After 40 years of active study and practice of the Buddhist teachings and having written four books on what I call Buddha inspired psychology, I recently found a very insightful perspective that elaborated on what I had learned before. The insight is that the Buddhist teachings are a mysticism, which inherently undercuts any easy attempts at codification. Therefore, union with the divine or emptiness is experienced rather than defined and categorized through limited language. such an emphasis on first-hand experience runs contrary to abstract, ‘positive’ cataphatic theology. this book is the unique and cogent perspective that incorporates the Buddhist teachings as a ‘negative’ apophatic theology.
While there are some scholarly books and research articles on the topic of apophatic theology, very few incorporate the Buddha’s teachings. I hope to show in this book that indeed Buddhist teachings and wisdoms are succinctly integrated into this apophatic spiritual tradition that spans cultures and time. Within the larger scope of the typology of ‘via negative’, the Buddhist teachings of nothingness or emptiness or Sunyata are clearly a part of the apophatic spiritual tradition.
Therefore, this book goes beyond what is usually taught in traditional Buddhist texts. My aim is to make accessible from a modern perspective what the Buddha was universally teaching for those who are on their own spiritual path of personal discovery.
–I have always been struck by the universal applicability of the Buddha’s teachings, which transcend geographical and temporal constraints. The integration of these teachings with proponents of apophatic theology has only reinforced my belief in their universality. Despite four decades of rigorous research, temple retreats, lectures, and meditation practice, it is only now that I have uncovered this enlightening connection between the Buddha’s teachings and the apophatic traditions. It is my sincere desire to share this newfound insight with my fellow spiritual seekers.
-I have always appreciated that the Buddha taught universal truths that are applicable everywhere and throughout time. Integration of these truths with other teachers of the Apophatic theology has affirmed my belief in this universality of the Buddha’s teachings. Even with my forty years of research studies, attendance of temple retreats with monks and lay lectures and meditation practice, I have only now found this instructive link between the Buddha’s teachings with other teachers of the Apophatic tradition, and I want to share this with my fellow spiritual path voyagers. I believe they will also find it as interesting and illuminating as I have.
The Apophatic emphasis on firsthand experience hence knowledge, stands in stark contrast to abstract, ‘positive’ cataphatic theology. This latest work of mine presents a unique and compelling perspective that positions the Buddha’s teachings firmly within a ‘negative’ apophatic theological framework.
While there are scholarly works and research articles on apophatic theology, very few incorporate the profound teachings of the Buddha. In this book, I aim to demonstrate how Buddha’s wisdom can be seamlessly integrated into this spiritual tradition that transcends cultural and temporal boundaries. Within the broader context of the ‘via negativa’ typology, the Buddhist concepts of nothingness, emptiness, or Sunyata are undeniably intertwined with the apophatic spiritual tradition. It is my sincere desire to share this newfound insight with my fellow spiritual seekers.
This is more than a philosophical exploration—it’s a practical roadmap for living with clarity, joy, and interconnectedness. Through cross-cultural insights, reflective practices, and meditative approaches, Dr. Ricketts shows how embracing the ineffable mystery of life can dissolve division, foster ecological and social harmony, and restore our inner paradise.
Whether you are a seeker, a meditator, a student of comparative religion, or someone simply longing for a more meaningful existence, The Garden of Eden in This Life will inspire you to see beyond duality and step into a living experience of unity.
If you are ready to move beyond dogma, transcend the limits of language, and reawaken to the timeless ground of being—this book will guide you there.
Oneness isn’t a mystical achievement or something you arrive at after years of effort; it’s simply what is already happening.
The effort usually comes from trying to feel connected, when in fact nothing was ever disconnected to begin with.
We are not in the universe like an object placed inside a container; we are something the universe is doing here and now just as a wave is something the ocean does.
Our thoughts, our breath, our body, and our relationships are not private events occurring in isolation, but expressions of the same ongoing process that moves clouds, grows trees, and turns seasons.
When this is seen, and not believed as an idea, but noticed as an experience, the sense of isolation softens.
Life stops feeling like a personal struggle to justify your place in the world and begins to feel more like participation in a larger movement, a dance you were never outside of, only momentarily imagining you were.
When we reflect on the idea of oneness, that we aren’t separate objects in a world of other objects but part of a single unfolding process, it can help us understand why events in one place ripple outward and affect people elsewhere.
The suffering and struggle communities face in any place around the world are not isolated ‘situations happening over there.’ They are part of a larger human system, shaped by shared histories, politics, economics, and our collective choices about how we govern, how we care for one another, and how we respond.
Seeing through the lens of interconnectedness, we notice that these aren’t isolated headlines: they are expressions of how we still grapple with systems that separate people into categories of ‘us’ versus ‘them.’
Oneness doesn’t mean ignoring real differences or injustices; it means recognizing that every human being’s pain and joy matters, and that the well-being of one community inevitably affects the well-being of others.
When one group is harmed or denied dignity, the reverberations are felt far beyond that community, shaping how all of us see justice, compassion, and our shared humanity.
We are not separate, what happens to one place touches the whole and indifference is not neutral.
