Eller alt er ett. Dette kommer stadig frem i forskjellige sammenhenger. I boka “The Great Work” av Thomas Berry er det et par avsnitt som setter dette i kontekst.
På s. 193ff står det:
… the basic teaching in all of the traditions is the fulfullment of the human in the larger functioning of the universe. This we find in Hinduism in the unity of the individuel self with the Atman, the Great Self of the universe. This is also present in the Buddhist teaching that every mode of being participate in the Buddha Nature. In the Chinese expression of the “One Body” we are told by Wang Yang-ming in the sixteenth century: “Everything from ruler, minister, husband, wife, and friends to mountains, rivers, heavenly and earthly spirits, birds, animals, and plants, all should be truly loved in order to realize my humanity that forms a unity, and then my clear character will be completely manifested, and I will really form one body with Heaven Earth, and the myriad things.”
In the Western world the unity of humans with other componenst of the universe in a single integral entity universe finds expression most clearly in the cosmology of Plato as expressed in the Timeaeus. “Now when the creator had framed the soul according to his will, he formed within her the corporal universe, and brought the two together and united them, center to center.” Yet it was the stoic philosopher, Chrysippus, with his idea of the great city of the universe, the Cosmopolis, that most clearly expressed this Western sense of oneness of the universe within a single community of being by a political analogy. Throughout the medieval period the unity of humnans with the larger universe was founded more on the creation story of Genbesis and on the cosmic dimension of the Christ presence in the universe as expressed by Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians where he indicates that in the mystical Christ “all things hold together”.
Berry, Thomas (1999) The Great Work – Our Way into the Future
Three Rivers Press