Before one can realize unity with All that is, would it not make sense that one should first seek to...?

assuming for a moment i believed your premiss...

maintaining the illusion of separation and learning to be self-less in deep caring love for another can free the mind to become one with all ... if the comfort of the familiar illusion is not maintained while learning the basics of love, the concept of universal oneness is simply impossible to grasp as it is too foreign, being in the prison of a self centred viewpoint

When it is said `` unite with source`` or ``be one with god`` or however else it is said, there are those who seem to be addicted to making it a deep and difficult subject, for their own reasons.

What is meant is that we require allowing universal energy, the energy which when allowed to flow through our physical apparatus causes us to feel good. When there is resistance to this same energy, we feel bad. We can go into the why of it but it really does not matter so for brevity I leave it out.

When you feel bad you feel bad. What does it matter if someone says that it is an illusion or not?

Tell it to someone with a migraine!

The only important thing to know is that no matter what we can make a decision to reach for an improvement and figure out the best way to do so one person at the time. Relief is what is looked for. So do what gives relief first, always. Living with the pain will create an addiction for the pain, unknowingly. The cells of the body also need to feel good and they find a way or they die. You too.

But it seems from your wording that you would prefer to keep the cancer all the while trying to figure out what it would be like to not have it and understanding all the factors involved. I can tell you personally that when I used to get migraines the only desire I had was to be rid of it. I did not care how nor did I ask to understand the mechanics of the how.

Again I want to stress that how I describe my relationship with what I want or what I do not want, I do so from within the framework of one lifetime.

For every set there is a opposite.

For every understanding there is a misunderstand.

Wherever there is love, hate is not far.

For every Theist there is a Atheist.

Vice verse: Sleep is not enjoyed until you have been awake.

These are the realities of this life where with it was design, without them the world would collapse.

It's like having car without a source to power it. ( It wouldn't run )

A battery has two polarities, a negative and a positive, without both their is no power.

A idea is worthless without it's objective.

Sweet isn't appreciated in it's fullness until you have tasted bitter.

So the answer to the mystery is understanding the mystery and why it is.

If this life was all beauty then would there not be a desire or need for a better one.

I think no,

because there is no thing other than the existential truth of the self

that one needs to realize

before one realizes unity with all that is.

By knowing the truth of the self,

one automatically comes to know the truth of the self of every one else

and the need to understand the nature of relationship on one to one basis does not arise.

So it is very much possible to unite with the source,

without knowing anything about the others.

Yes, if you feel that uncertain about the other, but then there ARE many different others and some of them dangerous. Separation is not an illusion, it is a quantifiable variable and personality systems are extremely complicated. I would say it is the opposite of what you suggest in your question: we are able to feel in unity with existence generally first before mastering human relations.

Do you think 'sense' is going to get you there?

Ego will pull every intellectual trick in the book, including this one, to keep you enslaved. Stop falling for it!

Edit.

I think most spiritual traditions give you the answer, 'hidden in plain view'. "Be still".

Seek inner silence. Stop 'doing' stuff. Do not cling to what arises in the mind, but simply notice and allow it to pass away again. Live your ordinary, daily life but still the inner chatter and seek silence and stillness. Eventually you will find emptiness and in that emptiness, the Truth may arise.

In the Kalama Sutra, Buddha says.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it..

Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.

But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

that is a personal approach for each individual.. you can trust the know-er of the absolute truth. or you can search out the absolute truth yourself. if you trust someone else, you won't do anything without their order.. if you don't, you would do all things without anyone's order. and there is degrees in each.

there are leader type and follower type personalities.. followers are just too weak to be leaders. whether they accept that or not.

but to finally answer you.. yes, it is possible.. but your relationship with others won't be hostile if you are following the absolute truth.. would it ?!

We unite through are indifference and strife. As atoms never touch as they are violently attacked by the other. We live through our dislike. Its in our nature. We are aspects of god as you say well does one self not quarrel with ones conscience as if another person?

maybe, i dunno, i tend to think you find this 'unity/understanding/etc' however you do

i think just opening your mind, learning other stuff, new info, and branching out, evne if its still in context of your views/beliefs etc

our relationships with each other dont say much about that unity, mayb eit used to a long time ago, but nowadays, our relationships are very different cos our society is different so i dont think its a good way to understand it, tho its always useful

im enjoying todays qs so far