“The whole universe lies within a single human being – you. … Everything in the universe is within you.” - Rumi, Sufi mystic & poet
“We are not in the universe, we are the universe. We are the universe becoming conscious of itself.” - Ron Garan, astronaut
“I am the light inside of you, you are the light inside of me; We are the filament inside the heart of infinality; We come to spread our light and shine so brightly, you will see; We're connected at the root and we are one eternally. … We are infinite, a star-dusted human satellite.” - Indubious, Infinite
At this present time when the divisive rhetoric of political polarization is deepening the Great American Divide by further fueling the fear and hatred responsible for tearing humanity apart, the empowering message of unity captured in the above quotes offers a desperately needed breath of fresh air.
There is nothing new about the divide & conquer strategy currently at play which is responsible for fueling the heightened polarization playing out upon the world stage right now, seen in so many different forms, perhaps most blatantly in the ongoing US-fueled wars causing incomprehensible levels of human suffering. Nor is the revolutionary message of unity, which has the power to depolarize and heal humanity from her current fractured state, anything new under the sun.
What is new upon the planet right now is the centuries-long perpetual division among the ranks of humanity culminating in the polarizing chaos transpiring upon the planet right now. Meanwhile, the underlying truth of this message of unity that would undo the bitter division of humanity upon collective integration is simultaneously being realized, embodied and shared with humanity by unprecedented numbers of the human race. This message of unity rooted in love is offering us an alternative choice to the old-paradigm of perpetual division rooted in fear that has defined the human experience on this planet for so long, which we are so accustomed to here on earth.
This empowering message of unity in whatever form it is relayed points to a single underlying truth of the nature of the universe, a universal reality of the inherent unity of all Life which humanity is now in the process of collectively awakening to. Knowledge of this truth has been with humanity down through the ages, taught to us through the generations by the few among us who have realized it for themselves. Mystics, saints, yogis, medicine men & women, sages, and spiritual teachers & masters alike from a vast array of traditions have long sought to communicate this transcendent truth to humanity to the best of their ability, according to their own understanding of it.
Jesus is one prime example, who pointed to this very same fundamental truth of reality when he taught that: “Whatsoever you have done unto the least of these, you have done unto me,” and, “The kingdom of heaven is within you.” And while the organized religion of Christianity has gone to great lengths to obfuscate this message of oneness taught by Jesus, the empowering and liberating universal message he gifted humanity with is still to be found within the Christian scriptures for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. The same one who declared, “I and my Father are one,” offered up a beautiful and heartfelt prayer cited in John 17, in which he made known his deep desire for humanity, “That they may be one even as we are one...so that they may be perfected in unity.”
The great Master did not seek to be worshiped by Mankind as the institutionalized church would have us believe, but rather desired for us to realize and experience the oneness that he himself had realized and experienced, so that we might be freed from the darkness of fear and separation to live in the love and light of unity.
Realization of our inherent oneness and the oneness of the universe is the key to manifesting the unity that shall bring humanity the peace she so desperately yearns for, as these words of truth long written down attest to. Even the etymology of the word universe itself bears witness to this fundamental reality, composed of the words 'uni' and 'verse', meaning one verse or a single verse; with the original meaning of the word 'verse' in Latin meaning 'to turn' or 'to combine'. The word universe thus literally means 'to turn into one' or 'the turning into one'. When one sees the great vastness of the universe and all that is within it as it truly is, one sees the inherent unity of all creation, and the perceived separation of individuals and objects disappears, along with the perceived separation between Creator and creation, as that one's perception of All That Is literally 'turns into one'.
Until recent years, however, those willing and able to accept and acknowledge this truth and its message of unity have long been few and far between, an extremely small minority of humans on Planet Earth.
The only significant difference in this regard between today and the past centuries of human ignorance is that unprecedented numbers of humanity are collectively awakening to this ultimate reality that, in times past, only a comparatively small number of souls ever experienced in any given generation.
It is no longer just a few isolated mystics of the world realizing and spreading this message of unity that teaches we are all one, but musicians and astronauts as well, as the opening quotes reveal. And not only is this revolutionary message once espoused by a renowned 13th Century Sufi mystic also shared in our modern age by a single small time 'rootstronica' pair of musicians calling themselves Indubious and a lone astronaut named Ron Garan, but also by a good number of other astronauts and musicians as well.
