Are We All One?

In the yoga teacher training I've been in for the past six weeks, we've been learning a lot about Hindu philosophy and other spiritual ideas in yoga. My teacher was suggesting that we try to see ourselves in other people, to not create "separation."

Eastern spiritual philosophy says that we're all part of God, with the implication that when we die we return to a cosmic soup of consciousness. I have to say, I don't find that completely comforting.

I also don't like the idea that the creepy guy over there, such as the one in Austria who locked his daughter up in a basement for over 20 years, is a reflection of "me." Ummm, I personally have never locked anyone up in a basement and I have no intentions of doing so.

I can have compassion (and go, gee, that guy is @#$!!ed up!), but I can honestly say I don't see myself or anyone I know in him for that matter. He's seriously sick...and not shining out as a child of God right now due to that sickness and evil.

I meditated on this whole idea of God and "oneness" recently. I'm not looking to be part of the spiritual Borg collective. So I came up with the following. I could be wrong:

1. We are collectively "God" but not as a big ocean of consciousness...more like a flock of birds that move together in formation in the sky. You can be part of a crowd but still be you.

2. There is a core of consciousness, the God which is unchanging and not incarnating here, that is perhaps the closet thing to the Christian God.

3. The pieces of "God" that have chose to experience life are often choosing evil as a means of learning and experiencing. After all, we're creating all this. From the perspective of eternity, experiencing something that turns out to be "bad" is simply an experience. It is neither good nor bad from the eternal perspective, but we find out through trial and error that good is "good" simply because it ultimately works better for everyone.

4. That said, some souls get lost in the darkness. That is the evil.

5. Separation is not a bad thing; there can still be togetherness in separation, and connection in diversity.