Hey, That’s Me!

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “we are all one” and have been encouraged to dissolve the ego’s separation of yourself from others. The spiritual idea is that we are all so connected that we are all basically the same; that part of us is even contained in those about whom we have have strong,  pejorative opinions. I\’m sure there must even be evidence of this in quantum physics. However, I personally have a have hard time bringing this intellectual understanding into my daily reality. For one thing, people look different than I do. That\’s the first thing. Then, they act quite differently from me sometimes. How can we all be alike? There is so much evidence to the contrary.

As I keep doing my personal work, removing the obstacles in my own joy and happiness, the awareness of my inner world has simultaneously exposed my deep similarity to others. In reflection, I now see our similarities much more clearly.  As Tim Freke demonstrates in his short book, Lucid Living, awareness automatically leads to compassion. When I am calm and centered, in moments of reflection, I completely comprehend this. However, out in the every day world, it\’s been harder. What I needed was a practice I could use daily that could bring me quickly to this understanding; that would quickly engender the kind of deep empathy that clarifies oneness.

I decided to realize the “me” in as many people daily as I could: Short, tall, fat, angry, ugly, beautiful, it doesn’t matter. The body is just a wonderful and extraordinary blob of protoplasm carrying our soul around. I look at a person, and whether there are psychological, emotional, or physical differences,  I think: “Hey, that’s me in a different guise.” And, in some mystical way, it becomes true.