The One and the Many in Community
Yesterday at OneTaste were talking about why we come together in community. It got me thinking about the One and the Many.
The One is Source or Non-Being. It is the Void from which the material realm arises. The Many is this material realm. It is the individuation of the One. We are the Many. You and I are tiny points of infinity made manifest in matter. As such we are not only connected to Source, we are Source. We are made of it, it courses through us, through us Creation creates.
Imagine you have a finger puppet on each finger. There is a rabbit and a monkey and a bear and whatever else you’d like. It looks like five distinct creatures going about their business, but take off the puppets and look: one hand, made of distinct but connected fingers, each with a role to play. The One and the Many, hand and finger puppets.
Community feels good because as we join with others, we gain a broader picture of the One. The more inclusive view we can take of the Many, the closer we are to seeing the One. I am one unique bit of infinity (and so infinite myself, but that’s a post for another day). When I join with others, suddenly I see more perspectives, more ways of being, more of the One. As I am able to take on those perspectives, I expand toward infinity myself. Community feels warm and vibrant because we are taking each of our limited views and creating a bigger picture.
Think of community as a stained glass window. How much light can enter through one tiny pane alone? Together not only can a whole room be lit, but a beautiful mosaic arises.
I’m in an uncharacteristically collectivist mood right now. For the first time I’m seeing the value of the group, not just individual participants. It’s a refreshing change for me.
I like the metaphor. Everything you write makes sense.
BUT I think one point bears elaboration. I think, at some level, you already know this, but I suspect, at another level, that you’re afraid to embrace it fully or perhaps to share such “crazy” ideas with your complete readership.
You are not just part of infinity; you are the entirety of infinity. You are the hand, not just part of the hand or the puppet on the hand. You are the puppet formally known as Emily, but you are also the puppet known as Damian, as well as every other puppet that consciousness can imagine. And the puppets are merely dances of energy and light, not separate, material, guilt-deserving entities in the so-called world.
I know you know what I’m talking about, at some level, because you experienced a taste of it the other night. Most people would consider all of this insane. But you and I know, deep down, that believing that there is any separation between you and not-you is what is really insane. The idea of realizing that the self as you know it is an illusion can be very scary, but the full experience of this realization is the beginning of real aliveness.