Diversity vs Reality

We live in a world characterised by diversity, individuality and selfishness, and the result is disharmony. The current world population is close to eight billion people, and astonishingly, no two people in the world are the same. This is predominantly because of differences in our genes. And even genetically identical twins may differ distinctly from each other. Even the ways our bodies function differ.

These biological processes and our genetic make-up are locked in our DNA, and determine the individual blueprint of our unique evolution – to the point where science tells us that each person’s fingerprints and irises are unique to that person.

Being unique, we may ask: “Do we all see the same colour when we look at something?” And science answers, “Not at all.” While our eyes all work in the same way, the colours we see are dependent on how our individual eyes and brains interpret light wave lengths.

So if we don’t see the same colours, do we all see the same things? No, we don’t.

What we see is viewed through the lens of our individual perception, and our perception is linked to the way our brains receive and interpret information – sensory input from our eyes and ears, from our interactions with people and animals, and from our emotional experiences. When we interact with the world, our brains construct our unique conscious experience of the world and of ourselves within in it.

Our perception is not simply formed by the brain’s passive receipt of information. Our life experiences literally help our brain predict, construct and generate our conscious experiences of the world around us by making a best guess based on the input of these prior experiences. This means that the world we experience probably comes more from within us than outside of us. We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.

This means that our perception is neither factual nor accurate – it is our personal interpretation of the world based on our individual experiences and understanding. The result is that we all see the same thing a little differently, and we create our unique illusion – our own temporary reality – of what appears ‘out there.’ So we should not assume that our reality is everyone’s reality – because it’s not.

No two people in the world have the same genetic code, the same minds, the same egos, or share the same perceptions. The realities created from this diversity are inconsistent and constantly change – in fact, they change with every person we meet. How we each see and understand the world is our own illusory reality. It’s therefore not difficult to understand why there is so much conflict in a family, a community, a country and ultimately the world.

Eight billion people and no two are identical – eight billion different realities. To quote Albert Einstein: “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

If what we perceive is an illusion, then what is real, and what is truth? Mystics speak of a reality that underlies the entire universe – a different reality, a different consciousness. A conscious energy, imbued with intelligence and wisdom – the very essence of life – that both sustains us and fills all space around us. It is in us and we are in it. Explaining this, the Great Master writes in Philosophy of the Masters, Vol. IV:

The Lord is the great storehouse of consciousness. He is the embodiment of reason and the treasure-house of intelligence. He is the repository of love and compassion. We are parts of Him. He is the whole. The essence of which our souls are made, its fountain source is called the Lord. If we are a drop of consciousness, He is the ocean of consciousness.

This conscious energy is distinguished by sweet captivating music and shimmering sparkling light. Many names have been ascribed to it, such as: Creative Power, the Word, Nam, or Shabd. By whatever name it is known, it is the unity that underlies the entire universe – the true reality.

Shabd is the divine inner presence, to whom we eternally belong. It guides us on the path from our limited consciousness to the vast, eternal consciousness – our ultimate potential. It is an invisible support that is always present and available to us, but we are too involved with our own perceptions and the impermanence of the world to realize this. The Masters tell us that if we turn our attention inward, and open our inner eye and our inner ear, we will experience this incredible power; its light and its music. Then we would realize that our physical eyes see only our own illusions, while our inner eye views the entire infinite reality. Without this inner realization we remain attached to our illusory realities and bound to their consequences.

In Radha Soami Teachings, Soami Ji Maharaj writes: “Shabd hath he firmly fixed in our beings.” However, the powerful attraction and attachment to our own unique illusions prevents us from making use of the opportunity to turn inward and explore both Shabd and the ultimate reality. Clinging to diversity is the basis of our suffering, pain and disharmony. We must let go of our illusions, even though the transition may appear like death. Rumi tells us differently:

It is apparently death, but in reality life;
Outwardly decay, but inwardly growth.
_{As quoted in Mysticism: The Spiritual Path}

The Masters, in their kindness and grace, have given us a valid reason to let go of our illusions – to turn away from illusion, diversity and suffering. They have given us an exceptional opportunity to turn instead toward reality, unity and eternal bliss. As Great Master explains:

The Master ‘injects’, as it were, his consciousness and light into the soul of the disciple at the time of initiation. This injection of his own consciousness and light permeates the disciple like leaven and produces a new spiritual consciousness and light as the practice of Nam is continued. The spiritual light of the Master gives a new life to the soul of the disciple and begins to free it. Consequently, the disciple begins to have a feeling of fulfilment. This gift of the Master cannot be taken away.
_{Philosophy of the Masters, Vol. V}

The Masters are imbued with the consciousness of true reality; their attention turns at will to the subtle regions of the soul and the mysteries of the universe. They offer us the chance to turn from diversity and separateness to unity, to experience ultimate reality by becoming that reality ourselves. Again and again we should thank the Master for this opportunity and for teaching us what devotion really is.

We thank the Master by doing our meditation, but are we consistent in our meditation practice? Do we miss the opportunity to explore this beautiful spiritual path by neglecting the one thing the Master asks of us? In Mysticism: The Spiritual Path, the author comments:

How strange that we investigate everything of the world but never care to look into our own self! We leave out no object in nature from our study, but we shut our eyes to the reality and essence of our own being.

He continues by warning us:

We cannot form an accurate idea of mystic knowledge except by following the mystic path. It is not only a knowing but essentially a seeing – seeing completely, thoroughly and intimately – on a plane above the level of the intellect and beyond the perception of the senses. Nay, it is not even a seeing: it is a becoming – it is to become the very truth that we want to know, it is to enter with our soul the transcendent ultimate reality as it is in its essence and being, and it is to know that supreme reality by becoming that reality ourselves.