The World Does Not Exist The Way It Appears.
The world does not exist the way it appears because the world and we are not two separate existences.
Our ingrained perception and experience of ourselves and the world as separate entities are deeply rooted and often go unquestioned. However, certain irrefutable and unbiased facts of life remain overlooked and misunderstood, yet they have the potential to free us from personal and global problems like nothing else has to date. These facts can dismantle the painful illusion of duality, illuminate the inherent interconnectedness of the world and ourselves, and bring about an era of happiness, peace, and prosperity never before achievable.
Let’s analyze our being and that of the world to clearly understand the illusion of duality that remains unnoticed by most and is the exclusive root cause of all unhappiness, sorrow, war, and other afflictions.
What Is Needed to Claim Independent Existence?.
To claim genuine independent existence, both the world and a person would need to possess three crucial qualities:
1. Being a singular entity.
2. Having an independent nature that produces itself.
3. Existing without needing the mind's labels, like "world" or "human," to define it.
But is this how everything exists? Let's test this for ourselves and see how accurate our senses, experiences, and beliefs are.
Examination of the World.
1. Is the World One Entity?.
The world is not a singular entity; rather, it is an amalgamation of countless nonsingular parts, such as oceans, mountains, continents, rivers, trees, soil, living beings, atmosphere, oxygen, down to atoms and quarks. Each part, no matter how small, is made up of smaller parts, continuing infinitely. Nowhere can we find a truly singular part in the universe.
2. Did the World Produce Itself?.
The world, or any part of it, did not produce itself. Nothing possesses its own nature capable of self-production. For instance, soil does not independently create itself; it relies on processes such as decomposition, microbes, and countless elements from plants and animal matter. Everything in the world depends on everything else, debunking the notion of self-production or a unique, independent essence.
3. Can the World Exist Without Our Mind’s Label?.
The term "world" is a label—a construct of our mind, a conceptual overlay applied to the countless parts our mind perceives and experiences. "World" is not an intrinsic characteristic of these parts but a mental projection. It only becomes the "world" when our mind assigns the label and believes in it.
Examination of a Person.
1. Is a Person a Singular Entity with a Unique Essence?.
Humans are not singular entities; they are intricate compositions of various physical and nonphysical elements. And none of these parts are singular either, as no element exists independently; each is made up of smaller, nonsingular particles. Each moment of the mind is also not a single, standalone entity but is composed of countless shorter moments that create a continuous flow of experience.
2. Can a Person Self-Generate?.
Humans have no independent nature that could generate them. They are the products of an intricate web of existence, made up of countless physical and nonphysical elements. Everyone is identical and interconnected, sharing the same universal nature and essence. Every moment of the mind is a product of the previous moment, and every physical and nonphysical part of existence arises from a universal nature, not from its own essence, debunking the notion of self-generation.
3. Can a Person Exist Without Our Mind’s Label?.
"Human" is a label, a conceptual framework projected onto a valid base composed of countless physical and nonphysical parts for convenience's sake. "Human" is thus a mental projection onto these parts, which are not human until our mind applies the label and believes in it. Labels don't originate from any physical forms but our mind, yet most of us believe otherwise when we come in contact with anything including what we call "me" or "my body". We believe that our body or me exists as such without our mind's projection of these labels and believe in them. Labels originate in our mind and exist only there and don't come from the side of any physical parts, proving that our experience is contradictory to facts.
Conclusion of how everything exists and the countless benefits to everyone.
In reality, the world and we are identical and inseparable as neither the world nor humans are singular entities, nor do they possess an independent nature that could generate them. Everything that exists is a product of the same universal nature and essence without a trace of an individual self. The perceived separation between "me" and "the world" arises from our mind’s unfamiliarity with how everything exists and the tendency to affix names to phenomena and then believe in those labels as real. Grasping the profundity of selflessness of all phenomena is essential to overcoming personal and global problems, as it reveals the shared essence and interconnectedness of all phenomena.
Ultimately, recognizing the true nature of all existence unveils the identical essence of the world and ourselves, both devoid of unique, independent origins. This realization leads to a peaceful understanding—we are all interconnected, embodying a singular, universal life.
Editor Alexandra Sullivan.