You may have heard of the idea that “we are all God” or “God is you, me, the tree, the rock, and all existence” or that “all is one.” This view that all reality is one, that the distinctions between things are mere illusions, is sometimes called “monism.” In the East, the Hindu philosopher Shankara represents this view. In the West, the Greek philosopher Parmenides holds that reality is one unchanging Being…