Oneness (ritual, mysticism, experience, atheist, spiritual)

[YmirGF]

Originally Posted by Seyorni

I have experienced a Samadhic Oneness and this, of course, led to my Hindu persuasion.

From a philosophical/metaphysical Hindu perspective, there is only Unity. There is only one Conscious Entity in existence.
Diversity, and individuality are illusions.

Awesome Seyorni! I agree, in the Samadhic sense. I have always referred to my first experience as "the grand awakening" and "the day the light went on".

[jacquie4000]

My thoughts are pretty much the same as Buttercup's. I used to worry so much about
what other people thought or did. Now that I am older, I keep more to myself and I am at peace with myself. I do not worry or concern myself with other people's belief system. I am happy within myself and what I believe. I have joy in helping others feel at peace with themself. Whatever I have done in my life that I feel needs to be forgiven I have ask for forgivness and feel at peace with that. So I feel Oneness inside myself. But It is something I work at everyday.

[AllMantra]

I also like to get the original perspectives of my contemporaries as opposed to what the accepted views on a subject are, so here goes! Oneness to me simply means unity, preferably the goal of global unity, no matter how far-fetched it may appear. I can see that you are speaking of the term on a much more personal level. I suppose I would take the mystical view of oneness meaning unity with the divine, so I must admit that I have no inner realization of that ideal. Sorry.

[9harmony]

Oneness to me means that everything in the universe is interconnected. Every action we take affects someone or something else, and has a ripple affect throughout all of creation. This seems to be true on every level.

There is a commercial i just love which shows an example of this on a human level. (I think it's an insurance commercial). But it shows how a person witnesses another person doing a good deed, and it affects them so much so, that they do a good deed for someone else, and someone witnesses them and continues to pass it forward. It makes me smile every time i see it.

But i also think it goes much deeper....biological, microscopic, even spiritual levels etc.

It seems to me that the realm of Quantum physics/mechanics is just beginning to understand how this works.

Very exciting stuff. imho

[Cynic]

Originally Posted by YmirGF

Oneness is a subject we hear about from time to time on RF but I was hoping to get some "bird's eye" views of what Oneness means to the members of RF. I am not particularly interested in what the old books have to say on the matter and am far more interested in hearing about this "concept" from a first hand perspective. So, please, do NOT cut and paste your answers as I would consider that to be akin to "cheating" or riding the coattails of another.

Originally Posted by YmirGF

Have you personally felt a state of being that can only be described as a state of Oneness?

Yes, or I mostly refer to it as "atone-ment" or "at-one-ment". From my experience it is a state of utter compassion or unconditional love, a feeling of being at-one with everything, and a process of reconcilation; which surfaced during (I don't know what to call it, an ego-death experience?).

Originally Posted by YmirGF

How did that experience change your perspective of yourself, God and Reality?

Well from a mystical aspect, basically my perspective is that on a higher level, we are all originate from a one-ness state of being, comparable to that of a singularity in astrophysics. From my interpretation, the God consciousness could not be aware without temporal expression. Thus “unintentionally” this resulted in the onset of the illusion, (i.e. all that is, material reality, etc), and then our "fall" into denser and fragmented "selfish" or ego states of being... At the same time, it resulted in birth of consciousness or the self.

"According to God Speaks, before the Soul has any consciousness of anything or itself, there is an infinite, impressionless unconscious tranquil state. Meher Baba calls this state the Eternal Beyond-Beyond State of God (or Paratpar Paramatma), which has no experience of Self, nor of any of its Infinite latent attributes."
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Speaks#The_Birth_of_Consciousness

Letting go of the material world, of desire, giving sacraficial love by turning the cheek, serving others, are important aspects of Jesus that when emulated had resulted in my experience, because it involved letting go of the ego. IMO, naturally you become more "at-one" with things, because upon letting go of self, your true being hidden by the illusion begins to emerge, depending on how much of the self you let go. the Self and consciousness are synonymous, and both an illusion. The more you let go of self, the more you identify with one-ness. IMO, every soul's journey eventually involves reverting back into the one-ness state, (i.e. ascension, or returning to the Monad or God-head, infinity/eternity).

Originally Posted by YmirGF

Did you emerge from the experience unchanged or unaffected by it?

No.

Originally Posted by YmirGF

Have you managed to duplicate the experience?

No, but I haven't tried. I don't think I'm ready at this time.

Originally Posted by YmirGF

Have you managed to "hold" the experience?

No.

Originally Posted by YmirGF

How long did it/they last?

Several months, but I'm sure what I experienced was just the tip of the iceberg.

Originally Posted by YmirGF

If you wish and are not embarrassed you are welcome to describe your own appointment(s) with "Oneness".

Well, I'm not often prone to sharing these things, usually ony to those who have experienced the same.

[edit: I went back and rewrote parts of my post, as I was being too vague]

[Buttercup]

Originally Posted by YmirGF

My feeling is that people experience this inherent aspect of our internal nature to lesser and greater degrees, but in this odd situation, even the "lesser" degrees can be pretty profound.

I'm curious as to what you quantify as "greater" or "lesser" degrees of Oneness? Wouldn't your definition be subjective to your experiences?

For me personally.....Oneness has no meaning unless it involves others. Ironic I know but unless I can give something of myself, I'm not interested in it. It has no value.

[doppelgänger]

I won't cut-and-paste, but I will link, since I wrote a post about this a couple of months ago:

States of Awareness and the "Spirit"

and an article about the significance of mystical awareness

The Spiritualization of Fear

[michel]

I think I have achieved the feeling oif "oneness" on quite a few occasions; the trouble is that it is the sort of state (I find) - that if you beging to think about it while "there" - you come straight out of it...

Oneness to me means -prefferably- being miles away from concrete, bricks or macadam. I can feel completely attuned to 'nature' - I almost feel as if I could understand everything that surrounds me....even the trees.