Are we all One Consciousness? Is the Self an illusion? Why do nearly all spiritual teachers say that?!

[Winston]

Have you noticed that everyone New Age or any spiritual movement today (including spiritualists who don't call themselves "New Age" or any other label) are all obsessed with the "We are all One consciousness" and "We are all God" concept? And that the self doesn't exist and is an illusion? They act like this is the greatest truth, even though they have no evidence for it. They act like it's a realization that everyone on the spiritual path eventually has. However, I've had spiritual awakening experiences and transcendent experiences, yet I've never had this realization that "we are all one" and that "the self is an illusion and doesn't exist" etc. So why is everyone consumed with this idea? Why is it so popular?

The same people that are obsessed with equality - gender equality, racial equality, etc - seem to be the same ones that love to believe that "we are all one". It sounds very Marxist and Communist in a sense, so can be dangerous if used by the State to convince everyone to be collectivist and unified, which anyone wanting to forge an empire could take advantage of.

People are so friggin gullible. Even New Agers are, yet they think they are "freethinkers". What's ironic is that those who think they are freethinkers often have a HIVE MIND about something. That's the biggest irony. Even David Icke and some in the Truther movement talk about all of us being one consciousness. Almost no one questions it, because everyone in every group, including New Agers and Truthers and others who consider themselves "freethinkers", has a hive mind these days, and is into group think. It's funny and ironic because everyone also thinks they are "rebellious freethinkers".

I've always felt that the "all is one" teaching is bogus, especially since it can't be proven. Even if it was true at some higher level or higher dimension, you still cannot carry the concept into the practical 3D world, or the real world. I always ask the new agers and spiritualists who believe that "we are all one, there is no separateness" these questions:

"If I am you in another body, then why don't you let me sleep with your wife or girlfriend? It wouldn't matter right? lol. Why don't you give half your money to a poor person or homeless person who really needs it, since they are you? Why don't you let the hungry tiger in the jungle eat you and have its meal and not be selfish since the tiger is you after all? lol. Why doesn't the local bank stop connecting names to account balances and just pool all its money together and give it to all to everyone equally?"

LOL. You see what I mean? You can't carry such delusions onto the real world. They simply don't work. These questions usually stump them. Everyone is so deluded these days and never think and never use critical examination to question their own beliefs.

Here's a good video that explains why "we are all one" is false spirituality and makes no sense, and that there are better approaches to spirituality.

[jamesbond]

"If I am you in another body, then why don't you let me sleep with your wife or girlfriend? It wouldn't matter right? lol.

That's hilarious!

[Winston]

@Neo and @MrMan what's your take on this topic? I'm sure you two will have a field day with this one. lol

Doesn't it annoy you that virtually all new agers and psychelic users on the internet are saying this now like a hive mind? Yet they consider themselves to be freethinkers with higher awareness? lol.

[MrMan]

I agree that it is a bunch of bunk.

[Winston]

I agree that it is a bunch of bunk.

Then why does everyone buy it? What's the appeal? Not just New Agers, but truthers and Hindus and Easter Spirituality fans believe it too. Even David Icke talks about us all being one consciousness.

It must ego flattering to think you're God. But if we are God then why don't we have powers to manifest whatever we want? Like eliminate the coronavirus with the power of thought, like Q in Star Trek? lol. New Agers never use critical thinking. They just follow whatever New Age trends there are. Stupid.

The video above makes good points. It says that we are expressions of God, but not God himself. Just like Spiderman is an expression of Stan Lee, but not Stan Lee himself. Or like how our dream characters in our dream are manifestations of our mind or subconscious, but are not we ourselves. So even if it's true that we are extensions or manifestations of God, it doesn't mean we are God himself. It's kind of complicated. Maybe a matter of semantics. But one thing's for sure. We definitely do not have God-like powers. We can't even fly without machines.

