On Life’s Diverse Colors

Tags

celebration, colors, diversity, spirituality, unity

As I walk outside on to the deck just after sunrise, I am greeted by a symphony of sounds and colors that are unmistakably spring. The blue hues of the lake shimmering reflections of the sky remind me of the much more expansive palette of the skies and waters of the Caribbean at sunrise on any given morning.

The greens of new buds on plants and the tiniest of leaves on trees in the forest encourage the grasses that are meandering their way back to life. There aren’t many reds or oranges or yellows or such yet, but I am sure that that palette will appear later during the sunset hour. I muse over my cup of tea…

What would our lives look like without the existence of color, or our ability to discern the beauty that the myriad colors of people’s experiences add to our lives? If our true wealth is the sum total of our shared experiences, then would we not be paupers without having experienced a multitude of hues of faiths, beliefs, cultures and such? Why is it then that…

There are so many who continue to insist that it is their color, their truth, their experience, their waters, their way of life, their spiritual practices, their books, their philosophy, their mythology, their culture and such that is superior and deserving of domination — and that all else must go.

It is like me trying to color the world around me with “my favorite color”. Or, perhaps it is like a color-blind person (yes, that’s me in real life) saying that a particular color doesn’t exist or cannot possibly exist or has no value because I literally cannot see it. Imagine if the extent of our universe was limited to our senses and their perception – would we not be living in denial of a large part of our human experience? I perhaps digress…

On this full moon of March, a weekend that marks the “festival of colors” or Holi in India, my heart asks more questions. What is the color of the falling rain or the dew drop or the tear in a mother’s eye? What is the color of the breeze that awakens the buds in spring? What is the color of the heat that warms the earth and causes the roots to stir to life? What is the color of love or fear or hate or joy or awakening? I don’t really know…

I do know that it is perhaps in embracing all our transitions through the experiences of all the myriad colors of our life, that we can prepare ourselves for the experiences which are colorless, formless, infinite and permanent. It is a form of Yoga. If we were to deny or negate the diversity of color in our world, how would we ever arrive at unity, let alone experience Oneness in our heart?

So, bring on Holi, I say, with all of its vigor of color, joy and celebration of all of humanity. Let there be color everywhere through light, so that its source can infuse love for all in our hearts.

Kumud

P. S. Join us to celebrate and share the colors of your life in our weekly chat – Sunday, March 28 at 9amET in #SpiritChat on Twitter. Namaste – @AjmaniK

What colors can your eye see in Spring?

Spirituality, unity and union

Tags

celebration, fathers, solstice, spirituality, union, unity, yoga

The longer I wait to write this post on Saturday morning, the shorter the shadows get in the back of the house which faces west. The Sun, slowly ascending towards its peaking of the day, on this day when daylight reach its ascendancy over darkness in the northern hemisphere, I contemplate union and unity.

A tiny baby dragonfly in resplendent blue with translucent wings lands in the center of the rainbow colored hula hoop encrusted with silvery highlights lying on the floor of the deck. An orange winged blackbird lands on the wrought iron post holding the bird feeder, squawks loudly as it departs without partaking, as if to say that I need to fill it again. The two boys on their swings across the lake have been going back and forth for the past half hour, unassisted, as they have surely mastered their art of Joy. The lake glistens and ripples as it often does in the harmony of the slight breeze and the low angle of the Sun’s light from the East. My cup of tea is empty but I am too enamored by it all to move off of the deck, lest I miss something vital.

Where was I? Ah, yes. Union and Unity. In the 5th century BC, the Indian sage Patanjali, compiled a treatise called The Yoga Sutras. It is said to be the collation of the knowledge and practices of the lives of the practitioners of Yoga of the time. Patanjali wrote about Yoga as a thread of aphorisms explaining the relationship between the natural world, the inner spirit of humans, and the unity between them.

The practice of Yoga can be simply described as any practice which leads to union between the external and the internal. Yoga is the manifestation of the unity that we often intrinsically seek in the paradox of living in the transient external world while seeking the permanent within.

Swami Vivekananda describes this striving for union in the form of four paths of Yoga, all emerging from One as we move outward on them, and then converging into One as we return home. These four paths are the path of work and action, the path of knowledge, the path of devotion and the royal path of meditation. Why do we need four paths? Why not just one?

Perhaps because all humans, like the colors of the rainbow, have different propensities and inclinations that they bring into their physical existence. So, the offering of four distinct and yet non-exclusive and equal paths of Yoga, invites the practitioners of love to practice love in the way that they may be most attracted towards in their current state of life. Very often, a human may practice all four paths simultaneously, with different levels of intensity at different times of the day and night.

