The Universe experiencing itself

What is meant when we say that "You are the Universe"?

For the readers who have read some previous articles on this blog, this has been mentioned a few times before, and it is also possible that some of us may have read or heard it somewhere else too, but not fully understanding or experiencing reality as such. The intention of this article is to shed some light on this topic and to go into a bit more detail on this. Of course, this is a very broad topic, and therefore we shall just touch on the topic in this article. As readers, please feel free to comment or request more material on this, if needed.

So, how do we feel, in general? How do we experience reality? Some of us may say that we are a person, a human being, and that we came into this world, experiencing it as a separate entity, having a gross identity as a physical body.

On the other hand, some of us may feel that we are our minds, that we are our thoughts. As René Descartes said, I think, therefore I am. Even so, are we truly our thoughts? Are we the thinker of the thoughts? 

Further, we may also believe that we are a soul or a spiritual being, but even when we say these things, we still express them as theories. We may have read somewhere or have been told that we are this or that, but they remain beliefs and theories, and it still does not help us to understand and experience that we are the universe itself.

Depending on the perception we have, and on what we identify as, we shall, of course, have different opinions of what we truly are. If we believe that we are the body or the mind or energy, sure, we can take on this approach, but we can boil all of it down to the very same thing. For this approach, we shall first look at it from one point of view and then work backward on this same view, in order to illustrate a clear understanding.

Dissolving concepts of ourselves

When we say that we are the body, we identify as the body, but what happens to us when we lose some arms, legs, or all of them? Do we feel that we are just half a person? Do we just experience half hunger, half anger, half love? Do we feel that we are half present, or is there still the same sense of witnessing what is happening to the body? See, the physical body change, but the witnessing of it remains the same.

When we identify as the mind, we know that our thoughts, opinions, and perceptions are influenced and changing all the time. New ideas come, old ideas go. Yet, through all the changing of the mind, there is still 'you' observing it, isn't it? There is always this 'something' that remains still, solid, unmoved, always observing the mind, witnessing the change of the mind happening.

Even when we believe that we are the thinker of our thoughts, we can actually put this theory to the test and see what happens. When we quiet the body, quiet the mind and just observe, we come to realize that thoughts are happening, but there is no thinker! Thus, we are not the mind or the thoughts either but do not simply believe this. Quiet the mind, observe, and see what happens. Have the experience.

Likewise, when we say that we are a soul, when we are in a dream state, when experiencing altered states of consciousness through psychedelics or deep levels of the mind through meditation, even in a state of emptiness of the mind, we are always the same - the observer to it all.

Through this, we can conclude that all of our experiences and realities, from the very gross to the very subtle levels, depend on one factor to be experienced. They depend on an observer, on a witness. Awareness.

Looking at it the other way around

Now, if nothing can be experienced without awareness, how can the universe exist without any awareness of it? See, our universe does not exist separately from us, does it?

When we observe the mind, we can see how everything is manifested into existence from space or emptiness, and how it all dissolves back into this same space, this same emptiness.

None of this exists without the witness of it. Yet, the witness exists without anything having to be manifested into existence.

Based on that, we can conclude that if the universe is a manifestation of the mind, if our universe does not exist separately from us - with us being the witness, the observer of it - then it is clear that we are our universe, and everything existing within it too! Everything we experience in our universe, exists in relation to us, and not separate from us.

See, we are the universe, experiencing itself.

Again, we should not merely believe this, or take it as another theory. We can put it to the test, go inward, and discover our Essence. From here, we realize that we have always been this Essence, this Observer, and whatever has been created and destroyed around us was never separate from us. We have always been the Quiet Witness to it all.

When we realize that we are the universe, we treat ourselves with love, kindness and compassion, because we know that we are nobody and we are everybody. We are nothing and we are everything. There is only One, and we are It.

Observing a beautiful manifestation of the mind, knowing that it dissolves back into the same emptiness it was created from.