Possibilities of Oneness

Tags

diversity, duality, oneness, unity

In our a world that seems to be increasingly fragmented by the day, if not the hour, the notion of oneness may seem anachronistic and out of place. One may even question the relevance, the practical importance of the idea of oneness in today’s world. In addition, one may wonder – how are we to experience oneness with our fellow beings, or even with nature in our busy lives?

Let us try and first address the notion that oneness does not belong to our current time and space. What is oneness and what does it mean to us? If we can answer that question, we can then discern its location in time and space. Is it a senses of unity, of common ground with our fellow beings? Is it a desire to live in harmony with nature? Is it an acceptance of the principle that we all share certain unifying traits despite our widely varying differences? If so, what may some of these traits and principles be?

Let us now look at the relevance, the practical importance of oneness. Oneness is not to be construed as homogeneity of thought, word or action. Oneness that promotes unity of purpose, say on a team of diverse talents, is indeed relevant to the success of a team or community. In times of conflict, the ‘common-goal’ idea of oneness can be useful to quickly defuse egos and refocus our energies. Can you think of instances in your life where oneness served a practical purpose?

The third question is about experiencing oneness in our lives. Once we have had a personal experience of oneness with our fellow beings, with nature, or with divine energy, it is easier to integrate it into our lives. Personal experience turns oneness from an esoteric notion into something tangible. So, how may we have this personal experience? The Indian sage Patanjali offers us three practices that may help.

1. To be happy in their happiness
2. To be empathetic in their suffering
3. To be friendly in response to their friendliness

If we can practice any or all of the above, we open ourselves to personal experiences of oneness. The three practices seem fairly straightforward and easy to practice. However, they may not be easy to integrate into our interactions with our ‘enemies’ or those whom we strongly disagree with. How can we experience oneness with them, or can we? How will our world of possibilities expand if we were to find a thread of oneness with our greatest opponents?

I invite you to consider the three broad themes of oneness and some of the practices suggested above. How different would our lives be if we were to have a daily persoanl experience with oneness? Imagine the possibilities!

Kumud (@AjmaniK on twitter)

P.S. Join us in #SpiritChat on twitter – Sunday October 1st at 9amET/1pmUTC. We will gather to talk about the “possibilites of oneness” and what makes oneness possbile. Namaste.

The Spirit of Oneness

Tags

faith, infinite, joy, love, oneness

In his “Sadhana : The Realisation of Life”, poet, writer, nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore eloquently says..

“Within us we have a hope which always walks in front of our present narrow experience; it is the undying faith in the infinite in us; it will never accept any of our disabilities as a permanent fact; it sets no limit to its own scope; it dares to assert that man has oneness with God; and its wild dreams become true every day.”

-Rabindranath Tagore

As I read and re-read the above paragraph, so many concepts and ideas seem to speak to me. The idea of hope. The idea of undying faith. The idea that the infinite within us will never accept any of our disabilities as permanent. The idea that we, our spirit, our faith, sets no limit to its own scope. And, in a final, glorious pronouncement, Tagore concludes that we, our spirit, dares to assert our Oneness with God… and it is in this assertion, that our wild dreams become true every day. 

So inspiring, isn’t it? This idea, which is more than a mere idea – for when we meditate on it, believe in it, experience it, practice it, imbibe it into our everyday lives – it becomes a living, breathing thing. This idea of Oneness. This idea that is more than a dream – it is a reality. The reality is that there is more in common among us, among me and my fellow humans, among me and the billions of people that you and I have never met – or will ever meet. Yes, there is more than unites us than divides us. 

The Oneness that permeates us is perhaps what brings a smile to the baby’s lips as they sleep. The Oneness that permeates us is perhaps what gently closes our eyes, and takes us to lands of peaceful rest, and wakes us up gently when it is time to awaken. The Oneness that permeates us opens our heart to joy, to compassion, to service, to empathy, to sympathy, and above all, to Love. 

Even science is waking up to the realisation that it is Oneness that can tie the strings of all scientific theories together. In fact, Tagore had written further on in the same essay…

“Through our progress in science the wholeness of the world and our oneness with it is becoming clearer to our mind. When this perception of the perfection of unity is not merely intellectual, when it opens out our whole being into a luminous consciousness of the all, then it becomes a radiant joy, an overspreading love.”

-Rabindranath Tagore

Our intuition tells us that Science and Spirituality are not separate – it is a matter of perception and manifestation that they may appear to be separate – but, indeed they are tied together with Oneness. Science may look for the so-called “God particle” – and some may claim that it has already been found – but it is merely a matter of when and not if the final confluence will be confirmed by Science. We are not going to wait for Science to confirm this Oneness – are we?! Tagore encourages us – to go beyond Science, through science and the merely intellectual – to open our whole being into a luminous consciousness…

So, I invite you – those of you who have read this far, to join me and the #SpiritChat community in a twitter chat on Sunday April 27th 2014 at 9amEDT in a discovery, a celebration, an experience of radiant joy, an expression of overspreading love – of Oneness. 

Namaste,

Kumud

P.S. The entire text of the essay is available for free at ibooks: Rabindranath Tagore. “Sadhana : the realisation of life.”

