Unity and interconnectedness: Difference between revisions

Depending on the degree to which this apparent illusion has been lifted, it can lead onto five possible levels of differing intensity and degrees of interconnectedness. These are each are capable of spontaneously sustaining their perspective for weeks, months or even years after the experience itself. They can be defined and organized as:

The lowest and least complex level can be referred to as a state of “''unity between specific external systems''”. This is the only level of intensity in which the subjective experience of unity does not involve a state of interconnectedness between the self and the external. Instead, it can be described as a perceived sense of unity between two or more systems within the external environment which in every day life, are usually perceived as separate from both the self and each other.

*A sense of unity between literally any combination of perceivable external systems and concepts.

The second of these two levels can be referred to as a state of “''unity between the self and specific external systems''”. It can be defined as the experience of a loss of perceived boundaries between a person’s sense of self and the specific physical systems or concepts within the perceivable external environment which are currently comprising their central point of cognitive focus.

This creates a sensation which is often described by people as the experience of becoming inextricably connected to, one with, the same as, or unified with whatever the perceived external system happens to be.

The third of these five differing levels of intensity can be referred to as "''a state of unity between the self and all perceivable external systems''". It is defined as the experience of a loss of perceived boundaries between a person’s sense of self and the entirety of the currently perceivable external environment. The experience as a whole is generally described by people as “becoming one with my surroundings”.

It's at this level that a key component of the unity experience becomes an extremely noticeable factor. Once a person's sense of self has become attributed to the entirety of their surroundings, this new perspective completely changes how it feels to physically interact with what was previously felt to be an external environment. For example, when physically interacting with an object in everyday life it feels very simply that you are a central agent organizing the world around itself. However, whilst undergoing a state of unity with the currently perceivable environment, interacting with an external object consistently feel as if the system as a whole is autonomously organizing itself and that you are no longer a central agent operating the process of interaction. Instead the process suddenly feels as if it has become completely decentralized and mutual across itself as the environment begins to autonomously, mechanically and harmoniously respond to itself to perform the predetermined function of the particular interaction.

The fourth of these five differing levels of intensity can be referred to as a "''state of unity between the self and all presently occurring external systems''". It is defined as the experience of a loss of perceived boundaries between a person's sense of self, the perceivable external environment, and all which they know to currently exist outside of this through their internally stored model of reality. This feels as if one's sense of self has become attributed to not just the external environment but all of humanity, nature, and the universe as it presently stands in its complete entirety. The experience of this is commonly interpreted by people as “''becoming one with the universe''”.

When experienced, this effect creates the sudden perspective that one is quite literally the entire universe experiencing itself, exploring itself, and performing actions onto itself through the very specific point of space and time which this body and conscious perception happens to currently reside in. When experienced, this feeling is often immediately understood to be an innate and undeniable truth by those who undergoes it.

The fifth and most profound of these five differing levels of intensity can be referred to as a "''state of unity between the self and the creation of all external systems''". It is defined as the experience of a loss of perceived boundaries between a person's sense of self and all external systems of behaviour. This includes not just the systems as they currently stand within the present moment but at each known point of their existence throughout all time lines past, present, and future as dictated by the person's internally stored model of reality.  

*The religious or spiritual realization that the person's preconceived notions behind their concept of “god” or “god-hood” can now be felt through a forced change in perspective as identical to the nature of existence and to one's true self. This realization is generally reached through the subconscious conclusion that the usually differing concepts of god-hood, existence and self are now identically defined as that which is the all-knowing, all-encompassing, all-powerful creator, and sustainer of this existence.

If one performs research into similar states or ideas of unity and how it relates to the supposedly illusory nature of our current concept of one's self, it quickly becomes evident that others have been reaching consistent conclusions throughout many points within humanity's historical and modern literature. These similar or even identical accounts can be found across a surprisingly large variety of religious, philosophical, and psychological sources. These have been collected and listed as a set of documented examples below:

Although such accounts do not necessarily support the validity of the metaphysical realizations found within these states, they still provide a wealth of evidence regarding the legitimate existence of this experience as a real and physical neurological process that is worthy of formal study and recognition.

Although [[PsychonautWiki|PW]] is not asserting inherent truth behind any particular metaphysical idea, it's worth noting that claims which the universe by its very definition is comprised of a single unified substance of which we are all a part of is a very basic and logically coherent point of view. This can be argued based on the reasoning that at every level of any system of behaviours complexity, it is inextricably woven into its surrounding systems ad infinitum through mutual interdependent interactions which cannot be defined separately from each other on any basis beyond our subjective experiences of perceivable visual differences. This is an idea which holds true throughout all aspects of physical existence and logically indicates that no individual system or concept such as the self or any other can ever truly be considered as separate from the singular whole.