Most people were raised to believe that the edge of where our skin ends and where the outside world begins is where we as individuals end. The fact of the matter is, when babies are born, they have what Freud called the oceanic feeling, which is not knowing the difference between the inside world and the outside world. It's all the same thing to them, it's just one happening that's occurring. They don't understand that there is an I experiencing it all, there's just experience.
The process wherein babies and children are educated out of feeling that there is no difference between them and all other things they see in the outside world is absolutely necessary in order to socialize children. Otherwise, they would be intolerable members of society.
However, it is equally necessary, and this is the least known and least talked about part, that to regain this oceanic feeling in adulthood is extremely helpful in order to treat your fellow beings on this planet with compassion. There's a reason the golden rule in all religions is: treat your neighbor like you would like to be treated, and it's because you are your neighbor! It's also the reason we feel the need to dominate the planet, by deforesting it and submitting it to our will, and it's because we feel estranged from it, rather than that we came out of it.
Now if you can see that you came out of this universe the same way a wave comes out of an ocean, rather than the popular belief that you popped into this universe out of nowhere. And realize that this earth "peoples" just like trees grow fruit; the more you will feel a certain ecstasy, freedom and joy about existence and this planet, and not feel the need to make the environment submit to your will, but rather be kind to it.
Another fundamental thing to realize and can easily be done within 15 minutes of sitting quietly with your eyes closed and trying to stop your thoughts, is that you as the controller of your thoughts and actions and feelings, don't really exist. That there is no controller. Your thoughts arise like hiccups and you can't stop it. For further explanation on this you can read my other article where I go more in depth on this: @entity401/you-don-t-really-exist-and-here-s-why, or I recommend just try it yourself.
In this world, there's one energy. Many people have tried many names for it like Brahman, or God, but in the west, the idea of God is so mixed up with the idea of God as the father and all that, so I'm going to call it the Tao. The famous philosopher Laozi (aka Lao Tzu) once wrote a poem on the matter and it goes like this:
Here is something blurred and indistict
Antedating (predating) heaven and earth
How indistinct! How blurred!
Yet within it are forms.
How dim! How confused!
Quiet, though ever functioning.
It does nothing, yet through it all things are done.
To its accomplishment it lays no credit.
It loves and nourishes all things,
but does not lord it over them.
I do not know its name,
I call it the Tao.
The Tao is formless and vague
It is hidden, mysterious and dark
It is the source of all things.
The great Tao flows everywhere,
to the left and to the right.
All things depend upon it to exist,
and it does not abandon them.
To its accomplishment it lays no claim.
It loves and nourishes all things,
But does not lord it over them.
You can find the rest of the poem if you'd like but for my point that's all that's required. The Christians have also found a name for it and called it the Holy Spirit.
But, really there's nothing you can do to attain this experience, because you don't exist. Either it comes to you, or it doesn't, and there's nothing that you can do about it. So you may wake up one day and look up at the stars, and realize that everything you see out there is you, waiting to experience all those experiences, except you can only do it one at a time, now as John Doe and later as Betty, later as a dinosaur and so on and so forth and it goes on forever and ever and ever.
And you're doing all this, and you've put yourself exactly where you are now. The game we play here on earth, that most people subscribe to, is that we're this little ego on a random rock ball floating around, and the absolutely astonishing part is that you can live all this and not even know that you're the one who did this. By that I mean, you both can play the game of being "it", and not even know you're "it".
Therefore, what you call the external world is as much you as your own body. And should you see people who are playing this game, you absolutely should not hate on them, because they are playing the greatest game in the universe.
If that isn't the most astonishing game that has ever been created, I don't know what is. I'll repeat that: The experience you're having everyday, of pretending you're not it, is the same thing as it!
You bring this universe to life with your eyes and ears and other senses. You see, light only exists in relation to your eyes, and the vibrations that we call sounds only exist because of your eardrum. Existence is relativity, and you're right in the middle of it all.
Sadness must exist, because it's only in relation to sadness that you know what happiness is. Pain and suffering must exist, because you wouldn't know the joys of the opposite end of the spectrum without it. And so, life only exists in relationship with death.
The real secret then is to be completely engaged in what you're doing now, because now is the only thing that really exists. When the past was occurring, it was now, and when the future happens, that'll be now too. So the skill lies in seeing that and experiencing now to its fullest, and instead of calling it work, realize that it is play.
Death can also be used to remember this fact, as in if you're told you're going to die tomorrow, I'm pretty sure you would really enjoy each moment you had left today, and in this way, experience life to its fullest. Death in most cultures in the world is hushed up and not talked about much out loud, if at all. But really the fact that you will die is your helper.
You should think about your death often, and rather than believe that when you die you're going to be locked up in a little box and undergo that experience, realize that there won't be any you to experience it. And, in the same way that you go to sleep and instantly wake up, it is likely that you will die, and instantly be born elsewhere. It is also productive to think about death because, once the magic of everything that we once knew in childhood ceases to be, we need to learn to relive each moment like it's the first time we're living it.
Credit: Philosopher Alan Watts and Laozi
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