William James (1985 - 1910), founder of American psychology, in his classic text, The Varieties of Religious Experience, described Oneness and its relationship to mystical experiences in the following way:
“This overcoming of all the usual barriers between the individual and the Absolute is the great mystic achievement. In mystic states, we both become one with the Absolute, and we become aware of our oneness. This is the everlasting and triumphant mystical tradition, hardly altered by differences of clime or creed. In Hinduism, in Neoplatonism, in Sufism, in Christian mysticism, we find the same recurring note.”
The idea of Oneness, that the self is inextricably intertwined with the rest of the universe, can be found in many of the world's philosophical and religious traditions. Oneness provides ways to inwardly sense the self as fundamentally connected with other people, creatures, things, and spiritual realities. This is a challenge to Western hyper-individualism and its tendency toward self-centered behavior.
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