what is within you? what is outside of you? these two planes are very important: within and without. experientially, they are never the same and always distinct. however, we'll see that they are intertwined and interrelated.
what happens outside of you throughout your life dictates and nurtures the being that develops inside of you. your habits, your fears, your inclinations; these all exist within you. your internal being has developed as a result of your experiences.
meanwhile, what you find outside of you is dictated by the type of being that you are. what you are able to see and hear, how you perceive someone's words or actions, how you understand the physics of your universe; these are all dictated by the type of being that you are inside.
thus the first tenet: within and without is within and without.
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at what point do two things coming together get close enough to each other to become one thing with two parts? how many times can one thing be divided into two parts? forever? and isn't the fact that two things can become one and that one thing can be seen as two, isn't that fact a third thing entirely?
we see divisions and groupings in the world around us but they are not necessarily being thrust upon us by some overarching nature. we cannot say that "this is the way things are." numbers have allowed us to flourish but that does not mean that something other than ourselves is numbers oriented. we are numbers oriented. we are the acting agents that create the divisions and groupings we find around us. it is important to understand that our minds are always working in this way.
we are always noticing one thing as distinct from another thing, although the two things may not be so distinct if it weren't for our interpretation. we are also always bringing things together. i am but one being but if i notice two things those two things have now been made one in me.
when two or more beings are brought together a third being comes into being, which is not simply the sum of its parts. we find in our relationships with others an example of this. a friendship, or a group of friends, can take on an identity of its own. we find this also in our understanding of nature. observation of a rock falling to the ground gives way to a scientific study that is curious not just about the rock nor is it curious only about the ground. it is the study of the relationship between the rock and the ground; a third thing entirely.
thus the second tenet: one and two is made third.
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i am but one being. the unique combination of all that i have been through. i have taken in various distinct things and made them one within me. my within and my without are made one, giving way to a third thing entirely.
i find within me many things from without. i find within me my father and my brother, my sister and my friends. i find within me books and television icons. i find within me an understanding of plants and nature and physics.
i call these things that are other, anything that is not me, i call that "you". my father and brother, my sister and my friends, books, television icons, plants, nature, and physics are all called "you" from my perspective.
these "you"s can be found within me and outside of me. outside of me there are a multitude of "you"s. they are my "you"s and within me they are made one. "i" is a unit that can be parsed into many "you"s. outside of me there are many "you"s that are made one within my "i".
experientially, "i" and "you" they are never the same, and yet they exist together. they are intertwined and parallel, yet they are always distinct. there is such a thing as "we". this fact is both obvious and perplexing. how can there be something called "we" when "i" and "you" have always been distinct? and yet, there is a thing called "we". "we" is.
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now begin to hear the echoes. "i" and "you" are like within and without. distinct and intertwined. in both cases one and two are being made third.
meditate on these echoes. amongst the echoes of within and without, amongst the echoes of one and two being made third, amongst the echoes of "i" "you" and "we", amongst these echoes god waits to be found. god is hidden in the machinery. god is in the motions and interrelations. god is in the repetitions and revolutions.
thus the third tenet: i-you-we-is-god.
