What’s the difference between me and you? At the most basic level of existence, we’re all the same. So let’s coexist peacefully at every level.
Right now, you can feel your hand, look at it, and use it to touch the person next to you. But while she was having a stroke, neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor could not tell where her hands ended and their surroundings began, she wrote in her book My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey.
Our brains have the capacity to define the limits of our bodies, as well as the limits of our psyches. They use this definition to act in the world and keep us alive.
Our brains also have the capacity to sense beyond the limits of those definitions, as Dr. Taylor and many practiced meditators have experienced. In certain states of consciousness, they are able to perceive the water that we’re all swimming in: the field of potential energy. This field, which has been illuminated by both mystics and scientists in disciplines such as quantum physics, fills the vast space between particles of matter.
Scientists and meditators have also realized that everything we can see and touch come from this field. All things go from potentially existing to being in a particular place and time. The catalyst for this manifestation is consciousness.
Just as seemingly individual things appear from undefined potential, individual consciousness comes from the universal consciousness that’s an aspect of the field. But this individual consciousness—your consciousness and my consciousness—never fully separates.
This is another capacity of our brains. Just as our brains can see beyond the boundaries of our hands, they can perceive—or as people often say, “connect to”—the vast consciousness of the field. All information that ever existed or will ever exist—every event, person, discovery, thought—can be found as part of universal consciousness.
But why does knowing this matter? What can we learn from it, and what can we do with this knowledge?
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The Power of the Mind
The unity between energy, matter, and consciousness—what I call LifeParticles—gives our individual consciousness the ability to affect the energy and matter in ourselves and in the world. If our concentration becomes strong enough and involves all parts of our conscious and subconscious minds, then we even have the ability to really change our bodies and bring what we want into our lives (within the laws of nature).
Meditation helps us harness this ability. Various forms of meditation clear cluttered thoughts, slow down our brain waves until we can access our subconscious minds, and integrate the different parts of our brains so that they can work toward the same intentions (instead of at cross purposes). Meditation trains our brains to access the power of the field and the wisdom of universal consciousness.
Many of us don’t use the full capacity of our brains this way. The field of energy that connects us remains a vague notion that we can ignore as we go about our lives. Tapping into this field with intention, however, not only brings our lives into alignment with our greatest wishes, it endows us with a deep sense of value and purpose. Our ability to live with intention gives meaning to our lives. It lets us be of better service to others as well.
Ripple Effects
As the famous quote goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.” The field of potential energy at our fingertips connects us all. At the level of the energy and space between the most elementary particles, there is no difference between us, and we can see that we all affect one another. Knowing this lets us realize just how important our thoughts and actions are. What we do and say can ripple out from us infinitely.
Not only for our own sakes, but for the entire web of life we’re a part of, we can keep our consciousness “bright.” The brighter our consciousness becomes, the more positive, creative, peaceful, and loving it is, and the more connected to universal consciousness it is.
With our interconnectedness at the forefront of our minds, we can find better ways to coexist peacefully with one another and uplift each other. I believe if enough people’s consciousness “gets bright”—at least 100 million—then we can begin to solve the existential problems that plague our world.
Oneness Meditation
Try this visualization to feel the interconnectedness of life from my book, Calligraphic Meditation for Everyday Happiness. You can enhance your ability to go into the visualization by doing Brain Wave Vibration, a moving meditation, first.
Raise your right hand and look at your fingers. At first you’ll see only your hand. Gradually move your eyes to your arm, shoulder, trunk, and entire body. Feel your body, which connects your limbs as one. Now expand your field of vision to feel the empty space surrounding your body. Taking it further, try to feel the people, buildings, and nature around you in the same space. The stars in the sky seem to be separated from each other, but they’re connected as one through the field.
We may often feel separate and sometimes afraid of each other. By taking some time each day to meditate and feel the oneness inherent in all life, we can carry that feeling into our interactions with people. We can reflect the energy and mindset of oneness, which others will respond to, and create ripples of brightness throughout our world.
Editor’s Note: Learn more about this field of energy-matter-consciousness in Ilchi Lee’s first documentary, CHANGE: The LifeParticle Effect. You can watch it here for free.
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