Spring 2012 :: Pink Dogwood by Lori Paquette
How Oneness Will Heal You
Oneness — the idea that all things and phenomena are essentially connected, and all apparent separation is an illusion — is more than just a philosophy to live by. The awareness of Oneness has powerful application in our lives.
Healing is a natural, organic outcome of the Oneness journey. I call it a journey because the experience and understanding of Oneness is a gradual process of discovery and insight.
I believe this journey begins with a single intimate realization: Stillness is at the center of all things. We can identify with it. We can connect to it. We can discover it in the world around us.
And even though I use the word “center”, what I really mean is “essence”. Stillness is our essential nature. You could also call it Consciousness, or Awareness, or Being. I like to call it Stillness, because that is my own personal experience of it. What we call it doesn’t really matter — it transcends language. What’s important is to experience it for yourself, which you can do through a very simple meditation.
Sit (or lie) in a comfortable position, ideally with your spine straight. Take several slow, deep breaths. As you slowly inhale, think “I Am”. As you slowly exhale, think “I Am Still”. Continue this for about 6 full breath cycles. By this time, you will find yourself in a state of deep relaxation. Become aware of the stillness in the very center of your being. A space where there are no words, concepts, thoughts, or things. Just stillness. Let your awareness rest there for awhile.
That’s it — Stillness is always near, just beyond the surface noise of the mind.
With the experience of Stillness, we can begin to recognize it in the world around us. In trees, cloud formations, in other beings — all of nature is rich with a living stillness that resonates very deeply within us. In this way, we begin to gain an intimate understanding of Oneness.
This is where we begin to realize that our healing is in our journey back to Oneness. Through our discovery of Oneness, deep shifts begin to occur in our thoughts and attitudes. It allows us to see the world in a radically different way.
And it all comes back to you — this is one of the most profound teachings that Oneness has to offer us. Everything in the world around you points back to you.
And what you do with that knowledge will define your experience of this life.
If all phenomena point back to you, that means your healing is in the reconciliation of these phenomena with yourself. I know, it’s pretty deep stuff. I know, it’s much easier said than done. But there is wisdom in this.
Let’s start a discussion about this. What questions do you have? What does make sense to you, what doesn’t make sense? Where are you getting stuck? Where are you experiencing victory?
I make myself available to you to talk about all of this, to assist you on your own journey of Oneness and healing.
Oneness — the idea that all things and phenomena are essentially connected, and all apparent separation is an illusion — is more than just a philosophy to live by. The awareness of Oneness has powerful application in our lives.
Healing is a natural, organic outcome of the Oneness journey. I call it a journey because the experience and understanding of Oneness is a gradual process of discovery and insight.
I believe this journey begins with a single intimate realization: Stillness is at the center of all things. We can identify with it. We can connect to it. We can discover it in the world around us.
And even though I use the word “center”, what I really mean is “essence”. Stillness is our essential nature. You could also call it Consciousness, or Awareness, or Being. I like to call it Stillness, because that is my own personal experience of it. What we call it doesn’t really matter — it transcends language. What’s important is to experience it for yourself, which you can do through a very simple meditation.
Sit (or lie) in a comfortable position, ideally with your spine straight. Take several slow, deep breaths. As you slowly inhale, think “I Am”. As you slowly exhale, think “I Am Still”. Continue this for about 6 full breath cycles. By this time, you will find yourself in a state of deep relaxation. Become aware of the stillness in the very center of your being. A space where there are no words, concepts, thoughts, or things. Just stillness. Let your awareness rest there for awhile.
That’s it — Stillness is always near, just beyond the surface noise of the mind.
With the experience of Stillness, we can begin to recognize it in the world around us. In trees, cloud formations, in other beings — all of nature is rich with a living stillness that resonates very deeply within us. In this way, we begin to gain an intimate understanding of Oneness.
This is where we begin to realize that our healing is in our journey back to Oneness. Through our discovery of Oneness, deep shifts begin to occur in our thoughts and attitudes. It allows us to see the world in a radically different way.
