Why do we live? What is it all about? What can I do to make our human experience more loving, peaceful, and joyful?
Through years of exploration, one thing is crystal clear.
Our mind knows very little about the world we operate in. Of this, I am positive.
I have a deep passion for exploring truths of the universe and learning about anything pertaining to the human experience, the universe we dance in, and the Great Mystery.
The Power of Psychedelic Experiences
One key tool—I’d say the most direct and exciting experiential tool I’ve tried—has been taking journeys with psychedelic medicines. They have been a key tool for me to experience the universe more as it really is.
To use a common analogy, psychedelic exploration is like a microscope in the research lab.
You can see much more of what is really going on within the specimen when using a microscope as opposed to the naked eye. You don’t need to live your life staring into the microscope, but it can be a useful way to access more of life. And, this inquiry can help clarify how you want to participate in this strange design that we call “life.”
Psychedelics helped me directly experience the existent oneness that is “life.”
The life that contains “all that is,” and includes my own role within life, as well as all of the other components.
“All that is” is, indeed, everything and anything. Existence itself. The whole enchilada.
The aspects of our universe’s form that I have been shown afforded me direct experiences of a universe that is very alive, astonishingly complex, yet perfectly organized, perfectly simple, and entirely connected.
A truly multidimensional universe that is completely unified and fractal at all scales. “As above, so below.”
Moments of Connection
Once I experienced a glimpse of this inherent Oneness, I realized that I’ve experienced brief moments of this feeling plenty of times before and without any substances to aid the process.
The moment of hitting a home run in baseball, grooving to the perfect music for that perfect moment, or the most easily relatable—-the moment of sexual orgasm!
While it is impossible to accurately describe the fullness of this truth in words, we definitely all know the feeling. The feeling where everything has suddenly synched up perfectly, where everything is truly right, that one fleeting moment of true blissful perfection. Everything is truly “all good in the ‘hood” at that moment.
This oneness is in you too. An infinite fire that burns deep within you. An overwhelming sense of love and powerful sweet energy that comes when you feel aligned and connected and are feeling your best self.
There are many, dare I say ‘infinite,’ ways of creating the conditions that allow ourselves to feel this connected Oneness. We don’t need to go anywhere to experience it, and we don’t need substances or any modality to feel it.
Why?
Well, we are literally it. We are the oneness.
You. Me. One another. Family and friends. People we can’t stand being around. Politicians. Criminals. Saints. Humanitarians. Strangers. Animals. Bugs. Plants. Fungi. Water. Seaweed. Regular weed. Earth itself. Sound itself. Even non-biological material like my couch and living space.
Every. Last. Thing.
How could any of it not be contained in “all of existence?”
If it exists, it is a part of the one. Only things that do not exist are outside of the one.
The Comfort in Recognizing Unity
Bringing this into my awareness brought massive, deep comfort to me in life. It kind of felt like my “home team” just got a whole lot bigger.
Which people, places, or things do I know of within this life that do not exist? … …
What I know now, many years later, is that there are many names for this truth of Oneness. God, the field, Source, The Great Mystery, unified field, Goddess, aether, totality, consciousness, universe, the quantum field, Source, etc.
So many names, yet, a single message.
Every iota of existence is completely connected and alive.
Everything we think, say or do has an effect on totality. Conveniently, science has caught up now to this truth that has been spoken in spiritual traditions for ever.
“But why does any of this matter? I still need to go to my job, feed and shelter myself and family, and be part of the human society we have developed. Who cares that we are all one?”
I care. And many of us care more than we may realize on a daily basis.
After all, do you know why we are here? What are we supposed to do on earth?… I’m not sure, either.
But I do know something for sure that informs my inquiry of, “Why does any of this matter?”
Living as Part of One Human Family
Viewing all of this life as one cohesive team, one human family—every single person, every single animal/plant/creature, every single piece of material—radically improves life for me and for those I interact with.
That is not philosophical—that has just been based on my lived experience.
And maybe, just maybe, the more we cultivate a healthy curiosity for this mystery that is life, the more we can recognize the unity in all beings and things.
Maybe the more we allow some of the mysteriousness and beauty of it all to seep in, the clearer the oneness starts to become.
Maybe the more we look at one another as aspects of our one true infinite self (life), the more gentle and joyful the life experience will be.
Maybe my work/money/caretaking responsibilities start to be viewed as an honor. An honor to participate in life as one gorgeous aspect of the divine spectrum of life. An honor to be one critical piece of beautiful broken glass that makes up the mosaic of life.
All pieces of the mosaic are needed to make life complete. Every single piece.
“Treat others the way you wish to be treated” takes on a new meaning when every single other being in life is literally you.
As Dr. Bronner aptly states: “We are All One, or we are None.”
