Introduction to Unicosmic Teachings: The Unicosmic Path
The real mission here is to keep a light on for the people who have always felt a connection to the stars but did not have a place to talk about it. Most of us grew up being told we are separate from everything else. We are told we are separate from nature, separate from each other, and definitely separate from the rest of the universe. In the long run, we want to show that this separation is just an illusion. Whether you look at it through a telescope or through quantum physics, everything is connected. We are here to be a landing spot for those who want to explore that connection without the weight of old-school religious rules or dogma.
We also want to make sure we are ready for what is coming. As we get better at seeing into deep space with tools like the Vera Rubin Observatory or JWST, it is becoming harder to ignore the fact that we cannot be alone. Our goal is to help people move past the fear of the unknown along with the "demon" labels that mainstream religions often use to describe extraterrestrial life. We want to foster a community that sees extraterrestrial beings as part of the same connected cosmic family. If we can start seeing ourselves as focused cosmic energy and vibration instead of just isolated human souls in bags of skin, we can finally take our place in the bigger picture of the Universe alongside our space brothers and sisters.
At the end of the day, the Church of Cosmic Oneness is about staying curious and staying open. We are not trying to control anyone or tell them exactly what to think. We just want to make sure that the path to cosmic awareness stays open and free for whoever feels the pull. We are here to help each other wake up to the fact that we are the universe experiencing itself, and to make sure that when our neighbors from other worlds do show up, they find a species that is already aware of its true self.
Lesson 1: The Illusion of Separateness
The confusion most Western folks have with the human body is that they believe there are all of these separate individual parts working together to make a body, but that is totally wrong and backward. It is a purely mechanical way of looking at a miracle.
There is no separate "anything" in our bodies or in the entire cosmos. Everything is dependent on everything else for existence in this reality. You do not have a foot, or a head, or fingers, or a liver, or a nose in isolation. Those are just labels we use as identifiers so we can talk to each other about a specific issue or a health problem. In reality, your body is one giant organism of interconnectedness with no real end or beginning. We are not even separate from the Universe around us.
Think about it: what makes you as your current conscious self-awareness different from your skin cells or hair follicles? What makes you different from your bloodstream or the neurons in your brain? You have to wake up to the fact that your organism is a microbiome. It is a colony of billions of tiny things that are all interdependent on each other. Somehow, that colony makes up "YOU," with your thoughts, your personality, and your stories.
We are basically the equivalent of a coral reef that became mobile and self-aware in a single point of consciousness. When you fully understand that we are all a bunch of self-aware reefs walking around, you also start to realize that our bodies are interdependent on the environment around us. So where do our bodies really end and the outside environment begin? The answer is that the environment is just as much a part of your body as your cells and your DNA. You do not visit nature; you are nature.
We are actually taught part of this in school. We are told the Earth is full of these interconnected ecosystems that are constantly balancing each other to stay alive, but our schools leave out the most important part: that we are a vital component of those systems. They try to make us feel like we are merely observers, and that is so wrong and damaging. It leads directly to that conquer-everything mentality that is currently hurting our world. When you realize that the forest and the stars are just the outer layers of your own body, you stop wanting to conquer them and start wanting to care for them.
When you wake up each morning, do what I do. Once you come to your senses and are awake enough to think, sit on the edge of your bed comfortably, close your eyes, and repeat either out loud or in your head: "I am not separate from the world around me. Everything is one." Repeat this several times slowly every day, as the human mind thrives on repetition. This is how we train and wire ourselves to master skills, whether they are mental or physical. If you would also like to include another mantra, I have recently incorporated the advice of the Venerable Pannakara, of the Walk for Peace monks, by also chanting: "Today will be my peaceful day. Nobody can ruin it but me." Chanting both mantras upon waking will help set your mind for the day ahead. I promise it will reduce stress and help you face problems in a totally different manner than when you think the entire world is an alien outside force that is against you in every way.
End of Lesson 1
Lesson 2: Living in Peace and Harmony with the World
One of the leading causes of human-induced suffering and anguish is that most people are not at peace with themselves. There are plenty of people who say they practice peace and mindfulness but are not in harmony with their own inner state, which makes it impossible for them to bring peace to the world or to others. This lack of alignment will only lead to more suffering. You must always start within in order to radiate love, peace, and harmony outward. All love and kindness start within and blossom outward! There is a quote from Carl Jung that says, "If the wrong man uses the right means, the right means work in the wrong way." This applies perfectly to those attempting to do good in the world when their own vibration remains negative.
In order to cultivate inner peace, you must practice mindfulness and full self-awareness. This simply entails being fully present and aware of your inner and outer environment as you go about your daily life. Instead of moving through your day on a sort of autopilot, stay aware of even the most seemingly mundane actions, such as each step you take or each breath you inhale and exhale. For thousands of years, monks from various traditions around the world have practiced this form of mindful meditation to slowly chip away at the Ego and expose the raw self to be reshaped. Each action you take, whether it involves steps, breaths, thoughts, or just observing your surroundings without labeling what you see and hear, will eventually bring your attention to the clear fact that nothing in this world is separate. Everything that happens is interdependent with its surroundings.
If practicing deep self-awareness and mindfulness seems overwhelming, take it slow and simply begin with a basic mindfulness meditation such as Buddhist Caṅkama, or simply Walking Meditation. The method is to focus entirely on the physical sensations of walking. This was practiced by the famous Walk for Peace monks who walked from their temple in Fort Worth, Texas, all the way to Washington, D.C. In the Buddhist tradition, it is taught that the concentration you build while walking lasts much longer than the concentration you build while sitting. Because you are moving, your mind learns how to stay calm even when the world around you is in motion. This makes it easier to keep your vibration high when you are at work, grocery shopping, or dealing with family stress. This is also a helpful meditation method for the modern person who fidgets or cannot sit still long enough to do a sitting meditation.
By focusing entirely on the simple sensation of each step, we give the restless part of our mind a specific job to do. This focus acts like an anchor that pulls us back into the present moment. When we stop rushing to get to a destination and instead focus on the act of moving itself, we start to see ourselves more clearly. We begin to notice the tension we carry, the impatience that bubbles up, and the habitual thoughts that usually run our lives in the background. As we start to notice all of this background chaos, we can then start to eliminate it, or at least draw our attention away from it, and instead begin focusing on the present moment.
There are plenty of other meditations and mind techniques that can help anchor us and cleanse our Ego. For convenience, I will provide some meditation instructions in the Unicosmic Sacraments section of the church webpage.
We will end this lesson with this: When you live your life on autopilot mode and mindlessly go through every day without focus, not only does your life zoom right before your eyes without you noticing, but it also brings unhealthy levels of stress. This is because you are tricking your mind into believing that you have to be in a constant rat-race and competition with everyone else around you. It tricks you into believing that you are only worth something if you have a good job, education, spouse, and wealth. You must understand that there really is no race and there never has been. It has all been a lie. This lie has been propagated by the egotistical and power-hungry people of this world who have so fully absorbed themselves in this game of life that they only feel valuable if they control others. Luckily, the technological age has allowed tens of millions of people just like you and me to come to this realization of mass deception, whereas this would not have been possible even 30 years ago.
No matter how bad the current world may seem, we must take full advantage of the time we currently exist in. Humanity is on the verge of a species-changing spiritual breakthrough. This is a breakthrough of which we can and will be at the forefront, and it will change humanity and the planet for the better. We can be some of the first people on this planet to collectively know our true purpose in this very Universe that we have forgotten we created.