The Yoga of action may dominate during the day, knowledge path may prevail during reading or observing nature, devotion may take over during prayer, meditation may subsume one at dawn or dusk or other times. Yes, we are all practitioners of multiple paths, whether we are aware or conscious of the particular path, or even the goal, for that matter.

And the goal? One goal is to manifest the unity of the four paths into the realization that our true state is where the states of permanence, knowledge, and bliss, unite us in our union with the One.

A sense of unity often precedes Union. However, we know that unity cannot be decreed by a constitution or any number of bills of rights or legislatures or courts or executives and their orders. It is just like a rainbow cannot be decreed to appear or be perceived — the sun and the rain drops and a number of other conditions have to come together to create it with harmony. The rainbow appears when human nature recognizes that the union of colors, while maintaining their independence and their right to individually exist as equals, can only enhance the beauty of the world for all who set their eyes upon such a union.

How does union and unity manifest? We can observe union in father-children relationships, in a bride and groom’s joyfulness on their wedding day, in a decision to be aware of and celebrate all the physical light steaming upon us during summer solstice. Perhaps the greatest manifestation of unity and union is in an individual’s decision to work towards their union with the divine through the path of Yoga of their choice.

To be friendly towards those friendly towards us, to be joyous for them in their joy, to be empathetic towards those suffering, and to be indifferent without attitude towards those with evil intent – these four practices of maitri, mudita, karuna and upeksha – are considered to central to Patanjali’s definition of Yoga.

As I finish writing this, a baby sparrow has arrived on the deck and is loudly tweeting in a sliver of shade by the bird feeder. It is as if she’s asking me to get off the couch stat and do my Dad Yoga of re-filling the feeder. Such is the life of a householder- to stay unified in the heart while performing the actions related to the feeding of the world around me.

Now where did I put away that 50 pound bag of bird seed anyway?

Kumud

P.S. Join me and the #SpiritChat community in our weekly twitter gathering on Sunday, June 21 at 9amET/ 630pm India. We will integrate Fathers Day (US), International Day of Yoga, Summer Solstice and the kickoff of four days of online and offline events for my niece’s wedding in India… Namaste – @AjmaniK

Spiritual Acts of Solidarity

Tags

covid19, solidariy, solitude, spring, unity

At the end of my mid-afternoon walk through the local bird reservation, something remarkable happened. As I headed back to the trail that would lead me back, a wave of sound emanated from the forest — a wave the could be heard but not seen. It was if a million birds were raising the banner of spring in unison. I turned to my daughter and asked — is it just me or do you hear that too?

Later in the evening, in the golden hour after sunset, I could still hear them. As I sat on the front porch, watching some brilliant colors of light up the fringe an unusually dark and wide storm front, they were “filling the sky with songs”. I don’t know the reason (yet) for their behavior, for their beautiful act of solidarity. I do know that it brought a tremendous sense of joy and peace to me. In their unified wave of action, it seemed like the birds were affirming the recent actions of solidarity being taken by many families, communities, cities, states, and countries. 

If we are willing to listen to it and learn from it, Nature and her beings have many messages and lessons for us. Nature’s  latest message seems to be that our long-term viability as a human race depends on our ability to be present to each other, even when we are physically apart. Nature’s latest lesson seems to be that our health – spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, financial – is only as good as the health of some of the most vulnerable among us. 

We cannot ignore the wave of sound coming from the forest any more than we can ignore the voice of our elderly neighbors, the immune-compromise, or our healthcare workers. Every time we wash our hands, maintain adequate social distance, self-isolate if we feel sick, use our supplies frugally and buy only what we absolutely need, we are committing to an act of solidarity. Every human action of solidarity adds to the wave of sound of hope, caring and empathy that emanates from our human forest. 

What acts of spiritual solidarity can we perform as individuals and as a community? Over the past week, I have had a few phone conversations, and many online chats with folks to listen, learn and discern. As a result, the first action is that we  have started a new daily effort of getting together every evening (930pm EDT) and participate in a ‘group meditation’. I will be posting daily reminders in #SpiritChat, but no online ‘check-in’ is necessary. The intent is to ‘pause in place’, wherever we may be, and bring peace to our body, mind and heart, with our peace-evoking action of choice that works best for us. Let us hum (or listen) to our favorite prayer or mantra, read a piece of spiritual or inspirational literature or scripture, or anything else that we may consider to be a spiritual action of solidarity. 

