Toward the end of a Next Level Soul podcast with guest Darryl Anka, he was asked: “What is the ultimate purpose of life?”
To which Darryl replied:
“To be all the ways that All That Is has of experiencing itself as you. And to understand that we are all different aspects of the same thing, to grow, to discover, to play, to enrich, to serve, to enlarge.”
Here is a brief share of the teaching from the Upanishads that I mentioned:
The story of "Tat Tvam Asi" (Thou Art That) comes from the Chandogya Upanishad (one of the oldest Upanishads, dating to around 800-600 BCE), and is a beautiful teaching in Hindu philosophy.
After a son returns home from 12 years of studying the Vedas with a renown teacher, his father teaches him - How do we hear what cannot be heard, perceive what cannot be perceived, know what cannot be known?
I mentioned 3 teachings but that was incorrect. In my research I only discovered 2. The salt in water, and the Banyan seed.
The Banyan Seed: The father asks the son to bring a fruit from the banyan tree, then break it open. "What do you see?" he asks. "Tiny seeds, father." "Break one open. What do you see now?" "Nothing, father." "My son, from that subtle essence which you cannot see, this entire mighty banyan tree exists. That subtle essence is the reality of all that exists. That is the Self. That is truth. Tat tvam asi - That thou art, my son."
The teachings reveals that what you experience as your individual consciousness is not separate from the universal consciousness. You are not a drop in the ocean - you are the ocean experiencing itself as a drop. The divine essence animating the universe is the same essence animating you. There is no separation; separation is the illusion.
This perfectly captures your original idea: we are how All That Is experiences itself through infinite unique perspectives, each one discovering, growing, playing, enriching - each one the whole, expressing itself as the part.
