When I was younger I wondered, "What if our planet is one individual cell of another organism?" Then I would consider the possibility that one of our cells was actually a planet. When I saw "Horton Hears a Who" for the first time I thought, "Oh my goodness, that is so similar to what I had imagined, other people must have had these curiosities, too!"
I then went off to college and I studied molecular biology. I was fascinated with the near nothingness that was our cell and yet was the foundation of our livelihood. When you break things down into smaller and smaller bits, we are more space than matter. Currently, we label that space as nothing, emptiness, a void. I sometimes wonder if this is accurate or if there is something we have yet to understand about this space...something that contains a bit more magic.✨
Cells fascinate me. In our body, an individual cell is self-sufficient, and yet it relies on the interdependence of other cells for survival. Our cells cluster to form organs which form systems and then become our body. The circulatory system can not survive without the respiratory system and vice versa. Each of these cells is one whole, each of these systems is one whole, and each of our bodies is one whole. Each individual unit is a complete whole and yet it is also a part of another whole. Separation becomes an illusion.
The entirety of our existence is called the universe; uni meaning one. A vast wholeness made up of smaller wholes. Though we consider ourselves to be independent, separate from one another, this too is an illusion. We too rely on interdependence for survival. Plants release oxygen for us to inhale and we release carbon dioxide for them. As humans evolved I believe we forgot this relationship. We know it intellectually and through science but somewhere along the way, we began to separate ourselves from nature. In my next blog, I will explore what it looks like when our cells stop recognizing each other and begin to attack one another. Stay tuned...
Question: What is your understanding of oneness? Could separation be an illusion?