Unity

Unity, or oneness, is a central word in mystical and philosophical writing, and one of the most ambiguous. At least three senses should be distinguished. Unity can mean wholeness: the integration of many parts into one thing or one cosmos. It can mean identity: that what seemed two are in fact one and the same. And it can mean union: that two remain two, but are joined, as lover and beloved, or the soul and God.

Many disagreements between traditions are disagreements about which sense applies. Advaita Vedānta speaks of identity: the self is Brahman. Theistic mystics usually speak of union, in which the soul is transformed but not abolished. Neoplatonism speaks of the One as the source of all unity, and of the soul’s union (henōsis) with it. Islam speaks of the oneness of God (tawḥīd), which for some Sufis implies that there is only one true being.

The phrase “all is one” can therefore mean very different things: that there is only one thing, that everything is interconnected, or that everything comes from and returns to one source. Clarity about these senses prevents much confusion in comparing traditions.