...and it is possible to experience this directly, and to know it without any doubt.
Alternatively, it is possible to have a realization that dispels the illusion of selfhood. Such a realization makes it obvious what is not. A realization of this sort, however, while freeing one from the illusion of selfhood, does not give the experience of oneness directly. It is more a matter of seeing that THIS is all that remains after selfhood collapses.
In a sense, an experience of oneness is internal and allows us to know the truth directly. A realization, by contrast, is external (although these words aren't totally appropriate), and allows us to know what the truth is NOT. When an experience occurs, it happens through some unknown organ of perception that operates unlike anything else. A realization is more like a wall falls down or a mirage is seen through.
As one fellow described his experience of oneness, "I saw people coming toward me, but all were the same man. All were myself! I had never known this world. I had believed that I was created, but now I must change my opinion; I was never created; I was the cosmos; no individual existed."
In his case there was a direct experience and a consequent realization, but in other cases there can be a realization without an experience.
In both cases the illusion of selfhood vanishes, but an experience, alone, is usually insufficient to keep the illusion of selfhood from reappearing. A realization wipes it off the face of the map.
Alternatively, it is possible to have a realization that dispels the illusion of selfhood. Such a realization makes it obvious what is not. A realization of this sort, however, while freeing one from the illusion of selfhood, does not give the experience of oneness directly. It is more a matter of seeing that THIS is all that remains after selfhood collapses.
In a sense, an experience of oneness is internal and allows us to know the truth directly. A realization, by contrast, is external (although these words aren't totally appropriate), and allows us to know what the truth is NOT. When an experience occurs, it happens through some unknown organ of perception that operates unlike anything else. A realization is more like a wall falls down or a mirage is seen through.
As one fellow described his experience of oneness, "I saw people coming toward me, but all were the same man. All were myself! I had never known this world. I had believed that I was created, but now I must change my opinion; I was never created; I was the cosmos; no individual existed."
In his case there was a direct experience and a consequent realization, but in other cases there can be a realization without an experience.
In both cases the illusion of selfhood vanishes, but an experience, alone, is usually insufficient to keep the illusion of selfhood from reappearing. A realization wipes it off the face of the map.
