Is oneness among the human family a sweet, mushy sentiment? Or is it a movement that can reshape how we think of ourselves and the planet? The observance of Global Oneness Day on Oct. 24 (http://www.global-oneness-day.org/ ) is an invitation to align our intentions in creating oneness. When our imagination and mindfulness are engaged, dramatic shifts in human consciousness are possible.
Oneness is not simply an idea; it is a choice about how to be human, engage with life and align our intentions and actions. It is an intentional, mindful way of being that joins us with others in creating a more hopeful, compassionate and peaceful world.
For the last six months I've traveled the country on a speaking tour, and I'm struck by the frequent questions around being more intentional about our interconnectedness. It's asked with a profound hunger for something beyond the rhetoric of political divisiveness and the arrogance of religions that teach an exclusivist theology.
If, as I believe, we are intended for oneness, then why is it not realized or more evident? In the questions of those I talk to on the road there is a tension between their head and heart space. In their heart they have permitted the seeds of division and fear sown by religious and political leaders to build a nest. In their intellectual space they know that modern science provides empirical data that supports ancient mystic traditions about the interrelatedness of all forms of human life.
The tension is whether to allow what we know to be true about our interconnectedness to be trumped by a more cramped and dislocated way of being.
Instead of being enclosed by jadedness, oneness creates awe and wonder about the world. When I am awake to appreciating that protecting the environment is indispensable to my well-being and that of others my awe at the wonder of this intricate ecosystem of life expands how I see my place in the world.
Instead of being fearful of difference, oneness allows me to be grounded in the truth that each person seeks happiness in their life. This shared yearning allows me to see beyond those who foment division by living a life of intentionally seeking a meeting ground on which happiness for all is sought by the acts we take and the words we use.
Instead of succumbing to the hate mongers, oneness is a choice to be grounded in compassion and love. With each choice I make to choose acts of love and compassion I am reminded that we are each hard wired for such a life. I want to work and allow for the magnificence of others; my own magnificence depends on it.
Instead of a cramped unimaginative view of others, oneness invites me to remember that I am made in the imagination of the universe, which is ever-expanding, ever-creating. I become awake to the truth that instead of stasis, our well-being and aliveness is intricately connected to honoring the imagination discovered in each other and creation.
Instead of rigidly clutching at one path of spiritual truth, oneness allows the tradition I am grounded in to be informed, enlivened, challenged and given new expansive life when I am open to the truth revealed in the spiritual tradition of others. The sacred existed long before any one religion, and spirituality then ceases to be a battleground for exclusion, giving way to a feast of wisdom and truth for all.
Oneness already exists in the interconnectedness of creation and the universe. Global Oneness Day is a wake up call to the human family to enter and celebrate it. It is an invitation to choose to be part of a shifting consciousness of our need for one another. How will you respond?
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