What's odd is that New Agers never give you any evidence for this claim. They just repeat it nonstep. Why is that? Why don't they stop and think rather than repeat everything like sheeple? Yet ironically they think they are awake and have higher consciousness. lol. Go figure.

[Winston]

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. This is an amateur documentary produced by a bright young guy who talks to spiritual gurus from all over the world who say we are all one consciousness, and that separateness is an illusion, therefore we are all God. It's an interesting documentary, but very repetitive. It's like that's the only insight there is, given over and over again, just in different words by different gurus. At the end, you see the young guy who made the documentary. He looks bright and full of kindness and compassion and good spirit, which is great, but is that the only insight he has? Doesn't he have any original ideas?

[Winston]

Very annoying! Why do all public speakers do this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEk7IEULaP8

Why does he keep saying "We"? We are not the ones asking for all these world troubles. The GLOBAL ELITE are the ones doing it. We, and me too, have NOTHING to do with it! The global elite are the ones in control, such as the NWO cabal, the military industrial complex, the big corporations, the banking cartel, etc. THEY are the ones doing all this and engineering it. NOT US, and definitely NOT ME! I had nothing to do with this. I did not start two unnecessary world wars or the covid crisis. I had NOTHING to do with it! Stop saying "we" as if we all made it happen. We DIDN'T! So does this guru keep saying "We" as if we are all one person with one mind? We are NOT! That is TOTALLY FALSE. Big fallacy. Why do public speakers always say "we"? It's annoying and insulting and false! Quit this victim blaming mentality! It's one of the big downsides of New Agers. Thumbs down!

I know it's probably a figure of speech when he says that, but it's false and it's annoying and untrue! Put blame where its due. We are not the cause of Covid! The governments and their cabals and cartels are! NOT US!

[Lucas88]

Have you noticed that everyone New Age or any spiritual movement today (including spiritualists who don't call themselves "New Age" or any other label) are all obsessed with the "We are all One consciousness" and "We are all God" concept? And that the self doesn't exist and is an illusion? They act like this is the greatest truth, even though they have no evidence for it. They act like it's a realization that everyone on the spiritual path eventually has. However, I've had spiritual awakening experiences and transcendent experiences, yet I've never had this realization that "we are all one" and that "the self is an illusion and doesn't exist" etc. So why is everyone consumed with this idea? Why is it so popular?

The same people that are obsessed with equality - gender equality, racial equality, etc - seem to be the same ones that love to believe that "we are all one". It sounds very Marxist and Communist in a sense, so can be dangerous if used by the State to convince everyone to be collectivist and unified, which anyone wanting to forge an empire could take advantage of.

People are so friggin gullible. Even New Agers are, yet they think they are "freethinkers". What's ironic is that those who think they are freethinkers often have a HIVE MIND about something. That's the biggest irony. Even David Icke and some in the Truther movement talk about all of us being one consciousness. Almost no one questions it, because everyone in every group, including New Agers and Truthers and others who consider themselves "freethinkers", has a hive mind these days, and is into group think. It's funny and ironic because everyone also thinks they are "rebellious freethinkers".

I've always felt that the "all is one" teaching is bogus, especially since it can't be proven. Even if it was true at some higher level or higher dimension, you still cannot carry the concept into the practical 3D world, or the real world. I always ask the new agers and spiritualists who believe that "we are all one, there is no separateness" these questions:

"If I am you in another body, then why don't you let me sleep with your wife or girlfriend? It wouldn't matter right? lol. Why don't you give half your money to a poor person or homeless person who really needs it, since they are you? Why don't you let the hungry tiger in the jungle eat you and have its meal and not be selfish since the tiger is you after all? lol. Why doesn't the local bank stop connecting names to account balances and just pool all its money together and give it to all to everyone equally?"

LOL. You see what I mean? You can't carry such delusions onto the real world. They simply don't work. These questions usually stump them. Everyone is so deluded these days and never think and never use critical examination to question their own beliefs.

