As this is a subject that interests me as well, I would just like to share my opinion. It's a bit different then what I've read here, but it's held true for me.
What is the Earth you ask?
Assume a single creator from which all things originate. Everything around you is part of this original source. To get a better understanding, imagine a scene outdoors. You have the dirt, the grass, the sky, clouds, wind, light etc. All of these things seem separate even in your imagination but they all originate from your single imagination. One day after taking some salvia divinorum (a hallucinogenic drug), I had an experience where as best as I could can describe, I was a piece of plastic! My consciousness as that piece of plastic was limited to say the least, words really can't describe. As the drug began to wear off though, my consciousness began to revert back to normal.
That experience really drove this theory home for me. It was then that I began to believe that everything around us is part of the same universal consciousness just in varying degrees. To clarify lets go back to the imagination analogy. Image a rock. It's hard, dull, heavy, in-animate, brownish-gray and that's about it. Imagine a dog. It's furry, friendly, hyper, hungry, play-full, sad, happy, it can dream, imagine, see, speak, hear, smell. Both of those two things originated from your imagination but one was given more qualities.
What I'm in effect saying here, is that for all sakes an purposes, we exist in the mind of the Creator. His thoughts become a "reality". If he were to think of a rock, a "part" of his consciousness would "split" and take on the qualities that he imagined. Inevitably some things are created with a consciousness closer to his own. One thing you need to be careful of though is to not place any importance over the consciousness of say a rock and yourself. As far as I can tell, the Creator tries everything. Every possibility, every thing that could ever happen, even universes completely different from our own are being created. As such nothing has any more importance over anything else. Also, there is no purpose besides the purpose we individually give to something.
Many people claim the purpose of life is to become one with the Creator. To become more like him. That is a purpose we give ourselves and not one the creator intended though I believe. But it is a goal that can be pursued. If we brought our consciousness closer to the Creator, we would be able to see the illusion of everything around us. Nothing is real and anything can be changed with a mere thought providing you have the proper state of consciousness.
Hopefully that made a bit of sense. I know I left out alot but it's getting late and I need some sleep.
What is the Earth you ask?
Assume a single creator from which all things originate. Everything around you is part of this original source. To get a better understanding, imagine a scene outdoors. You have the dirt, the grass, the sky, clouds, wind, light etc. All of these things seem separate even in your imagination but they all originate from your single imagination. One day after taking some salvia divinorum (a hallucinogenic drug), I had an experience where as best as I could can describe, I was a piece of plastic! My consciousness as that piece of plastic was limited to say the least, words really can't describe. As the drug began to wear off though, my consciousness began to revert back to normal.
That experience really drove this theory home for me. It was then that I began to believe that everything around us is part of the same universal consciousness just in varying degrees. To clarify lets go back to the imagination analogy. Image a rock. It's hard, dull, heavy, in-animate, brownish-gray and that's about it. Imagine a dog. It's furry, friendly, hyper, hungry, play-full, sad, happy, it can dream, imagine, see, speak, hear, smell. Both of those two things originated from your imagination but one was given more qualities.
What I'm in effect saying here, is that for all sakes an purposes, we exist in the mind of the Creator. His thoughts become a "reality". If he were to think of a rock, a "part" of his consciousness would "split" and take on the qualities that he imagined. Inevitably some things are created with a consciousness closer to his own. One thing you need to be careful of though is to not place any importance over the consciousness of say a rock and yourself. As far as I can tell, the Creator tries everything. Every possibility, every thing that could ever happen, even universes completely different from our own are being created. As such nothing has any more importance over anything else. Also, there is no purpose besides the purpose we individually give to something.
Many people claim the purpose of life is to become one with the Creator. To become more like him. That is a purpose we give ourselves and not one the creator intended though I believe. But it is a goal that can be pursued. If we brought our consciousness closer to the Creator, we would be able to see the illusion of everything around us. Nothing is real and anything can be changed with a mere thought providing you have the proper state of consciousness.
Hopefully that made a bit of sense. I know I left out alot but it's getting late and I need some sleep.