I am also (re)starting our Zoom (video chat) meetings on a weekly basis. Our first attempt will be on Wednesday, March 25 at Noon ET (link to join the meeting will be posted on FB and twitter). These meetings will serve as quick ‘check ins’ on each other, and allow us to find opportunities to help out where we can. By keeping them to 30 minutes or less, we may be able to do them more frequently, if necessary.

So, it’s your turn to step up and let us know – what other actions of solidarity can we perform at this time in our history? What resources can you offer or share that could be helpful? We have been gathering online and supporting each other through weekly sharing for a quite a while. We have the experience, the willingness and the wisdom to create a viable, dynamic, empathic, sustainable response to this great challenge that faces us.

Every one of our voices counts. Every action of solidarity counts. Let us speak and act in solidarity so that we can evoke a wave of spring for the benefit of all. 

Kumud

Resources: Meditation Made Simple  and a Free Meditation App (by @heartful_ness)

P.S. Join us for our weekly chat, Sunday March 22 at 9am ET / 8am CT / 6am PT / 630pm India – we will gather and share in an act of solidarity. Namaste, and with deep gratitude – @AjmaniK

A turtle in the middle of the walking path… teaching me to slow down… (March 20, 2020)

Spiritual Integration

Tags

integration, spirituality, unity

Spiritual Integration for #SpiritChat by Christy Johnson

 

Dictionary.com defines integration as an act or instance of combining into an integral whole. In Latin the word integer means untouched, meaning an undivided and whole number.

 

Each of us comes into life as a whole being, yet we may forget our inherent wholeness as we traverse our imperfect way through life interacting with other flawed, yet paradoxically whole, humans. Spiritual integration balances our human imperfection with our divine perfection.

 

To heal the internal split and integrate, we must learn to accept of all parts of ourselves, including any aspects we’d prefer to keep secret, especially any aspect that is violent or unforgiving in thought, word, or deed. This requires self-awareness, courage, and persistence.

 

The turbulence and violence in the world calls for integration of both our collective and personal shadows. As Carl Jung wrote in Modern Man in Search of a Soul, “How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to be whole.” 

 

Unintegrated shadows may manifest as judgment or can extend further to discriminatory or even violent acts. To integrate our own shadows, we need to acknowledge all humans have the potential for darkness rather than deny that aspect of humanity in general and ourselves in particular. Being aware of our shared human frailties while consciously choosing not to be driven by them reflects our spiritual integration.

 

How do we make peace with our own shadow? How do we shine light on humanity’s collective shadow to support integration? 

 

Please join us as we explore how we might help ourselves and the rest of humanity heal the collective trauma of unintegrated shadows. Let’s shine a compassionate light on darkness and brainstorm about how to create a healthier, less shadow-driven, more integrated future for mankind.

 

Dr. Christy Johnson quit her decades-long engineering career in 2010 to open her integrative energy healing practice. She helps clients grow, evolve, and get empowered via soul level information and energy healing. You can connect with her via her website www.intuitiveheal.com or on Twitter @IntuitiveHeal .

P. S. Join our special guest host Dr Christy Johnson as she steps up to host our weekly twitter chat (Sunday Aug 25 at 9amET in #spiritchat) on this wonderful topic. Thank you – Kumud

 

On Seeding Friendships

Tags

celebration, creativity, energy, friendship, unity

At 5pm on Friday evening, a dozen or so folks gathered online in a multi-dimensional meeting which included sound, video, and much laughter. Lots of laughter. Many ideas were exchanged about how to best use such meetings in the future. But this first meeting was primarily about getting to know each other a bit better through the spoken word, through smiles and favorite quotes and prayers. It was about planting new seeds of friendship and growing the friendships that have formed through #SpiritChat over the years.

The Sanskrit word for ‘friendship’ is maitri. It is also referred to as <a href=”https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mettā“>Mettā</a> in the Pali language. How and where does a friendship first come to life? There is usually some common ground necessary for two (or more) people to decide to sit with one another. The sitting can be in silence, a primarily one-way communication (lecture), a two-way conversation, or even a multi-way exchange facilitated by a desire to be in each other’s presence.

When friendship takes on the energy of @maggiemistal, the expression of ‘loving kindness’ (@sageandsavvy), or is simply steeped in love (@AwakeningYourTrueSelf) or is a simple yet heart-felt expression of gratitude (@tomarciamae), it transmits the energy of the heart to all present. When it takes on the expression of ‘watching, waiting, working’ (thank you, @mscator), the gentle sharing by @wonderpix, the energy of @maggiemistal, the creativity of @heiddiz, it breathes new life into the sitting. When it is expressed through the Mettā prayer of @intuitiveheal, the wisdom of @southbaysome and the grace of @garygruber, one knows and feels that they are in a special space and time.

