Unity in an Age of Separation - A lesson for our time - by Shobana Kataria

Unity in an Age of Separation - A lesson for our time

A 3-part enquiry

by Shobana Kataria

Part I - Fear is the real pandemic 

We are in the midst of an escalating pandemic. The real pandemic is not Covid-19 - or any of its variants. It is fear. Fear is the real epidemic that is sweeping across and engulfing and polarising the whole world. 

In these three articles, we explore the themes of (i) polarisation and the fear that it brings, (ii) the ways in which our world view determines our experiences, and (iii) how an alternative world view can harmonise polarised views and reduce fear.

Too many people have passed too soon, too many lives have been affected. This pandemic could bring us together and be a way for us to move on from these tragedies. It could enable us to rise above prevailing polarities and confusion. 

This pandemic could be our biggest teacher.

The real pandemic

What is it we are fearful of? Yes, we are afraid of the virus. More specifically, we are afraid of catching it. We are afraid of giving it to someone else, perhaps a loved one, or an elderly person. We fear because we don’t really know the way in which it is infectious, and how it may infect someone. We fear everyone else too.

We fear that the NHS won’t be able to cope - that people will die - that we will die. At the heart of this is an existential fear of the death of our loved ones, ourselves and ultimately our species. 

Even if we don’t fear the effects of the virus, we may fear there’s a conspiracy behind it. We may fear our own government and what they are doing to us. We may fear the agendas that are being served by imposed lockdowns, their effects on our mindset and the global economy. 

With all these fears, we are heading towards adopting potentially opposing positions. There are aspects of one or more fears in most of us. This differing subjective perspective is leading to extreme polarisation thanks to the varying news sources and the extent of ‘buy-in’ to the pandemic. There are those for whom it makes sense to follow government directives. And there are those who subscribe to the view that this is an elaborate conspiracy to create a ‘Big Brother’ state.

What are you afraid of? Catching Covid? People? Conspiracies? Take Note. 

What we are doing is reacting emotionally to the way it has been managed, bringing different types of fears for different people. Its affected our SPIRIT and the spirit of those around us. 

There are as many emotional reactions to the virus as there are people. The multiplicity of opinions, facts, information and mis-information, contribute to the whole thing being an impossibly tangled mess. Because of the influence of the echo chamber that social media creates, we only hear of views similar to our own, which then serve to deepen whichever unconscious bias and our own version of reality that already exists. This lack of exposure to a multiplicity of views, reinforcing our own view repeatedly and unanimously is leading to ever greater polarisation. From polarisation comes intolerance of opposing views, justification of maintaining and defending our position, all of which inevitably generates conflict.

This type of demonisation justifies actions that restrict, control, marginalise and even eliminate a perceived danger, a John Wayne type of mentality that pitches ‘us’ as the ‘good guy’ and ‘them’ as the ‘bad guys’ with each person, group or cause having different ‘bad guys’ to fear, causing a polarisation of views where both sides are so convinced the other is wrong and that they have the Truth on their side. 

Later we will look at our perception of the world and some ways in which we can reduce our fear of the environment we find ourself in as a step in a positive direction. It will protect our spirit. Using proven tools such as silence and self-reflection as practices that help us to stay centred.

Different aspects of polarisation

It is helpful here to look at the traits polarisation has. I have noticed that it has certain common features. These  are :

- a strong two-way split creating a ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality.
- objectification of the ‘other’ side, often resulting in labelling and de-humanisation.
- disconnection from the ‘other’ side, resulting in exclusion
- fear of those on the ‘other’ side leading to mis-information and rumour which feeds the fear

- discrediting the other side 

We have seen evidence of polarisation and its negative impact on humanity in colonialisation, religious persecution; racism; ethnic cleansing; gender bias and ageism. More recently, Brexit and the Trump-ism, and yet, here we are again.

Currently some people are putting their faith and hope in the Covid vaccine. It is being seen by many as the one thing that will save us from the cycle of long lockdowns and short bursts of freedom. 

We are reading about an increase in judgement in the media of those who question the narrative of the mainstream media and official figures. Those asking questions about the vaccine are being called ‘anti-vaxxers’. The labelling has begun.

Separation

Now, we have the separation of people who have been (or are waiting to be) vaccinated, and those who haven’t (or won’t) – two distinct categories. Check.

Objectification by labelling. Check.

Fear of each other. Check. 

Each side discrediting the other. Check.

Disconnection and exclusion. Check. 

Polarisation is here. And it’s very real.

