Infinite Potentiality and Actual Manifestation

Question:nnIf there is one infinite being (and everything is an infinite possibility) then why do we need Reincarnation (individual souls having experience over and over?) We are either one infinite possibility having this experience or we are a soul having many experiences. (term soul being one continuous being.)nnAnswer:nPutting aside the issue of whether we need reincarnation for the moment, your question seems to boil down to why does infinite being need to do anything—create, know, evolve—if it is already everything?nnThe best answer I can give you is what the enlightened sages of the past have said about this, namely, that there is a distinction between infinite potentiality and actual manifestation. Just as there is a difference between the potentiality of a redwood tree in seed form and the full grown redwood tree.nnInsofar as our human consciousness does not fully recognize it’s true infinite, unbounded status, we have not actualized our true nature. And because we are part of that infinite being, if we aren’t fully awakened, then there is a sense in which that infinite being is not fully actualized yet either. Our journey to self-awareness both individually and collectively is connected to the awakening of that infinite consciousness as well. Individual enlightenment is related to universal enlightenment because the realization that our essence is pure consciousness is also the recognition that this is the same pure consciousness at the basis of all creation.nnLove,nDeepak