In fact, outside of the establishment controlled entertainment industry, there are countless bands and musicians spreading this very same message of love and the inherent unity of all life, not to mention a new generation of teachers and preachers hailing from every major spiritual and religious tradition doing the same. Medical doctors and nurses, scientists in their respective fields, and countless others are also among this consciousness (r)evolution. For example, Carl Sagan, a prominent astronomer of the 20th Century declared that:
“The cosmos is also within us. We’re made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”
Within the field of astronomy, such views are not isolated to Sagan. Meanwhile, the entire field of quantum mechanics is the unfolding story of the modern scientific (re)discovery of the truth of the inherent oneness of the universe, with quantum physicists on the cutting edge of a field of scientific discovery that is increasingly bridging the 'gap' between science and spirituality. In the words of modern quantum physicist Amit Goswami:
“When we understand us, our consciousness, we also understand the universe and the separation disappears.”
These are but a few examples reflective of an ongoing collective realization that humanity is currently undergoing, a realization of the truth of who and what we as human beings are, which is inseparable from the realization of the inherent oneness of the entire universe and All That Is. This collective realization of the inherent unity of all life is a natural effect of the Great Awakening currently sweeping our planet. Meanwhile, the role of space travel and awakening astronauts in this collective realization and the timely message of unity for humanity shared by astronaut Ron Garan, which this post will highlight, is but one of the many reflections of the greater story of an awakening humanity currently unfolding before our eyes.
Awakening & a collective shift out of fear, into unity consciousness
This story of humanity's collective mass awakening, the Great Awakening that is currently unfolding upon the planet is, as I see it, surely the biggest and most important story playing out on Planet Earth right now, and has been for four years now. It is certainly also one of the most suppressed and under-reported stories of our times, and understandably so, once one understands the nature and implications of this awakening in the context of the true nature of the corporate cabal of media conglomerates largely controlling the flow of information and the 'news' being widely consumed by populations across the planet.
It is a big story because it is the ongoing story of a massive, unprecedented global phenomenon observed since 2020 when the COVID P(l)andemic and the ensuing chaos swept across the planet. It is important because it is the story of humanity for the first time actually beginning to collectively awaken to the root cause of, and therefore also to the real and lasting solutions to, all of the many great problems facing humanity and our planet at this time.
The story of humanity's great awakening is highly suppressed, ignored, and evidence of its reality discounted because it threatens the fear-based old paradigm 'us vs. them' way of thinking and living that we have long been operating under. It is for this reason that an awakening humanity is seen as a massive and imminent threat to a majority of the world systems of planetary control which are built and thrive upon this old paradigm. These include all of the governmental, societal, corporate, military, religious, financial, medical, and educational systems which subsist upon and profit off of both the orchestrated inequality of humanity inherent to life on Planet Earth, as well as the destructive assault of the planet that's been taking place since the Industrial Revolution.
At its heart, this great awakening of which I speak is an awakening of human consciousness, an awakening out of separation consciousness and into unity consciousness, which is also an awakening out of falsehood and into truth. Put simply, it is an awakening out of fear and into love – divine, unconditional love, that is - as fear is the energetic vibration of separation and love the energetic vibration of unity. Just as the belief in separation, characterized by a mind overrun by fear, is the root falsehood underlying all other falsehoods permeating human consciousness and also the root of all human-caused suffering; so is the realization that All is One, characterized by a stream of love and compassion flowing from one's heart, the ultimate recognition of the truth that will set humanity free from her prison of perpetual suffering which that false belief in the illusion of separation has created.
Awakening is a most fitting term for this process of realization, as this illusion of separation is like a dream in which the ego program identifying as a separate self is born out of fear in the mind of Man. For a more detailed description of the ego program and how it works to enslave the human mind, see my post detailing how darkness seen in the world is but a reflection of our own inner darkness – Awakening, False Light, and the Four Strategies of the Dark Side Employed in the Enslavement of Humanity:
The one who awakens from the dream of separation is awakening to the Reality of one's true Self as a divine spark of unconditional love and pure light that can never be separated from its Source except in the illusory dream-world of one's mind. The awakening one is beginning to see themself as they truly are, as a child of God whose very essence is the infinite and eternal essence of its Creator, consciousness itself, which is also the fabric of the entire Universe, breathing life and form and substance into the interwoven living tapestry of All That Is.
Drawing upon the words of Albert Einstein, awakening is inherently characterized by the realization that, “A human being is a part of the whole we call the universe.” This realization only begins to occur as one awakens from the dream of separation, an “optical illusion of his consciousness” created when “he experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings, as something separated from the rest.” This separate sense of self is the false self, the self which Jesus taught must be denied by those aspiring to be his disciples. And this illusory false self is but a phantom in the dream of separation, the fear-born optical illusion of consciousness.
This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our own personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to include all living beings and all of nature.