There are already proposals to restrict the freedom of movement of those that choose not to take the vaccine via a health passport that will monitor us and our health record. To many, this makes sense in the context of Covid and the current narrative of infection. However, there are many worrying questions about the introduction of such a device and whether this knowledge can be trusted to the authorities that have it.

The same is true of the alternative viewpoint.  Some believe that Covid is a construct that has been created and designed to control and manipulate the human race. It’s being called the ‘plandemic’.  Everything is being challenged. The result is a head-to-head where judgement, blame and demonisation are dividing people. 

However, this polarised thinking is not new. Before the vaccine it was Brexit (in the UK). Before Brexit there was 9/11 that generated fear and polarisation around Terrorists and religious extremism, thinking that had been around since the Crusades. The polarisation is the same, the backdrop is what changes. So what lessons are there here that we are not learning? How can we rise above the separation to create the unity that is spoken about yet seems elusive?

In the second article we explore how changing our world view can help us accept the possibility of different people having different realities. This will then allow us to reconcile polarised thinking.

Part II - Unifying multiple truths

In the first article, we looked at how polarisation and fear are interrelated, and how coronavirus and the vaccine debate have polarised people. 

In this article, we will see how a cause and effect model of the world has shaped our thinking and how this world view was put forward in the 17^th century by Newton. In this Newtonian world view we focus on a singular true position that encourages the polarisation effect.   

Taking on a world view where different people can coexist with their different truths depending on the way in which they view the world means that we can reconcile polarised thinking to incorporate a multiplicity of opinions. This is the world view put forward in the 1980s when the ideas of the holographic world were discovered. We will see how seeing the world as a hologram encourages less polarisation of views and more incorporation of differing viewpoints.   

What is reality?

The relationship between cause and effect was discovered by Newton in the 17^th Century. Reality was seen for centuries afterwards as Newtonian in nature. This physical world is solid and separate from us. In this world, we are outside reality, observing it and its behaviours which we explain through the laws of mechanics. The world is mechanistic in nature, like a machine. This means for example that we can conduct scientific experiments and observe the results of our experiments. There is no relationship between us and the world which is ‘out there’. No interrelation or interraction is assumed in this model of the world. We are INDEPENDENT of the world we live in.

This is called reductionism. Reductionism is where the whole is the sum of its parts. An example would be a car engine where it consists of parts which can be taken individually and when put together they operate as a whole to make the car. 

Another view of reality

In the 1920’s the ideas of quantum physics were introduced. Their development has been a major shift change in our perception of the world. Quantum theory has as its centre an understanding that firstly inside the atom exists predominantly space, and secondly, that sub-atomic matter such as electrons literally possess no dimensions or location. Thirdly, that they present as a particle or a wave. 

Extrapolating this to the world, we therefore live in a world that is mostly space, not solid, that is dimension-less, and can show up in several different ways. 

If that is the case then what exactly is the deciding factor on whether we see a particle or a wave? The astonishing thing is that whether they present as a particle or a wave is determined predominantly how and by whom they are observed.

Now, to back up a little, we are saying that things are mostly space. There is no time and no dimension and that how something behaves depends on how it’s being observed. And when not being observed?

When not being observed, the world exists as this quantum soup of potential and possibility, outside of space, time and location. Nothing really exists until it is observed. When and how it takes its form is determined by who is observing it. More of this later.

Einstein worked extensively to fine tune quantum theory, but felt it was still incomplete. It wasn’t until the 1980s that a model of the universe as holographic changed everything. 

 

The Universe as a hologram

In the 1990’s Michael Talbot in his ground breaking book The Holographic Universe draws on work by Karl Pribram a neurophysiologist at Stanford University and David Bohm a brilliant quantum physicist at the University of London and a protégé of Einstein.

In his book he proposes that the picture of reality in our brains is not reality at all, but a projection. A hologram. The world is a 3-dimensional projection. If the world is a projection, then the interesting thing is who, or what is doing the projection? 

We as observers are the source of the projection and the observed world. Observer and observed are in a dance The dance of creation.

Adding this holographic understanding to quantum understanding Talbot proves that what we call REALITY IS AN INTERACTION between the unmanifest quantum/holographic potential and ourselves. And that the behaviour of the sub-atomic is no different to the behaviour of planets – the microcosm and the macrocosm both follow the same universal laws.

That the space between - which we thought was empty is actually full of information particles that do not act independently, but are INTERDEPENDENT. This interdependence means that one thing affects all else, a butterfly flapping its wings – change one thing, change all. This is a departure from cause and effect thinking which assumes independence. Reality is a moving phenomena from the quantum potential (unmanifest) to the reality as seen by the observer (manifest) and that it is something that comes in and out moment by moment as things go in and out of existence. 

