Will Believing in Oneness Make Me an Atheist?

Whether a person is religious or an atheist, it is common to wonder if spirituality, Buddhism,  yoga or meditation go against their beliefs. Some worry they are sinning or that they will be punished in some way. And still others fear this will lead them into atheism.

So, does oneness conflict with any religions? Is it compatible with no religion? Does is clash with science?  And can I keep my old beliefs but still meditate and explore these deeper dimensions within myself? I answer these questions and more in today's podcast.

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Transcript

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Welcome to path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. I'm your host, Todd Perelmuter our world is a projection of our collective consciousness. The more peace we bring into our lives, the more peace we bring into this world. So let the transformation begin. Oneness is not something to believe, or have faith in. It is something that emerges as we become mindful of how everything is related, interconnected, and interdependent on each other. And as we notice this connection, and as we become mindful of the past, that led up to this moment now, as we become mindful of how what is happening in this moment will affect the future, we begin to understand that it is separation, that is the illusion, that isolation, individuality are the deceptions that arise from a lack of awareness and understanding. There is no leap of faith or blind faith in anything that I say. The words that I use are merely pointers, for us to see the universe in a deeper way that enables us to further our understanding of our place in this magical universe, and the purpose of our lives. Oneness doesn't refer to a single deity, or many deities, or the absence of a deity. It simply is the expansion of our awareness, to include not just things as they are now, but to see things as they truly are, which is constantly changing, constantly decaying, constantly, transforming from energy to form, and form to energy, birth to death, and death to birth. Constantly, in this cycle, every cell in our body is decaying. And new cells are constantly being born, we are in a constant cycle of death and rebirth in every single moment. And we can even extend our awareness beyond things. And we can very quickly and easily discover that it's not the things in our lives, that determine the quality of our lives. But it is our relationship to those things, are we living in wise relationship, because only when we lose ourselves when we are not mindful of ourselves when we are not present, that we lose our relationship to the world around us. And we see the world around us as a separate entity from ourselves. But when we stay mindful, and stay present, and we witness each moment, and we live in each moment, completely and fully. Then we see how we are relating to others, and our surroundings, and even to ourselves. Because just as it is the relationships we have in our lives that make it so special. The relationship we have with ourself is the most important one. It will determine the quality of our experience, whether we are surrounded by friends, or strangers, or alone. And so as we elevate our awareness, we can begin to become more mindful of how we are relating to our lives. And we can see and determine if we are causing needless suffering in our own life. And we can see that At what the mind is blaming as the cause of our suffering. With proper inquiry, we can discover that that suffering is caused by our non conscious relationship to our surroundings. So as you can see, oneness is really harmonious with any belief system, or no belief system. In Christianity, even they understand that there are the three entities the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, and that they are also unified as one. And there is rarely a religious example of oneness and non duality, as clear, as in Christianity, as in this holy trinity, that is three, but interconnected, and unified in relation to each other as one. And this is the nature of our reality. This is why we see multitudes of form, why there is the variety we see everywhere. And yet why there is this underlying field, this unifying field from which everything emerged, and there is countless evidence suggesting that this unifying field, this quantum realm, this day dimension of infinite space and eternal time, that is the canvas for which this universe can appear. We all think, and we have this perspective of being a separate individual. But we were, before we were born, we were inside of our parents, we were in two people. And before that, we were in our grandparents, and we were all a quarter in those four people. And we were, we didn't appear out of nowhere, we didn't get born on an island to nobody. We are all a link in a chain. We have this perspective of how was I born in this body? How was I so lucky or unlucky to be born in this place? And at this time? And the answer, when we look deeper, is very clear. It's that we have been put together over 4 billion years. And each generation put us a little bit more together than the previous one. Just as what comes next will be that life process, continuing forever, if not on this planets, on other planets, if not in this universe, on other universes. And this is the nature of living in a finite universe, amidst infinite space, a temporary physical universe within an eternity of time. And oneness is simply a way to look at this universe. In a more inclusive and holistic viewpoint. We know that everything is flying away from each other in this universe. And we know that at one point, everything was in one infinitely small point in space. Everything literally one. And everything that is in our universe came from that oneness. And every element on the periodic table of elements is built of the same stuff. And we are simply a rearranging of those earliest atoms. And before that, the pure energy turning to dust, to stars, to planets, to us. We are not the thinker Have our thoughts, because we are not the builders of our brains. We are a vessel for the universe, for that one consciousness to flow in to these physical bodies, like electricity into a computer. When we look at the universe, through the lens of oneness, everything begins to make sense, because we see this one fundamental nature of the universe, repeated throughout the universe. And we see these microcosms, which reflect to us the nature of this universe. We see it when we look at an atom, and we see the electrons revolving around the nucleus. When we see the solar system, and the planets revolving around the sun, when we see the galaxies, swirling and revolving around a black hole, we see these microcosms when we see the veins in our lungs