Here's a good video that explains why "we are all one" is false spirituality and makes no sense, and that there are better approaches to spirituality.

I had a deep vision under the influence of Ayahuasca in which I perceived myself as pure spirit and glimpsed the ultimate nature of reality and the mind of Brahman but curiously I never experienced any dissolution of my own ego or sense that "we are all one". Rather I perceived myself and all other souls as interconnected yet at the same time distinct and independent from one another and each with our own unique individuality. The New Age doctrine of "oneness" has no basis in reality. Indeed it is even at odds with spiritual insights obtained from near-death experiences since during NDEs almost everybody who has had this kind of experience seems to retain a clear sense of their individuated self even when out of body and in spirit form rather than simply being absorbed into some amorphous group consciousness. The New Age doctrine of oneness doesn't make sense.

But why is it pushed so much by the New Age despite its baselessness and illogicality? Could it perhaps be because such a conception of the soul is so disempowering?

To assert that we are all just fragments of a sigle impersonal consciousness destroys individuality by rendering it an illusion. Indeed the supposed illusory nature of the self is an extremely common theme in the New Age and certain interpretations of Eastern spirituality. Buddhism explicitly denies the reality of the self with its doctrine of anatta (anatman) or "non-self". If it is supposed that the self is an illusion and that we are simply fragments of an all-encompassing oneness, then all of our individual interests and desires become unimportant in the greater scheme of things and all actions related to the self are done in vain. The material life of each individual becomes meaningless. Only "moksha" is to be considered worthy of pursuit. For me this is just another form of nihilism behind a spiritual mask.

Moreover, if the individuality of each soul is considered illusory or denied outright, then any concept of spiritual evolution also becomes impossible. After all there is no real self anyway. In the absence of any real individuated self or spiritual evolution on an individual level, the only conceivable spiritual goal that remains is to suppress the illusory self, to reject one's own interests and desires, to lose oneself in the great impersonal; in other words, submission, self-abnegation, and subservience to a collective hive. Yes, this kind of view of the soul is one of spiritual communism. All we hear from the religions and New Age philosophies is "kill the ego". As far as I'm concerned the doctrines of oneness and illusoriety of the self constitute an all-out attack on our individual sovereignty and on our very being itself.

Why do some New Agers believe in this doctrine of oneness or even claim to experience it during psychedelic trips?

I think that many go along with it simply because its the fashion du jour in New Age circles. They think that the idea is sophisticated and that adherence to it somehow makes them sound more spiritual and enlightened. They like to think that they have attained Samadhi but rather they fall into the same New Age groupthink.

Another possibility is that the same perception of oneness could be a characteristic of NPC spirituality. Let's suppose that a NPC/organic portal gets into New Age stuff and one day takes Ayahuasca or some other psychedelic substance and then has a vision of their own fundamental nature. What would they see? Those NPCs would likely see the absolute unity of the group consciousness of which they are a part and perceive that they are all one with the other NPCs. They'd then come back with that higher "spiritual truth" from "god" (in reality the NPC hivemind) and assume that all humans including those who are souled derive from that same source.

Incidentally some New Agers with whom I took Ayahuasca at a spiritual retreat seemed very NPC-like when I got to know them. At first I assumed them to be souled humans since they all appeared to be very spiritual but as soon as we had an intimate conversation following our Ayahuasca session they all started to say things like "we are all one" and "I am you and you are me" in an extremely groupthink-like manner. I thought to myself: "No, you're not me; I am me, an individual with my own consciousness!" One guy even criticized me for my vegetarianism (in reality I'm a pescetarian) asserting that it's okay to eat meat because the consumed animal is exactly the same as everything else that exists including ourselves and the animal's identity is just an illusion. These people were supposed to be enlightened but they kept criticizing me over every little thing. Then once they realized that I wasn't on their wavelength the same guy started to tell me that he couldn't perceive my presence, that my essence was in some other dimension, that although I spoke my spoken words had no resonance or meaning, some bullshit like that. All of the others just smiled and mindlessly agreed. I felt really out of place among those people. I suspect that a large number of New Agers are actually NPCs. That might be why some of us don't fit in with New Age groups despite a shared interest in spirituality.

