“Underneath the surface appearance, everything is not only connected with everything else, but also the Source of all life out of which it came.”
-Eckhart Tolle, “A New Earth”
“Physicists have discovered that the apparent solidity of matter is an illusion created by our senses. This includes the physical body, which we perceive and think of as form, but 99.99% of which is actually empty space. This is how vast the space is between the atoms compared to their size, and there is as much space again within each atom. The physical body is no more than a misperception of who you are. In many ways, it is a microcosmic version of outer space.
To give you an idea of how vast the space is between celestial bodies, consider this: Light traveling at a constant speed of 300,000 kilometres per second takes just over one second to travel between the earth and the moon; light from the sun takes about eight minutes to reach the earth. Light from our nearest neighbour in space, a star called Proxima Centauri, which is the star that is closest to our own sun, travels for 4.5 years before it reaches the earth. This is how vast the space is that surrounds us. And then there is the intergalactic space, whose vastness defies all comprehension. Light from the galaxy closest to our own, the Andromeda Galaxy, takes 2.4 million years to reach us. Isn’t it amazing that your body is just as spacious as the universe?
So your physical body, which is form, reveals itself as essentially formless when you go deeper into it. It becomes a doorway into inner space. Although inner space has no form, it is intensely alive. That “empty space” is life in its fullness, the unmanifested Source out which all manifestation flows. The traditional word for that Source is God.”
- Eckhart Tolle, “A New Earth”
“Perhaps ultimately, spiritual simply means experiencing wholeness and interconnectedness directly, a seeing that individuality and the totality are interwoven, that nothing is separate or extraneous. If you see in this way, then everything becomes spiritual in its deepest sense.”
— Jon Kabat-Zinn
I imagine it is easy to agree with the above passages, especially when you are hearing them within the calming influence of our circle. I also imagine that in this context it is even fairly easy for you to say that , YES, we are truly interconnected!
But I also imagine that it is much less easy for you (as it is for me) to feel this interconnectedness once you leave the sanctuary of our gatherings and you come face to face with the “reality” (aka: the uncomfortable, unacceptable, and highly undesirable aspects of humanity).
At the risk of sounding overly trite, I believe that it is more important than ever for us to choose love over fear and to turn towards our interconnectedness rather than turning away.
But how do we do this?
Enter Pema’s practical wisdom….
The way to not lose heart is to realize how everything we do matters.
- Pema Chodron, “Welcoming The Unwelcome”
“Every time we catch ourselves polarizing with our thoughts, words, or actions, and every time we do something to close that gap, we’re injecting a little bodhichitta into our usual patterns. We’re deepening our appreciation for our interconnectedness with all others. We’re empowering healing, rather than standing in its way. And because of this interconnectedness, when we change our own patterns, we help change the patterns of our culture as a whole.”
“There is a practice I like called “Just like me.” You go to a public place and sit there and look around. Traffic jams are very good for this. You zero in on one person and say to yourself things such as “Just like me, this person doesn’t want to feel uncomfortable. Just like me, this person loses it sometimes. Just like me, this person doesn’t want to be disliked. Just like me, this person wants to have friends and intimacy.”
“Like many tiny drops filling a bucket with water, it takes a lot of people like me holding a grudge against others to create a polarized society. I really don’t want to be one of those drops.”
- Pema Chodron, “Welcoming the Unwelcome”
In closing I would like to share a quote with you from Ramana Maharshi and I would like to share it with you using a technique that in yoga is called “Vipasyana: and in Christianity is called “Lectio Divina”. I invite you to close your eyes and listen deeply as I repeat the following sentence several times. Just allow yourself to feel the vibration of the words as they land deeply within.
“Say or think “I am”, and add nothing to it. Be aware of the stillness that follows the “I am”.
Sense your presence. It is the spacious womb of all creation, all form.”
― Ramana Maharshi
On Grace…
“When I can stand in mystery (not knowing and not needing to know and being dazzled by such freedom), when I don’t need to split, to hate, to dismiss, to compartmentalize what I cannot explain or understand, when I can radically accept that “I am what I am what I am,” then I am beginning to stand in divine freedom.”
- Richard Rohr, Radical Grace: Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr
Our Closing Prayer
AN INVITATION TO CONNECT
Invocation:
As a member of the human race, through my own free will and for the greatest good, I call upon all beings that resonate with the quality of unconditional love and wish to assist humanity and Earth to evolve on the path of divine love. I ask for the unconditionally loving ascended masters that serve Christ consciousness to be the gateway through which permission is confirmed for these beings to enter Earth’s field and assist humanity according to divine will, grace, and love. May all beings be happy and free. So be it.
- Oracle card #19 from the Lightworker Oracle by Alana Fairchild