And it all comes back to you — this is one of the most profound teachings that Oneness has to offer us. Everything in the world around you points back to you.
And what you do with that knowledge will define your experience of this life.
If all phenomena point back to you, that means your healing is in the reconciliation of these phenomena with yourself. I know, it’s pretty deep stuff. I know, it’s much easier said than done. But there is wisdom in this.
Let’s start a discussion about this. What questions do you have? What does make sense to you, what doesn’t make sense? Where are you getting stuck? Where are you experiencing victory?
I make myself available to you to talk about all of this, to assist you on your own journey of Oneness and healing.
 | Daniel Collinsworth is a teacher and cloud watcher. He has a blog called Metta Drum where he shares insights on compassion, oneness, healing and freedom. You can connect with him on Facebook and Twitter. |
To read more of Daniel's posts here on Kind Over Matter click here!
26 comments:
This is exactly what I needed to hear today! Thank you!
Beautifully written. Oneness is all around and can be felt at any moment one chooses to engage in it. Remaining connected to such a blissful feeling can often prove challenging, but this is part of the journey back to wholeness. To be whole we must travel in a perpetual loop of awakening and different states of consciousness. It makes us fully appreciate the times we are experiencing a higher state of consciousness. Life is beautiful and full of love, and the possibility of enlightenment is always there for you. YES! We are all where we are meant to be :) Thank you for sharing. Peace and love to you all x x
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Frances. I offer that we are already whole — our journey is simply in gaining a deeper and deeper realization of our wholeness. There is no work to be done except to let go of superficial identities.
Life is beautiful and full of love. Yes.
Very cool, you are most welcome. Thank you.
Always love your messages and writing Daniel! You rock!
Thank you for this post. I feel like I've been struggling to get back to that sense of oneness and inter-connection for a very long time. For me, it seems I am often blocked by fear. I attribute that to having experienced trauma at a young age--it has permeated my life for a long time. Do you have any suggestions for moving past blocks like fear and finding it hard to trust? That is true even regarding myself.
Heya Em, thanks for sharing that. Everything you speak of here — the trauma you experienced as a child, the fear, the trust issues — these are all things we come to identify with. We believe that the trauma defines us, as well as the fear and all the other problems associated with it. Oneness shows us that there is a deeper You, underneath the layers of trauma and fear. This You is joy, freedom and wholeness. I have written a few posts on this topic that I think might be useful for you. Perhaps if you have time, you might like to check them out:
Letting go of what you are not:
http://www.mettadrum.com/2012/01/letting-go-of-what-you-are-not.html
Finding center in difficult times: http://www.mettadrum.com/2011/12/finding-center-in-difficult-times.html
The truth of loving yourself: http://www.mettadrum.com/2011/09/truth-of-loving-yourself.html
Please let me know if you have other questions, I'm happy to continue this conversation with you. Peace to you.
hi Daniel-
lovely meditation, & since You began with a picture of a tree, it is wonderful to expand on One~ness by knowing + feeling that the air we breathe is given to us by plants, trees... and we too give our breathe to them. A True Divine Connection.
Thanks Kim :)
Mmmm... yes... beautiful observation there. Thank you, Kara.
Daniel, I love your articles. You write so articulately and beautifully and gently.
When you say "If all phenomena point back to you, that means your healing is in the reconciliation of these phenomena with yourself", do you mean that everything we encounter in the world is a reflection of ourselves and in that way points back to us? And therefore healing comes from reconciling these reflections with ourselves? Matching our outsides with our insides as it were?
I really enjoyed this. Thank you for the tip on stillness meditation. I will put it into practice tonight. I can always use a little more help getting connected :)
Heya Leanne. You got it! How we perceive the world is simply a reflection of what's going on inside of us. We can spend our lives resisting those lessons that are being offered to us in the forms of events, circumstances and relationships, or we can reconcile them with the roots in us that they are resonating (however negatively) with. That's where we find growth, healing and freedom. Doesn't come easily, but what a consciousness-raising habit, to find ourselves in the world around us. You hit the nail on the head.
