Tag: Nature

KNOWING YOU, AS ME

Imagine a glove with the fingertips cut off. From the perspective of the finger, it is alone. Each finger moves independently. It believes itself to be distinct from the others, unaware that beneath the glove, all the fingers are connected to the same hand. 

This is how we experience consciousness. We move through life as separate selves, bound by identity, beliefs, and experience, unaware that beneath the surface, we are all expressions of the same awareness. The hand is consciousness itself, but the glove—our individual ego, our sense of self—creates the illusion of separateness.

Alan Watts put it simply: “You are something the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is something the whole ocean is doing.” When we begin to see through the glove, we recognize that we are not just individual waves, rising and falling in isolation, but the entire ocean moving as one. The realization that you and I are the same being, peering at each other through different eyes, is what allows true compassion to emerge.

A good practice is imagining yourself as any other person; your partner, a family member, or a friend. Sitting, breathing, and using your imagination to actually view the world through that person’s eyes. But this is no exercise… This is the truth. The single consciousness of humans is simultaneously conscious in all people. Meaning, me imagining myself living through the eyes of someone else is no imagination at all, it is reality as the consciousness doing the imagining is the same exact consciousness living in that other body.

But when you see with clear eyes, when you recognize that the same awareness flows through all things, the illusion crumbles. You are not just the finger—you are the hand. You are not just the wave—you are the ocean. And in this realization, compassion is no longer an effort; it becomes the only natural response.

Ram Dass spoke often about this connection with Hanuman, a Hindu deity.

He told us a parable in which Rama, another Hindu deity, asked Hanuman, “What are you, monkey?”

Hanuman replied,
“When I don’t know who I am, I serve you. When I know who I am, I am you.” 

When you dissolve the illusion of separateness, every interaction becomes an opportunity to recognize yourself in another. The anger you hurl at someone else is anger you are hurling at yourself. The kindness you offer another is the kindness you extend to yourself. Love and hatred, connection and conflict—they all exist within the same unified field of being.

To live from this awareness is not to abandon individuality, but to see through it. It is to dance in the paradox of being both a wave and the ocean, both the finger and the hand. It is to recognize that in every face you meet, you are looking into a mirror. And once you see this—truly see it—you can never unsee it.

The only thing left to do is love.

WE ARE THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE PLANET

It’s easy to fall into the illusion of separateness, to believe that we are individuals distinct from the Earth we stand on. But this is a misunderstanding, a trick of the mind. Just as the cells in our bodies work in harmony to sustain us—each with its own function, from the heart pumping blood to the lungs drawing breath—so too does the Earth operate as a single, living entity. And we? We are its consciousness.

Alan Watts once said, “You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.” The same can be said about our relationship with the Earth. The planet, through us, gains self-awareness. It grew us—not apart from itself, but as an extension of its own being, just as a tree grows branches or a river carves its path. Humanity is not separate from nature; we are nature reflecting upon itself.

This consciousness is not exclusive to humans. It is an aggregate of all life—animals, plants, fungi, even the microbial world—all part of a vast, interconnected intelligence. Carl Jung spoke of the collective unconscious, a shared psychic reservoir that all beings contribute to and draw from. The Earth, too, has its own collective awareness, formed by the thoughts, instincts, and emotions of everything that lives upon it. When a flock of birds moves as one, when trees communicate through mycelial network, when an ecosystem thrives in perfect balance, we see glimpses of this planetary intelligence at work.

If Earth is a conscious entity, then surely other planets must be as well. Some may have developed consciousness in ways we can’t yet imagine. What would the self-awareness of a gas giant look like? A planet covered in oceans? A world where life moves at a pace so slow or so fast that it defies our understanding of perception? If we are the Earth’s way of knowing itself, then other planets, too, must have their own ways of awakening.

Krishnamurti once said, “You are the world, and the world is you.” This is not metaphorical—it is a literal truth. We are the sensory organs, the dreaming mind, the reflective awareness of the planet itself. And as we awaken to this reality, we have the opportunity to live in harmony with the Earth, not as masters of it, but as conscious participants in its evolution.

To recognize our role as the Earth’s awareness is to dissolve the illusion of separation. It is to see that we are not in nature—we are nature. And just as a healthy mind nurtures its body, a conscious humanity must nurture its planet.

A beautiful reflection of this idea can be found in Nature, a song by East Forest & Ram Dass. In the track, Ram Dass’ words serve as a gentle but profound truth that humans must dissolve the barriers between ourselves and the planet in order to fully prosper as a species. Check it out.