ONE

The highest concept of divinity. It is not widely known that One appears in the ancient Veda, the craddle of Indo-European thought which opens as follows.

Primordial chaos:

There was not what was not nor what was.

There was no space nor the vault of heaven above it.

What was in movement?

Where? Under the protection of what? Was there water? The impenetrable abyss?

There was no death or immortality then. There was no distinction between day and night.

It breathed by its own power, without air, only One.

Aside from it, nothing existed.

At the beginning, there was only darkness hidden by darkness.

All this universe was but Indistinct water.

The seed of existence, wrapped in nothingness, thanks to its inner might, was born as the One.

History:

The story of One is as old as the  world itself but we can date the Rig Veda back to 4500 years ago. 

In 2000 b.C. ships carrying valuable wood, essence, silk and precious stones reached the then sea-side town of Ur from India through Bahrein.

The philosophy of the Veda, of the One, certainly reached the Sumeric culture and the ears of Abraham of Ur. This gave origin to the Hebraic, Christian and Islamic cultures and the One, then known as Eka or Bramha and later Jahhè.

This difference is quite important: from a god “inside” man that was identified with man; from One where Everything was undivided, an external, perfect and ruthlessly judging Lord was generated.

The time has come to return to the tradition of the undivided One.

Suggested reading:

“The Heartbeat of the One” by Angelo Bona

The Experience of God: Icons of the Mystery by Raimon Panikkar
The Vedic Experience: Mantramanjari (an Anthology of the Vedas for Modern Man) by Raimon Panikkar.