Just as depicted in the Matrix film, humanity is imprisoned within a matrix program, an illusory dream world that mimics Reality while simultaneously blinding us to the true nature of Reality and the truth of who we are, where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. This truth, transcending the limits of the intellectual mind, can only be known directly through personal experience in the heart and soul, by one whose intellectual mind and intuitive senses are operating in a healthy state of balance and harmony. Awakening is not a concept that can be intellectualized, but rather an experience that must be felt, seen, perceived and experienced for oneself, by the whole human organism and not the mind alone. As Morpheous told Neo in the Matrix film, “Unfortunately, no one can be told what the matrix is, you have to see it for yourself,” and, “I can only show you the door, you're the one who has to walk through it.”
All of the great teachings long passed down by the various way-showers of humanity but point to the way by which we can prepare the soil of our minds and thus quicken the eventual sprouting of the seed of awakening planted within us, at which point we begin to experience the truth for ourselves. An initial awakening occurs when the soil of one's consciousness is prepared for the experience, whether consciously through spiritual practice, or unconsciously in the natural course of the human organism's inner evolution, when once “they have finally stopped agreeing to things that insult their soul.”
This initial awakening experience can be likened to seeing the matrix for oneself for the very first time, and to being shown the door. The inner journey into unity consciousness which such an awakening naturally leads one to embark upon is the way by which humanity walks through the door, the pathway leading us out of the prison of separation and into a whole new, previously unimaginable, world of inner peace and freedom rooted in unity consciousness. The apostle Paul referred to this process of embodying unity consciousness as 'putting on the Mind of Christ', and what many refer to as Christ Consciousness is one and the same as unity consciousness.
An experience that would bring about the core realization inherent of a true awakening would be any oneness experience or experience of unconditional love or transcendental inner peace, wherein one experiences the inherent unity and inter-connectedness of life. Such experiences commonly occur in the quiet solitude of nature, in the stillness of meditation, when one's mind is wholly absorbed in music or a mantra, or when one sees a reflection of their own essence in another and recognizes themself in or as a part of that 'other'.
There is, however, a great difference between initially experiencing the truth of this enlightening reality and living it out by anchoring oneself in unity consciousness through the embodiment of unconditional love and inner peace, which is the ultimate purpose of awakening.
To again quote from the wisdom of Morpheous in the Matrix:
Sooner or later you're going to realize, as I did, that there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
Awakenings always tend to be deeply profound and highly transformative experiences in nature, and though there is a thread of commonality between them all, the specific details and circumstances defining one's personal awakening experience vary greatly from individual to individual. There seem to be two major categories that every awakening tends to fall into; those that are quite sudden and intense, and those that are more gradual and subtle. A fairly detailed account of my own initial spiritual awakening can be read in a post detailing my spiritual journey, though I have yet to publish an account of my own transcendental spiritually transformative experience that occurred in the months following my initial spiritual awakening.
In the following interview on the Love Covered Life podcast, Mary Reed, who has worked with over 1,000 awakening individuals, discusses the nature of spiritual awakening with its many challenges and difficulties.
https://youtu.be/XtJ2vG7XwaA?si=2U13U8JtlrOvtRcF
Near-Death Experiences, the defining out of body experience of our generation
The variety of experiences that frequently trigger an awakening are far too numerous to list here, even among the most widely shared profound experiences associated with the more abrupt variety of awakening – spiritually transformative experiences as they've come to be known – and so I will highlight just one such prevalent example in this post before diving into the unique role of space travel in humanity's collective awakening. Chief among such experiences commonly associated with and responsible for triggering sudden awakenings are out-of body-experiences (OBEs), most prominent among these being the famed near-death experience (NDE) – a term coined in the 70s and popularized by Dr. Raymond Moody with the publishing of his book, Life After Life in 1975.
Some take issue with the accuracy of the term, however, and “lead author Sam Parnia, an associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and a longtime researcher of what happens to people as they die,” prefers to call them by what he considers to be a more accurate term – recalled experiences of death. This sentiment is also shared by a number of souls who have gone through such an experience. Though definitions vary among researchers, events generally qualified as NDEs occur both in individuals who are clinically dead, as well as those on the verge of death who are unconscious or comatose (such as under general anesthesia). They most commonly occur under:
“conditions in which you would die, and stay dead, unless somebody instituted emergency medical procedures to help you,” says Bruce Greyson, a psychiatrist at the University of Virginia who has studied NDEs for nearly 50 years.
During an NDE, an individual's consciousness/conscious awareness typically exits or “pops out of” the body – as it is often described – at or near the time of clinical death, allowing one to directly experience the reality that 'I am not the body'. This experience is frequently associated with the sudden, powerful realization that death as it is commonly perceived is not real, but rather a natural and painless transition of one's consciousness/awareness/spirit/soul to the next phase of one's life, often likened to stepping out of a worn out pair of clothes. For these NDErs, this realization often immediately eradicates or greatly diminishes the fear of death, the root human fear which underlies all other fears and holds the mind of Man in his prison of fear and separation.
NDErs frequently report experiencing an extremely expanded and hei