Excellent! I've also found that meditation to be very helpful when feeling anxious, depressed, overwhelmed, any negative emotion, really.
Hi, Daniel --
This was a wonderful, peaceful, inspiring article. I've been working with an I Am meditation lately, but it's not as simple as this, and I hadn't thought to include stillness as one of my "I Am"s. I'm going to give this one a try!
As I read many, many blogs and books pointing to Oneness, I'll admit I sometimes get a little frustrated that I haven't truly felt it. I feel like I UNDERSTAND it, but haven't really experienced it.
It's so clear to me when I read something by someone who has been touched by this. And I understand that the frustration and the wanting of it serves to keep me from it. The ultimate paradox!
Michael Neill says "Just keep showing up for the conversation," and I do. Do you have any other advice to help connect? Again, I know it's not something I can "do," but something I just need to allow. What are the best ways you know of for someone to get out of their own way and let it touch them?
Lynn, I'll share my first experience of Oneness with ya. I was watching a tree, the branches swaying softly in the breeze. I let go of all labels of "treeness" and just let the tree exist as this phenomenon. I felt a very deep sense of peace and stillness, as the tree branches swayed softly. This stillness permeated my awareness as something very alive, very aware. It was the same stillness I've felt during deep meditation. In this moment, the tree and I were one — connected by our common stillness, the same essential nature. I felt it in a very deep place within me, beyond my thoughts or emotions.
Trees are amazing teachers.
BY stillness, do you mean silence?
Good question... I don't mean silence in the sense of no sound. The stillness I speak of is a kind of quiet, peaceful aliveness that cannot be defined or even properly described with words or concepts. It is who You are after you strip away the labels, names, concepts, past and future... the conscious awareness beyond all that. I call it Stillness, sometimes I call it Being, or Source. All names for the same thing, which transcends names.
That sounds lovely, Daniel. I have "tried" to see things without labels, but clearly that's not the same as letting the labels go. Thanks for sharing your experience. I will keep showing up for the conversation!
So strange, I just wrote this on my facebook 6 hours ago, so I'm just quoting it now. Although, I made a joke of it at the end."I am you. You are me. What I do to you, I do to myself. These words, I've always known, but I know them now in a grander scale. I never really try to put them into practice before because there were always an inkling of separation I felt do to some sort of sadness, or anger issues I have for the past, or for things that happened to me, or for people who have hurt me in some way. But I realize now that the past needs to be let go and forgiven. I knew the meaning. But I never really knew it in my heart or felt it's implications. So here's to a new beginning! I'm going to start over with new eyes as if I had stepped into a new room which I have created in my own mind. I will decorate this room with love, and bright, beautiful things.... etc.."It is difficult to let go, but little steps...
I had the same experience. It was fleeting, but I remember very clearly seeing the trees move and feeling so much a part of it. It's hard to describe but it was wonderful. Afterward I remember looking in a mirror and it's like I saw the inner me. My reflection looked like me, but with a peace and beauty I never saw before. Again, hard to explain. But it was an amazing experience.
When I meditate, my mantra is: I'm listening, I'm trusting, all is well, thank you God.
Wonderful article!
Try gratitude, Em. It's very powerful.
In my experience, everyone is a mirror or a teacher.
Absolutely!
Lynn I'd like to clarify that this feeling isn't a booming sensation, there are no fireworks or spiritual explosions, lol. It is a very subtle feeling. It is simply the experiential realization that there are no true separations, all things/beings have the same essential conscious nature. It is a very gentle and feather-like experience.
If you've ever gone outside on a warm sunny day, and felt that feeling of "rightness", where everything just seemed perfectly in place, that feeling of joy arising within you — this is nearly the same thing. You are allowing what is to simply be, without judging, and it all feels perfect and resonant.
Beautiful.
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