One ocean, many harbors ~ Many waves, one ocean 🗿
Feb 13, 2025
To close I want to share a metaphor for understanding our relationship with awareness and interconnectivity—touching on what Plotinus (following Plato and Parmenides) called “the One and the Many”.
Almost everyone reading this list will have encountered the “all waves are one ocean” metaphor that shows up in most major religious traditions. This is a beautiful image, and has been very helpful for me; but for us modern people who really like our individuality, it can also feel a little threatening in emphasizing “The One”.
As the title suggests, another helpful metaphor is “one ocean, many harbors”; emphasizing the uniqueness of the many.
Whenever we try to represent reality-experience it unavoidably divides infinity, and we’re left with overemphasizing one side of a nondual coin (*the term nonduality of course doesn't escape this issue). And as Nagarjuna pointed out, it’s not both or neither, either.
With love, Jordan
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