To Simply Be

Do take a look at the comments on the previous post, Let's Pretend (please click here), as some very interesting ideas came up. Please also click here to see further comments on Unity Is Powerful, as Dr Rob Yeung emerged out of the network of gossamer threads which comprise the internet to protest that I hadn't been very fair about his book on office politics. I have duly apologised and I have to say that it comes as a relief to discover that the book wasn't - apparently - as horrid as I thought it was. This makes me realise how new I am to this blogging business, though. It's like you're taking part in a discussion one night in the pub only to find that, say, George Bush is suddenly sitting beside you, complaining that you've got it all wrong about his foreign policy.

Come to think of it, I did have a go at Bush and Blair in a previous post. I wonder...? No, it's OK. They'll have a lot of other blogs to get round first.

It's interesting in terms of what we've been discussing here, though. I found that I was very eager to correct any misrepresentation I'd made about Dr Rob's book, so at least I wasn't hung up on "the need to be right". As far as I was aware, I was simply keen to make a correction in the interests of truth - but was there something else going on as well? Was my main concern really to prove to the world what a fair-minded and generally admirable human being I am?

Which leads us on quite neatly to what I wanted to say in this post...

Did you try what I suggested last time? The idea was to imagine that what Einstein said is right: that we are, in essence, an integral part of the universe rather than separate entities. If we take this idea to its logical conclusion it would mean that we are all essentially one: that when we look into someone else's eyes, we see ourselves staring back; that when we smile at someone else, we are smiling at ourselves.

Some people might view this idea as a precursor to mental instability, but others may find that it taps into something inside them, something they like. The important thing is: how does it make you feel? You don't have to believe it, but if it makes you feel good, then why not go on pretending? And is it really, after all, such a ridiculous idea?

It is no more ridiculous, surely, than this all-powerful construct we carry around in our heads: this Thing which is our Image, this 'My Space' of the mind. We all have this image of ourselves - and which we imagine others share - which we preen and polish with everything we do. We judge our every word and action to see if they make us look better or worse in the eyes of the world, before slotting them into the fabric of this Monster, which we feel we have to rebuild and repair every moment of our lives.

But what if we don't have to bother with any of this? What if we aren't in competition at all? If we're really all one, as we've been discussing, then the various sources of stress I've mentioned in recent posts - with the possible exception of Trick Or Treat - lose their power to affect us. Why should we bother what others think, or care if we win an argument, if we're only really competing with ourselves?

At this realization, a great weight can suddenly fall from our shoulders. Suddenly, there's nothing we have to prove any more. All the years of ceaseless striving can finally come to an end. There's no shiny image of ourselves by which we will be judged. It doesn't matter. At last we can simply be.

 

These may also be of interest:

Let's Pretend

The Image Within

The Need To Be Right

Being Ourselves

Comments

[daft mare]

Just wondering about this 'we are all one' business and 'when we smile at someone else, we are essentially smiling at ourselves'.... Does it matter, then, if I stop doing things for other people as I assume 'I am really doing them for myself'??
Life was difficult enough before reading all this as I struggled with working out how much I should do for others and how much for me and mine; are you telling me not to bother as it's all the same in the end, anyway??
Daft Mare from Bradford x

[Simon]

As readers will have gathered, I love trying to work out what's going on with this life, god, and the universe business - and I even think I've found some provisional answers. But in my response to a comment on the previous post (Let's Pretend) I mentioned the concept of "buddhi", our natural, intuitive intelligence, and I think it's important that we don't ignore this as we play around with ideas. Sure, it's nice to think that we're all One, and I think we probably are, but - hey - I can't prove it. So to use that idea as an argument to stop doing things for other people is over the top and goes against what my natural intelligence tells me. Throwing such concepts around is only useful insofar as they help us to develop as people and lead happier, more fulfilled lives. If they seem to be leading us in another direction entirely, the chances are they're either wrong or - as in this case, I think - our understanding of them is incomplete.

And if that seems like a cop out, let's look at things from another perspective: imagine being an all-powerful being which radiates love but has no object for that love because the all-powerful being is All There Is. Doesn't that sound like the ultimate "lonely heart" situation? So what would you do? How about splitting yourself up into a number of what *appear* to be separate entities so that you have some "other" with which to share your love - so that you are no longer alone?

Does that sound like a good enough motive for creating the universe? (Just an idea...)

[Andy]

Daft Mare from Bradford,

'Oneness' asside, if you look deep at those things you say you do for others you will realise that you actually do them for yourself - perhaps for appreciation from them? perhaps to make you feel better about your own life? or perhaps so you can blame them for getting in the way of your own life?

All this is said by someone who used to do a lot for other people.....

[Simon]

I think we can use "buddhi" in this respect too. If we are helping someone else, does it seem "right" to us that we are doing so, or is there some tension or resentment there? If the latter, perhaps we should think more carefully about the reasons why we are doing it.

[Forgetful God]

I can honestly say that this is the best article I've read on here so far. Why? Because it gets very close to the point of all of this...unity. You are right, after all, it isn't such a strange idea...but that isn't why we don't want to look at it.
What I mean is that we're not really trying to admit that all of us are "part of one thing" we are trying to admit that all of us are "You"...this might sound like an easy concept but what about the implications behind it? If all of us are You then the problem of other people really isn't applicable...the problem is our fear that this might be true. Think about it this way...there are no other people, there is nothing except You and your mind...thus, you are alone. This is our biggest and only fear and to make it even worse, you are alone for eternity. It doesn't sound so cozy this way, does it? It can though, it just requires choice...we can choose to perceive this however we want.
Fear of the unknown, Fear of death, and Fear of Being alone are all, ultimately, the same Fear...we're afraid of being "God". You could try to rationalize this fear, but you don't have to...you just have to know that it exists as a perception and is a matter of choice. I think most people are going to get stuck on this problem though because of our tendency to want to establish control...we believe we must "dominate" or "face" our fears...but as "one thing" there really is no need. Fear, like everything else, is just a reflection of You...so just as you would shrug off a bothersome mosquito you can also simply shrug off your fear...there is nothing that says you must face it. Well, except our own need to prove ourselves...but who are we trying to convince?

Thanks for the great read,

A Forgetful God

[Simon]

Thanks for this and welcome. I went to a talk by Nick Roach (http://www.nickroach.co.uk) the other day. Nick is enlightened (as, I presume from the posts on your own blog, are you, Forgetful God) by which I mean that he has reached a state where he is in constant awareness of unity, perceiving himself as not separate from everything else.

I seem to remember he mentioned passing through this same fear of being all alone in the universe, to which you refer. I guess this was what I was getting at myself when I talked about a "lonely heart situation" in my response to daft mare above. But I can't say I'm losing any sleep over this.

I can understand the problem intellectually but it hasn't hit me emotionally yet - perhaps because I still have so far to go on the path to enlightenment. For me, at this stage, the fear is much more about letting go of my precious ego, the monster of which spoke in the main post.

[Dr Rob]

Thanks for correcting re: my book! And hope you're finding that blogging is achieving what you hoped for.

Cheers!

[smita pooja]

awesome ! its really help me acquired great knowledge

[Simon]

Glad you liked the post, Smita. Thanks for leaving a comment!