Thoughts on Life, the Universe and Everything

No, I do not think the answer is actually 42. (If you don't get the reference, don't worry about it.)

Recently, I had an awesome discussion with one of my favorite spiritual gurus. She said:

The Spiritual Core Self - the breath of life, the light of beingness, the core of goodness - is the essence of us all.
We all have it.
This material life experience has us fall asleep to that, and we all then struggle to wake up out of the distortions, the untruths about ourselves. The innocence and freshness of small children remind us of who we really are. They aren't “asleep” to who they really are. They are in the moment, in joy.

As we heal we get more and more glimpses, moments, then extended periods of knowing our true essence. In my view, this returning is essential to the planet.

This is something I have thought about on my own, but her words sparked a fresh flow of ideas and concepts that brought a new depth to my understanding of what feels true to me.

What feels true to me about existence:: 

• There is a kind of Universal Awareness.
• In general, babies and young children do seem to have more connection to that Awareness than young adults.
• Many people seem to long for a connection to something bigger, to themselves, and to the universe.
• As they enter the stage of life that is not about procreation, many people seem to find a new level of connectedness.

What feels true in my life:

• I think I was born "awake."
• I’have a longing to feel connected to something and a yearning to find myself.
• It feels important to return to that Universal Awareness.
• It was necessary to "fall asleep".

I  assume there is a  reason  this world exists. Therefore, it is important that I invest myself in it, entirely.There is some greater purpose to this form of existence or why would "God" - in whatever form you picture God - put us here and put us through the trials of life?

If I was always aware of my connection to the universe, I would never fully invest in this life. If I always saw this world as an illusory conduit to something greater, "I" – as I am in this body - would become meaningless. Would I bother to form attachments, procreate, raise children or do anything else which seems to be only of this world? Or would I Instead spend all my time in that spiritual world - and ignore the one here?

So - "falling asleep" to who I really am seems important and inevitable.

I accept that what I do here is important and also transitory.
Many people will say things like "forever" when they are talking about relationships, but I don't see that I will continue as an individual with the same attachments to other individuals when I leave this life. I can't reconcile that idea - of retaining this individual identity - with the concept of rejoining the "all" or the "one" (which is the same thing). If the individual identity is really an illusion then so much of the "work" we do seems unimportant. Why does it matter if we are happy in this life? Why does it matter what the relationships we have are like? Why does the planet exist at all?

I accept that everyone - or every aspect of The One - has a purpose. Each life is significant and adds an important part to the cosmic soup of Allness or Oneness. I don’t believe that there is “one true path” or that people who do not follow specific teachings or a specific set of rules will be punished or cease to exist. Instead, I believe that we are all the same entity and when we hurt each other, we hurt ourselves. When we cause harm to others that pain is carried over into the cosmic collective and we all (which means the ONE BEING we are) suffer for it.

It's as if this physical world is a hologram, a story we tell ourselves, a shared dream. To me, it’s like we are one and the same... not just "the same under the skin" but the same exact single thing.

So imagine that You and I are part of something much bigger. When we return to that, we will not need to be individuals any longer. What we are will be added to the mix, and everything in the mix will be added to "us" and we will cease to exist as we are but will continue to exist as part of something else, something greater, something eternal.

The one.
The all.
The Universal Awareness.
The infinite God.

We feel alone, in these bodies. There is a constant struggle to connect with others to fill that void.
There is a struggle to find a connection to God and the infinite.

The last important part of my new revelations is this:
In the past I worried because I felt that if we were all part of a universal entity, and there is only ONE being, then:

• I am talking to myself here.
• We are interacting with ourself on a grand scale.
• This is all one big illusion of friendship and intimacy and connection when, in reality, we are all alone - the only one.

If we are really the only one, there is no connection to anything but "ourself" - and then there can be no end to the lonely feelings of life or the struggle to find "connection".

As I reconnected with this idea, I found a possible flaw in that logic. "Loneliness” is a human condition. It is just part of the illusion.

Loneliness would not have existed before because if “we” were aware of a connection to everything all the time - if we were part of the cosmic ALL - we would not "miss" anything.

 Thoughts?