“Nothing could be without space, yet space is nothing. Before the universe came into being, before the ‘big bang’ if you like, there wasn’t a vast empty space waiting to be filled. There was no space, as there was no thing. There was only the Unmanifested – the One.” 1
Eckhart Tolle
James Allen stated that only the informing principle of nature endures. It is one and marked by unity, whereas nature in its myriad forms is multitudinous and marked by separation. 2
For Eckhart Tolle, this principle of unity is analogous to the Unmanifested from which everything manifests and within which everything has its being.
Now, let’s elevate our understanding by delving into the relationship between the two worlds: The relationship between unity and separation and between one and multiplicity.
We seek a brief and elementary understanding in two aspects. First, if the underlying reality of so-called phenomena is one in unity, how do we perceive the One vis-a-vis the manyness? Second, why does the One create the many? What is the purpose of doing so?
Eckhart Tolle provides a beautiful yet meditative illustration for the first query.
“Every sound is born out of silence, dies back into silence, and during its lifespan is surrounded by silence. Silence enables the sound to be. It is an intrinsic but unmanifested part of every sound, every musical note, every song, every word. The Unmanifested is present in this world as silence.” 3
The manifested has its being only because it has the unmanifested counterpart surrounding it. The two are, in fact, inseparable. For the sound to emerge, there has to be silence. The same can be said for space – the emptiness – as well.
“Just as no sound can exist without silence, nothing can exist without no-thing, without the empty space that enables it to be. Every physical object or body has come out of nothing, is surrounded by nothing, and will eventually return to nothing. Not only that, but even inside every physical body, there is far more ‘nothing’ than ‘something.” 4 … Buddhists have known that for over 2,500 years: ‘Form is emptiness, emptiness form.’ The essence of all things is emptiness.” 5
The Unmanifested is not only present in this world as silence; it also pervades the entire physical universe as space.
So, one answer to our first quest of ‘how to perceive the One vis-a-vis the manyness’ would be to pay more attention to the silence than to the sounds as the Unmanifested is present in this world as silence.
Likewise, withdrawing attention from things – objects in space – would lead to the awareness of space – emptiness – because, even if space has no existence, it enables everything else to exist.
Understanding silence and space as a feature of the Unmanifested provides a clue on why the One creates the many, but, at the same time, it also sheds light on why the existence of the many is necessary for the Unmanifested.
If there were nothing but silence, it wouldn’t exist for us, for we wouldn’t know what it is. Only when sound appears does silence come into being.
In the same way, if there were only space without any objects in space, it wouldn’t exist for us, for it wouldn’t be there at all. There would be no speed, no movement from here to there. At least two points of reference are needed for distance and space to come into being.
Space comes into being the moment the One becomes two, and as “two” become the “ten thousand things,” space becomes more and more vast. World and space arise simultaneously. 6
What is the purpose of space and silence begetting the world as things and sound? It’s because the Unmanifested knows itself through the world, including us. The divine purpose of the universe is unfolding through us.
We have just touched upon an understanding of paramount importance. This one subject can lead to many potentially profound discussions, and we will continue our exploration.
Jay
“For in the absence of something else, All That Is, is not.” 7
Note:
1. 6.
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now, published by Hodder & Stoughton, 1999
Page 116, Chapter 7. Portals into the Unmanifested
2.
James Allen, From Poverty to Power, 1901
This book is included in ‘As a Man Thinketh, Tarcher/Penguin Edition, 2008.
Quoted passage in p183, Entering Into the Infinite, The Way of Peace
3. 5.
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now, published by Hodder & Stoughton, 1999
Page 113, Chapter 7. Portals into the Unmanifested
4.
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now, published by Hodder & Stoughton, 1999
Page 113, Chapter 7. Portals into the Unmanifested
“Physists tell us that the solidity of matter is an illusion. Even seemingly solid matter, including your physical body, is nearly 100 percent empty space – so vast are the distances between the atoms compared to their size. What is more, even inside every atom there is mostly empty space. What is left is more like a vibrational frequency than particles of solid matter, more like a musical note.”
7.
Neale Donald Walsche, Conversations with God (Book 1), p22
Leading by Reading 