A while back, I wrote about this idea of becoming “one” with the universe. Before I go on, I need to first establish the idea that, throughout time, the basic principles of the Universe, as a whole, have never changed. Even when the world undergoes cycles of big bangs and shrinkages, even when solar systems collapse and reform, even when seasons change, the Universe, as a whole, remains unmoved.
Pi can always be described as the ratio 3.14. A circle’s circumference will always, just helplessly, be a little greater than three times its diameter. An equilateral triangle will always have equal sides and three angles of 60º. The three angles of all triangles will always add up to 180º. A wave’s frequency will always be inversely proportional to its wavelength. Gravity will always be proportional to the masses of the two objects. A physicist would be able to give you a whole slew of constants and physical relationships that most people haven’t even heard of. These are all bits and pieces of what I like to call the “definition” of nature.
Of course, these numbers are only mere representations of nature. I hope my main idea isn’t obscured by this. The important thing is that there exist (∃) features in the universe that are constant and everlasting.
So that’s the idea of this “unchanging Universe” — sort of a single defined constant, from which all other constants and entities come from, that drives everything. (Not to be confused with Lucas’ Star Wars “force.”) To complement yourself with the universe, you likewise need to make yourself unchanging — or rather, revert back to your unchanging, natural self. In a word, based on my most recent theories, this would be summarized in the word “harmony.” No harmony, no oneness. I don’t think that one needs much explaining, but I’ll use a quick example. Water is polar; oil is not. Water and oil are immiscible — they are not harmonious, thus they cannot become one.
At least at the present, I think that a huge facet of reverting back to this natural, unchanging self is the lack of emotion. What?! Yeah. That’s a pretty big one that can take more than a lifetime to master. My reasoning for it kind of has a circular logic. If you understand the ultimate Universal Truth, you naturally won’t have emotions — because every happening in your life you would know to be small and insignificant; you’d have a deep understanding of cause and effect, and nothing would ever be of any surprise to you. You’d know everything. Past, present, future. Everything that has been, is, and will be, you would know. Because you understand the Truth, which is the “constant” or “equation” to ultimately everything.
That being said, reacting emotionlessly to everything in life will help you realize the ultimate Universal Truth. It forces you to look at the big picture, at how insignificant your life, the planet in general, or even this galaxy, is. (Not to be depressing.) If your roommate gets drunk and pees on your textbook the week of finals (personal experience), reacting without emotions will allow for the best outcome possible for all parties.
The 清靜經 says, 「大道無情」— the great Dao has no emotion (more). If we are to return to our essence, where we come from, then we must return to this Universal state. This “state of heart” is known in Buddhism as nirvana, and perhaps in many other religions as “going back to Heaven.” Except I think the concept of “going back to Heaven” has completely lost its original true meaning. I believe that when you reach true harmony with the Universe, you create a Heaven on Earth for yourself. You don’t need to wait until after death to go to a “Heaven.” In fact, the so-called “Heaven” is a void, anyway (more on that later), so if you can’t make yourself happy in a “Heaven on Earth,” then you can’t expect to be happy in the “Heaven” after death either. This is the same reason some people might think that their lives seem to be like a “Hell on Earth.” They have too many emotional and physical attachments that weigh them down — that’s what it always boils down to. And if you believe in a life after this one, that’s probably what it would be like too — a hell. Because your essence hasn’t changed.
That leads me to stress, again, that nothing physical is everlasting. Everything physical has a beginning and an end. Nothing tangible lasts forever. If you come to understand this, then it’s a huge leap forward in getting yourself to resonate with the Universe. When you realize this, things start to fall into place in the big picture. No confusion, no frustration, things are just the way they’re supposed to be.
One of my all-time favorite quotes is an ancient Chinese proverb:
未曾生我，誰是我。
生我之後，我是誰？(loose translation:)
Before I was born, who was I?
After I was born, I am who?
It wasn’t until a few months ago that I truly came to understand this. Before your entry into this physical, mortal world, there was no “I.” It doesn’t exist, because there’s only one Law, one Essence, one Nature, of the Universal Truth. Everyone is a part of it — there is no “I.” But after you’re born in this physical world, a lot of people start doing some soul searching, trying to find who the “I” is. Everyone feels the need to find their way around life. What’s life’s true meaning, they ask? Why am “I” here? People get lost in the physical world because they start to look at things from the perspective of “I,” and not from the view of the Universal harmony. The physical and emotional attachments that our bodies are susceptible to are to blame.
It is my belief that life has no true meaning (again, not to be depressing) — it’s just Nature taking its course. But if you make your life have a meaning, it can have a meaning. Your life’s meaning is what you make it. But you are in fact here in this physical world merely because of Nature taking its course. There’s no simpler explanation.
A favorite story of mine is 莊子 (Zhuangzi)’s dream of a butterfly. He dreamt that he was a butterfly — but when he awoke, he couldn’t figure out whether it was him dreaming of a butterfly, or if the butterfly had just gone to sleep right when he woke up and is now dreaming of him. This calls to mind a Western adage: “Life is but a dream.” Most of us will live to be at most 100. Some of us, myself included, won’t want to live that long. Little do we know that we’ve been around for an infinite time period, and that these 100 years mean nothing in the big picture. We are physics. We are chemistry. We are macroeconomics. We are universal constants. We are all a part of everything. We just need to awaken to it, just like 莊子 awakened to his butterfly.
[qjj]
Nah, emotions are great. If I react negatively to my roommate peeing on my textbooks, it is less likely to happen again, both to me or someone else. You might say, “you don’t need to react emotionally; you just need to tell him not to so it again.” Well yes; but in order to have the desire to tell him that, neurologically speaking, and emotion would inevitably precede it. Emotions are also great because they feel good: dopamine baths are a lot more fun that just trying not to feel anything all day (yes, it is effortful because it is a conscious attempt to initiate behavior). So I would hate being one with the universe by the sounds of it. I think I already realize that I am a bunch of atoms; it is instructive only in that it allows me to complement my physical anatomy with things like medicine. Other than that, it’s really just something to wonder at. It doesn’t imply any sort of magical “oneness.”
You are liking emotion because you are embracing your individuality. Which means, to me, that you are placing yourself on one side of an invisible glass pane, and everyone/everything else on the other. Taking out that glass pane creates a naturally harmonious environment, with no need for emotion.
Keep in mind this is still just a theory. Laozi was describing Dao, I’m not entirely sure if you can actually extrapolate this far.
Also, please see my reply to your comment in the “Life as a pointless race?” post.