To see our interconnectedness is to be quietly, insistently called into responsibility.
Connection is not a feeling we wait for; for it is something we practice through attention, through refusal, to care.
To resist, in this sense, is not only to oppose violence and injustice where we see it, but to interrupt the habits that allow harm to be normalized, distant, or forgotten. It is to listen, to speak, to show up, to protect one’s other dignity in ways small and structural,
Resistance rooted in oneness does not harden the heart, it sharpens it. It says: your suffering is not outside my concern; your freedom is bound up with mine. And so we act. Not because we are heroes or saviors but because separation was never real to begin with.
To connect us is to refuse the lie that some lies are disposable. To resist is to insist, again and again, on a world organized around love and care rather than domination, relationship rather than erasure.
This is not abstract philosophy it is lived practice. And it begins wherever we are.
If we take interconnectedness seriously, then awareness alone is not enough,
Seeing what is happening calls us into action. This means refusing silence when harm is justified or ignored. It means learning, naming what we see, and standing publicly against policies and systems that dehumanize, whether through state violence, displacement, occupation, or enforced poverty.
Action looks like showing up for communities under attack, amplifying voices that are being erased, demanding accountability from those in power, and materially supporting people on the front lines through mutual aid, organizing and sustained pressure.
To connect is to commit. To resist is to act in ways that make separation harder to maintain.
We choose where to spend our money, how we use our platforms, which stories we repeat, and which injustices we refuse to normalize.
We build networks of care, protect one another, and insist again and again that no one is disposable.
This is how oneness becomes practice, not theory: through collective action that interrupts harm and moves us toward a world organized around dignity, justice, and shared responsibility.
Wherever you are, whoever you are, all of us stand eye to eye, stand in love and solidarity with you.
Omniscient Love is unconditional love in its most self-less, objective mode: “A love that is open to and nonjudgmental about all perceptions, cognitions, and intuitions.” It is the ‘enlightened’ state of consciousness sought in the meditative practices entailed in all human disciplines—viz, spiritual, artistic, intellectual, therapeutic, corporal, social, and so forth. As the highest state of love, Omniscient Love is present as an inherent potential in all humans. It embodies our ever-present psychoenergetic interconnection with everyone and everything around us— including the Universe itself, and hence, is the access channel to our highest psychic and spiritual proficiencies.
Bradley RT. Love, Consciousness, Energy, and Matter: The Heart’s Vital Role in Coherence and Creation. Cardiol Vasc Res. 2024; 8(1): 1-25.
The Universal consciousness field exists beyond space-time in an undifferentiated state. Through differentiation, it gives rise to localized excitations, which manifest as physical structures or individual consciousness. Following the Big Bang, the universal consciousness field evolves, generating complex systems capable of awareness – sentient beings with individual consciousness localized in space-time. Once differentiated, personal thought shapes individual awareness and perception, producing evolving subjective interpretations of reality over time. This process creates the illusion of separateness, even though all individual consciousness remains intrinsically connected within the universal consciousness field.
Personal thought reinforces the sense of individuality while simultaneously concealing the underlying unity with universal consciousness. An important implication of modeling as a localized excitation of interconnected nature of the field is that dissolution of individuality (e.g., through death) does not imply annihilation but rather reintegration into the universal field. This aligns with perspectives that treat consciousness as a temporary manifestation of a universal substrate.
Maria Stromme, Professor Uppsala University: Consciousness as the foundation – new theory
I became aware that we’re all connected. This was not only every person and living creature, but the interwoven unification felt as though it were expanding outward to include everything in the universe- every human, animal, plant, insect, mountain, sea, inanimate object, and the cosmos. I realized that the entire universe is alive and infused with consciousness, encompassing all of life and nature. Everything belongs to an infinite Whole. I was intricately, inseparably immersed with all of life. We’re all facets of that unity- we’re all One, and each of us has an effect on the collective Whole.
“So my biggest message is to live your life as an exercise in creativity, as if every discovery, every artistic exploration, matters in the cosmic tapestry of life—because it does. Follow your heart as you exuberantly combine the riot of colors the universe lays before you to make your life into your own masterpiece. You may be surprised by your creation. As when we listen to or play beautiful music, our goal is not to get to the end of the piece. The point is to enjoy the melodious, joyous journey the music takes us on, including the very first note and every single one that comes after it.” ― Anita Moorjani,What If This Is Heaven?: How Our Cultural Myths Prevent Us from Experiencing Heaven on Earth
The term Ecology, as used locally, does not have the connotation of the “environment” as used in America, There is no separation of man and his environment; rather there is a fusion of man and his environment. Ecology represents the study of the ecological entity as a whole. When a given ecological complex appears unfavorable from the standpoint of man, for example, he does not have a prior claim to adjustment on the part of the other elemen (ts of the complex. The others have just as much “right” to demand modification of his behavior as he has on theirs. All are one in Nature. The appreciation of this Oneness and the delicate interrelationships of its diffusions represents the prime academic purpose of the Ecology Series. (The Land of Keikitran and Eleevan) R.G.H. Siu
We are all Interconnected even with the Universe 