What keeps people from Oneness

 

My dear friends...

Each week here we seek to give you something in this Bulletin to think about, something that we hope might serve you as you continue your spiritual journey, and  inspire you as you face your daily life challenges.

This week I'd like to focus on the reason that humanity as a whole has not shifted to a theology of unity. The reason is that much of humanity has sincerely believed that this is not what God wants.

All talk of human beings being one with God and one with each other has been labeled fluffy, "new age," or out of touch with reality. Some have even called it apostasy. In the book What God Wants we are told that everything that humanity has been taught about God says that God is separate from humanity. God wants to be separate, because humanity in its present form is not worthy of unity with God. That is the teaching. That is the message.

God is Perfect and humanity is imperfect, and the Perfect cannot be united with the imperfect. This is an integral part of most human theologies.

So the imperfect must find a way to be Perfect. Yet that way cannot be found, because perfection is impossible to achieve in human form. Some religions even teach that humans are born in a state of imperfection, and so there is that problem going in. Other faiths say that humans may be born without blemish, but the task is to remain without blemish. All religions agree that on the journey of life there are temptations to which human beings fall prey. And so, perfection is pretty much out of reach for most.

Still, one must try. One must strive. And if one strives for perfection, God will reward that effort with a final act of Grace, rendering the imperfect Perfect Once Again. Then, reunion with God in heaven can be achieved.

This is another simplification, yet it comes very close to summarizing the doctrine of most religions.

And so, there appears to exist a dichotomy. God wants humans-indeed, has caused humans-to be separate from God. Yet God has given humans a "way back home" because What God Wants is for humans not to be separated from God.

Hmmmm.

Now the unaskable question must be asked.

IS this What God Wants?

And the answer is, no.

This answer changes everything. With it, the forward edge of human thought takes on new sharpness, and cutting through confusion becomes possible once again. 

God does not want Oneness, with humans or anything else. God ISOneness, and God does not want what God is already experiencing

Human beings claim they want Oneness with God and with other humans.  Yet humanity cannot experience what humanity already has if it denies that it has it.

This is the answer to another mystery: Why has it been so hard for the world's people to experience Oneness with God, or with each other?

You cannot experience what you are unwilling to express. You cannot get to where you already are. By the very act of leaving, you deny that you have arrived at where you want to go. Given this belief, you can never experience being there. Your life will become a constant journey. It will be a journey to nowhere. It will be an endless search. A search for what is already there.

Looking for your glasses when they are on top of your head, you'll not find what you are searching for. You'll only find what you are searching for when looking into a mirror.

So far, humanity has not been very good about looking into mirrors. Introspection is not humanitys long suit. Having read this far, you've proven yourself to be the exception.

Why have humans denied their Oneness? Because humans have confused oneness with sameness. We have not understood that no two fingers are alike, even though all are on one hand.

Afraid of losing individuality, desperately fearful of disappearing their own identity, human beings have tenaciously clung to their illusion of separation from each other, from all things in life, and from God. Especially from God. For if humanity is not separate from God, not only do people fear losing their individual identity, oneness with Deity suggests a whole new way of acting, a whole new way of being, for which religions have left humans woefully unprepared.

Yet it is not necessary to prepare yourself to love. Love is what you are, and so, loving comes naturally to you. Stopping yourself from loving is what is hard. Love of everyone and everything in life comes easily when fear of anyone or anything disappears. And fear of anyone or anything disappears when you realize that you don't need anything from anyone or anything, because everything you thought you needed to get from something or someone outside of yourself is available within you.

Now the circle completes itself, and you are Whole. Now, all that you find within you, you can give to others, who may not yet know that they are Whole as well.

Showing another that they are lovable is the fastest way to assist them in finding wholeness, in finding the love that is within themselves. When you love others you quite literally give people back to themselves.   

In the end, love and fear are the only feelings there are. Life brings you a constant stream of opportunities to choose between the two.

These words from What God Wants wake me up every time I read them. They tell me that there is still much work left to be done in our work.

love and hugs and

best wishes on your journey...

 

Neale.