What Would Happen If Everyone Truly Believed Everything Is One?

[ProudLib72]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by NH Ethylene (a host of the General Discussion forum).

The belief that everything in the universe is part of the same fundamental whole exists throughout many cultures and philosophical, religious, spiritual, and scientific traditions, as captured by the phrase 'all that is.' The Nobel winner Erwin Schrodinger once observed that quantum physics is compatible with the notion that there is indeed a basic oneness of the universe. Therefore, despite it seeming as though the world is full of many divisions, many people throughout the course of human history and even today truly believe that individual things are part of some fundamental entity.

In a recent series of studies, Kate Diebels and Mark Leary set out to find out. In their first study, they found that only 20.3% of participants had thought about the oneness of all things "often" or "many times", while 25.9% of people "seldom" thought about the oneness of all things, and 12.5% of people "never" had thought about it.

Those who scored higher on this scale were much more likely to have an identity that extends beyond the individual to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, nature, and even the cosmos. In fact, a belief in oneness was more strongly related to feeling connected with distant people and aspects of the natural world than with people with whom one is close! Also, while a belief in oneness was related to actual experiences of oneness ("mystical experiences" ), there was no relationship between a belief in oneness and feeling closer to God during a spiritual experience.

Read the whole article at the link: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/what-would-happen-if-everyone-truly-believed-everything-is-one/

Well, I have certainly given quite a bit of thought about oneness. What about you?

[brooklynite]

1. I have no idea what this means, but it doesn't sound like anything more than woo...

[TreasonousBastard]

3. If Schrodinger could at least explore it, seems worth looking at.

[ProudLib72]

6. Brooklynite is a cat lover obviously

[brooklynite]

10. Very true...and I always know if Tigger is or is not in the box...

[brooklynite]

11. I don't need philosophy to make sense of the world.

[WheelWalker]

15. Agreed. Orange Sunshine is sufficient.

[Woodycall]

25. Roger that!

[GaYellowDawg]

7. I have to agree...

“The oneness of everything” is woo. It’s also bullshit. Nobody is ever “one” with anything but themselves. And I frankly think that if someone has to think of themselves as “one” with anyone or anything else to care about it, then that’s someone is a selfish, narcissistic asshole. I care about other people, other species, and the world around me because I recognize the inherent value in people who are not me. I care about the environment because it affects me, people I know, people I don’t know, and people in the future that I will never know.

Promoting “oneness” as a means of empathy is stupid, in my opinion. What should be promoted is the idea that that which is different carries its own value, and is not lesser than you.

[DemocracyMouse]

21. Does spitting on philosophy make it go away?

😀

[GaYellowDawg]

33. Criticizing stupid trains of thought generally makes them go away...

... unless, of course, stupid people hang on to them.

[notdarkyet]

2. "Imagine". Lennon.

[ProudLib72]

4. Yep! I had the same thought

Also, I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. This was a theme that ran throughout the Beatles' work.

[hatrack]

5. All I know is that oneness is the loneliest numberness

.

[elleng]

8. Nothing would happen different from otherwise.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. Yes, but to no good end. Eastern mysticism takes it far more...

seriously, but I haven'seen any answers there. Just more questions.

I get yelled at a lot for suggesting that the universe is more intelligence and thought than material in essence. I've had fun with the idea of radical solipsism-- nothing exits but me. You, Trump, and the universe are merely figments of my imagination.

The idea that we simply the playtoys of some superior culture is fun, too, and a common theme in sconce fantasy.

And beings in higher dimensions would see connections we can't.

[ProudLib72]

12. The point of the experiment was to determine what impact the concept of oneness

had on the way people relate to each other. If we take the premise that someone thinks about (not believes, just considers) oneness, then we can conclude from the study that that person is more willing to be tolerant of others. It seems like a lot of posters are misconstruing the premise and poo pooing the results.

[Garrett78]

14. If Trump is a figment of your imagination, knock it the fuck off.

[triron]

16. Dr. Wheeler (cosmologist/quantum physicist) talked about the idea

of a participatory universe. We are helping to create it through our consciousness.

Also:
“Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else.”
― Erwin Schrödinger

[Recursion]

32. Parmenides was as "western" as they come, and he thought that too

Oddly enough he seems to have been a contemporary of Gautama.

But the "all is one" strain of thought from Parmenides definitely influenced the Neoplatonists and some early Christian thinkers like Anselm.

[world wide wally]

13. Entropy seems to be the natural "order" in nature

[Journeyman]

17. I believe Evan S Connell phrased it best . . .

One thing I don’t question is that space curves
and returns finally upon itself. Because of this
we look towards ourselves in every direction.

• •  •

State that every particle of matter in the universe
has some attraction for every other particle.

• •  •

I suggest that you write with colored ink
what we are taught by K’ung Fu-tzü:
Each of us is meant to rescue the world.




Evan S. Connell
Points for a Compass Rose
1973

[alittlelark]

18. Eckhart Tolle - The Powet of Now

If it was reguired reading in middle school we would not be where we are now.

[lindysalsagal]

20. Not really: If you're not ready for it, it's totally meaningless.

[The_jackalope]

27. Yep. And if you are ready, it can feel like turning on a light.

[lindysalsagal]

19. "Everyone" is a tall order with the human organism: I think Russia is a good example of how

any ideology is suceptible to corruption.

Studies come out every year about how some brains are wired for authoritarianism.

This planet is now all about scarcity of resources, which is only going to increase zero-sum paradigms.

So, it's a beautiful thought, but unfortunately, that's all it will be, at least in my lifetime. This species has too much evolving to do before it can approach anything like real equality.

[lunasun]

22. In separateness lies the world's great misery. Glad they were able to find that universal mind or

one consciousness is not a God religion related experience . Absence of religion is a better connectedness for experiencing oneness imo

[ProudLib72]

23. Or we could view religious explanations as metaphors

That's what I tend to do. It takes a lot of work and confidence in your own reasoning skills to do so when it is much easier to let dogma rule.

[violetpastille]

24. I actually think about it too much. Maybe.

[ZZenith]

28. It might not BE possible to think about it too much.

Might turn out to be what this whole exercise is about.

[The_jackalope]

26. That makes sense - there are a lot of Buddhists in the environmental movement.

I've been a monist of one sort or another since 1975. I was a strong atheist before that. Zen and Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and Advaita Vedanta make up the core of my life philosophy.

[Kurt V.]

29. It's pretty obvious to me.

Every thing is connected one way or another

[OneGrassRoot]

30. I'm really surprised...

I didn't expect negative replies. Perhaps I should have, but I didn't.

I've had our innate interconnectedness in mind since childhood and it most definitely has influenced how I engage in the world and I DO believe if more people thought this way, there would be less cruelty and greed. If you don't need such an awareness to be kind and just, that's great; but perhaps some of the assholes of the world would behave (and vote!) differently if they had a different perspective.

It's another take on the Golden Rule, imo.

It makes total and complete sense, and there are increasing scientific theories supporting the fact that life is interconnected and interdependent.

K&R

[Donkees]

31. In Lak'ech ala K'in

[Chemisse]

34. Locking

Please repost in the Philosophy Group