Interdependence means that there is no such thing as an observer that is separate and discrete from the thing they are observing. The observer’s engagement is an integral part of what is being observed. What is observed is one possibility that comes out of the field of quantum potential. Observer and observed interact and are interdependent. Because everything is made from the fabric of quantum potential – the unmanifest and manifest interact through the observer in an ebb and flow. This is a world of probability, possibility and impermanence.

What quantum/holographic theory is really saying is that the world is not as fixed or solid as previously assumed. It is in a state of potentiality until it is observed, and how it is observed is not only determined by the observer but that the observer is a part of what is observed. What we observe is one view of many possible views. 

In the holographic model, unifies the physical and the non-physical worlds. It finally proves what we in our essence already know. Where we focus our attention is what comes out of the hologram and is created in our reality.  In other words, the flowers we water are the ones that grow. 

The ramifications of this are enormous. It is saying that what we see is entirely dependent on us. Not just objects we see but also our experiences. What we see in the world and how we see the people around us is entirely subjective. The tendency to fragment and ignore our interconnectedness has major flaws, that a part of a system cannot be treated without affecting the whole. That we cannot extract from the earth without affecting us all. That we cannot treat one part of the body without affecting it all.  

To demonstrate this concept. Imagine you are watching a bird on a tree, then you realise that you are the bird – and the bird realises it is you – there is an interaction and interdependence as both reflect back at each other in a dance.  At the same time, another person looking at the tree does not see the bird, they see only the tree. To them, the bird does not exist.

Multiple truths can coexist

We are a part of what we observe and that our consciousness is reflected back at us in our observations of the world. What we put in is what we get out. At the moment, there is a huge amount of fear going into the quantum potential – the hologram will package it up nicely so that what is experienced taps into our own fears whether those fears are that of dying, or of a state controlled totalitarian society. That is what will emerge as our reality. It is literally a virtual reality that comes from the lens of our understanding and consciousness. 

 

Cause and effect thinking would subscribe to the idea that there is only one interpretation of the world and therefore one truth. 

The quantum and holographic models open up the world into as many world views as there are people.  Many interconnected interdependent realities co-existing.

This moves away from the concept of a truth that is solid, fixed and provable by science and brings in the idea of many possible truths. It means accepting truths other than our own as equally legitimate – this makes life a little more messy. 

Seeing reality as something that is viewed through our lens into the hologram which is individual to everyone, leads to a more flexible reality that we all engage in and share. It means that we can be aware of the illusion of the hologram. Mystics called this Maya.

To recap, a reductionist view sees the whole is the sum of its parts - so you can take a part as distinct from the whole, they are independent. 

The holographic view sees the whole is affected by each part – they are interdependent, you cannot take one part out without affecting the whole. Interdependence.

In the third and final article we look at how the idea of multiple realities co-existing can bring together polarised thinking. We will introduce the idea of Unity Consciousness to create a world that includes multiple viewpoints. We will look at how we can include practices into our life which bring us back to our centre, to create compassionate latitude, forgiveness, dignity to others. We therefore deny polarised thinking the air it needs to survive. 

Part III - From Separation to Unity

In this third and final piece, we see that choosing one side or party view automatically brings us into a world of right and wrong, a world of cause and effect and potentially polarisation. Shifting to a holographic view moves us into multiple realities co-existing rather than having to hang our flag on one singular right place, so theres no wrong place. This is the place of Unity consciousness. Moving to this world, we embrace others views and realities and create a world of co-existence.

The unified approach

Taking the unified approach, the very concept of having to make a choice between one thing and another is redundant. Making such a choice is rooted in a world of bi-polarity, of duality. In a world of this and that, me and you, right and wrong. The act of making one choice means that the other is wrong.

The hologram moves us away from a world where there is a right and there is a wrong.

The hologram removes the need for making a choice. How about if there is no right choice? And no wrong choice? Only choice.

Perhaps the real choice to be made is NOT whether to have the vaccine or not; whether to vote Brexit or not, Republican or Democrats or Kanye West, but to stand back from all of this and see it all as a projection.

In seeing the world as a projection, one possible view we can choose to accept others’ viewpoints as equally valid as ours and then learn to incorporate their views into our reality. To live in a world of ‘we’ rather than ‘I’.