And so, the seeds of friendship are nurtured. One question, one answer, one chat, one conversation, one smile, one kind gesture, one zoom meeting at a time.

It is tough to say what will come next, but for today, the heart feels filled with maitri – the benevolence and radiance of those who shared with all of their heart.

The sage Patanjali said in his yoga sutras (aphorisms) – “be friendly towards those who are friendly towards you.” It sounds simple enough, but it isn’t always easy to do (why is that person being friendly? what do they want from me?) However, it is safe to say that we are largely “friendly to all” in the #SpiritChat community, and we extended on that principle in today’s sitting.

As I sat watching the radiant colors of the sun, the sky and the clouds merge into the lake waters, it reminded me of the ease with which we all converged on the common ground of friendship today. We came a bit closer to the essence of maitri, of Mettā, of meditation.

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. What is (or was) the greatest friendship you have experienced? How were its seeds sown? How did its roots develop, its flowers bloom? And those friendships that withered away – what was their life cycle? Share with us, Sunday April 7 at 9amET / 1pm UTC / 630pm India in our weekly #spiritchat on Twitter. Namaste – Kumud

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 Synthesis

Tags

spiritual practice, spirituality, synthesis, unity

The rain of the past two days is taking a breather. I hear the steady, rhythmic beat of water as it drip off of the roof on to the ground. An orange breasted blackbird comes and perches on the wooden stake that is holding up the silt barrier which prevents the backyard from washing into the culvert which leads to the lake.

The father goose is taking his morning swim in the lake as he tries to mark his territory on the waves created by the gusts of wind. There is a stillness of anticipation among the tall trees that are so thick with young leaves that one cannot see more than a dozen rows deep into the forest that is hundreds of feet deep.

It is amazing and often mind-boggling when I think about the amount of energy it must take nature and natural systems to emerge, to transition, to synthesize a lively spring from the apparent deep sleep of winter. I often wonder if such synthesis would be possible, or how it would be affected, if there were widespread conflicts within the natural system itself.

If nature were to be constantly expending energy to be at war with, and within itself, would such a magical transformation and synthesis be able to bring forth such breathtaking beauty with such alacrity and timeliness?

There comes a time in our inner walk when we realize that there may be no more time and energy for us to fritter away. We may begin to ask ourselves about the best way(s) to invest our valuable creative energy and life force.

Are we being drained by being at war within and without? Are we overly invested in idle musings and intellectual gymnastics? Are we going to act now to inculcate the spirit of synthesis within and focus on our walk? Are we ready to put our best and most creative high-quality energy into putting the “P” into our daily practice(s)?

When winter’s work is over, and spring is imminent, there is rarely any force that can stop the energy transformation to support the spirit of synthesis of new life. As humans, we can choose to transform. Better yet, we have an advantage over nature.

We get to choose when our winter is over.

We get to choose our own inner path towards a common heart center.

We get to choose to walk in a spirit of synthesis, to create channels that energize empathy and compassion.

The seeds were planted in us a long time ago. We are perennials. We get to choose when it is time for us to bloom.

Kumud @AjmaniK

Join our weekly twitter chat held Sunday May 7th, 2017 with the #SpiritChat community. We will explore the spirit of synthesis which often brings us together… Namaste.

There is one height of truth and there are those who approach from all sides, as many sides as there are radii in a circle, that is to say, by routes of an infinite variety. Let us work, then, with all our strength to arrive at this light of Truth which unites us all. – Leo Tolstoy

The Spirit of Synthesis… emergence of NEW life on the forest floor and the tall trees – as far as the eye can see!

On Creative Unity

Tags

creativity, spirituality, unity

To speak of the notion of “creative unity” may seem out of time and place on a day (weekend) on which many are engaged in prayer, service, reflection and remembrance of the events of September 11th from fifteen years ago. However, it is when we are greatly challenged, when we are in a literal and figurative struggle between life and death, that our innate sense of strength is reestablished through our sense of unity as a community. For those who were physically present in the USA on that fateful day, this display of unity – visible everywhere you turned – was unmistakable.

But, unity and its display, is often not enough to sustain us as individuals, as communities, as nations. It is a necessary condition, but it is not sufficient. Like everything else that is subject to the vagaries of time and space, that which is brought together and rises with high emotions, can and does get rendered apart and falls when the tide of emotions goes out. The good news is that an event which forges together such intense unity and sense of purpose does reveal that communities are capable of rising together when necessary. We are often not even aware of how strong we are, and our latent strengths are revealed, our resilience is reinforced in times like these.

