@MJA,
Long ago I found myself face to face with enlightenment. I was on the cusp and I could feel it. My meditations got to the point where time and the physical realm had no meaning and I could slip in and out of my perception of myself at a whim. I saw all things in their true light and could feel a connection with everything in existence. I could control the energies in my body and harness the power of of the unified self to resolve hunger, weariness and pain. Life was complete bliss. I needed nothing, wanted even less and was content with whatever came down the road.
But something occurred to me. Something which brought me back. Enlightenment is not beautiful and is not amazing in the same way that this world is beautiful and amazing. So, I made a vow.
Having found the way to enlightenment, I will sit upon it and wait. I will hold it until the day that it is right for me to find it. That day will be the day that I tire of the beauty in this world. Not al things are equal. If that were true then you would have the same awe over a muddy puddle as you do the deepest ocean and you would have so little concern for yourself that you would no longer need food or water to survive. It is the inequality in this world which is fascinating. It is the difference and distinction between all things which holds beauty. To be one with everything is not the true goal of the enlightened. The true goal of the enlightened is to understand the beauty which comes from everything. I do not understand it all yet and that is why I have chosen the path of the physical world. I want to see the beauty which surrounds me and I want to experience it and then, when I have accomlished that, I want to take my experiences into the next stage of existence.
This is a fraction of what I learned from enlightenment. Another thing I learned is that the Way that you reference with such joy and faith, is nothing you could possibly understand. to think you understand it is to immediately admit that you do not. You see, the teachings of the Tao Te Ching and the Hua Hu Ching and the 7 Taoist Masters all explain that the Way can never be comprehended. If you had actually done your research and stepped away from your ego then you might have been able to see that. The very reason that you can't understand it is because it is not something which you can use words to describe. It is something beyond words.
"As soon as you define Beauty, you also define what it is to be Ugly" ~ Tao Te Ching.
Read this passage. Think about it. The purpose of the Tao is to get down to true nature and to remove all these classifications. In order to explain the Tao, you have to classify it so it can be put into language. To put it into language is to immediately destroy it. Your theory on onesness is not even a fraction of the understanding which comes with the true way. The only way to truly know the way is to ascend to it. To remove the physical world, the self and the memory of all you know. When you get there, you'll understand that you cannot understand. Right now, you are showing yourself to be a fool. You are showing yourself to be naive and egotistical about what you
think you know. The more you talk about it, the farther away you will get from it. The more you "know" about it, the less you understand it. THAT is the essence of the Way. THAT is the understanding of the Tao. When you find the true Way, you will understand why you understand nothing. Until then, you are nothing more than a self proclaimed holy man similar to the Christian stories of the Anti-Christ. (biblical reference, not common understanding)
I urge you to dive deeper, read more, go to a taoist temple, do all you can to understand. I urge you to try harder and instead of stopping at a mere literal understanding. I can quote books all day long, but to understand is beyond what language can tell.
