While I was attending my mediation teacher training program, I was quite fascinated with how many overlaps there are in the core beliefs of various spiritual teaching as well as religious groups. The teacher we had was explaining how the differences in all of these teaching really came down to different terminology being used. At the end of the day we are all striving for that connection to the divine.
This viewpoint was refreshing and exactly what I have always believed. We ARE all one. We are all spiritual beings having a physical experience on this earth. When we strip away our outer skin we are all the same underneath. We tend to define ourselves by the jobs we have, the people we surround ourselves with, the houses or properties we own. We let the color of our skin, what we eat, what belief system we follow define us to suffocating restrictions. The truth is when we strip away everything we THINK defines who we are we realize we are all beautiful souls on our unique journey. So if this is true why do we find time and time again our society focusing on putting up walls between us because of our perceived differences? One of the things I enjoyed most about my course was the diversity in that room. So many women from varying backgrounds coming together to find this peaceful common ground. All of us working towards helping others and UNITING through acts of unconditional love.
When I was at my course we got to practice walking meditation. This was a type of mediation that was new to me. It’s a meditation of mindfulness where you learned how to detach from the world around you, while still being mindful with every step you take. Not holding on to any emotions but watching the mind, and with no judgement observing the world around you. So there I was walking outside listening to the traffic that passed by but not clinging to the energy it left behind. Slowly pacing along the fresh green, spring grass, noticing how crunchy, yet soft it felt under the souls of my feet. I came to a place of stillness and I crouched down to sit on the side of a hill. I placed my hands in the grass, mindfully noticing the sensations without reaching for a explanation. I sat in the warmth of sun as my eye began to wander to an ant I noticed in the grass right in front of me. This ant was climbing up a blade of grass and down the other side he kept repeating this action with every blade of grass he came to. He was slowly moving closer to my feet and hands. In this moment of awareness I realized that the ant doesn’t know the difference between me and the blades of grass. He doesn’t know where the grass ended and I began. I was the blade of grass and the grass was me. In that moment I knew that I belonged. I knew that we ALL belong. We are ALL these blades of grass woven together. Each of us a beautiful mass of energy and spirit. WE are all divine creations of infinite love.
Every day we have these amazing opportunities to spread love and strip away these belief systems that no longer serve the higher good. We have a chance to create a world that is better than the one we inherited. We have a chance to bring up this next generation with higher levels of awareness where they know that acts of hate only bring more hate and that the way to true liberation is through love. Isn’t it time we move past the sins of our fathers? This world doesn’t need more prejudice, discrimination, sexism, or racism. We ARE better than that. We can DO better. We can BE better. Equality comes with mutual respect for one and all.
Namaste~ I honor the place in you that is the same in me. I honor in you where the whole universe resides. I honor the place in you that is the same in me. WE are but ONE.