The Universe at Play - The act of creation is all there really is

Imogen North
Apr 8
5 min read

What if this isn’t you doing something…but the universe, at play, experiencing itself through you? — **What if this isn’t** ***you*** **doing something…but the universe, at play, experiencing itself through you?**

Over many years of study my prime interest and where I devote my time (alongside Traditional Chinese Medicine) in non-dual Shaivism. I’ve found myself returning, again and again, to contemplate: the nature of the divine?

This Easter period, with the name of “God” echoing loudly in places it often feels misused or misunderstood, that question has resurfaced with renewed intensity.

Now, if you come to your mat simply to feel better physically, and tend to mentally check out when philosophy or spirituality enters the room, stay with me. I’m going to try to make this as clear and accessible as possible, because this perspective isn’t abstract theory… it’s deeply practical, needs to be embodied and will be profoundly liberating.

What Do We Mean by “God”?

In the non-dual Shiva Tantra (NST), the word “God” doesn’t point to a distant, judging, anthropomorphic being. It refers instead to something far more expansive - a principle that transcends any limited, personal definition.

This divine reality is given many names: Heart. Essence. Vibration. Absolute Potential. Bliss of Awareness. Totality. Vision. Experience. The Eternal. Potency.

Why so many names?

Because no single word can contain it - and perhaps one of them will resonate deeply enough to penetrate your own awareness.

One of the great Tantric masters, Abhinava Gupta expressed it like this:

“In actuality it is only the unbounded Light of Consciousness, reposing as innate bliss, endowed with the powers of willing, knowing, and acting, that we call God.”

So when we say “God” here, we are speaking of unbounded, self-aware consciousness - alive, dynamic, and inherently blissful.

The Radical View: There Is Only This

NST holds a bold and uncompromising view:

Divine Consciousness IS ALL THERE IS.

It is infinite, all-pervading, free, self-aware, and spontaneously joyful. And crucially:

You are not separate from it. You are made of it. YOU ARE IT.

The only issue? Most of us don’t experience life that way.

Instead, we move through the world wearing what we might call “foggy glasses”—conditioned perceptions, identities, beliefs.

So we engage in sadhana (practice), not to become something new, but to clear the obstructions and recognise what has always been true:

Your fundamental nature is autonomous, blissful awareness.

What Does the Divine Do?

If this consciousness is all there is, what is its nature in motion?

It creates.

But not in the sense of a one-time event. Creation is ongoing, continuous - an ever-unfolding process.

Creation here means:

The flowing forth of countless subjects and objects within the infinite field of awareness.

An object is anything that can be known - any form, any experience.
A subject is the knower - a conscious being like you.

You are not just in the universe.

You are the universe, appearing as a unique point of self-awareness.

The Mirror of Existence

This is where things become beautifully intimate.

Every encounter you have - with a person, a place, a flower - is consciousness meeting itself in another form.

This process is sometimes described as self-reflection:

You are a reflection of the whole.
Others are reflections of you.
All are reflections of the same underlying reality.

So every interaction becomes an opportunity:

To recognize yourself in another. To expand your sense of identity.

Over time, this expansion can dissolve the tight boundaries of “I am this” or “I am that”- step-mother, teacher, British Citizen, yogi - and reveal something much wider:

You are a pattern within the totality, temporarily playing a role.

Like an actor fully immersed in a character, yet never truly confined by it.

The Universe Contemplating Itself

There’s a beautiful way to understand this through a simple shift in perspective.

When you sit and observe something - a tree, a person, a stone - what’s actually happening?

The universe is contemplating itself in that form.

Even the act of scientific inquiry reflects this truth. A certain physicist studying subatomic particles eventually realised:

The observer and the observed are made of the same substance.

The universe divides itself, just enough, to look back at itself.

And the process completes itself when that awareness turns inward - when subject and object collapse into one.

You can try it - take a moment to sit and pause...

Choose an object - a tree - see the tree, see the divine, see the tree, see the divine....

Creation as Play

In non-dual Tantra, this entire unfolding is described as divine play - krida.

Not play as something trivial, but play as:

Spontaneous
Creative
Joyful
Done for its own sake

The universe isn’t striving toward a goal.

It isn’t trying to “get somewhere better.”

It is already fully expressing itself, in every moment.

This is not an evolutionary model where reality improves over time. Rather:

The fullness of the divine is present, here and now.

We might even call it art - but not art that represents something else.

The universe doesn’t symbolise anything.

It is the expression itself.

Why, Then, Is Life So Hard?

This is the question that inevitably arises.

If everything is divine expression… why suffering? Why struggle?

From a non-dual perspective, the question itself contains a hidden assumption - that “hard” experiences are somehow outside or separate from the divine.

But they’re not.

Difficulty is not a mistake in the system. It is part of the system.

Pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow all are expressions of the same underlying reality.

This doesn’t mean we bypass or deny human experience.

Far from it.

It means we begin to see that:

Even the challenging aspects of life are not outside of wholeness.

This is the most confronting aspect of non-dual philosophy and it cannot be resolved purely through thinking.

It must be experienced.

Coming Back to the Mat

So what does all this mean for your sadhana (practice)?

When you step onto your mat, you’re not just stretching muscles or calming your mind.

You are participating in the universe becoming aware of itself.

Each breath, each sensation, each moment of attention is:

Consciousness recognising consciousness.

The aim is not to escape the world, but to see it clearly.

To recognise that:

You are not separate.
Nothing is missing.
This moment is already whole.