Why Are People So Weird ?

Someone asked me why their meditation teacher keeps saying "we are all one" when we're obviously different people with different problems and different bank accounts. Well, both statements are true. And understanding why might be the most practical spiritual insight you'll ever come across.

Picture a neighbor's house. Five people, five electronic devices. Dad's laptop streaming Netflix. Mom's phone checking WhatsApp. Kid playing games on the tablet. Teenager downloading music. Grandmother video-calling relatives.

Same Wi-Fi network. Same internet connection. Completely different experiences.

Now each device thinks it's separate. The laptop doesn't know what the phone is doing. The tablet has no idea about the grandmother's video call. But they're all connected to the same source, drawing from the same signal.

That's exactly how consciousness works.

Your Soul's Operating System

Your jivatma incarnates in human form with specific settings. But every jivatma runs on the same fundamental operating system. Same core capabilities. Same basic functions. Same connection to the universal network.

What makes you "you" is your swabhava - your individual nature, which is essentially how you customize your interface and which applications you choose to run. The moment you take your first breath, the customization begins.

First few years: You're downloading basic survival protocols, language packs, and family dynamics software. Your parents are essentially your first programmers, installing their preferred applications onto your system.

School years: Major updates. Social interaction modules. Academic performance apps. Usually some buggy code gets installed here - limiting beliefs, fear-based applications, comparison software.

Teenage years: Your system tries to run too many applications at once. Lots of crashes. Identity conflicts. The operating system is fine, but the user interface is completely unstable.

Adult years: You're either running sophisticated custom applications that reflect your authentic self, or you're stuck with factory settings that someone else installed.

Most people never realize they can rewrite their own code.

Why We Seem So Different

Has it ever happened to you that you meet someone and think, "How can we possibly be the same species?" What's actually happening in this situation?

Here's a hypothetical.

Maybe their jivatma arrived running "Courage Development 3.0" - optimized for risk-taking, boundary-pushing, and adventure-seeking. Every experience gets filtered through that application.

Perhaps your jivatma is running "Compassion Builder Pro" - designed for empathy, connection, and understanding others' experiences.

Same operating system. Completely different software configurations.

It's like comparing a gaming laptop to a graphics workstation. Both are computers with the same fundamental capabilities. But the gaming laptop is optimized for high-speed reactions and split-second decisions, while the graphics workstation is built for detailed creative work and complex rendering. Neither is better. Both are necessary, and both are running the same basic computing principles underneath all the specialized applications.

The Recognition Moment

The breakthrough comes when you look past their applications and start recognizing the operating system underneath. That workaholic who drives you crazy? Their system might be running "Security Through Achievement" - probably installed during childhood when love felt conditional on performance.

The people-pleaser who can't say no? They're running "Connection Through Service" - possibly a response to early abandonment fears. The perfectionist who criticizes everything? "Control Through Standards" - likely downloaded after experiencing chaos or unpredictability.

Same core consciousness. Different survival applications.

And when you understand this, something changes. You stop trying to run someone else's software on your system. You realize that the person who seems to have life figured out? They're not better than you. They've just found applications that work well with their particular configuration.

Your job isn't to copy their setup. Your job is to optimize your own.

This recognition opens the door to practical change. Start with the smallest possible version: What applications are you running that don't actually serve you anymore? What code did other people install that you never chose for yourself?

The anxious overthinking app your mother downloaded onto your system? You can uninstall that. The "never good enough" program your school installed? That's deletable too. The comparison software that runs automatically whenever you see other people's success? You have administrator privileges. You can turn it off.

For example, if you notice the "comparison software" running every time you scroll social media, you can literally pause and ask: "Is this thought serving me or draining me?" Then consciously choose to close that application and open something more useful - like gratitude or curiosity about your own path.

The Deeper Recognition

Six months from now, you'll either be running more of your authentic applications or better versions of other people's software. Only one of those paths is sustainable.

The more you customize your system to reflect your authentic self, the more you'll recognize that same authentic operating system in others. Not their applications - those will always be different. But the fundamental consciousness running underneath all the customizations.

That's the "we are all one" part. Same fundamental jivatma essence, same basic functions, same connection to the universal consciousness - the Paramatman.

And the "we are all different" part? That's your swabhava - the beautiful, necessary diversity of individual natures each jivatma chooses to express.

Remember: The goal isn't to become the same. The goal is to become more authentically yourself while recognizing the shared essence that makes authentic connection possible.

Skip trying to transcend your personality. Start by perfecting it. Because you can only access the universal operating system by fully expressing your individual applications.

The paradox resolves itself through practice, not theory.