The puzzle of oneness - ricknotesricknotes

The achievement of oneness seems to be an essential aspect of traditional spiritual and new age teachings. Is it the holy grail of spiritual development? I often puzzle about what oneness really means.

Oneness is defined as follows:

Singularity; uniqueness
State of being one, single or whole
State of perfect harmony, accord, affinity or union
Sameness
State of unity

Let’s have a look at oneness, what it is, and what it isn’t – in a spiritual context.

It seems like a good place to start is with ourselves.

Oneness on a personal level would be the result of harmony, alignment, connection, wholeness and then unity of the following aspects of our being.

A. The unification of our “sub-personalities”.
It seems that we are all slightly schizophrenic. Within our consciousness there are many aspects of ourselves that are often at odds regarding life direction and day to day choices. For example: the rebel, the nice guy, the good girl, the wild child, the tyrant, etc. etc. These aspects of ourselves are often archetypal. Upon achieving oneness these splits and fractious “subs” are integrated into a single self, and by choice, in various situations, the microphone is handed to one of these and they take the stage.

B. The unification of aspects of our psychology that create the victim, persecutor, and rescuer within.
A “deeper” aspect of our inner drama centers around our living out the role of the victim, persecutor and rescuer. This inner drama is often expressed outwardly and our lives revolve around being wronged, taking revenge, or heroic riding to the rescue of others. This is the “sit-com” of our lives. Upon achieving oneness this drama recedes into the background, we know and acknowledge ourselves as all the roles and acting them out is replaced by self compassion.

C. The unification of the masculine and feminine aspects of ourselves.
Another generator of the drama in our lives is the inner (and consequently outer) “battle of the sexes”. Our inner feminine and masculine aspects are often estranged, incomplete, or distorted. In the journey to oneness the “inner marriage” of feminine and masculine occurs, and a new harmony arises within an integrated self.

D. The unification of our three “centers”.
Although different traditions use different terms, most seem to recognize that within us we have a thinking “center”, an emotional “center” and a physical “center”, with our sexual aspects being part of our physical center. The journey to oneness at this level is one of achieving harmony and then integration and coherence in these (three) aspects of our being. When achieved our thought, emotions and actions would be coherent – we would be “at one” within ourselves. The old patterns of doing one thing, thinking about alternatives, and feeling various emotions about what was going on would have ended, and we would be “at peace” internally. A new self that is a single “center of gravity” emerges.

E. The unification of our “shadow”.
Our shadow is the aspects of ourselves that have been abandoned / rejected / disowned. For each of us there are usually lost “light shadow” aspects of ourselves – our creative, intelligent, powerful, talented selves. And there are “dark shadow” aspects that are often an expression of the dark, cruel, desperate side of our humanity. In retrieving and re-integrating these aspects into ourselves we achieve wholeness. And the dark and light no longer haunts, or threatens us internally or externally.

Oneness, as defined above, focuses on personal integration and the achievement of personal “wholeness” – a unity of being. The extensive psycho-emotional-spiritual work required to achieve this level of oneness is challenging, if not daunting. With this work comes a significant reduction in the drama in our lives.

However oneness seems to be even bigger than this. It is also becoming “at one” with spirit. This can be thought of as a deep, strong and lasting connection with the creative impulse of life itself. We realize our spiritual nature, and that everything is an expression of one consciousness. We become “grounded” as spirit energy within, not in flashes of experience, insight or connection. We experience our connection to the elements, other people, all beings, and the whole cosmos. All are expressions of one consciousness, joined through spirit.

It is tempting and fanciful to focus primarily on this connection to spirit when working toward oneness, rather than the previously mentioned aspects of personal unification.

One way of gaining a better sense of what something is, is to examine what it is not. So, let’s have a look at some of the concepts that seem to be commonly associated with oneness.

Does the achievement of oneness lead to “sameness”? Would we all be the same if we achieved oneness? It seems like the answer to this is no, and there is great value in human diversity.
In our evolutionary journey as humans, the role of individuation seems very important. This is a process of a young person becoming distinct from the “entanglement” of family beliefs, roles and values, and able to choose their own path. This individuation brings about the possibility of unique gifts appearing in our midst, and leads to the possibility of personal spiritual undertakings, creativity and shifts in consciousness (often radical) that are part of the pathway of human evolution. Individuation, however, does not imply the dis-integration of ourselves as discussed in A-E above, or a separation from spirit. It does mean that oneness can be expressed in many different and interesting ways.

Does the individual achievement of oneness mean the end of duality (opposites) in our lives here on earth? Hmmm, this is tricky, since it entails an evaluation of why duality exists at all. To make the inquiry relatively simple, let’s recognize that there is one consciousness, that everything is an expression of that consciousness (spirit), and it is this spirit that we re-connect with on our journey to oneness. So, we aren’t talking about dual consciousness, but rather the expression of one consciousness as duality, with opposite and often extreme polarities. This begs the question of why one consciousness created duality in the cosmos, and made duality such a pervasive aspect of our “reality”. In fact, our left and right hemispheres and sides, two sexes, clockwise and counterclockwise spin, etc. etc. seem to be part of the essential fabric of this world. Was duality created for a purpose, or is it a mistake that needs to be corrected?
If we begin with the notion that duality, opposites, and the resultant polarities are fundamental requirements of a world that utilizes choice (free will) as the basis for spiritual development, then we recognize the value of duality. Without duality and the apparent opposing forces and conditions there would be no need for choice, and without choice there would be no crucible for human spiritual advancement. So, although duality and it’s associated polarities are often demonized as the root of many problems and something to be gotten rid of, that seems like this would be a tragic loss, and furthermore there is no indication of this happening any time soon. Indeed in these challenging times it appears that the extremes of polarity associated with many aspects of duality are increasing and thus creating additional “opportunities”. If duality is the crucible for our spiritual journeys, the classroom and the teacher, then trying to avoid it, condemn it, or wish it would change so life would be easier makes little sense. Consequently, perhaps a commitment to mastery of duality is a more resourceful approach. However it does up the ante on the path of initiation.

From this inquiry it appears that the journey to oneness is challenging. It requires real and deep personal healing / transformation. As this occurs then a deep and abiding connection with spirit, in all its various manifestations, can be achieved. Although it is tempting to jump straight to the connection with spirit, it seems that this type of oneness will be fleeting and distorted unless we get our own house in order along the way. Upon achieving oneness, will the difficulties and challenges of living on earth magically disappear? It seems unlikely, however living in mastery will significantly change our perception of, and response to, these challenges.