How to Understand Oneness | Roshi Norma Wong
Roshi Norma Wong, a Zen Master and former state legislator, discusses understanding and experiencing oneness, emphasizing that current global crises offer an unprecedented opportunity for transformation. She highlights the importance of conscious breath practice and self-repair to become better people, enabling us to address the world's problems more effectively.
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Introduction to Oneness: A Contemplative Paradox
Seeking Wholeness in Separation and Exclusion
Historical Roots of Binary vs. Non-Binary Thinking
The Zen Concept of the Unborn Mind
The Body as an Accessible Portal to Reconnection
Experiencing Oneness in Unconventional Environments
The Immense Responsibility Arising from Connection
Cultivating Oneness Through Conscious Breath Discipline
Distinguishing Direct Experience from Mental Analysis
Reconciling Justice and Interconnectedness
The Sweet Spot of Pride and Humility
Global Crises as an Opportunity for Transformation
5 Key Concepts
Oneness
Oneness is the concept that everything is interconnected, and an individual's 'original beingness' cannot be separated from other beings or the universe. It's an experience of wholeness that transcends individual identity and analytical thought, often accessed through sensory awareness rather than intellectual understanding.
Exclusion (vs. Opposition)
Exclusion is a more complex way of being than opposition, where individuals or groups derive a sense of wholeness and identity by focusing solely on their own world, implicitly leaving out or ignoring others rather than directly opposing them. This approach, while providing a sense of belonging, ultimately creates divisions.
The Unborn Mind (Bankei's Teaching)
In the Zen tradition, this refers to an original, perfect beingness or energy force within each person that was never born and cannot be extinguished. It represents an inherent purity that exists always, though it can be covered over or hidden by accumulated habits and conditioning from life.
Relaxed Concentration
This state is cultivated through conscious breath practice, where one is present in a way that is both pleasant and sharply aware with all senses, without being on high alert. It removes the binary between being relaxed and having focus, allowing for heightened awareness without anxiety.
Ha'aheo and Ha'aha
These are Hawaiian principles representing immense pride (ha'aheo) and immense humility (ha'aha). The 'sweet spot' lies in cultivating and embodying both simultaneously, which is considered crucial for personal self-repair and for effectively addressing large-scale global problems.
8 Questions Answered
Oneness refers to the interconnectedness of all things, stemming from an 'original beingness' within each person that is unborn and undying, and cannot be separated from other beings or the universe.
Experiencing oneness involves opening up the senses and engaging in physical discipline, particularly conscious breath practice, to become more present and aware of one's surroundings, even in ordinary or non-pristine environments.
The mind, especially when relying on analytical thought and reading, tends to take one farther away from the direct experience of beingness and oneness, which is better accessed through the body and senses.
Conscious breath, particularly breathing slowly with a lower origin in the gut and a longer exhale, can reverse anxious mental conditions, build physical and emotional reserves, and cultivate relaxed concentration, making one more aware and connected.
Start by lying down, relaxing the body, and allowing the breath to come from lower in the body (gut region). Focus on breathing slower, with the exhale longer than the inhale, even for just 20 breaths.
Experiencing oneness reveals an immense responsibility for the entire world, as one realizes that the capacity for connection extends beyond personal or cultural boundaries, leading to a deeper commitment to addressing global problems.
To address injustice effectively, one must first engage in self-repair and acknowledge their own capacity for perpetrating injustice. True solutions arise from a place of wholeness and the simultaneous cultivation of pride and humility, rather than a binary of righteous vs. unrighteous.
Yes, current compounding global catastrophes create a 'sweet spot' for inquiry and transformation because they force a realization that existing approaches are insufficient. This widespread awareness and shared pain can motivate a critical mass of people to lean into new possibilities and solutions.
12 Actionable Insights
1. Practice Conscious Breath Protocol
Dedicate at least a third of your waking hours to conscious breathing: bring the breath low in your body (below the belly button), allow your body to rise with the inhale, ensure your exhale is slower than your inhale, and aim for under seven or eight breaths per minute. This discipline builds a physical and mental reserve, reduces irritation, and cultivates relaxed concentration, removing the binary between relaxation and focus.
