📚 Watts Alan – The Universe Experiencing Itself
01. The One Thing Everyone Should Learn

03. You Came Out of This World

An exploration of the illusion of separateness, showing that we are not visitors in this world but expressions of it — like leaves from a tree or waves from the ocean.

2010-05-01 • 3 min read

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You Came Out of This World

> "We do not come into this world; we come out of it, like leaves from a tree."

Most people believe they are strangers here — visitors dropped into a world that existed before them, moving through a place that does not really belong to them.

But that is an illusion.

You did not arrive here as an outsider.

You grew out of this world in the same way that an apple grows out of a tree or a wave rises out of the ocean.

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The False Story We Tell Ourselves

The modern story goes like this:

You were born, placed into a system, and now you must learn how to survive in it.

You are taught that life is something “out there,” and you are a small unit trying to fit inside it.

But look deeper: the air in your lungs is part of the same atmosphere that moves through every tree and cloud.

The blood in your veins is made of the same water that flows in rivers.

You are not in the world.

You are of the world.

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Nature as Your True Body

Think about it:

When you see forests burning, oceans rising, or the climate shifting — do you really believe these are things happening to something outside of you?

They are happening to your larger body.

The Earth is not your environment. It is your skin extended outward.

It is as much a part of you as your heartbeat.

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Why We Forget

Our culture pushes a different picture.

It tells us we are individuals first, consumers second, competitors always.

Our daily lives happen behind screens — filtered through news feeds, notifications, and endless comparisons.

And slowly, we forget that before all these roles and identities, we are expressions of the same living fabric.

That’s why so many feel lost: because we act like guests in our own home.

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Rediscovering Where You Belong

You can rediscover this truth in very simple ways:

  • When you walk barefoot on the ground and feel the earth pressing back.
  • When you watch the night sky and realise the stars are not “above” you, but also within you.
  • When you eat, and the world literally becomes your body.
  • These are reminders: you are not a separate observer.

    You are the process itself.

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    The Shift

    The shift comes when you no longer feel that you “came here.”

    Instead, you feel that you grew here.

    And suddenly, life stops being something to fight against.

    It becomes something you recognise as yourself — moving, breathing, creating through you.

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    > "You are the universe, looking at itself from this point of view."