P.P.S. The word sadhana is translated as “that which is attained or accomplished by devoted practice ; the act of practice"

//storify.com/ajmanik/spirit-of-oneness-spiritchat-summary/embed?border=false//storify.com/ajmanik/spirit-of-oneness-spiritchat-summary.js?border=false[View the story “Spirit of Oneness – #SpiritChat Summary” on Storify]

SpiritChat – On Slowing Down (Again)

Tags

discipline, freedom, oneness, prosperity, unity

As the month of July comes to a close and I look over the discussions over the past four Sundays, we seem to have covered a wide range of topics – freedom, prosperity, self-discipline and oneness (unity). For those of you who have been with the #SpiritChat community for more than a month, you know that the final Sunday of the month is when we “slow down” a bit. We “slow down” to review the month gone by, and try to tie together the threads of conversations from our weekly Sunday chats. We “slow down” to reflect, and plan our actions for the new month coming ahead.

So, this final Sunday of July will be not be much different. We will “slow down” to reflect on July, plan for August. We will reflect on the connections between freedom and prosperity. We will talk about the role of self-discipline in creating prosperity. We may also talk about freedom and the spirit of Oneness and unity. Above all, we will gather for an hour and say hello, listen to each other’s heart and spirit, build on our friendships and relationships.

For that is what #SpiritChat is all about. The camaraderie. The Alohas. The Mahalos. The Namastes. The Smiles. The “hello, how was your week”. The “it’s great to see you”. The “oh, it’s so wonderful to hear that”. The “enjoy your Sunday”. The “have a great week ahead”. It is about the knowing that there are real people, from across the world, with diverse social and ethnic backgrounds, different beliefs and religions – who can gather in a space and have a meaningful conversation about any spiritual topic.

It is the spirit of connection, with heart and spirit.

Perhaps that is why, as we complete our first year and I look back to July 31st 2011, the date of the first weekly #SpiritChat – it is perhaps appropriate that the topic was – “On Slowing Down”. I want to take the opportunity and express my gratitude to every single person who has slowed down to support #SpiritChat over the past year – you all know who you are. I hope that you have made some new friends and grown in spirit with all of us. I know for sure that I have gained tremendously in many areas of my life – so, I thank you all.

Join us in our weekly twitter chat (with hashtag #SpiritChat) at our regular hour of 9am ET on Sunday July 29th and share your thoughts about July, and plans for August. I invite you to come and “slow down” with us. Namahalo!

Kumud

The Spirit of Oneness

Tags

oneness, spirit, spiritchat, unity

In the last week of July of 2011, when I started the twitter chat with the hashtag #SpiritChat with the encouragement of a few good friends, the objective was to have a discussion of spirituality – beyond religion. The response of folks on twitter over the past year has been humbling, and ample proof that spirituality does go beyond religion. One reason for the response from the community is that, in fact, spirituality is based on oneness, and unity of our fundamental core values.

We may all look different and have varied backgrounds, follow different vocations and avocations and so on – but there is a thread of oneness, of unity, that binds us all together. In India (the country of my birth and where a grew up), one of the motto’s is – Unity in Diversity. I think the leaders came up with that motto to keep the fabric of the country, which has tremendous diversity (twenty-two official languages recognized in the constitution!), together in Unity.

I learnt a tremendous lesson about unity in diversity from my maternal grandmother when I was in fifth or sixth grade. I was visiting her and she must have gotten wind that I was having trouble getting along with a few folks at school. She invited me into her private kitchen (where you could only enter by invitation), sat me down and fed me one of my favorite parathas (flaky flat bread made on a griddle) stuffed with brown sugar and drizzled with ghee (clarified butter). Then, she raised up her hand, showed me her five sinewy fingers and asked – “do you see these five fingers? Do any of them look alike to you?”. I said, “no beejio” (term of respect for grandmother in India). She continued – “so which of these fingers, although they are all different, is not important? which one would of your fingers would you be willing to lose? You see, people are like that too. They may be different, but they are all important, have something in common”.

Needless to say, I still remember that “lesson” in unity, in oneness. I was reminded of this lesson recently due to the #leadfromwithin chat on “diversity”. And it brought questions with it. Is oneness really possible (the Higgs-Boson discovery notwithstanding) in the diverse world of today? If so, how? In what areas is oneness desirable? Does oneness have any disadvantages?

Joy is the realization of oneness, the oneness of our soul with the world and of the world-soul with the supreme love. – Rabindranath Tagore in The Soul: An Archeology

I am sure you have some views on oneness, on unity that you would like to share with the #SpiritChat community on twitter. So, I invite you to join us at our regular hour of 9am ET on Sunday July 22nd and share your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you…

Kumud

Update: Transcript link: http://bit.ly/sc-tr-0722 and questions asked during the live twitter chat –

Q1. What does the phrase "Spirit of Oneness" mean to you? Is it just an idea? Or more...  #SpiritChat 

Q2. What are some factors that disrupt Oneness - in our mind and spirit? How do we work with them? #SpiritChat 

Q3. What we can we learn from (internal and/or external) nature about Oneness? #SpiritChat 

Q4. With so much diversity in the world, is Oneness even possible or desirable? How? #SpiritChat

Q5. What is the connection between Oneness and inner peace? #SpiritChat 

Q6. How does the idea of Oneness of spirit get transformed into action/practice in the "real" world? #SpiritChat 

Takeaway. Q7. What are some ways that we can create more Oneness, harmony, unity online and offline? #SpiritChat