Alan Watts said we are all one in the same but individualism has separated us. Another way to look at this is from the individual to the "whole" aspect.
As an individual I like to think that I am not selfish or egotistical and always give back to the community without wanting anything in return, but this is not the case. When I give, I enjoy the feeling of helping others. I enjoy helping someone in need or to give gifts to see the happiness it brings, but I also enjoy the satisfaction it brings me to see them happy. I enjoy knowing I can help others. Doing these things looks selfless on the outside, but it is selfish on the inside. We wouldn’t give to others or help others if we did not benefit in some way, for many that way is getting the satisfaction knowing we helped someone.
I believe this is how we rejoin the “whole”. When we give to others or help others, we are connecting with them on a higher level because we understand one another better or, at least, more intimately.
This brings me to how we look at the world from an individual point of view. I often wonder that when we are walking somewhere, does the Earth rotate to our steps or do we walk across the Earth? As individuals we believe, at one point in time or another that the world revolves around us; that the Earth moves at our behest. This begs to question that if we are sitting down and watching others, does the Earth sit still with us or does it continue to move for everyone else? Naturally the world does not rotate for the exact steps of each person, but each person is in their “own world” for which their steps moves their “Earth”.
When I was sitting on a bench watching people move to and fro inside the local mall, I realized I was becoming part of their world. Their steps moved my Earth because we are all part of the “whole”. Their steps are my steps and mine theirs. We walk to go someplace, to do something, to move the Earth for our purposes. Each individual moves the world for their own purpose but it also moves the world for someone else, in one way or another. In this our worlds revolve around us, revolving around others moving as one.
May the Force be with us all as one.
