SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDINGS OF OUR COMMON IMMORTALITY AND DIVINITY
Ancient history tells us. Indigenous cultures tell us, enlightened masters and spiritual gurus tell us, modern philosophers and now modern science all tell us the same thing - "We Are all One. We Are All That Is. There is no separation between any 'part' of the universe, the cosmos, or the divine with you or me." As such, You Are Infinite, You Are Eternal, You Are God. And more importantly,
You Are Me.
This website is a collection of links to the various voices that I believe have been saying this same thing throughout human history. The blog is my interpretation of these voices, and what has been called ' The New Story of Cosmology.' I am no expert, and I might be wrong, but these ideas work for me. If you have ever questioned the traditional story that modern society has given you I hope this 'New Story' might work for you too.
To purchase the newly released book, visit Amazon today.
Namaste
You Are Me.
This website is a collection of links to the various voices that I believe have been saying this same thing throughout human history. The blog is my interpretation of these voices, and what has been called ' The New Story of Cosmology.' I am no expert, and I might be wrong, but these ideas work for me. If you have ever questioned the traditional story that modern society has given you I hope this 'New Story' might work for you too.
To purchase the newly released book, visit Amazon today.
Namaste
For thousands of years, we have misinterpreted the foundational story of the world's three most dominant religions. Where did we go wrong, and what does it really mean?
1 Comment
The questions 'do you believe in God?' or 'does God exist?' are really redundant questions. 'God' is just a word - a word used to describe Ultimate Reality. Ultimate Reality, whatever it is, is the only reality. So asking 'does God exist?' is like asking...um...there is no question for it - none makes any sense! With this understanding the only meaningful questions becomes 'What is God (Ultimate Reality)?' or, 'of what is God (Ultimate Reality) capable?' The answers to this question are infinite - no-one really knows and you can say whatever you like. The most important realisation however, is that God is not a separate being and neither are You. How can All That Is be separate from All That Is? God cannot be either true or false - God is all that exists, and therefore so are You.
Tonight I am sleeping on a footpath outside the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, alongside 100 others. We are here, along with the hundreds who have been camped out for the past eight days, because of a little girl inside. A one year old baby, known only as Asha, was badly burned by boiling water in the tent which is her indefinite home in the refugee detention centre on the tiny isolated Pacific island of Nauru. For years, the Australian government has been sending asylum seekers attempting to enter Australia by boat to detention centres on Nauru, and on the other small Pacific island of Manus Island. And for years, despite media blackouts and threats of punishment for anyone speaking out, numerous first-hand reports have described inadequate and unsafe living conditions, severe depression, self-harm and attempted suicides within these centres. So this one is a little less sciencey and a lot more esoteric - follows the same logic though:
I have always wanted to change the world, and have always been inspired by Gandhi’s famous instruction to “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Originally, I was inspired by the idea that my actions for change could inspire others to do the same, and then later (in realising that doesn’t always happen), by the idea that even if no one else changes anything, my actions are making a difference – no matter how small – and this is enough to change ‘part’ of the world Martin Luther King Jr said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Beautiful words, and scientific truth. Scientists tell us there is no such thing as dark. That all there is is light. We cannot add ‘dark’ to something but can only take away light. ‘Dark’ then is simply the absence of light. Scientists tell us there is no such thing as cold. That all there is is heat energy. We cannot add ‘cold’ to something but can only take away heat. ‘Cold’ then is simply the absence of heat. Some people have had indescribable mystical experiences – perhaps through meditation, substances, or through random ‘spontaneous awakening’ – when people simply know they are One with All That Is. I have not. But I have experienced the glimpses of Oneness that we have all experienced from time to time – brief moments of complete and utter peace, when there is not a care in the world, where everything is absolutely perfect, when there is a profound sense of belonging. Who cares if You really are Infinite, Eternal, and God? What does it matter? Even if I can accept that, is it just a mental concept? Can I ever really live and experience its truth? Does it give me a deep underlying sense of peace? Of belonging? Of purpose? The answer to these latter questions, I believe, is yes - gradually! When our distant ancestors first developed the miracle of language, they looked for a word to describe the mystery, wonderment, and awe of the extraordinary creation that surrounded them. Today we call that reality the universe, or most recently the cosmos. They called it God. The first utterance of the word God did not refer to a big old man with a long grey beard up in the clouds. It meant in fact the complete opposite - the Allness, the Isness, the Oneness of All That Is - that which is seen and which cannot be seen, which is known and cannot be known - the physical world and whatever might be beyond it. “Death is not the opposite of life – life has not opposite” – Eckhart Tolle It is a stark realisation for most when we first recognize that our sun will one day erupt, devouring everything on earth before spewing itself and everything within our solar system into countless trillions of specks of space dust. But the realisation that you are infinite – that you are one with all that is, is the realisation that the 'death' of our sun is as inconsequential as the death of one of your own skin cells. For it is through the constant ‘death’ of every form within the universe that new forms are brought into existence. Let’s go on a journey to the farthest reaches of our universe. Travelling at the speed of light – some 300 000 kilometres per second (which is seven and a half times around the earth per second!), it takes you eight minutes to reach the sun, four hours to reach Pluto, and even at this incredible speed, an amazing four years to reach out nearest neighbour star, Proxima Centuari. But this four years is less that the blink of an eye in the big scheme of things, because to travel across the whole of the Milky Way Galaxy would take 120 000 years, to travel to our nearest neighbour galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, would take 2.4 million years, and to travel to the furthest reaches of the known universe would take a staggering 46 billion years! When our distant ancestors looked to “the heavens” and to the world around them, they would have been blown away with the most incredible sense of wonderment, awe and mystery – just as we were as children. But then along came science, and for many people today – particularly young people – we think that science has explained everything. We think that science has described a lifeless, sterile, and mechanical void of empty space. We think that science had deadened the universe, and the idea of God. Nearly three years ago, when asked what "The New Story of Cosmology" tells me I answered "it tells me you are infinite, you are eternal, and you are God. And therefore you are me." I knew straight away that I had just clearly and succinctly defined my own spiritual belief, and summarised what I believe is the key to true inner (and therefore outer) peace. I have found this pretty hard to explain though, and so two years ago I started writing a book of the same title. So here is the initial introduction, written during the second half of 2013 to give you an overview of what this website is all about. It has evolved somewhat since then, but the essence is the same: “I honor the place in you that
is the same in me. I honour in you where the entire Universe resides. I honor the place in you of love, of light, of peace and of truth. I honor the place in you, that is the same in me. There is but one." - Ancient Sanskrit, Hindu and Buddhist blessing and greeting. |
by Mark EllisonMark is a husband, father of four, teacher of high school Science, Study of Religion and Health & Physical Education, and facilitator of various student retreats and social justice and advocacy programs. He has a Masters of Educational Leadership, a Bachelor of Applied Science, a Certificate III in Systematic Theology, and a passion for learning more about ultimate reality. The thoughts within this blog are my most recent learnings from this journey. Archives
January 2018
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