The thirst for oneness
Aquarius, the sign into which our Sun is rapidly progressing, is a potent conditioning factor in much that is occurring throughout the world today, so it behooves spiritual seekers to understand and cooperate with this powerful energy. The keynote of Aquarius—Water of life am I, poured forth for thirsty men—beautifully expresses the promise of the incoming Aquarian age, which is stimulating the sense of universality and the increasing tendency towards fusion which are seen in many aspects of human life today. It produces an urge towards union, greater tolerance and religious understanding. However, the polar opposite of Aquarius is Leo, and it seems to be the nature of polar opposites to vitalize or evoke response from each other; this helps us to understand the extreme emphasis on “selfhood”, self-will and, too often, separateness and selfishness, in reaction to the growing impulse towards universality.
Although the sense of universality will become a widespread recognition in the Aquarian age, it seems to have been deeply anchored, though embryonic, in human consciousness since time immemorial. Ancient India developed the concept of Brahman, “the Holy Power”, “the universal ground identical within all things…unchanged through the changing forms of the phenomenal universe”, as the scholar of Hindu philosophy Heinrich Zimmer put it: “Every being dwells on the very brink of the infinite ocean of the force of life. We all carry it within us…yet it is hidden deep. It is down in the darkest, profoundest vault of our being, in the forgotten well-house , the deep cistern”, Zimmer wrote. The ancient Buddhist teaching of the Avatamsakra Sutra provides a beautiful image of universality in “Indra’s Net”, described in Francis Cook’s translation as “a wondrous net, infinite in dimension , which stretches out indefinitely in all directions”. At each node, or crossing point, of the net hangs a single glittering jewel which reflects all the other jewels in the net, “infinite in number, each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel but also reflecting all the other jewels, so that the process of reflection is infinite”.
These ancient recognitions of the sense of universality are finding parallels in the developments of modern science, including quantum physics and holography. And they are strengthened by the lessons of history, particularly as experienced through war, of which the past century was the bloodiest in recorded history. One of the results of the world war, the writings of Alice Bailey noted, is that today humanity is far more heart-conscious than at any previous time in history. Now the developments of modern technology are making it possible to be immediately aware of events in far distant places, with the potential of making everyone a witness and, psychologically, a participant in the joys and sorrows of the human condition.
How do we foster an appreciation for what a former New York City mayor called the “gorgeous mosaic” of human diversity while holding onto an unwavering faith in the one Humanity? A vital component of the proper perspective is to realize that, on a more expansive level, universality extends to levels of existence beyond the human. Even the one Humanity is absorbed within the immutable, all pervasive essence of Brahman. A growing awareness is dawning that consciousness permeates the animal and vegetable kingdoms and, on a deep but presently impenetrable level (to human minds), the mineral kingdom as well. “Brahman is the energy that pervades the universe, ineffable, undefinable, all-encompassing, experienced only in stunning realization of the impotence of speech”, as the scholar of religions Karen Armstrong expressed it. Only the intuition can touch levels beyond the confines of mind and language, but meditation, particularly in group formation, can create a channel through which the water of life, the sense of universality, can flow into the world, abundantly and ceaselessly, quenching humanity’s thirst for oneness.