look just like the branches on a tree, or the rivers scoring the Earth. When we see the network of galaxies, throughout the universe, be connected through dark matter and energy, like a neural network in our brain, and how those two look just like the mycelium network, underneath the Earth's soil. And we see what these networks of intelligent consciousness look like being repeated. In every size and scale. We see how homes function like neighborhoods, and we see how neighborhoods function like cities, and how cities function like states, states like countries, and countries, like all societies on this planet, we see it in those Fibonacci sequences in the plants, and the foods we eat. And we, since that there is so much more to our lives, then the stuff we can feel, see and hear, when we look closer, we see beginnings and endings are illusions, we see that permanence and solidity are deceptions. Because we do not see decay happening before our eyes, we do not see children or plants growing in front of us. Only when we look at an old photo, can we notice that change has taken place. And so we fall for these illusions. And it is very easy to think that the stuff is the most important thing. And that our relationships, that our energy, our love, are secondary. They are the byproduct of the circumstances. And when we tap into oneness, we realize that fallacy and in fact, our energy, our mind, determine how we experience everything around us, when we live in duality, when the forms consume our entire attention. This is the really downfall of any person and society. This is the beginning of lack, competition, and aggression. When we only see the stuff, we're willing to fight and die for the stuff because we feel that that is the only thing that exists and the only thing worth living for. When oneness, interconnectedness, interdependent interdependence becomes the focal point of our lives. joy, peace and love become our priority. It can coexist with any religion, and no religion. But what we will find, if we open ourselves up to this oneness, and as science is showing us today, with their incredible breakthroughs is that the stuff we fixate on, doesn't even exist at all, unless something is being observed or measured, it exists as energy. Only when a consciousness looks at something, does it take on the behavior of a physical object, but that is not its natural state, that is, its state, when only it is being interacted with, when we search for meaning and purpose in stuff, money, titles, we will only find emptiness because that is all that is in those things. But when we look into emptiness, we will find what really matters in life. And that is, our relationships and connections with both others, and our deepest self, because it is in the space between forms, where the magic happens, that is where the exchange of energy, the sharing of love, the healing energy are felt. And the more we sink into that oneness, the more we discover that what remains, when we close our eyes, remove any distractions and practice being is this radiating love within us, and that it is this love, this pure love that doesn't need a recipient, or some object to have love received upon it. It is simply just love. And we realize that this is the only thing left when all else is removed. When any hatred, greed and anger and fear are removed, love is left. Love is the gravity that keeps this universe together. The universe created itself to experience itself. But life created itself to love itself. And that is why every animal requires love and a coming together of two souls in order to create more life. If there is no love, there is no life. That is the law of our existence. And whatever God we believe in, or we're many gods, or no God. What we can know for certain is that love is the force of love is the act of creation. Love is that glue that binds all of us together. And this is why every single major religion promotes love, and peace. Because they may all be pointing to the same truth using different names, different metaphors and different stories. But ultimately, Love is the answer to every question. To every situation we struggle with, to every big question we ask ourselves, like why are we here? And what is my purpose? And what is the meaning of life? Religions are not the books and they're not the scriptures. And they're not the rituals. And they're not the names of the deities, or the facts and figures. We need to learn to be a member. Religions are the people who make it up. And we are all equally able to determine our truth as anyone else. And religion is what each one of us makes it. If oneness speaks to that for you, if you see it in your life, and you feel it every day, and you feel that it is harmonious with your belief systems, then who is anyone to say, otherwise? Nobody has a bigger God antenna than anyone else. We are all just sharing our experiences, and responding to what resonates. If we are loving, if we are helping and not hurting, then every single person's truth is as valid as anyone elses. I personally see that this universe is absolutely perfect. In all of its imperfections, it is completely perfect. And people, many people want to tell me and remind me of the bad things that happen in the world, in order to convince me that it's not a perfect universe, and no amount of people will be able to convince me it's not perfect. And I wouldn't even want to convince them that it is. But if many people can try to convince me it's not perfect. I'll stay on Team perfect and try to convince as many people as possible because that is my truth. And that is what I see. And I see that there are so many people struggling and suffering. But I know that that is necessary, in order for us to grow, improve, and create a better world that values, respects and cherishes every single life on this planet. It may be a struggle, but it is struggles that make us strong. It is difficulties that make us grow. And it is the challenges and the difficulties, and the stress and the struggle that makes that growth possible. So we can be grateful for even our worst moments. We can be grateful for our failures in showing us where we need to improve. And we can be grateful for our suffering, because we can use it to transform and alleviate the suffering of others. And that is the purpose of each of our lives. To leave the world better than we found it and create a safer, more loving future for all life. You've been listening to path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. Being here and putting in this important and noble work is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and others. If you found this podcast even a little helpful. Please make sure to leave a review so it can reach others who may be in need. And remember, the path to peace starts with a single step.