Have you ever wondered about beingness, the nonphysical existence of ourselves, or of an-other being or entity?
The renowned Indian teacher Nisargadatta said, “the other world, is this world, rightly seen.”
At one time, we saw the world as an extension of ourselves. It is the condition into which we were born. We didn’t know what an-other meant. We didn’t know that humanity saw itself apart from the natural world, or even one another. This perceived duality is what creates separateness, a division, through which we identify ourselves as separate from all others, separate from this or that, and, ultimately, separate from nature. This is the cultural story we’ve been telling for hundreds of years.
We come to know this duality and our beingness by our relation to an-other. Beingness, this original life essence, is present in all life. Beingness is the feeling of presence, a curious experience, yet familiar. It allows one to know that he, she, they, or it exists. It is the silent watcher within, that still observer that lies beyond conscious thought. Beingness seems to flow through all that exists, every particle, the cells, the DNA within the cells, and the quarks that make up the core of each atom in all matter. Beingness, is who we are beyond our human bodies, it is who the flowers and trees are beyond their physical forms, it is who the animals are, the light that shines through their eyes.
Beingness does not exist through our perceptions or our senses (such as seeing, hearing touching, smelling, or tasting). It’s much more intimate than that. Beingness far exceeds our perception, sensing, and emotions. It eclipses words and appearances, and it transcends our ego. Beingness is not attached to the material world. It’s not defined by the shape or color of a body, it’s not recognized by the car we drive, or measured by intellect. Beingness exists untouched by them.
Beingness is presence. Our existence and experiences give physical reality to our beingness. They allow us to know our beingness. Together, they create what we experience as reality and enables us to know and understand each other.
How do we know the nature of being-ness — ours or that of an-other‑—if it is beyond our senses, beyond experiences? How do we re-awaken the mind from the rigidity of the familiar?
For a moment, imagine a vast, intricate web made of fine, threadlike fibers of light and energy. This web is beingness. Woven, to those intertwined fibers are people, plants, animals, that in our reality appear to be separate from each other, but in actuality we are all part of this one marvelous, interconnected system with the same beingness moving through each of us. The beingness flowing through is the same for everyone and everything, no matter where you are on Earth. The playing field is not divided. It’s the underlying foundation of our universe. It is what breathes life into each of us.
In this web of beingness, separation does not exist. Imagine, if we could recognize beingness as the same essence in all of life, and relate to the beingness in ourselves and every other living being without division, where differences don’t exist, could we heal the separation between each other, the separation caused by biases and discrimination, the separation between us and nature?
It is in seeking — the insatiable drive to understand, to bridge the finite with the infinite, to comprehend our interconnectedness — to make sense of these fleeting moments when we dissolve in the other, our ego disappears, and we become one with everything — NOW, that’s what matters. That’s one of the single, most important things in life to consider when we strive to heal our separated world.
We look at the finite, but then, when we behold it as being part of the universal—we re-enter the spaces that form the cosmos. In these moments, which imprint themselves on our psyches, we embody the sacred in our world and experience the divinity of nature. In these cosmic truths, dwell new perspectives through which we can perceive the poetic, subtle, and complex aspects of our inner and outer nature. It’s an awakening of consciousness to self-awareness, and then gradual expansion toward the universal consciousness of Oneness. We move beyond the experiences and boundaries of our ego identity and become consciously aware of the interconnectedness of all things.
The most important work you or I can ever do for this planet is to embrace our beingness and live out of our hearts’ inherent compassion toward all other life.
Beingness reveals itself within us and unfolds around us. It shines into us, and, shines through us toward other beings. When we go out for a walk in a forest, sit quietly by a lake, or simply gaze at a flower, nature’s beingness shines through us and deeply moves us. Nature surrounds us by being, and permeates our beingness, energizing every cell in our bodies, filling us with aliveness. We come to know and be known; to see and be seen. Nature’s beingness sees into us, just as we probe into its being—a deep awareness of the other. A conversation between old friends that strengthens the whole, yet goes unheard. A chance to love, of consciously being inseparable, goes unseen. A loved one longing to be in the presence of the other—the one who sees you after a lifetime of invisibility.
I want for all of us to be so moved, to be affected so profoundly, by the beauty, the complexity, the mysteries of our natural world and universe, that we fall in love so deeply that we’re shaken to tears. My soul wants for itself and for your soul, and for all our souls, to feel like fireworks exploding in the night sky. Imagine, if we could feel that depth of love, we would feel, we would see, we would hear an--other’s beingness. We would fall in love so deeply with our natural world that we would want to listen to all entities. Deep love that rises from within, for no other reason than the reality of being, allows us to feel gratitude. Infinite depths of love want to understand, to help, to make things better. We would want to protect nature, to help it, to heal it. We would not settle for anything less, for such fullness of life and heart are the moments that make life worth living.
Throughout history, great wisdom teachers have taught about beingness. To experience who you really are, the sage, Ramana taught to “Become conscious of being conscious. Sense your presence, the naked unveiled, unclothed beingness. It is untouched by young or old, rich or poor, good or bad, or any other attributes.”
Beingness itself is unseeable, it can only be experienced. Humanity and our universe are connected as One. From the infinitesimal to the cosmic, the universe is ONE organic whole. There exists an inseparable relationship to one another, to every single thing within the universe. I encourage you to seek out and recognize the interconnectedness of nature and the reality that surrounds us. To seek out rich sources of inspiration that lead to cosmic unity.
So, my friends, that is my goal, to continue trying to see the beingness in each person, and in all of nature before my mind’s chatter injects other perspectives.
So I ask? Should individuation, our self-actualization, be aimed at the complete realization of beingness and the eradication of duality?
