I was thinking about the nature of the Universal Mind and how all living beings are a part of a greater spiritual whole, how while it feels to me like I'm an individual, there's really no "Sarah," there's only the Universal Mind Sarah-ing....and how that concept kind of sounds like gibberish. When I first heard about it, it reminded me of the "Oversoul," which I learned about in 10th grade while we were studying the Transcendentalists, and which sounded to me like a lot of fluffy, meaningless nonsense. But I thought of an analogy that made sense for me and perhaps it will resonate for someone else too.
I don't know what TV shows you watch or are familiar with, but there are tons of animated shows where one voice actor plays multiple characters. "The Simpsons," for example, is a popular show on which a few actors voice many characters. Actor Dan Castellaneta plays Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Barney Gumble, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Santa's Little Helper (if you're not familiar, Santa's Little Helper is actually a dog, and Castellaneta provides dog noises for him), Sideshow Mel, Itchy (from the show-within-a-show), "Squeaky Voiced Teen", "Blue Haired Lawyer", "Rich Texan", Kodos (an alien), Louie (one of the mafia guys who follow Fat Tony around), AND MANY MORE. Each character obviously looks totally different and acts totally different, and despite being voiced by the same actor, each also sounds totally different. But they're not. I wondered what would happen if any one of these characters suddenly became aware that he and all the others on this list were being voiced by the same guy (this actually isn't a crazy idea, since the show has broken the 4th wall plenty of times). Would he feel differently about them? Would he act differently towards them? I don't consider this a perfect parallel to the world because the voice actor is not one of the animators, nor is he one of the script writers (another flaw is that, although Castellaneta plays many characters, he certainly doesn't play all or even most of the characters in the show).* Each of us is not merely voiced by the same Universal Mind, but also designed and animated by it.
But I still thought the idea of the cartoon analogy could work. I tried imagining how the characters might interact differently knowing they were really all the same guy. I suspect they would become more understanding of each other, more empathetic, more loving towards one another. (On the other hand, a good story is driven by conflict...we might not want to watch "The Simpsons" anymore after this took place and ratings would plummet, so...maybe not.)
Now what if you suddenly could see clearly that you and all other people (or all other living beings for that matter) were being animated by the same Universal Mind, or, if you wish, that you along with all others were being animated by a spark of God. Would you feel differently towards any of them? Would you feel closer to them? Would you feel more understanding, would you extend a compassion to them that might otherwise have been hard to access? Would you suddenly think...you are them, they are you...?
What do you think? Can you see it? Do you buy it?
Because I do.
You are me. I am you.
*{I tried to find a closer analogy. I thought about how Jim Henson designed and built many Muppets himself and voiced many (though not all) of them as well, and in many cases also wrote the scripts. The flaw with that alternative is that a puppet only has to be built once (perhaps over time it may have to be recreated if it deteriorates too much, but in theory at least). In the blessing called "Yotzer Ohr" ("Creator of light") which is said during the morning prayers, we say every day, "And in His goodness, He renews each day constantly the act of Bereishit [the creation of the world]." I don't claim to understand much physics, but I am hearing that modern physics (perhaps via quantum field theory?) also supports the idea that in some way, the world is constantly being created. An animated cartoon character has to be drawn over and over again, so that seems more similar to me. So I guess the best we could do for a parallel is to imagine that Dan Castellaneta draws the cartoons, writes the scripts, and voices literally all the characters...Sorry, Matt Groening!}