Living in a multiplicity of interconnected truths is a world that is more messy, changeable and impermanent than one where there is a pursuit of a single immutable truth but requires tolerance, patience and open-mindedness which are slowly being eroded from society through polarisation. 

Seeing truth as possibility allows us to open up to other people’s point of view rather than to defend our position – moving us from the mindset of dominion to the mindset of collaboration. In dominion there is a power struggle and a resonance with people who are like-minded.  In collaboration there is a broader resonance with everyone where differences add to the richness of experiences.

The mindset of dominion brings a domination of the other - it is the mindset of ‘Power over you’. I have power over you, or you have power over me. This is the mindset that led to colonisation and has been prevalent since before our birth. The mindset of collaboration is one of ‘power with you’. We both have a say and will sort this out together taking each other into consideration.

Unity Consciousness 

Unity consciousness is looking at situations and people with awareness - looking at them anew, as though for the first time, and with curiosity, wonder and awe. It’s about not being attached to the answer before you ask a question. Detaching ourselves and our views, opinions and positions from conversations allows other parties to express their views and for these views to affect our own. 

Unity consciousness is about choosing to embrace multiple viewpoints, choosing to live a blessed life, choosing to see people in our life as a gift, choose a creative life of Wonder and Awe - to be curious, to discover something new. We can choose our stance as ‘All is well’ even when it seems like it is not. 

This is the state of Unity consciousness where we are all one, and we are all interconnected. And we choose our individual reality, where your reality is as valid as mine - a ‘we’ world. 

In a ‘we’ world, we do not have power OVER someone, we have power WITH them.

One way to access Unity consciousness is through going into our HEART; to FEEL and then to EXPERIENCE through the intelligence of our heart as inner KNOWING. This knowing is different to the knowing that comes from external sources such as data, facts and media which is the experience of outer knowing. The experience can be likened to that of looking at a sunset, where there is no judgement of right or wrong, a sunset just is.

The intelligence of the heart brings with it qualities of appreciation, care, love, kindness, compassion, wisdom, intuition, courage, dignity, honour.

Within Unity consciousness other views emerge effortlessly. These are only visible when no side is taken. When everyone is given an opportunity to have their say and these realities are incorporated, the world becomes a co-creation where polarising choices are not necessary. If we move back in time to before modern civilisation, many ancient cultures worked in this way as a necessity. 

Heart centred awareness

The Heart Math Institute (www.heartmath.org) is a non-profit organisation that have been researching scientifically validated tools to help bring heart-centred awareness to our daily lives. Their research has shown that incorporating these mindfulness tools into our daily activities and connections produces measurable benefits to ours and others well-being. In their 12 Heartmath tools booklet (see link below), they give practices of anchoring, attitude, communication, compassion, dignity, ease, forgiveness, humility, love, objectivity, patience and stillness as practices to bring heart centred listening into our lives.  

Whichever side of the debate we are on, there is another side. Unity consciousness is about asking how did someone get to their view? How and why have they formed their opinions? Asking them what are they being informed by and what is driving their actions? Its building bridges to the other side. It gives compassionate latitude to other opinions. It’s forming an understanding, its bringing our heart-centred curiosity to both sides to get us back to the centre of the spectrum of opinion. 

It’s too soon to know how this chapter in history will play out, but a central pillar of democracy and the free world is that we have a right to our opinion. I for one will continue to defend the right of every individual to have their say, their right to free speech and their right to choose even if it is a choice I myself would not make personally – learning to respect the opposite end of the spectrum from our own world view is as important as the right to have my own opinion. 

From Latin we know that Co-  means ‘together’, as in cooperate, co-create, community and vid means ‘to see’. From Sanskrit Vidya means ‘Knowledge’. Combining these meanings teach us that the real lessons of Covid are about coming together to see and to learn. The journey from duality to unity. 

References : 

HeartMath Institute. (2021). 12 HeartMath Tools for Reducing Stress and Staying Balanced. https://www.heartmath.org/resources/downloads/12-heartmath-tools/

Talbot, M. (2021). The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot (1996-10-07). Harper Collins.

M.D., C. D. (2019). Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential (First Edition). Harmony.

Microbiology by numbers. Nat Rev Microbiol 9, 628 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro26

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5725362/

Yoon MY, Yoon SS. Disruption of the Gut Ecosystem by Antibiotics. Yonsei Med J. 2018;59(1):4-12. doi:10.3349/ymj.2018.59.1.4

Photos by Volodymyr Hryshchenko, Hakan Nural, Francesco Ungaro, Andy Holmes, Kamil Feczko on Unsplash