Unitary and Separative Principles

This is perhaps the right time to introduce the Unitary Principle and the Separative Principle.

Earlier we discussed how Diversity (or duality) arose and discussed Life from the perspective of the creation and exploration of this Diversity. Now for Diversity to manifest, it is required to first fragment Unity, and then to maintain that separation. Not only that, fragments also need to interact and even bond, so there can be new manifestations of diversity.

The Separative Principle is the force or energy of fragmentation, that helps create the multitude from the One. It represents forces that create division and then sustains those divisions. It represents energies that result in individualization, ego, separateness, destruction, you vs me, and so on. Without the working of the separative principle, manifestation of diversity is impossible.

The Unitary Principle is the force or energy that helps bond fragments together in multiple ways, creating new expressions from those fragments. It is the “glue” if you will, that holds manifestation together. Without the Unitary principle, Being and its manifestations may fragment endlessly by virtue of the Separative Principle, resulting in little of complex life or diversity of expression. Yet if only the Unitary principle existed, all fragments will return to Unity and diversity again becomes impossible.

Thus it may be recognized that the Unitary and Separative principles must work together to generate diversity. These represent a balance of forces, waxing and waning against one another so that new expressions may be created, sustained and then destroyed through forces of selection. Indeed, life is a balance between forces of order and of chaos. For example, a building is steadily worn out by the elements, and requires constant cleaning, fixes and an occasional coat of paint. A weedy yard grows wild and requires pruning and selective elimination to maintain its order. The law of entropy in the universe is constantly at work against the forces of growth inherent in nature. Death, disintegration or elimination in some way, is absolutely essential for evolution, and for the rise of complex life in the universe. Thus the Separative and the Unitary principles are fundamentally essential to creating Diversity as well as maintaining order in the universe. These two great principles originate within the Godhead and can be found to be at work in any manifestation of Being at any level of diversity, for they are a must for any expression of Being to be sustained. These principles arise from the Creative Principle that we discussed earlier, which in turn arises from the Prime Directive, “Being, Know Thyself!”

Having discussed these principles in the abstract, let us now see what they mean to human beings.

First and foremost they facilitate the creation of individual identities, the distinction between you and me, your group and my group, your country and my country, your race and my race and so on. We will discuss the formation of identities in more detail in a separate section, and why and how identities are a valuable means of expression of diversity. The chapter ‘War’ in our book “The God Principle” goes into some detail on the workings of these principles in more than usual depth.

Another effect of the working of these principles, is the generation of what human beings consider as opposites. When Unity is disrupted in fragmentation, polarities come into existence. Manifestation is made possible through interaction of these polarities. They are not necessarily opposites, but complementary functions that tend to appear as opposites to human perception. These polarities form a spectrum, but since human beings are used to thinking in terms of two major polarities such as good/evil, right/wrong, male/female, matter/spirit, right/left, yin/yang, either/or and so on, this spectrum is also perceived likewise. Energies of manifestation are available to all polarities as they are fueled by the unitary and separative principles. Those energies wax and wane in their interactions. This interplay of energies and polarities makes experience and diversity possible, so that Being may discover more of itself in the playground of manifestation. It is simply not possible to withhold energy or support to any one polarity without affecting the balance of the whole. To use a human analogy, that would be comparable to walking (or trying to walk) on one foot. Without the interaction of these so called ‘opposites’, Diversity would be impossible.

Therefore all polarities get their due share of energy and support. This means that life on earth, if looked into carefully, can be seen as a manifestation of diverse polarities in physical, emotional, mental and spiritual realms. These can be seen in various contexts such as religious, political, scientific and philosophical ideologies, democracies, dictators, rebellions and revolutions, and in each and every human experience without exception. For every mode of life, ‘opposites’ must exist and they cannot be silenced no matter how hard the attempt is made. Indeed, the ‘opposite’ has every right to exist as it arises spontaneously in manifestation from a balance of power, from the necessity of keeping the balance intact. The very energy that is spent on undoing a polarity can often strengthen it. Or it can bide its time, going dormant till the flux of energies turn like the tides. This can be readily seen by looking into history, cultures and human society at large.

Within this interplay, a Being however can choose its trajectory of experience and align itself with select polarities. By doing so it discovers and explores aspects of itself that it did not know before. When Being returns from fragmentation into progressively unitary states, polarities are not quite destroyed. That is, it is not correct to say that only ‘good’ polarities prevail. Rather all polarities are reconciled into unity where a greater perspective is now available on how these polarities function - like ‘solved’ pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle.

In the next sections we will take a look at human origins, purposes and the descent into Duality. This has been the subject of much speculation and discussion, with science, religion and mythology offering many different takes on the matter. We hope to offer the reader a perspective that answers some of the perplexing questions in this area.