Hello!
Knowing a concept and explaining the concept are totally different activities. Take the concept “we are all One with the Universe/God/Source/All-That-Is,” for example.
My concept of “we are all One with Source” is so expansive that words can’t describe it. It’s best described with feelings – such as openness, freedom, interrelationships – but even words fail when attempting to describe feelings. How can I explain it to others? Instead of trying to explain the vastness, I’ll use a basic building block with which most of us are familiar.
This exercise to explain “we are all One” works best with several people standing or sitting in a circle, holding hands; but it also works with a single person sitting in a chair, with her/his hand on an object, such as the chair arm, a table, a pillow, or a pet who doesn’t mind being still for a while. Once you are in your chosen position:
- Close your eyes
- Take three slow, deep breaths through your diaphragm (also called breathing through your “stomach” or abdomen)
- Slowly shift your focus to one hand – either hand if you are holding hands in a circle, or the hand that is touching an object
- Take a few moments thinking about the hand as a part of you – as a representation of you in this exercise
- Shift your focus to the skin on your hand
- Notice the tactile sensation of touching the other person’s hand or the object
- Think of the color of your hand – what term, other than black or white, would you use to describe the color of the skin on your hand – beige, ecru, tan, brown, orange?
- Focus on the texture of your hand’s skin – pick a term that describes the texture – is it soft, smooth, rough, calloused, weathered, tender?
- Now, we are going deeper
- Focus on a small dime-sized area of your hand where it is touching the other person’s hand or the object
- Focus on the skin cells in that area – too many to count, but all working together to form a unified organ called the skin that envelops our physical bodies and has been used to define us as individuals
- Focus on a single skin cell in that area – consider how that single skin cell is both individual/separate/unique and part of the whole that constitutes our skin – one example of “we are all One”
- Now, we are going deeper still
- Focus within the skin cell and visualize the molecules that combine to form that skin cell – another example of unique parts forming the whole – “we are all One”
- Deeper, still
- Focus within one molecule and visualize the atoms that create that molecule
- Each atom, with its nucleus of protons and neutrons plus its electrons, is similar, yet unique
- Rather than going deeper, we will examine this one atom further
- Notice that the atom has no color and no texture
- Notice how the atom occupies an area defined by the orbits of its electrons, but no physical boundary is evident
- Notice how much space is between the nucleus and the electrons – find God/Source/All-That-Is within that space and within the nucleus and electrons
- Stay with that image of God/Source/All-That-Is within us
- Focus on other atoms in the vicinity of our target atom
- At this level, there is no distinction between the atom of your hand and the atom of another person’s hand or the atom of the object held by your hand – this is the concept “we are all One”
- Stay with that sense of Oneness – feel the expansion of your awareness – feel the connection to everything
- Perhaps remember this sensation of Oneness during meditations or as a grounding tool
- Be in no hurry to leave this feeling
- At your own pace, slowly return to your atom – then to your molecule – then to your skin cell
- Notice that the skin cell has started to introduce color, but not yet texture
- Notice the skin on the dime-sized area of your hand – more color is added, and texture is introduced
- Notice the skin on your hand – a definition of “you,” as distinct from “not you,” is introduced – boundaries between you and the other person’s hand or the object are established
- As you slowly return to your body, continue to feel the interconnectedness of everything – don’t lose yourself in your body – bring that peace and knowingness with you
- Take three slow, deep breaths to bring yourself and your knowledge back to this physical reality
- Slowly open your eyes
Know That We Are All One
Blessings,
Jo
