There's something particularly insidious about the idea that "We Are All One."
Yeah, I know, I know . . . it sounds wonderfully spiritual and enlightened to say "we are all One." It sounds, oh, so inclusive, so un-American, so gentle and loving and soothing and healing. It sounds like the very opposite of our society's social isolation and lack of love. It sounds like something the soul would say, doesn't it?
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| These ripple patterns in a still lake were formed as single water droplets fell from the trees after a heavy rain. As souls, each of us affects the universe in the way these small water droplets bring wavelets to the lake. From a distance, it may look as if the waters of the lake are "all One." But up close, each droplet affects the lake in unique ways. Christian mystics have too often looked at Creation from a distance and chosen to see it as "all One." In fact, Creation is a marvel of diversity and uniqueness. It's Divine Love that creates the background of calmness and beauty against which each soul -- each droplet -- can paint a small picture that says, "I'm here! I may be small, but I matter!" Together, countless small droplets flow and dance and weave together to create infinite wonders. Photo credit JAT 2015. |
Millions of spiritual seekers think so. They're out there trying to become "one" with God, "one" with Creation, "one" with each other. They're trying with all their might to "let go." They've been told by religious and spiritual teachers that they have to dissolve themselves and let go of their wants and needs in order to experience transcendence -- a blissful sense of union with the oneness of all life, a sense that all boundaries have vanished, a sense that they're finally free of all longing and suffering.
This, my friends, is not what mystical union feels like. This is what dissociation from your thoughts, feelings, and inner wisdom feels like. This is what the major mental illness called Atypical Dissociative Disorder feels like. Sometimes the dissociation is so extreme that the person can be said to exhibit psychopathy (also called sociopathy).
Many people will be furious with me for saying this. But it needs to be said. And it needs to be fully researched. There's no excuse for the church -- or anyone else, for that matter -- to be teaching people to dissociate from their thoughts, feelings, and needs. This is reckless, dangerous, and abusive. It scars people's central nervous systems, typically for life. It's no different than driving a steel rod through their skulls, and turning them all into Phineas-Gage-lookalikes. (Phineas Gage was a 19th century worker who underwent a dramatic personality change after an industrial accident propelled a steel rod through his left cheek, into the orbitofrontal cortex of his brain, and out the top of his head.)
I am a practising mystic. I'm NOT a mystical wannabee who wants to be counted as a mystic but has never actually had a genuine mystical experience. Thomas Merton, famed 20th century Christian monk, contemplative, and writer on mysticism, died in his 50's without ever having experienced a transformative mystical connection with God. Yet he wrote many books on the topic. I think he was a very sincere man, but I don't think it was right for him to claim to be an expert on something he'd never figured out for himself.
Me, I don't keep track of the many mystical experiences I've had in the past few years, because mystical experiences are now a normal part of my normal, everyday, Canadian life.
I live a normal Canadian life in most ways. I don't live in a religious community, and I don't live according to traditional Christian monastic rules. I have an apartment, a car, and a job. I take courses at the university. I get together with friends and family. I like to listen to pop music, and I love to watch TV (certain shows only, though).
Yet woven all around and within this daily life is a deep spiritual practice that yields a tremendous harvest of mystical connection with God. How have I managed to do this when dedicated, highly religious people like Thomas Merton have failed? I've managed to do this because I've discarded all spiritual teachings that insist "we are all One."
We are not all One. To say that we should have empathy for other people is NOT the same as saying we are all One. Of course I believe we should have empathy for others. Of course I believe there'd be a whole lot less suffering in the world if more people had empathy for others. Of course I believe that to cultivate empathy is to walk the walk of a spiritual life.
But this isn't what spiritual leaders mean when they say to you that "we're all One." They mean it literally -- they mean there's literally no real distinction, no real boundary, between you and your God. They mean that boundaries between you and other people are "illusion." They try to use some of the recent findings from physics to "prove" that everything in the universe is really only a manifestation of one big blob of energy in the sky. (Yes, I'm being facetious).
When they say you're One with God, they mean that if you try hard enough to shed all your humanness (like a snake shedding its old skin), you'll be able to merge with that big blob of energy called Creator. In effect, you'll become God, because you'll be able to "remember" that your "inner spark" is God. Once you've achieved this wondrous state of perfection, you'll no longer have to struggle with annoying human challenges such as forgiveness. You'll be above illusory things such as forgiveness. What's to forgive, after all, if the neighbour who harmed you is really just "you" in a different snake suit?
Isn't it an interesting coincidence that when you fully embrace the idea that "we're all One," you don't have to do any spiritual work anymore?
It's a good life, being "One with the All." You don't have to struggle with messy feelings, because you've dissociated yourself from your healthy human emotions. You don't have to feel guilt or shame about your choices, because all choices are illusory anyway. You can smile when other people are crying, because you've detached yourself from all that pain and grief stuff. You can go around pretending you understand what unconditional love is, because words are cheap when you're disconnected from your own inner wisdom, disconnected from your own soul.
The true path of the soul -- a path that has rarely been described in the history of Christian mysticism -- is a path of finding yourself rather than losing yourself. It's a path of finding out who you really are as the soul God made you to be. (Needless to say, everyone's soul is amazingly awesome.) It's a path of finding out what makes you a unique individual in a vast angelic family of other unique individuals (none of whom are better than you -- they're just different from you). It's a path of learning how to deal with powerful, divine emotions such as love, gratitude, courage, devotion, and trust. It's a path of honouring and respecting the differences between us (i.e. our gender, race, age, talents, quirks, and "blind spots"), and at the same time rejoicing in what makes us the same (i.e. our innate ability to love, to learn, to change, to forgive). It's a path of knowing who you are so you can know who other people are. It's a path of respecting boundaries between you and other people. It's a path of respecting boundaries between you and God.
Only then will you be able to enter into a mature and humble relationship with God the Mother and God the Father while you're living your human life.
This is the path that Jesus has taught me.
I highly recommend it.
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