The Interconnectedness of All Life

As we awaken to the freedom and happiness that is out true nature, an undeniable truth becomes clearer and clearer: we, as the consciousness that we most fundamentally are, are part of an indivisible whole.

I, in my essence, am exactly the same as you in your essence, in other words. This is the unifying spiritual truth underlying all the great religions. We are one. It is like the ocean and the wave analogy. It the depths of our being, we are all part of the one ocean of consciousness, yet in our individuality, our uniqueness, we are like the waves, appearing separate and different, yet still a part of, an expression of, the one ocean that we are.

In fact, in the truest sense, when we awaken to the consciousness that we are, we realize our oneness, our interconnection with all life, and with all living things. Even the tiniest bug or beetle is an expression, in bug or beetle form, of the same consciousness that is in you and me.

This realization of oneness leads to a greater sensitivity to all of life, and to everything in our environment. It is the ground of unconditional love. The freer we are, the less “self” or ego there is in us, and the fewer conditions we place on our love.

We realize that love, as the flowering and expression of the human heart, is an inherent part of our true nature. We enjoy sharing our love with people, animals, all of nature and we share it generously, with kindness, patience, and gratitude…

Forgiveness

Until you have forgiven everyone who may have hurt or wronged you, you cannot be free or happy. And the essence of forgiveness is letting go of your story of blame.

Why is it that until you forgive, you can’t be happy? Because so long as you’re holding onto a grudge or resentment against someone, you’re in your ego, your small “self.” Your ego is still the master in your world, still has control of you, and as we’ve seen, the ego’s game—in its worst manifestation—is one of judgment and condemnation, of “I’m right and you’re wrong.”

There can be no real freedom or personal happiness so long as the ego has dominance in your life. It is just a fact that has to be acknowledged. Yet your ego is still there, still an expression of “you,” but now it is more the servant of your true being.

As Ramakrishna, the Indian saint said: “The ego makes a very poor master, but a very good servant.” Your ego—the “I,” the “me”—serves you by setting good personal boundaries, organizing your personal wants and needs, and establishing goals and making plans.

Freedom and Happiness

Imagine a life free of mental conflict and emotional suffering, so that you can express your wisdom, love, and creative power without fear or limit. Here are two simple tools to achieve this, and eventually to make your realization permanent.

The first one is the practice. Read this short paragraph first and then do the practice… Close your eyes, breathe deeply and slowly, and then imagine, or visualize, empty space inside your head. Breathe into that space… Be the space… Relax into it, and let the feeling of pure emptiness linger for a few minutes…

Then open your eyes and notice how you feel…

The more you do this simple practice, the more you have the direct experience of your true, spacious nature. It renews you in body, mind, and spirit. You see everything with new eyes. Your intuition opens up, and you’re guided as to what to do next. It is quite amazing in its simplicity and power to connect you with the deep freedom and happiness inside you.

Why does it work so well? Because when you imagine empty space inside your head, the brain is flooded with alpha waves, the healing energy of the meditative state. Do this practice often, and you’ll find many physical problems healing themselves, in addition to the mental and emotional clarity and harmony you’ll experience.

But to really become one with the source of freedom and happiness inside you, you need more than this practice. You need to understand, and eventually embody, or live, the teaching, which is the second tool.

The teaching, fortunately, is also simple, though somewhat harder to live and to embody in daily life. This is because the conditioning to believe you are a “somebody”—a “person” with a psychological and emotional history—is deep-rooted. We get very identified, in other words, with the “story” of who we believe we are. But don’t worry. The more you do the practice, the more you naturally begin to realize the truth of the teaching…

The teaching is that while your thoughts are very powerful—after all, they have created everything human-made—they are not real. Not even your “I” and “me” thoughts are real. Why not? Because they, like the conflict and suffering they produce, come and go, but you, as an aware, conscious being—this alive presence, the empty space you are, the watcher of your thoughts—are still very much here. The more you realize this, the lighter, freer, and happier you feel.

Then self-centered thinking gradually falls away, because you realize that this “self” you’ve taken yourself to be is an illusion! It frees you up to use thought for the powerful, creative tool it is, and right action tends to flow naturally. As your freedom deepens, your heart opens and life becomes rich in beauty, love, and meaning. When you share your love—your caring presence—with others, miracles happen…

The practice and the teaching combine in an approach to awakening that is elegant, clear, and do-able by anyone. Practice imagining empty space inside your head, and grasp the teaching that you are not your thoughts, not even your “I” or “me” thoughts, and the simple truth of happiness will eventually be yours…

Freedom and the Ego

Relatively few people can actually liberate themselves from suffering by directly confronting and seeing the unreality of their own ego, their “I” or “me” thoughts. For most it is a gradual process, a gradual realization of: “Oh, I am not this thought that I believed I was all these years… and I am not this one, either…”

As you realize that you are not the story you have believed about yourself all these years—that you were telling yourself—you experience more freedom. After all, no matter how true the story once might have been, it’s now just a collection of ever-shifting and changing thoughts and concepts between your ears.

That freedom translates into a feeling of being more at peace, happier without any apparent cause. You are less troubled, less inward-looking. Your heart is more open, and you tend to look outwards, and focus your attention on the suffering of others.

Many are moved of us to want to help ease that suffering—which, as all spiritual traditions teach, is one of our true purposes for being here.