You are an Emergent Property of the Whole Universe

Why do we perceive that the world is a merciless struggle for survival and full of competition?

We struggle to keep our heads above water in the world.

To make just enough money to survive.

To acquire more.

To serve the aggrandizement of self.

But in demonizing and struggling against all that is not SELF we limit ourselves.

We forget that we live in a vast network of interdependency.

Without our gut bacteria, we cannot survive.

So should we include that bacteria in our identity as biological human beings or are they external organisms?

After all we may not be able to survive without them.

And on a more abstract level, without the economic and societal systems at play to support our life we would also probably die pretty quickly out in the wild.

And without the sun there would be no way that life could maintain itself in the first place.

So why are we not including the sun in our conception of self?

Why do we view ourselves as discrete and separate selves that are isolated from every other aspect of reality?

Why don't we see ourselves as semi-autonomous systems, that have integral roles in the functioning of all of life and reality?

I, Ethan Nelson, am not just a bag of skin walking around and interacting with external objects in a purposeless universe.

I am the whole universe.

I'm a central node relating to an infinite number of different systems. Some of which I'm aware of, some of which I'm not.

I am a reflection of the whole.

Without my presence, the evolutionary process of increasing complexity that is emerging in the cosmos would be missing an integral function.

I may not be able to define that function.

I may not be able to understand and witness the exact mechanisms through which I'm an integral function of the cosmos but I FEEL them.

I FEEL the existence of interconnected webs of life that require my interaction for survival.

I FEEL my integral connectedness with every single system that I interact with.

So where does my self boundary end and the external world begin?

Perhaps that self-other boundary is illusory.

Perhaps I, Ethan Nelson, am a necessary part of the emergence of all of life and all of reality.

Perhaps my experience of life, of BEING CONSCIOUS, is an emergent property of reality and not a function of neurons firing in an isolated brain, which is housed in an isolated body, which is housed in an isolated nation, which is housed in an isolated globe, which is housed in an isolated solar system, which is housed in an isolated galaxy, which is housed in an isolated universe, ad infinitum.

Seems like a bleak way of looking at the world if I may say so myself.

You are connected with all of life.

But this connection isn't fully embodied through thinking about the systems at work.

NO.

It's emotional.

It's spiritual.

It's direct.

It's alive.

It's tangible.

Can you feel it?

When you drop all concepts of how the world is.

And sink into the ever-present witness of all that is arising.

Notice that YOU ARE ALL OF IT!

You are the experience of a tree.

You are the experience of the taste of water.

You are the experience of cars driving by.

You are the experience of the color green.

Ask yourself who is witnessing experience.

Where did we come up with this outlandish conclusion that I am an isolated observer housed in my brain somewhere and experiencing a vast and mysterious universe as a detached and meaningless observer?

Realize how you and your experience are not separate.

They're one and the same thing.

The act of witnessing the color green and the color of green are one and the same thing.

Alright, phewwww, hope you enjoyed this riff on systems theory, interdependency, escaping nihilism and the nature of experience.

A few updates

I'm coming at you from sunny Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. 🇲🇽 ☀️

In the progress of launching a completely FREE gift-based online course titled “Stages of Consciousness for Beginners” for those who are ready to level up their ability to make sense of their inner lives and build bridges between the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual domains.

If this is something you’d like to participate in you can apply here.

Much Love,
Ethan Nelson