One of the great Goals of life is to experience mystical consciousness. This might not happen every moment of our life, yet a spiritual goal of life is to develop our mind in such a way that is possible to enter into mystical consciousness at will at any time.
So what is mystical consciousness? It is the experience of Oneness with the Wholeness. It is also called unitive consciousness, or mind in unity. This experience of Oneness also involves a dissolving or disappearance of separative thought. And what we mean by 'separative thought' is any thought or thinking that has an implicit assumption of us being separate from the Whole. And most thought has such assumption in it. But in mystical consciousness such separative thought has disappeared, and mind is only absorbed in the unity of Wholeness. Our mind and also our feeling-of-being is all absorbed in the experience of Oneness, Unity, Wholeness.
Most spiritual teachings describe this as a oneness or mystical union with God. Fundamentally in essence, this is true, because God is the Absolute One Being of the Whole Universe, and thus any experienced unity in the Wholeness would be an experience of God -- since God truly is the Wholeness. In other words, if we truly experience Oneness, Unity, or Wholeness; then this would be God.
However, there is another way to consider this, yet without any contradiction to what has just been stated. For we can interpret and experience Wholeness in a more localized manner - this being the Planet, rather than the whole Universe. So, rather than interpreting and experiencing mystical consciousness as unity with Universal God, we might experience it more 'locally' as unity with the Planet Earth, the Life-Sphere in which we actually live. And this might make more sense to many people, especially those who are skeptical about an idea to experience unity with the wholeness of the Universe, or with God the Universal Being.
So consider this kind of experience - which is to enter into mystical or unity consciousness with our Planet Earth. Some will call this Mother Earth, or Earth Mother, or we could think of this as the Earth-Being in which we all live. And of course, this is a very important point to consider -- that we do actually live here on the same one Planet Earth, and thus we are all living in and part of the same Earth Being.
Understand that, in a spiritual view, the Earth as a whole is a Being. It is a unity of Being already. It is one whole Being; in a similar way that each of us is one person. The Earth is a unity; it is one Being; and we are in it and part of it. This Earth Being has three obvious parts, or aspects. One is physical, another is mental, and another is emotional. In other words, besides the most obvious physical aspect, there are energies of emotion and also energies of thought moving all over the planet.
These emotions and thoughts may well, of course, seem to be disconnected and often at odds. Yet they are all, nonetheless, interacting together and thus making a Whole Web of relation and interconnection. That is, even if the many thoughts and emotions throughout our planet might not necessarily be harmonious or coherent; it is nonetheless true that they all interact and form a vast complexity of inter-relation; which means they are inter-connected in some way, as is everything on this same Planet.
One very obvious fact is that on our Planet there are many differences in thought, emotion, and physical forms. Yet all of this is in the same Sphere of Unity, this Planet Earth. All of these differences, or diversity, are in the same Whole Sphere of energy, in the same whole electromagnetic sphere. Within this Sphere, everything is inter-connected and inter-related in some manner.
So first realize that we each are inter-connected and inter-related with everyone and everything else. Second realize that all of the interrelations together form one whole intricate Web of inter-connections and inter-relations. Thus, this Web is a whole unity, even though every part in it is not necessarily coherently in harmony with the other parts. Therefore, it is possible to tune into the Whole Field of relations, and to mentally experience this Wholeness.
This experience of Wholeness (or Unity) with the Planet Earth (and all that is part of it) is mystical experience. So, mystical experience is not necessarily about God. It could just as well be about the Earth. It could be an experience of Unity with nature, with the natural world; but it could just as well be an experience of Unity with all beings of this Planet, including all human beings. But understand that to have an experience of Unity with all humanity does not necessarily mean that one is in agreement with all humanity, and nor does it necessarily mean that everyone in this one humanity is in actual harmony. It just means that we are all interconnected and interrelated, which forms an intricate Wholeness, which can be experienced in a meditative state.
This is the experience of mystical unity with all of Earth life, the Earth Wholeness, or with the whole Beingness of Earth. Call it what you will. This is not an intellectual treatise, nor a theory. It is a suggestion for deep meditation. It is a pointer for a possible deep and profound experience of mystical unity with all of life, all of Earth. This is an experience of deep unity with our Earth Mother, our Home, and all that is part of This. We live in an amazing Being, an amazing Planet of life, and this is our Home. It is the only great Home we know, and this is our Great Mother, our Mother of life. Come into the experience of Unity, Oneness, Wholeness with this Earth Sphere.
Oneness with all of Earth will, of course, include the natural world, but it also includes humanity. So in our experience of oneness with Earth, all of life is included. Let us now consider our oneness with humanity. There are three basic levels of a human being, and thus also of humanity. These are the physical, emotional, and mental. We are interrelated with the rest of humanity on these three levels. In other words, in all of humanity are physical, emotional, and mental interconnections and interrelated effects.
First on the physical level, we can very obviously effect others in a physical or material way, due to physical interactions. Then on an emotional level, we also effect one another, but not just between those who physically interact together. Emotional energies extend outward and permeate spaces, beyond our physical contact. So there is much more emotional inter-connections and relations, than people tend to recognize. And thirdly, we are all mentally interconnected and related. There is a lot more mixing of thoughts and ideas, than people would tend to realize; because all thoughts and ideas move throughout the whole planet, in the same planetary mental sphere. Emotions as well float and interchange all over the planet, in the same planetary emotional sphere.
So we are already subtly interconnected with all of humanity, in these three basic levels (or energy spheres). But until we are actually conscious of this, it is all happening subconsciously and without any conscious direction on our part. Yet when we are conscious of these truths, and when we are more consciously tuned in to the whole mental and emotional spheres of humanity, then we are able to participate consciously and intentionally in the evolution of it all, helping to transform and evolve the whole mental and emotional reality of humanity.
Those who have developed the greatest abilities in this are the master adepts. What we can possibly do for the rest of humanity, in these emotional and mental areas, is a good question to consider. If we truly consider this, we will realize some basic steps, so there is no need to explicate it here. Just realize that anyone can make a difference, in the whole world, just by the quality of their emotions, thoughts and ideas. First though, realize and experience oneness with humanity, especially emotionally and mentally. This is the first step. Then, realize what can be consciously done for humanity, by way of this interrelatedness.
A higher level may also involved, which is above and independent of the three basic spheres. We say it is above, but this could also be realized as deeper within the basic spheres. This is the level of soul. Each person has a soul within, which is their independent core connection with the Divine, the Spiritual, the Universal. Yet the whole of humanity also has this, which we call the Soul of humanity. This is the Divine essence in humanity, which is like its Divine seed, though as yet unrealized and unmanifested. If we are conscious in our soul, then we can help others awaken in their soul. But on larger level of the world, the one great Soul of all humanity is trying to emerge into recognition and realization. It is this Soul within nature and humanity that propels evolution towards higher levels of intelligence, love, and beauty.
See related sub-topic,, Connecting the Web
See related chapter, Soul of Earth