Just something for consideration.

[Winston]

Great points Lucas88. Most New Agers are not that spiritual. Just pretending to be. I don't know who is though. I guess it depends on their actions, not just what they say. I also don't get why many New Age teachers like Deepak Chopra charge a ton of money for the seminars and spiritual retreats and "wellness centers" if they are so spiritual, why do they want so much money? Their excuse is always "Because I provide a valuable service and I am worth that much" blah blah blah.

They also have a groupthink hivemind too. The proof of this is that they NEVER question their own beliefs, even when they are absurd, like thoughts create reality, nothing is impossible, the universe wants to give you whatever you want via the law of attraciton, things don't exist when not perceived, etc. which I've debunked many times with simple common sense logic and examples. How come none of the New Agers see through New Age BS if it contradicts reality and common sense? Even George Noory on Coast to Coast AM cannot and never asks critical questions.

Note that "New Agers" do not call themselves like because they do not like labels and do not like to be put into a box. They prefer to call themselves "spiritual seekers" or something like that. The proof of the pudding that they are New Age is when they have New Age beliefs and utter New Age cliches, like the ones listed above. Not in what they call themselves.

Note that there is truth in some New Age teachings of course, just like there is some truth in the Bible. But like everything it is highly distorted and corrupted and mixed with lies. But most are too lazy to think so they adopt one belief system or another wholly without separating the wheat from the chaff, which takes work, so very few are willing to do it, including New Agers of course.

Have any of you noticed that New Age women are the most useless and give the most useless advice? They NEVER say anything original or unique. All they do is talk about self-love and parrot useless cliches on their Facebook wall that feel good for one second but accomplish NOTHING! LOL. The only people with new original ideas are ECCENTRIC MEN who tend to be misfits and oddballs. NEVER women, and even eccentric women are not original and are usually just following some trend. Have you noticed that? No one dares to point this out of course. But it's very noticeable.

[Lucas88]

Great points Lucas88. Most New Agers are not that spiritual. Just pretending to be. I don't know who is though. I guess it depends on their actions, not just what they say. I also don't get why many New Age teachers like Deepak Chopra charge a ton of money for the seminars and spiritual retreats and "wellness centers" if they are so spiritual, why do they want so much money? Their excuse is always "Because I provide a valuable service and I am worth that much" blah blah blah.

They also have a groupthink hivemind too. The proof of this is that they NEVER question their own beliefs, even when they are absurd, like thoughts create reality, nothing is impossible, the universe wants to give you whatever you want via the law of attraciton, things don't exist when not perceived, etc. which I've debunked many times with simple common sense logic and examples. How come none of the New Agers see through New Age BS if it contradicts reality and common sense? Even George Noory on Coast to Coast AM cannot and never asks critical questions.

Note that "New Agers" do not call themselves like because they do not like labels and do not like to be put into a box. They prefer to call themselves "spiritual seekers" or something like that. The proof of the pudding that they are New Age is when they have New Age beliefs and utter New Age cliches, like the ones listed above. Not in what they call themselves.

Note that there is truth in some New Age teachings of course, just like there is some truth in the Bible. But like everything it is highly distorted and corrupted and mixed with lies. But most are too lazy to think so they adopt one belief system or another wholly without separating the wheat from the chaff, which takes work, so very few are willing to do it, including New Agers of course.

Have any of you noticed that New Age women are the most useless and give the most useless advice? They NEVER say anything original or unique. All they do is talk about self-love and parrot useless cliches on their Facebook wall that feel good for one second but accomplish NOTHING! LOL. The only people with new original ideas are ECCENTRIC MEN who tend to be misfits and oddballs. NEVER women, and even eccentric women are not original and are usually just following some trend. Have you noticed that? No one dares to point this out of course. But it's very noticeable.

