The wizard’s consciousness is a field that exists everywhere.

The stream of knowledge contained in the field are eternal and flow forever.

Centuries of knowledge are compressed in revelatory moments.

We live as ripples of energy in the vast ocean of energy.

When the ego is set aside, you have access to the totality of memory

One morning Arthur woke up very early, shivering in his straw bed, only to find Merlin looking at him from across the cave.
“I was having a bad dream,” Arthur mumbled.” I was the last person left on earth, wandering forests and streets that were empty of anyone but me.”
“Dream?” said Merlin. “That was no dream . You are the last person on earth.”
“ How can that be?” Arthur asked.
“ Wouldn’t you agree that the only person on earth would also have to be the last person?”
“ Yes.”
“ Well, from the point of view of your self-image, which people in the future have called the ego, you are the only one.”
“ How can you say that? You and I are here together, aren’t we? And we have visited villages and towns that must contain thousands of folk,”
Merlin shook his head.“ If you look at yourself truly, what are you? A creature of experience that is constantly turning into memories. When you say ‘I,’ you are indicating this unique bundle of experiences, with all its private history that no one else can share.
“ Nothing seems more personal than memory. You and I have walked separate roads, even though we walk together, I cannot look at a flower without having an experience you do not share. Not a single tear or laugh can truly be given to another.”
When Merlin had finished this speech, Arthur looked distressed. “ You make it sound as if everyone is utterly alone,” the boy said.
“ Not I,” replied Merlin. “The work of the ego is what makes you alone, sealing you into a world no else can enter.” Seeing how distraught his disciple looked, Merlin softened his voice. “ And yet ego can be set aside. Come with me.” He got up and led Arthur out of the cave into the predawn darkness, which was still full of stars.
“ How far away is that star, do you suppose?” he asked, pointing to the Dog Star. It being midsummer, Sirius was bright and low on the horizon.
“ I don’t know. I suppose it must be farther than I can measure, or possibly imagine ,”Arthur replied.
Merlin shook his head. “It is no distance at all. Consider this: for you to see a star , its light must enter your eye, correct ? Beams of light flow continuously from here to there, like an invisible bridge. What is a star but light? Therefore , if it is light both here and there and on the bridge in between, there is no separation between you and that star. You are both part of the same seamless field of light. “
“ But it appears to be very far away. After all, I can’t pluck it out of the sky, “ Arthur objected.
Merlin shrugged. “ Separation is only an Illusion. You appear to be separate from me and from other people because your ego takes the view that we are all isolated and alone. But I assure you, if you set your ego aside, you would see us all surrounded by one unending field of light, which is awareness. Your every thought is born in a vast ocean of light only to return to it, along with every cell of your body. This field of awareness is everywhere, an invisible bridge to all else that exists.
“ So there is nothing about you that isn’t part of everyone else – except as ego sees it. Your work is to go beyond ego and dive into the universal ocean of consciousness.”
Arthur had a thoughtful look on his face. “ I’ll have to think about what you’ve said.”
“ You do that.” Merlin yawned. “ I’m still sleepy.” The wizard turned to reenter the warm, snug cave. “ Oh, and by the way, before you come back to bed, will you please hang that thing up again?”
“ Thing?” Arthur looked down in surprise to see that the Dog Star had been plucked from the sky and left at his feet.

Understanding the story

The ego has taken on the job of selecting and rejecting experiences, as we’ve already seen. As a result, the ego creates isolation, since anything that picks and chooses creates a gap. Between you and something you’ve rejected, there is a gap. Between you and me there is also a gap, because we have chosen not to have the same experience-our egos are separate.
In fact, we all take it for granted that we couldn’t possibly share experiences, not fully. I cannot enter all of your emotions, fears, wishes, and dreams, nor you mine. The best we can usually do is to try to build bridges of communication, which often prove to weak to hold. The most personal things about you since you were born – your memories and experiences – lead to loneliness and isolation.
The wizard is never isolated, however, because ego does not enter into his view of things. By ego is meant the sense of a personal, unsharable “I.” Merlin once said to the boy Arthur, “ Try to forget me if you can.”
“ What?” Arthur said in surprise.” I could never forget you – and I don’t want to.” He felt anxious, supposing that Merlin was rejecting him in some way.” Do you want to forget me?” he asked.
“Oh, absolutely,” Merlin replied calmly. “ you see, I want us to be friends , and if I remember you, what do I have? Not the real you, but a dead image. That is all a memory is, a once- living thing turned into a dead image. But as long as I can forget you every day, then I will wake up to see you anew the day after. I will see the real you, stripped of outworn images.”
Setting ego aside means setting memory aside. When that is done, people are no longer isolated. The individual mind narrows our awareness down, as if we are looking at the world through a peephole. In the wizards world, everyone shares the same universal consciousness. It flows forever and embraces all thoughts, all emotions, all experiences. “ Insofar as you are one person,’ Merlin taught, “ you are like a drop in the ocean. Insofar as you are a part of universal awareness, you are the whole ocean.”
“ Doesn’t one drop simply melt away and get lost in the ocean?” Arthur asked.
“ No – an individual can never be obliterated, even through the experience of the ocean of consciousness,” Merlin assured him. “ You can be yourself and be the ALL at the same time. That may seem a mystery, yet it is so.”

Living with the story

We all cling to memory because it defines us. But to bring an end to separation and isolation, you have to be willing to see the unreality of memory. Think of someone you know well – your husband or wife, a sibling or friend. Bring him or her to your mind in detail and ask yourself what you really know about this person. Go beyond mere facts, such as eye color, weight, job, or address. Think instead about the most personal traits, likes and dislikes, vivid memories and interactions.
When you finish this exercise, you may assume that you have complied an accurate portrait of that person. Yet everything you’ve recalled came from your memory, and therefore what you have described is your individual viewpoint. That same person could be described entirely differently from another perspective. What seems likeable to you is unlikable to others, what is memorable to you may be entirely forgettable in someone else’s eyes.
You do not have to go very far to realize that everything in your description is completely relative. Your idea of tall is someone else’s idea of short or average, heavy can be seen as light, fair as dark, friendly as unfriendly , and so forth. You are really describing your perspective, not the person. Moreover, your experiences with that person are uniquely your own, which makes your description even more idiosyncratic. If everything you thought you knew about someone else has turned out to be indirectly about you, it is obvious that memory serves to isolate. We fragment the world by the personal way we view it, creating shells of isolation that no one else can penetrate, not fully.
Because it is completely relative, your viewpoint cannot be called real. Reality doesn’t depend on a viewpoint – it simply is. And most of us, dwelling as we do inside our private worlds, do not contact the real very often. The unreal is the habitat of the senses; the real is the habitat of the wizard. You have to look behind the curtain of memory to begin to discover the true fabric of reality.

The Way of the Wizard – Deepak Chopra
Lesson 6