entities in the first place, if it is already agreed upon that we come from the same singular source? If we indeed are all moving parts of the same whole, and we also agree that there is nothing truly separate from that whole, then it follows to conclude that the “stirring” is simply the energy in action – energy dancing with itself.

The most logical next question would be “but where did the energy come from and what caused it to begin dancing with itself?” The answer to that is beyond the scope of our understanding of time, at least for now. Religions have routinely attempted to answer this great question and frequently it is among the first matters addressed in their sacred texts and oral traditions (Christianity/Judaism, Egyptology, Navajo, Taoism, to name a few). They offer unique perspectives and meaningful stories that challenge us to look at the world through eyes other than our own, but their reliance upon faith leaves many hungering for a more solid answer. Scientists also are still struggling to answer that very same question of origination. The notion that something could come from nothing frustrates us like an itch we just can’t seem to scratch enough. I find that the most sensible approach to this challenging dilemma is to think beyond linear time. Unfortunately we have a hard time with that since our sense of awareness resides within linear time. So it’s like looking at the sky through the “eyes” of a sheet of paper – an irreconcilable dimensional difference.

Back to God.

Isn’t that mass of energy able to contain separate entities… an omnipotent being and also people? Yes and no. Yes in that there are a multitude of individual consciousnesses springing up within it and interacting. And no in that we are all still part of the same entity – that mass of dancing energy. Just as we cannot claim the air in England is truly separate from the air in Australia, we cannot claim one clump of energy is truly separate from another clump (Dear reader, you are now a dear clump. Sorry.)

So here we are, all of us energy clumps. Some of us turn to each other and ask who made us? Some decide they must have been made by something bigger than them. A God. A creator god certainly helps to explain away a great many things, but also create a very inconvenient chicken/egg conundrum. Meanwhile, another (and in my opinion and far more satisfying) explanation goes largely unexplored. If we are all truly One, then there is no hand stirring the pot, never was, never will be. No god. Unless, we consider an unusual alternative perspective: We are together god. There is only god and nothing else. God is that mass of dancing energy. God is you, god is me, god is everything.

The thought of not having a separate God watching over is certainly disconcerting to a lot of people. A god-fearing belief system provides a ready-made set of rules to happily obey (and of course break), and provides reassuring answers to many of life’s most difficult questions (origination, life after death, moral justice). Removing god from the equation means a challenging return to those difficult questions which were never quite answered satisfactorily in the first place (otherwise there would be no reason for faith, right?). It also begs the question: What would be the direction of a people without a guide of greater power to act as a moral compass? That need really not be a problem, though.

Our existence is our own making and we are not bound by any spiritual plans, since there is no planner. But there IS cause and effect. Balance. So even if we are nothing more than extensions of a greater whole possessing only the mere illusion of individuality, it should not matter. Those illusions, including the one who writes this essay, have only our limited awareness to work with and work with it we should. Just as our inner desires compete for dominance over us to determine our paths, so we the people of the world contribute the choices we make to the greater whole. The absence of a god does not leave us helpless, unguided, or without purpose. On the contrary, it actually empowers us to take responsibility for the lives we live because we realize that for every situation in which we find ourselves, we mould the outcome with the choices we make. How would you like to mould your life?

About Kimberly

kim-badgettKimberly Aislinn Badgett grew up in Bellevue, a middle-class suburb of Seattle, Washington, USA. She is single and currently lives in downtown Seattle in an apartment with several houseplants and a beloved fish, named Fishy. She adores books and collects them voraciously, and reads them somewhat as voraciously. Her true favorite past time is dancing, particularly with good friends, which she considers to be the ultimate celebration of life. Other strong interests include computers, cooking, music, and fashion. Badgett works full time for a Seattle-based insurance company as a Training Coordinator.



Comments

One Response to “Entire universe as one”

  1. the art of war on January 11th, 2010 9:31 am

    the art of war…

    …He wrote that . . ….

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