One's life philosophy is not an abstract matter; it has to serve one's daily life. Joseph Campbell, whose guiding idea was expressed as "the commonality of themes in world myths," was once asked by the interviewer Bill Moyers, "You're talking about a search for the meaning of life?" "No, no, no," he replied. "For the experience of being alive."
The glue for this unity with the world is a kind of love that extends and dedifferentiates one from others, from things, and ultimately from the universe. John R. Howe, in The Road Within, asks, "Is there a ladder between Heaven and Earth?" There is no "here"; there is no "I" to stand independently. One does not view the world; one is dissolved in it. Enlarging our boundaries by loving is a gradual but progressive growth of the self, incorporating within ourselves the world outside. In short, the more we extend ourselves, which means the more we embrace the universe, the less clear and less important are the distinctions between the self and the world. In fact, we may lose our boundaries and become totally identified with the world. The closest we can come to this feeling of ecstasy is when we fall in love. But, as M. Scott Peck tells in his book The Road Less Traveled, there is a major difference:
