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May. 3rd, 2001 08:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iamomI've heard people talk of this "letting go," and that concept makes sense to me, too. I have often got too caught up in a quest for meaning of this or that person/place/thing in my life, in my thoughts... If one is remotely analytical or philosophical by nature, it's not difficult to get really absorbed in searches for truth.
During these searches, I've discovered over and over again the connections that are shared by everything in our world. Simple things like photosynthesis and our own breathing, to relationship things like the six degrees of separation; these are all examples, abundant in our lives, of how we are each connected directly to each other in some way.
When I let that dissolve within me, what is left over is a pervasive sense of unity. These connections, however complex, sort of cancel themselves out in the end, reduced to their most common denominator that simply "they are," I've fallen deeper into that unifying concept, what could be called being "itself," or as some have said, the "I AM."
The I AM is probably nothing that would resonate too strongly with everyone. But what you call it isn't important, anyway. The point is that commonality, that unity; these connections that we all share with each other. If you're living your life, conducting your business, establishing relationships, and making your living in the context of remaining aware of these connections, then you're fulfilling the highest possible human ideal. You're living the life of an illumined soul, one sees the world in every sight that falls upon his eyes; one who loves everything and everyone simply because they're part of the whole.
.....
The rest of life is therefore given over to maintaining that awareness, and nothing much else. No matter what your background, race or creed, no matter what your job, status, or position in life, you and every other person in the world is simply living out their lives, from one moment to the next. It doesn't really matter what so-and-so is doing in China this morning, because China's too far away to make a difference in your life this morning. It doesn't even matter what your next-door neighbour, your co-worker, or your own brother is doing this morning, because their actions this morning will probably not have a significant effect on you either. Actually, it doesn't even matter what you're doing this morning. The actions themselves aren't important - they're not what's making the sun rise every morning and the moments pass from one to the next.
What's making our time pass and our world spin around is our being itself. Just that. Just this deep connection we all share with each other, just this force that created us and sustains us from one moment to the next. That's all we really are, when you reduce our actions to their most common point: we are who we are, we are as we are, we are such that we are.
(That kind of sounds like a mantra or something. I wonder if the ancient sages came up with mantras in this way.)
During these searches, I've discovered over and over again the connections that are shared by everything in our world. Simple things like photosynthesis and our own breathing, to relationship things like the six degrees of separation; these are all examples, abundant in our lives, of how we are each connected directly to each other in some way.
When I let that dissolve within me, what is left over is a pervasive sense of unity. These connections, however complex, sort of cancel themselves out in the end, reduced to their most common denominator that simply "they are," I've fallen deeper into that unifying concept, what could be called being "itself," or as some have said, the "I AM."
The I AM is probably nothing that would resonate too strongly with everyone. But what you call it isn't important, anyway. The point is that commonality, that unity; these connections that we all share with each other. If you're living your life, conducting your business, establishing relationships, and making your living in the context of remaining aware of these connections, then you're fulfilling the highest possible human ideal. You're living the life of an illumined soul, one sees the world in every sight that falls upon his eyes; one who loves everything and everyone simply because they're part of the whole.
.....
The rest of life is therefore given over to maintaining that awareness, and nothing much else. No matter what your background, race or creed, no matter what your job, status, or position in life, you and every other person in the world is simply living out their lives, from one moment to the next. It doesn't really matter what so-and-so is doing in China this morning, because China's too far away to make a difference in your life this morning. It doesn't even matter what your next-door neighbour, your co-worker, or your own brother is doing this morning, because their actions this morning will probably not have a significant effect on you either. Actually, it doesn't even matter what you're doing this morning. The actions themselves aren't important - they're not what's making the sun rise every morning and the moments pass from one to the next.
What's making our time pass and our world spin around is our being itself. Just that. Just this deep connection we all share with each other, just this force that created us and sustains us from one moment to the next. That's all we really are, when you reduce our actions to their most common point: we are who we are, we are as we are, we are such that we are.
(That kind of sounds like a mantra or something. I wonder if the ancient sages came up with mantras in this way.)
