These days you hear a lot about how we need wholeness, not division. It is said that the world is interconnected and that there is no distinction between subject and object. People are part of nature and should be one with nature. It is claimed that when one realizes that we are all one, then no harm should be done to the other because they are truely ourselves. In contradistinction to this view is opposed an analytical view. Analysis is evident in linguistic philosophy and science. This has been said to break up the world, destroy human relations, the environment and introduce alienation into the heart of being.
What one usually finds is that the wholeness doctrine is empty. Once we admit that we are all one the searching for knowledge ceases. On the other hand, the analytical view has produced far more knowledge and understanding. What is evident is that these two processes are needed together, the synthesizing and analyzing of parts. With this comes new parts and new combinations of reality. And with this new ideas, new objects, new relationships are introduced into the heart of being, making it more fulfilling than it once was. The point is not that everything is not part of an inter-linked reality, but that analysis is what allows for the possibilities inherent in this wholeness to be revealed to being. The potentialities inherent in nature are then free to be actualized and reality becomes enriched rather than debased.
Why does the searching for knowledge cease when we admit the oneness of all? I have found the oneness of all. I do no harm to another because they are truly ourselves, but I have not stopped searching for knowledge. Why would I?
It is on your own path that you must find for yourself. I can’t tell you how to understand it. I started with the understanding that dualism is not correct but the universe is full of polarities (good/evil, female/male, night/day, Goddess/God, etc.). I was responsible for my own actions. Mind/body is not two separate things. The separation exists only in our incorrect perception, which is caused by our rational, logical, linear minds. We all have the capacity to do ‘good’ or ‘evil’ and we must deal with the consequences of our actions. Evil and good is a choice of sentient beings, not two distinct forces. Constructive and destructive are inherently part of each other, so they are not separate and dualistic.
That was the beginning of my journey. The journey to understanding it can be done through many different paths.