"If you forget yourself, you become the universe." - Hakuin Religious traditions emphasizing the mystical help you interpret something like 'becoming the unive

"If you forget yourself, you become the universe." - Hakuin Religious traditions emphasizing the mystical help you interpret something like 'becoming the universe' as a deep interconnection with living beings and universal compassion. Without that kind of grounding, from a certain frame of mind, you can feel like king of the universe instead. It's really not something to mess around with, in my opinion. I'm pretty sure I've unlocked the same sorts of states the hard/manual way, and I was really glad to have the backing of the understanding of a mature religious tradition to put it into constructive context. It's not by any means an unconditionally good thing, it's nothing that should be allowed anywhere near an unprepared mind.