An Expanding Consciousness Recognises the Inherent Oneness and Mutuality of All Existence

An Expanding Consciousness Recognises the Inherent Oneness and Mutuality of All Existence
Posted on December 9, 2024
When we identify with the ego personality, we view the world as being separate and apart from ourselves, and we look at other beings as either competition for resources or threats to our existence in most cases. We acquire substance through effort and we try to hold onto it and add to it to ensure our own survival and enjoyment of our lives. From this standpoint we therefore treat anything we give away as a ‘loss’ of substance and thereby, an implicit threat to our long term ability to survive and thrive.

When we see our existence from another viewpoint, however, we can see that what we considered to be a normal viewpoint from our ego-consciousness is actually an illusion. In fact we are parts or elements within a larger unified field of existence and we co-exist with all other beings and do not actually survive independently. We are not “islands” but part of a vast continent.

A simple example illustrates this. When we breathe, we obtain the oxygen we need to sustain ourselves. This oxygen is generated by plant life on the planet. The plant life gives voluntarily its oxygen excretion to us. In return, we give back carbon dioxide, which happens to be what the plant life needs to survive. Thus, we are symbiotic, not separated. In this instance, there is a mutual give and take that is occurring, but when we look deeper we can see that in fact, everything we do in the world, everything we give, everything we receive, is part of this virtuous cycle of mutual support, even if we do not recognise it immediately in the process of a specific exchange of energy or substance. As we widen our consciousness, we begin to recognise this natural process, like breathing, that moves energy, substance and support around freely. At that point, we find that giving what needs to be given at a certain point in time, is not a ‘loss’ but an affirmation of the principle of oneness, and instead of suffering a diminution, we help bring into view a greater harmony and support structure that is based in that greater harmony.

A disciple asks: “Why do human beings always want to have something in exchange for what they give?”

The Mother notes: “Because they are shut up in themselves. … They sense their limitation and think that in order to grow, increase and even survive, they need to take things from outside, for they live in the consciousness of their personal limitation. So, for them, what they give makes a hole and this hole must be filled up by receiving something!… Naturally, this is a mistake. And the truth is that if instead of being shut up in the narrow limits of their little person, they could so widen their consciousness as to be able not only to identify themselves with others in their narrow limits, but to come out of these limits, pass beyond, spread out everywhere, unite with the one Consciousness and become all things, then, at that moment the narrow limits will vanish, but not before. And as long as one senses the narrow limits, one wants to take, for one fears to lose. One spends and wants to replenish. It is due to that, my child. For if one were spread out in all things, if all the vibrations which come and go expressed the need to merge into everything, to widen oneself, grow, not by remaining within one’s limits but coming out of them, and finally to be identified with everything, one would no longer have anything to lose for one would have everything. Only, one doesn’t know this. And so, as one doesn’t know, one can’t do it. One tries to take, accumulate, accumulate, accumulate, but that is impossible, one can’t accumulate. One must identify oneself. And then, the little bit one gives, one wants to get back: one gives a good thought, one expects some recognition; one gives a little affection, one expects it from others… for one doesn’t have the ability to become the good thought in everything, one doesn’t have the ability to be the affection, the tender love in all things. One feels just like that, all cut up and limited, and fears to lose everything, fears to lose what one has because one would be impoverished. On the other hand, if one were able to identify oneself, one would no longer need to pull. The more one spreads out, the more one has. The more one gets identified, the more one becomes. And then, instead of taking, one gives. And the more one gives, the more one grows.”

“But for this, one must be able to come out of the limits of one’s little ego. One must be identified with the Force, identified with the Vibration instead of being identified with one’s ego.”

“It is very difficult, but one can succeed.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter XIII Power of Identification, pp. 110-112