2. Integrate Breath into Daily Life
Apply the conscious breath protocol during ordinary activities like washing dishes, attending meetings, or taking out the rubbish. This practice helps you build a reserve, become more generous, round off triggers, and cultivate a sense of relaxed concentration where all your senses are sharply aware without being on high alert.
3. Simple Breath Practice for Beginners
To start experiencing the benefits of conscious breathing, lie down, relax your chest, and allow your breath to come from lower in your body. Focus on breathing slower and making your exhale longer than your inhale for just 20 breaths, as this simple practice can make you feel different.
4. Engage All Senses for Presence
Open all your senses to your surroundings, noticing tastes, smells, sounds, and subtle physical sensations, even in non-pristine or ordinary environments. Settle into these sensory inputs, moving past initial annoyance or disgust, because the body is a much more accessible portal to reconnecting with your original self and experiencing oneness.
5. Cultivate Pride & Humility
Actively cultivate both immense pride (ha’aheo) and immense humility (ha’aha) simultaneously. This ‘sweet spot’ is essential for personal growth and for showing that positive change is possible on a larger scale.
6. Prioritize Self-Repair for World Problems
Before attempting to solve global problems or address injustice, engage in significant self-repair and internal work. Recognizing one’s own capacity for perpetrating injustice is crucial, as ‘better human beings can come up with better solutions’ than those operating from a binary of righteous versus unrighteous.
7. Avoid Over-Analysis of Experience
When having profound experiences, stay in the experience for as long as possible without immediately trying to analyze what it means. Your thoughts can take you farther away from the direct experience of beingness and oneness, which is best accessed through your senses.
8. Embrace ‘Empty Cup’ Mindset
Approach situations with an ’empty cup’ mindset, being open and receptive rather than full of preconceived notions. A cup is most useful when empty, as it can then be filled with many new things and experiences.
9. Slow Down Your Rhythm
Intentionally slow down your personal rhythm to be slower than whatever rhythm is going on in your surroundings, especially in new or ordinary places. This allows you to stop, savor, and pay more attention, leading to a different, richer experience of your surroundings and minute, useful shifts in decision-making.
10. Lean Into Crisis for Inquiry
When faced with worsening global conditions, recognize this as a ‘sweet spot’ for inquiry and lean into it. This collective state of ‘creative desperation’ presents an unprecedented opportunity for fundamental shifts and personal transformation, as awareness is the first opening for action.
11. Communicate Via Experience
When discussing profound concepts, aim to communicate through shared experience rather than through analytical explanation. This fosters deeper connection and understanding, bypassing the ’tangled aspects of an analytical mind’.
12. De-emphasize Reading for Understanding
When seeking to understand concepts like ‘beingness’ or ‘oneness,’ do not rely solely on reading or intellectual thought. Your thoughts can take you farther away from the direct experience, which is best accessed through your body and senses.
8 Key Quotes
We are seeking a wholeness in our divisions rather than in our oneness.
Roshi Norma Wong
It's not so much an opposition as it is an exclusion, which I think is a much more complicated way of being than if it was an opposition.
Roshi Norma Wong
Your original self cannot be separated from other beings. It just cannot. It cannot be whole if it is separated. It's nature.
Roshi Norma Wong
To be present is to be present in your senses, not to be present in the coach and thought of your mind.
Roshi Norma Wong
I was pissed off because now I have to be responsible for this world too.
Roshi Norma Wong
Better human beings can come up with better solutions.
Roshi Norma Wong
You cannot make really big leaps unless you have come to the total realization that everything that you have done so far, if you just do more of it, it's not going to do it.
Roshi Norma Wong
Global panic attack. Unpleasant, but potentially useful.
Dan Harris
1 Protocols
Cultivating Oneness Through Conscious Breath
Roshi Norma Wong- Bring the origin of your breath as low as possible in your body, ideally below your belly button into your gut region.
- Ensure your body is not collapsing but rising, with your spine becoming more relaxed and upright.
- Make your exhale slower than your inhale.
- Aim for the entire breath sequence (inhale and exhale) to be under seven or eight times per minute.
- Practice this discipline for at least a third of your waking hours, even during ordinary activities like washing dishes or attending meetings.
- For beginners, lie down to make it easier to relax and bring the breath lower in the body.
- Start with just 20 breaths, focusing on exhaling longer than inhaling, to feel a difference.