Incarnations Of The One

As someone approaches us from a distance, we might recognize him facially or he might turn out to be wearing a badge that identifies him as a fellow member of a church, party or other organization. Otherwise, although we might exchange greetings as we pass, we will have no reason to stop and speak.

Imagine that there ceases to be a distinction between friends, acquaintances, relatives or fellow members on the one hand and mere passersby on the other. If the many are incarnations of the One, then the appropriate response is to recognize and respect every other person as a fellow member of the universal self.

We really are all in it together despite the fact that current economic and social relationships set us apart. In fact, we already recognize a basic unity underlying social divisions:

theoretically, everyone is equal before the law;
if a Duke and his servant are trapped inside a burning building, then the Fire Brigade's only concern is to rescue two living human beings, not to get the Duke out first;
the Duke should agree that, if a choice had to be made, then a woman and child, even if they are commoners, should be got to safety before he is.

Imagine a civilization based on recognition of unity. For a start, no borders. Olaf Stapledon's Last Men gather and stand silently in public places or outside their dwellings when they make a telepathic linkage that temporarily generates the Racial Mind. This may not be possible, nor is it necessary. If humanity survives, then it will have to value difference without division and unity without uniformity. And everyone will be equally at one with their environment when alone as when in company.

"...Inside You There Is A God"

Originally published on Comics Appreciation,26 July 2014.

Mr Cream tells Michael Moran:

"Mr. Moran...Listen very carefully...You are a fool. You are a weakling and a coward...But inside you there is a GOD. Inside you there is SOMEONE BETTER THAN US... ...And whatever the cost, you must PROTECT him."
-Miracleman No 7 (New York, 2014), p. 16.

Comic book dialogue has its own ways of emphasizing words and phrases.

I quote this dialogue because it is true of Moran while he is not Miracleman but also because it is true of every human being.

The One And The Self

At every moment, we face towards the One or the self.
The One is without, symbolized by the Sun.
The self is within, a mental construct.
But the One is within, an inner oneness.
And the self is without, superficial thoughts and distractions.

Wisdom And Delusion

The Buddha knew that he would die and would not be reborn.

Jesus believed that, after he had vicariously suffered for Israel but while he was still alive, a legion of angels would rescue him from the cross and that God would then reimpose His direct rule over the whole Earth. He died realizing that this approach had failed.

St Paul believed that Jesus had risen, had appeared to him and would return to initiate the kingdom as soon as he, Paul, had completed his mission to the Gentiles.

Maybe all three had some insight but the second and third let their imaginations generate illusions.

Gratitude And Imagination

I find it natural to express thanks, e.g., for sunlight and to address the imagined giver as "Lord," although that title is culturally specific. St Augustine imagined that the Sun, planets and stars told him, "Don't worship us. He made us." What they tell us is: "Don't worship any Giver. We evolved, as you are evolving."

It is possible that more highly evolved beings help the development of the less evolved. As we are, they were. As they are, we will be. We can imagine, without believing in the literal existence of, a deity who, with power, wisdom and compassion, directed the formation of our universe and who currently watches its evolution from a distant shore or balcony while his brothers and sisters oversee other cosmic realms. They are young but older than universes.

Reality And Appearance

When the one reality becomes self-conscious, it necessarily appears to itself as other, many, extended and enduring; thus as many discrete objects, including some individual subjects, coexisting in a spatiotemporal realm. Each psychophysical organism is simultaneously the one self-conscious reality and one of many individual subjects. Unconscious organisms are intermediate between inanimate objects and conscious organisms.

A spatiotemporal realm of objects none of which is a subject is a pre- or post-conscious state of reality. A material object external to consciousness is not necessarily an object of consciousness or vice versa. The latter also include abstractions, like concepts and possibilities.