ONE

1. Remember where you are headed

Photo by Chiến Phạm on Unsplash

In the beginning lies this paradox: you are a distinct expression of human experience, yet are one with everything in the same way that a drop of water is one with the ocean. All is contained within you, and you are contained in all. You may not really sense this unity, and the consequent feelings of separation, dislocation, and loneliness are cause for your suffering. But you also fear the loss of all that makes you separate and special, because this is your identity. At least, so you think. And so you may dread death, the inevitable return to oneness, because your identity will be lost. What will remain of your ability to outshoot everyone else? Who will you be if you are not Jewish anymore?

Your mind will not find a way out of this predicament of existing without your identity. The state of oneness for which you nevertheless yearn cannot be described, much less demonstrated to exist. It is your most profound intuitions that whisper of a final return to the oneness from whence you came. Your heart does not need to wait on scientific validation to know what it knows.

Opening ourselves up to this sense of oneness can be seen as a starting point for change in our lives. Somewhat disconcertingly, it does not actually require you to do anything. It is as subtle as a shift in perception. As your awareness begins to open up, positive change will appear in your life. Your outer world will begin to mirror your inner world.