Interconnection between Inner and Outer Realities

Eastern philosophies and religions advise us to look inward, and not outward, for the reality in which we choose to participate.

There are many things, good and bad, occurring in the universe we physically perceive. Those can pull us up the great heights of expectation, anticipation, and joy. They can also pull us down into disappointment, despair, anger, and illness.

Like everyone else, I struggle — with great difficulty often — to maintain an inner focus and an inner peace. It is not easy because I, like so many others, have become fascinated with the idea of an “I-ness.”

The East teaches us there really is no individual. There is no separation between one thing and the next. There is only continuity. My thought touches your thought, and my actions reach you. Independence is a lie. A total wholeness is the only reality.

It is hard to perceive that total wholeness when we see a world in which our highly evolved (perhaps) brains tell us everything is separate. So in order to see it as it truly is — all connected — we must half-close our eyes to remember that what we see is not the whole story. It is only a very small part of the total reality.

We dim our vision in order to see things as they are.

We go within ourselves to find the peaceful connectedness we so desperately need, that which tells us there is no such thing as a future or a past. There is no such thing as death or life. There is no such thing as here or there. There is only one moment, right here, right now. That is always the only reality.