Some flavors of one and many…
All is one in a couple of different ways.
Within form, or content of experience, I find that all is one through the Universe Story, evolution, holarchies, systems views, and many other ways of looking at it, some – such as the ones mentioned above – aligned with contemporary science.
When I explore what I am in my own immediate experience, I find that all is one. Content of awareness is awareness itself, and inherently free from any of its content, including the mental field creation of an I with an Other.
And all is many in a few different ways.
All is many when filtered through the mental field, creating an overlay of imagined – and very useful – boundaries placed anywhere within form, depending on what is useful and customary.
Independent of what I appear as to myself, others see me as one among many, as a human and an object among many. And that too is very useful.
All is also many in that any experience is fresh, new different, within the context of time. God never repeats itself, even if a story may say that something is similar to – or same as – something that went before or may come in the future.
And all is many in the context of space. What fills awareness here through this human self, is different from over there in your human self, and over there in my cat. Content of awareness is different depending on the creature.
Said another way, Big Mind is always the same in that all appearances are the play of Ground. Yet the content of these appearances, the content of experience, is always fresh and different, over time and among different beings.
Initial draft…
From the side of content of awareness, we find that all form is one through the Universe Story, evolution, holarchies, systems views, and many other ways of looking at it.
And all is many when we mentally filter it that way, creating imagined boundaries anywhere to set areas within content of awareness apart.
Also, independent of how clear or confused I am about what I am, others see me as a human being, and one among many.
From the side of awareness, when I explore what I am, I find that it is all one. The content of awareness is awareness itself, inherently absent of an I with an Other, or we can also say that it is an I without an Other.
And there are also a few ways that all is many.
The mental field filters everything into many in different ways, placing imagined – and very useful – boundaries wherever it is convenient or customary.
Also, no matter how clear or not I am about what I am, others see me as one among many, an object in the world – which is also very useful and appropriate.
And finally, although all is one in that it is the play of Ground, the content of awareness is many in two ways.
It is many in the context of time, since it is always fresh and different, something else than anything that has gone before or will arrive.
And it is many in the context of space, since content of awareness depends on which being it comes from. In my case, this human self. In your case, your human self. Ground is Ground, yet it is filled with different experiences here through my human self, there in your human self, a few feet away in my cat, and so on.
Ground is always and everywhere the same, yet its content is always different – over time and when filled with the experiences of different creatures.