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BEHAVIOR & SOCIETY

Don’t Make

Me One with

Everything

The mystical doctrine of oneness

has creepy implications

A

recurring claim of sages east and west is that

reality, which seems to consist of many things

that keep changing, is actually one thing that

never changes. This is the mystical doctrine of one-

ness. Enlightenment supposedly consists of realizing

your oneness with reality, hence the old joke: What did

the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor? Make me one

with everything.

A column by my fellow Scientific American blogger,

psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, touts the oneness

doctrine. “The belief that everything in the universe is

part of the same fundamental whole exists throughout

many cultures and philosophical, religious, spiritual and

scientific traditions,” Kaufman writes. His column con-

siders, as his headline puts it, “What Would Happen If

Everyone Truly Believed Everything Is One?"

Kaufman notes that psychologists Kate Diebels

and Mark Leary have explored this question. They de-

fine oneness, among other ways, as the idea that “be-

neath surface appearances, everything is one,” and

“the separation among individual things is an illusion.”

Diebels and Leary found that 20 percent of their re-

spondents have thought about oneness “often or

many times,” and many report having spiritual experi-

ences related to oneness.

Diebels and Leary state that “a belief in oneness

was related to values indicating a universal concern

for the welfare of other people, as well as greater

compassion for other people.” Believers “have a more

inclusive identity that reflects their sense of connec-

tion with other people, nonhuman animals and as-

pects of nature.” MARK D CALLANAN

GETTY IMAGES

John Horgan directs the Center for Science

Writings at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

His books include The End of Science and The

End of War.

Opinion

The mystical doctrine of

oneness is metaphysically

disturbing, and it can foster

authoritarian behavior and

encourage an unhealthy

detachment.