Lisa Kathleen of the blog OneSpaciousness mentioned the difference between separation and diversity. In the world of words and non-duality, this is an important distinction to understand.

People have said to me, “I don’t understand oneness. Look at this vast universe; look at the ten gazillion things. Where’s the oneness?”

But all of this is clearly not-two. We live amidst tremendous diversity; we cannot deny the billions of objects and ideas that surround us in this world. Diversity does not imply separation. The billions of objects and ideas are wholly interdependent; in fact, we can’t find the source–in the relative world–of any thing by itself. The redwood tree requires nourishing soil, sun-warmth, water, microbes; they drink in the carbon dioxide we exhale. We depend upon the forests to provide oxygen. And so it is with all relative things.

And what are they all made of, at their essence? Awareness. Not-two.

© Amrita Skye Blaine, 2013
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