Unreal: Conflicts of Interest

          We are all connected. We literally aren't separate people.

          If you look closely at your skin, the membrane “separating” you from the rest of the world, you'll see it is more like a cloud than a seal.  Could you look through a powerful microscope such as an electron microscope, you would see molecules and atoms of yourself shooting off in all directions by the billions.  At the same time, elements of the external world are being sucked through your skin continuously.   If I were sitting across the room from you, we'd be exchanging body parts by the thousands every second. 

           Billions of cells with thousands of other people's DNA are in your body as you read this.

          You inhale the air other people exhale even when you're separated by miles.   You eat other life forms – plants and animals – which then morph into you.

          A surprisingly large portion of your innards consists of other life forms.  “You” include all sorts of bacteria - “them.”  Are they just along for the ride, or are you just a vehicle which spreads them so they prosper?

          Neither and both.  You and they are mixed so completely that any distinction you draw between the two yous, between you and the rest of us, between you and the rest of existence, is on a fundamental level an arbitrary convention.

          Yes, we appear different.  We (mostly) have different faces, fingerprints, DNA, and dreams.  Our nervous systems perceive each other as separate.

          But those are just appearances.

          In both the scientific and the spiritual senses, we're all connected.   We're clouds of atoms and energy fields intermingling in fantastically complex combinations.  The atoms and energy  (Spirit?) change forms, but according to modern physics, none of it is lost.  One moment it's me, the next it's you.  It's always somewhere.  It's everywhere.

          We are One.  Eternally.

          So why is there so much conflict in the world?  Why are we constantly at odds with one another?  Why don't we respect our planet?  Why do we create so much misery?

          We bounce off each other, leaving physical dents and loose, damaged, disconnected spirits, because we don't see that our true interests dovetail with those of other people.

          It's in all our interests to live in harmony.  The robber who “gains” at our expense gains only the wrath of the police.  More importantly, he kills a piece of his own soul.  What goes around comes around.  You sow what you reap.  The thug who “enjoys” tormenting other people believes this is the way of the world, so he lives in constant fear that the same will happen to him.  People who pollute not only destroy nature for the rest of us, they deprive themselves of the spiritual nourishment of nature.

          Contrary to popular opinion, it is not the ultimate goal of Zen practitioners to “become one with the universe.”  Christians don't fundamentally want to commune with the Divine.  Muslims and Jews don't want to submit to Divine Law.  Hindus don't want to connect with past incarnations of themselves.

          Zen practitioners already are one with the universe.  They want to realize this fact fully and act accordingly.  

          God already dwells in Christians as in all people, whether they accept Him or not. Christians' need is to be mentally, spiritually, existentially present to His Presence, and act accordingly.

          Divine law already acts on Jews and Muslims as on all of us whether we realize it or not.  There's no escaping the laws Allah or Yahweh or whatever you want to call the Divine has created:  natural laws.  All Muslims, Jews and the rest of us need to do is recognize Divine sovereignty and act accordingly.

          Past creatures – people – have disintegrated.  Their elements were scattered.  Plants used them for nourishment, after which people used the plants for nourishment.  Other elements of the "departed" evaporated into the air, only to be breathed in by animals and people and made part of our bodies.  So Hindu reincarnation is real. We become worm food, the worms become bird food, the birds ...

          We are all connected.

          Let's recognize this fact, as the world's religions admonish us to do.

          Then let's act accordingly.   Easier said than done, but imagine the consequences.