Jyotir's point is proven with a simple mental experiment.

Imagine that you have psychic powers. Imagine that you are able to tap into another's awareness, and that with effort you can tap into the awareness of anything, sentient or not.

We will start small. Imagine that you meet someone on the street. You start concentrating, and his thoughts become your thoughts. His memories become your memories. His consciousness becomes your consciousness.

Are you still in there? Of course! You are still you - or are you? The human consciousness is pretty crowded with the awareness of one life, but now you have two. At that level of awareness, you now feel split. Are you you, or are you him? Actual complete awareness of this other consciousness has doubled your consciousness - but now your self identity is only half, because you have two lives in your consciousness.

But we don't stop there. You see another person, and again you concentrate. Suddenly you have tripled your consciousness - and your self identity is cut down to one third.

But you keep going. Your consciousness, your openness, your awareness is soaring! You've never felt anything like it! It's incredible! A sudden understanding of humanity pours through you as your consciousness expands without bounds! It is incredibly freeing! But at the same time, with every new consciousness that enters yours, you feel less and less personal thoughts about it all - you feel reflections from every consciousness, from the synthesis as a whole.

And still you go on, until you have tapped into every life on earth - and still you go on. You tap into the consciousness of the animals of the land and of the sea, and the plants and the trees and the clouds and finally the very planet itself, thinking it's rocky thoughts as it spirals round and round the sun, and then the sun, and the planets, and the void, and the entire universe.

Now you have total omniscience - and there is no individuality. How could there be? There is only... everything.

This is the trade-off. This is the price - - and the reward.