a separate self.

I am really proud of my last blog. For the first time in a long time, I felt INSPIRED! Inspired to write, inspired to learn, inspired to share it all with you. L.O.L says that I "am starting the journey" and I am ecstatic. There is a level of charged curiosity, and eager anticipation that I have not felt on an intellectual level in quite some time. While it truly is a journey, and a completely individualized search, I feel that both as an unconventionally spiritual person, and as an educated human being, I must find a way to merge the ideals that I believe in with the knowledge I have not yet tapped into.

As I was frequenting one of my favorite sites this morning, I came across the following question being posed:

"How can Science help us understand the Divine?"

with a quote by Stephen Hawking:
""If we find the answer to [why it is that we and the universe exist], it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the mind of God."

That is an excellent place to start.

One of the greatest developments in modern science was discovering the placement of the Earth. We are not only one, we are part of a larger solar system that is part of a larger galaxy that is part of a larger universe. Every piece is part of something larger. Each piece, while sometimes independent in itself, cannot truly BE independent of all things. All things are part of a greater whole. This acknowledgment is as staggering regardless of whether you view the whole as society, as a chemically verifiable collection of substance, or as part of a spiritual master plan. While we do not know the extent of this whole, it is a feat in itself just to acknowledge that we are part of something bigger.

We are not special. Some may fear the emotional/mental consequences of realizing that we are not special, for in reality, we have all been told and taught our entire lives that we are unique, special, individuals, and utterly one of a kind. In theory, this is true, but in reality, it is not. We are all made from the same basic compounds, and arranged in the same basic way. While we all lead different lives, we all live and die. Even as an embryonic cluster of cells, we are alive, and we grow into something, just as the seed grows into the flower. Therefore, fundamentally we are not special; however, we are not alone as we are always a part of the whole.

Eckhart Tolle, a modern philosopher, spiritualist, and author says that the truth (which is in essence what science and religion are both after,) is that we are all one consciousness. To awaken from the illusion of identity, of separateness as an individual, of "me", is simply to become aware that we are not our own story, but the awareness of that story, and that this awareness is the same in all of us.

We ARE that awareness.
We ARE that consciousness.

Tolle claims that Jesus' statement, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" was not a statement that Jesus, the bearded, robe wearing, individual was the way, but that the awareness of our true selves, of what "I am" really means is the way. That awareness you experience, that consciousness, is God - and what comes of that awareness is heaven, is peace, is love. If I understand that properly, it is to say that God, Jesus, Buddha, and other deities of religion are merely fabricated as a person, or an individual to follow. The teachings, the ideas, and the concepts of spirituality (whatever your choice may be) are what truly congeal to form what we perceive as "spirituality." The conciousness of ourselves and our origins collectively couple with the ideas of spirituality to give us fulfillment in life, in spirituality and in God. While all the concepts are generally the same, they are all looking towards the same greater good, and the same awakening.

In essence, "the way" is to be pursuant in your questions of the universe as well as the neverending quest for enlightenment.