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Originally Posted by Charbucks  I think the viewpoint that "only I exist" is rather dangerous. Perhaps not in your hands, but what if it were raping small children that was the illusion I desired? If I could justify it to myself by saying that they don't really exist, that they're just part of the illusion that I have concocted, then I think I'd be much more likely to commit such crimes. |
You ask good questions.
One who is truly aware that it's 'all me' (all parts of myself) would not generally choose to harm others, because that would be harming myself. Why would I rape or harm myself? It is seen for the insanity it is. I would only bring myself injury. As for the fact that injury is an illusion, what makes people want to harm others is fear. Remembering that it is all an illusion dispels fear, it does not create it. Not only do you not wish to injure others, but you fear injury to yourself less as well, so there is even less reason to want to injure another. Acts of violence and desperation (such as rape) become far less likely in such an awareness. (Less desperation because there is an understanding that any aspect of the illusion may be created at will - you don't really NEED it.)
One who understands that all is one, that we are all connected, and what I do for others, I do for myself, is inclined to treat others with love - it is only natural.
In fact the opposite is true of what you're saying. One who imagines himself as separate is likely to harm others, because he imagines that 'that's not me'. This thought of separation is in fact what creates all violence. It is insanity, but lacks awareness to see it as insane.
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I suppose I've "forgotten" that life is an illusion (if you can forget something that you didn't ever believe), but somehow my life has managed to be pretty joyful nonetheless.
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All people use the process of creation to create their experience. Some use it consciously; most use it largely unconsciously. Even in the unconscious case, if their choices are informed by wisdom, such as treating others well, then their creation will be joyful.
You can go from "pretty joyful" to other levels of being by increasing your awareness of the process you're using to create your life.
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There's just yet another difference between you and I. I don't think I could love someone that I couldn't fight with from time to time.
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I didn't say I couldn't fight. I don't choose to.
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I meant that you keep on talking about how everyone else needs to expand/open their minds to reach some kind of broader understanding, but if everyone's universe is simply an illusion, then each person HAS expanded his or her mind to their own version of broader understanding. The two ideas are conflicting. In order for there to be some sort of level of higher knowledge, then there needs to be some sort of metric with which to compare these states of being. If each person is living purely within their own consciousness, then there is no metric and these states of understanding are by nature incomparable.
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Again, a good and subtle question.
First, one person's consciousness is not separate from any other's. Further, so-called 'individuals' form group consciousnesses (including families, couples, communities, nations, worlds, and other forms), and group consciousness creates collective "realities", or experiences.
Your 'individual' consciousness may be more or less aware of what one of your group consciousnesses has created, and thus may move to higher levels of awareness of it.
Also, your 'individual' consciousness extends to many levels, only some of which are you aware. Thus your conscious awareness may expand to include more of your consciousness, and what that consciousness has created. As this occurs, your power or ability to alter that creation increases. You begin to see more of the fabric of your life, and how it was woven together.
In a sense, you cannot compare two people and declare one is more advanced than another, because their destinations are different. Who can say who is ahead or behind when they're going to different places? However, there are 'common realities' which are created collectively, and awareness of these can be compared from one 'individual' to another. Also, there are similarities between the paths of individuals, and these may be contrasted.
On some level, we all know everything. There is no place our awareness, or consciousness, ends. It is a question of what our mind or ego has temporarily forgotten, or filtered.
Nor is this forgetting a disorder. It is all part of a larger process. We could not be having the experience we are now having if we remembered 'the all of it'. Hence the advice enjoy the mystery, and don't seek to unravel it all at once. Let it unfold in time.