Excerpt from the new book:
The spirit of We is a field of caring and appreciation for everyone and everything. It’s a living experience of the heart’s largesse. What follows quite naturally from becoming conscious of this field is generosity. We readily share our caring and our resources.
In any situation, simply by observing the situation, the energy is brought from background to foreground. As we examine it closely and allow ourselves to be immersed in the awareness we gain, it ceases to be something separate from us. Instead of seeing it as a problem that’s outside of ourselves, having little or nothing to do with us, we awaken to the real situation, which is that we are responsible to gather information about it. This is true whether we are talking about poverty, homophobia, sexism, racism, inequality, or exploitation. We can no longer externalize these as “someone else’s problem.”
Every problem reveals its solution when we understand its dynamics. A way into it is to begin to notice the energy pattern that develops as we gather information. Pattern awareness reveals the “what” and the “how” of the issue. We see where the roots of our separation lie, such as feelings of fear, guilt, or resentment.
Consider homelessness. Do you feel mistrust and resentment when a person claiming to be homeless asks you for alms on the street? Do you flip to another channel when the local news runs a story about homelessness in your community? Or does something stir in you that causes you to want to find out how you might be contributing to the problem of homelessness?
As we allow ourselves to experience our feelings about homelessness without either being attached to them or critiquing them, we discover where they come from. Maybe we have concerns about becoming destitute ourselves. Perhaps we’re afraid of being abandoned or even of dying. Awe willing to move beyond our personal fears in order to help others? What would be the consequence of being more proactive?
We can’t always know what the outcome of reaching out to someone will be. If we want to help a homeless person who is addicted to drugs, giving money might help, while it might also enable further drug use and make the person’s addiction even worse. In some cases it’s wisest to accept the facts of a situation and have realistic expectations of what one can do to affect it in a positive way. Everyone is an individual and will respond in their own unique way, which is something over which we have no control.
The real question is, when everything belongs with equal entitlement to the one, how can homelessness even exist? If you begin to explore this conundrum, it will lead you to the reality that the split in our social system is a reflection of the split between our true being and the false sense of self we derive from our ego.
Imagine a cone shape with a circular top that narrows at the bottom to a single point. At the top we start out as humans with great variety. We have different genders, different physical and mental abilities, different ages, different ethnicities. We come from different cultures, experience socio-economic differences and different religious or metaphysical beliefs, have different interests, and pursue different professions. The whole human hodgepodge in all its glorious diversity is represented by the circular top of the cone.
As we gain understanding, we spiral down the cone toward realization of our oneness. Our differences become less important as understanding pares us down to our essential qualities. When we reach the bottom, we experience and comprehend our oneness. From this singularity another cone opens in reverse, as the single point widens into a circular ring again.
In such a process of reciprocal vibrancy, our personal development becomes the basis for helping the world and vice versa. This is how coming together in community broadens and deepens our spiritual experience. It may have seemed like an individual journey, but approaching and finally expressing this unity in a global community of consciousness brings the realization of the spirit of We.
