Contemplating Unity at the River
I go down to the river very briefly, because it is just too cold to stay there very long...I am amazed that the river is totally frozen over - it is a wide sheet of white - and even the rocks are under the ice! I tread carefully around the edge of the riverbanks listening to the ice crack here and there underneath the pressure of my steps.
I survey the broad expanse before me and it seems to me that the very waves of the river were frozen in the flash of one moment - so that it looks both active and still at the same time - almost like a meditation in motion...
I wonder about the fish and the turtles - and where they might be and what they do in this kind of weather...
I contemplate unity and recall how I told my students today, that we are truly all one, and that our practice and chanting serve as reminders of this reality. And yet at times, I really feel so far away from being able to embody this unity personally - there seem to be so many moments when experiences of distance and separation take up residence within and become more of the norm. I reflect on insights and quotes from a recent Inner Journey Newsletter which focused on contemplating unity:
"Watch for those times when you perceive yourself to be separate from the rest of the world. When you find yourself feeling uncomfortable, threatened or isolated, remember Neale Donald Walsch's words: 'There's only one of us in this room.'
When we perceive differences in thinking and behaving, we might remember that these are merely different expressions of the one universal life force. We can release judgment as to whether those differences are right or wrong or good or bad. We can drop the labels that divide the world into pieces, and simply appreciate the rich variety of ways that energy can manifest as form."
I survey the broad expanse before me and it seems to me that the very waves of the river were frozen in the flash of one moment - so that it looks both active and still at the same time - almost like a meditation in motion...
I wonder about the fish and the turtles - and where they might be and what they do in this kind of weather...
I contemplate unity and recall how I told my students today, that we are truly all one, and that our practice and chanting serve as reminders of this reality. And yet at times, I really feel so far away from being able to embody this unity personally - there seem to be so many moments when experiences of distance and separation take up residence within and become more of the norm. I reflect on insights and quotes from a recent Inner Journey Newsletter which focused on contemplating unity:
"Poverty is in separatism. Abundance is in unity."
- Torkom Saraydarian
- Torkom Saraydarian
"Watch for those times when you perceive yourself to be separate from the rest of the world. When you find yourself feeling uncomfortable, threatened or isolated, remember Neale Donald Walsch's words: 'There's only one of us in this room.'
When we perceive differences in thinking and behaving, we might remember that these are merely different expressions of the one universal life force. We can release judgment as to whether those differences are right or wrong or good or bad. We can drop the labels that divide the world into pieces, and simply appreciate the rich variety of ways that energy can manifest as form."
"If we are to achieve a rich culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place."
- Margaret Mead
- Margaret Mead
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