They said to Him: Shall we then, being children,
enter the Kingdom? Jesus said to them:
When you make the two one, and
when you make the inner as the outer
and the outer as the inner and the above
as the below, and when
you make the male and the female into a single one,
then shall you enter the Kingdom.
- Gospel of St. Thomas Saying 22
In Unity, and in the mystical heart of all major religions, Oneness emerges as a supreme foundational tenet. The notion that we are not isolated creatures but inseparable and at one with a universal spirit is at the core of many faiths. How ironic that a belief in oneness is a common denominator across the battleground of religious beliefs that are often comprised of bitterly embedded camps of righteousness, which go to war over their individuated differences. While Oneness reigns as a supreme ideal, our everyday behavior suggests that separation is the prevailing perception and practice.
Across the faith traditions of the majority of the world's population prevails an idea that ultimate reality is a union of opposites. Even in the Garden of Eden story, the problem of Adam and Eve (the fall) is sparked by a decision to partake in the knowledge of good and evil - a choice that brings the suffering of duality over the perfect Oneness and Goodness that preceded it.
At the personal level, you and I make this choice in every moment; choices that separate us from Supreme Reality, and the oneness that is within us and all around us. Such choices do not cause an actual separation of course, since it is impossible to be apart from our Essence, yet these choices create the experience of separation. That's quite enough for us to create a world of opposites, of lack, limitation, right and wrong, you and me, them and us, have and have not; all the ingredients that have us clamoring and dueling over our share of the good. It could be said that a dualist must become a duelist. While this illusion is being played out through a separate sense of self, in truth we remain in union with an all-providing Source that supplies our every need.
So how do we find our way back to this Unity consciousness, which is the cherished destination of all spiritual paths? One way is to deconstruct the false self that we've created; a self that we define and identify through bits and pieces of our personal reality.
When we answer the question, who am I, our initial instinctive responses reflect our beliefs about who we think we are. We identify with our bodies, our careers, our desires, our emotions, and our thoughts. We readily attach our "I am" to superficial descriptors, such as Caucasian man, Asian woman, plumber, teacher, sad, glad, curious, anxious, wealthy, or wounded. These become our identities. They define us and close off awareness of the self that has no boundaries, no defining edges, and no separate sense of itself.
When we can begin to release these labels, we begin to dissolve the distinctions that wall off our connection with the allness of life. Here's a process: Recite these phrases in a contemplative fashion, realizing the significance of these insights as you say them:
I have a body, but I am not my body
I have desires, but I am not my desires
I have emotions, but I am not my emotions
I have thoughts, but I am not my thoughts.
The very act of noticing these aspects of yourself puts you in touch with a self that can observe characteristics that you've formerly believed comprised your whole identity. What can be seen and felt cannot be the true seer. As you witness these aspects of yourself, you are less likely to identify and define yourself by them. This awareness moves us closer to unity consciousness, which as St. Paul noted, is living, moving, and having our very being in Divine Presence. In this state of pure awareness, separation does not exist, and we can take our place amongst the sages and seers with a veritable recognition that "the Father and I are one."
Namaste,
Rev. Larry
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