Oneness is ultimately the goal of meditation. Not just in a theoretical sense, but in actual, lived experience. The ego or default mode network is the foundation of duality and separation. As I discuss in the book, this sense of self was not always present for us. It is built and reinforced over time by the repetitive conditioning of the mind.
So really, meditation is more of a return to oneness, our inherent nature. In fact, oneness is already the case, but we continuously cover it up moment by moment with the incessant machinery of the self. Becoming one is a bit misleading then, unbecoming two is more accurate. That is where non-duality comes from. Advaita Vedanta literally means “not-duality”. The burden of proof for not-oneness lies with the ego or self. This is the inquiry of meditation – if we really exist as a separate entity, then where is the proof? Where am I?
Enlightenment, or love, or god, has nothing to prove. It is already the case. The process of meditation is to exhaust anything that says otherwise. Let the apparatus of the self try and prove itself. You just watch and witness, see what remains at the end of the day. What proof do you end up with for the sense of “me”? Is it any different than mine?
As we peel away layer after layer of the self, as the activity of the ego or default mode network diminishes, there is (experientially and scientifically) less separation between ourselves and the world around us. Finally, this separation is eliminated entirely. The return to oneness.
Jeff Nirenberg 