The Overlooked Ancient Truth for Modern Times

In our previous blog from October 30, we explored how we need to "break" and "expand" in order to grow and understand. This week, we're diving into an ancient teaching that might just change how you see yourself—and everyone around you.

An Ancient Wisdom You Already Know

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus contains a phrase you've probably heard before: "As above, so below. As within, so without." In its original Arabic—ما تحت كما فوق، وما فوق كما تحت، لتكمل عجائب الشيء الواحد—it translates to: "That which is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracles of the One Thing."

You might recognize it from movies, books, or memes. But what does it actually mean?

You Are 13 Billion Years Old

Here's something to wrap your mind around: technically, you're about 13 billion years old. The atoms that make up every cell in your body, every breath you take, every meal you eat—they're all recycled stardust. They've been here since the beginning, reshuffled countless times through stars, planets, oceans, and living beings.

You ARE the Universe—in material form, in energy, traveling at the speed of light in your thoughts.

Take a moment with that. Sit with it. You are one of the most extraordinary miracles ever produced.

Yes. You.

Two Universes, One Reality

So what do we do with this knowledge? We do the work. We strive for great things. But life, like that reality TV show "The Amazing Race," throws roadblocks and detours at us constantly. We all need to become skilled navigators.

Here's a helpful framework: there are technically two Universes. The first is the one you see when you look up at the stars. The second is the one inside you.

Author Lon Milo Duquette put it perfectly: "It's all in your head. You just have no idea how big your head is!"

Sound familiar? It's the same principle: "As above, so below. As within, so without."

Think about it—where is the center of your Universe? Is it somewhere past the Andromeda Galaxy? Or is it right behind your eyes, in your consciousness, where you perceive and interpret everything?

Everything you experience happens in relation to you. You are the center of your Universe. And here's the kicker: everyone else is the center of theirs too.

We Are One—And That Changes Everything

If you are the center and everyone else is the center, but we're all made of the same cosmic material, then we all share this massive collective Universe. We influence each other constantly, whether we realize it or not.

This brings us to a profound truth that medical science discovered long ago: the cure is in the poison.

We use viral fragments or weakened viruses to inoculate humans and animals against disease. We create immunity by introducing the very thing we're trying to protect against. The poison becomes the medicine.

The Spectrum of Opposites

What this teaches us is that things we view as opposites are actually the same thing at different poles:

• Love and Hate are the same emotion at opposite intensities

• Joy and Sadness are the same feeling on different ends of a spectrum

• Wet and Dry are simply degrees of water present

• Left and Right (politically, philosophically) are different approaches to the same challenges—sometimes opposite, sometimes slightly different, sometimes surprisingly similar

And here's where it gets interesting: these aren't just binary switches. They're spectrums with infinite positions between the extremes.

My Universe equals the Universe equals your Universe—but filtered through my unique point of view, just as you have yours.

The Medicine We Need

So what's the takeaway? What do we do with this understanding?

The divisions we see in our world—the anger, the fear, the "us versus them" mentality—these are symptoms of forgetting that we're all made of the same stuff. When we demonize others, we're literally attacking ourselves. When we dismiss entire groups of people as less-than, we're severing our connection to the whole.

But here's the hopeful part: the cure is in the poison.

The very people who frustrate us, challenge us, or seem opposite to us—they're the medicine. They show us the parts of ourselves we haven't integrated yet. They reveal the spectrum positions we haven't explored. They remind us that our way isn't the only way, just our way on the infinite spectrum of human experience.

When we can sit with that discomfort, when we can see our own reflection in the person we least understand, we begin to heal the fractures—both within ourselves and in the collective Universe we all share.

Your Invitation

This week, I invite you to try something: When you encounter someone whose views challenge you, pause. Instead of immediately rejecting their perspective, ask yourself: "What part of the universal spectrum are they expressing? Where might we actually be closer than we appear?"

Remember—you are 13 billion years old. You've been everything. You've traveled through stars and oceans. You contain multitudes.

And so does everyone else.

The miracle of the One Thing isn't just that we're all connected. It's that once we truly understand that connection, the divisions that seemed so solid begin to dissolve. Not because we all become the same, but because we finally recognize that our differences exist on a shared spectrum of the same fundamental reality.

As above, so below. As within, so without.

The Universe you see is the Universe you are. And the cure for what ails us—individually and collectively—lives within the very challenges we face.

What will you discover when you look within?

If you are interesting in exploring the concepts of correspondence and polarity a bit further, please enjoy this video. 

By Democracy Is Us Council Member Joe Castagliola