New Age teachers like Deepak Chopra and ilk charge a ton of money for their seminars and retreats because they are conmen plain and simple. They project the stereotypical image of being wise and spiritual and some even have knowledge of ancient traditions and the occult but their true motive is to prey upon people's spiritual thirst and line their own pockets with the money of spiritual seekers (sincere or otherwise) in exchange for their junk spirituality. Having knowledge of spirituality and the occult doesn't guarantee sincerity or nonmaterialism. The Illuminati elite know about these things too but they use them for evil and purely materialistic purposes. Only the cultivation of our own soul and the pursuit of wisdom lead to sincerity and other virtues but many within the upper echelons of society have souls which are warped and demonic by nature and so even with advanced spiritual knowledge they can only do evil.

I myself have become a lot more suspicious of well-known teachers and online personalities in recent years. I used to give many the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were sincere seekers and educators but now I think that I underestimated through my own innocence and naïveté the scope of intentional disinformation within the alternative media and have come to suspect that anybody who is famous and has a large presence on a mainstream platform as well as lucrative book deals is most likely a government/CIA disinfo agent or gatekeeper. I'm talking not only about popular New Age gurus like Deepak Chopra, Osho and Sadhguru but also conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones and David Icke and even people like Russell Brand and Graham Hancock. I now always assume that they are there to push some kind of disinfo or hidden agenda. I tend to trust only the little guy with some obscure yet high-quality website somewhere on the internet, those independent researchers without fame or fortune and who are not even welcome on mainstream platforms like YouTube.

The New Age does include some spiritual truths such as reincarnation and consciousness as the foundation of reality as well as its recognition of paranormal phenomena but this is only because it takes almost all of its content from various ancient spiritual traditions and then mixes them into a nebulous hodgepodge. So it's naturally going to contain some snippets of truth here and there. However, I am not impressed by New Age spirituality at all. I've found that as much as 95% plus of what today passes for "spirituality" whether it be in the form of New Age books in the spirituality/alternative section of bookstores or online videos made by self-styled spiritual teachers or adepts or even "scholars" is nothing but hot air without substance. There is nothing tangible, just trite general assertions of a theoretical nature about consciousness creating reality or vacuous metaphores or low-grade self-help psychology. Few people talk about things related to actual spiritual evolution such as the opening of the chakras and nadis, the Kundalini or how to develop Siddhis and of those who do only a miniscule minority really know how to do these things and can teach others how to do them. Most people who talk about spirituality have no tangible knowledge of the spiritual and prefer their empty fluff, pop psychology and baseless New Age dogmas accepted uncritically and collectively repeated like mantras.

I've even come across information about how the New Age movement was engineered by the CIA in the late 60s/early 70s using Theosophical teachings as the basis and incorporating all other kinds of pseudo-spiritual/pseudo-mystical elements for the purpose of subverting the countercultural movement and leading the rebellious youth as well as genuine spiritual seekers into passivity and aimless navel-gazing. One of the best and most comprehensive videos I watched about this was one by Sol Ahimsa, a Spanish psychic and energy healing teacher who is highly critical of the New Age after having been a part of it in the 80s. But I'm sure there's plenty of information about it in English too. I wasn't part of the New Age for a long time. I was exposed to its material for a short while in the early 2010s after I left organized religion but its teachings struck me as so empty and false and I soon left it and sought spiritual knowledge elsewhere.

Of course New Age women are useless. They totally disconnect themselves from material reality with all of their New Age "reality is an illusion" BS and then begin to suffer from dysfunction in their material lives as a result of this. This is a real thing: too much obsession with the spiritual realms of experience and a concomitant neglect of materiality can cause people to become unbalanced and disconnected.