--- ## Highlights This concept that there are no separate entities—only one Cosmic Being—is called non-duality.) ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/4670f9df-9658-433e-bc69-e132ab59e133)) - 💭 alan watts The Cosmic Being Framework: Everything Is Relative ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/387396d6-6487-4805-8768-07064f377407)) everything in the universe exists in relationship to its environment and other beings. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/1226fa6a-eb20-4e29-8590-2263965c2973)) people only perceive reality when their nervous system continuously interacts with the environment. These observations reinforce the idea that everything in existence depends on mutuality and relationships. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/7bc338cf-a598-44c6-9ed3-4e88b956bbe3)) ^ylx8qk Watts uses Western science as another example of how Westerners narrow their scope of attention and create the illusion of separateness. Because science focuses on reducing things to their parts and analyzing how those parts work, Westerners imagine the phenomenon of cause and effect. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/13fbb553-7193-438e-9d21-00d1b66b48c1)) ^pezd0s - 💭 if everything is connected, then there is no such thing as cause and effe Watts explains that just like the head and tail of a cat are interlinked, all events and organisms exist mutually, with no singular cause or effect. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/cf68c132-3462-4cab-87c4-33c44c5d56d9)) Western society perpetuates the ego illusion through underlying community expectations for each person to be independent. Society reinforces the mandate for individuality by using expressions like “Be yourself,” or “That’s not like you.” ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/521c305d-8f89-4711-aca8-f981b435006b)) ^x1y73o everything about a person is transferred to them from society—our genetics, our cultural beliefs, our language—and yet Western society tells people they’re separate individual ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/f4eb2be1-188e-413a-940f-39b9dee933d5)) ^qk4kt3 paradox where society demands that everyone be an individual, but the fact that the mandate comes from society means that people are inherently linked to society and defined by it. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/3b8a0599-5cc9-494c-b08e-82b58ac94641) ^4fwg5l) However, Watts argues that if Westerners truly embrace the idea of the Cosmic Being, they would realize that there’s no entering or leaving the world because we are one with all of creation. He suggests that death is a spiritual opportunity for a person to finally release their attachment to the ego and remember that there’s no “self” and no beginning or end of life. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/6cfea464-4759-4833-bec9-fc70d4a1d72f)) ^9r96v9 Path to Abandoning the Ego ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/9ba45dcf-a82a-4f4d-afa9-dbf6db8907d9)) Organized Religion Reinforces the Ego ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/b30cb3c1-1c63-483a-897b-dcf2b4061592)) religions reaffirm a person’s sense of self rather than allowing them to reject it. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/77bef09e-da34-4e15-af01-9bc364d86052)) - 💭 you're being defined in relation to outsiders Increased Self-Consciousness ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/3b815053-9dcd-4b48-aeba-1e1954b426a1)) wanting to release the ego is yet another way that people inadvertently reinforce it. ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/5a6d7a6b-0c35-4eba-9b09-0a2ff0c1156f)) Every time a person notices their sense of self—their feeling of being an “I”— they should embrace that sensation and examine it so closely that eventually, it starts to dissipate ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/f76110ae-8e80-4d7d-81d5-70754168b0fe)) ^k1cpz2 Do Things for No Reason ([View Highlight](https://www.shortform.com/app/highlights/800946bd-178c-4bd3-a4e7-d958dde15293))