But why do such events have to happen in the first place? Why is such tragedy and evil even “allowed for” by the energy of a good and loving universe? Why does our healthy inner and outer world get shattered by the diseases of hate, violence and destruction? In the book/essay titled “Creative Unity”, Rabindranath Tagore says:

“The meaning of health comes home to us with painful force when disease disturbs it; since health expresses the unity of the vital functions and is accordingly joyful. Life’s tragedies occur, not to demonstrate their own reality, but to reveal that eternal principle of joy in life, to which they gave a rude shaking”

It may seem like poor consolation, and a heavy price indeed, that we have to allow for tragedies to occur in order for them to reveal that eternal principle of joy in life. And it may all seem like a contradiction in the moments – when we are in the middle of it all – that there can be any possible positive outcome from the tragedy. If anything, personal and societal tragedies can cause suffering that causes a break of harmony between our surroundings and the spirit of unity within us.

So, how do we recover our spirit of unity? How do we restore our sense of Joy? One way to recover our spirit of unity, restore our sense of Joy, is to get creative. The human spirit is not only resilient, but it is very creative too. The ability of the human spirit to creatively transform her energies so as to focus them on the task at hand has been on abundant innumerable times in history. The human spirit does not ever forget that its greatest manifestation is in Reality, Awareness and Joy. Unity promulgated by Harmony is our greatest Truth. The evidence is all around us…

“There is the dancing ring of seasons; the elusive play of lights and shadows, of wind and water; the many-coloured wings of erratic life flitting between birth and death. The importance of these does not lie in their existence as mere facts, but in their language of harmony, the mother-tongue of our own soul, through which they are communicated to us.”
– Tagore

I am sure that we can think of many ways in which to use creativity to restore harmony, to move towards a sense of inner unity in our heart. When we find the unity in our own hearts, it gives us the courage to heal, and in our healing, we reach out and affect the hearts of others around us. Wherever our heart touches the One, in the small or the big, it finds the touch of the infinite – Tagore.

So, let us get creative in our prayer, our service, our reflection, our remembrance, our healing and our loving. Let that be our unified tribute that reaches one and all.

Namaste,

Kumud

P.S. I hope you can join us for #SpiritChat on twitter – Sunday, September 11th at 9amET. Share your healing energy of creative unity. Thank you, and Namaste.

A Unifying Spirit

Tags

peace, spirit, spiritchat, unity

If the measure of greatness of a life well lived is measured by the tributes that pour out from around the world on their passing, then, President Nelson Mandela was indeed a great man. At the age of 95, surrounded by family, in the country of his birth, the country which he helped end racial discrimination (apartheid) in, the country which he was imprisoned in for almost thirty years – and of which he then became President(!) – President Mandela passed peacefully onto a higher plane.

But his life was anything but full of peace. Most of us know (or can learn more) about that with a stroll over to Wikipedia. The struggle, the challenges, the set-backs, the physical and mental battles – they are all well documented in many many books and websites. However, that all became “history” in the early 1990s when Madiba (as he is affectionately known by many) was eventually freed, and his lifelong struggle for his ideal (an ideal that he was willing to die for) – that ALL the people in South Africa – blacks and whites alike, should be treated equally – came to a victorious conclusion.

However, I believe that what made “Madiba” stand apart, and be respected universally as a “giant among men” was his willingness to forgive to Unify. He forgave those who imprisoned him for the larger part of his “productive” life (from age 44 to age 72) and turned them into his partners! He understood that in order to build a nation that would have long-lasting peace – a unity of hearts, minds and spirits was essential. His love for love, peace, unity and harmony made him recognize that, above all, we all have more within our spirit that unites us, than divides us.

Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished – Nelson Mandela

It is perhaps that – his Unifying Spirit – that inspires so many to celebrate a life well lived, lived fully, lived with purpose, lived to bring Peace and Unity across the world. Isn’t that what all of us are trying to do ourselves? So, thank you, ‘Madiba’ – for being the mirror, being the light to many. Your light will always shine in millions of hearts, and encourage us to be live our lives so we can be Unifying Spirits too.

Kumud

P.S. It is no coincidence (or is it?) that my daughter’s Christmas concert on Saturday concluded with a rendition of the song… “One Song for Peace” – yet another reminder of all that unites us.

P.P.S. This framing post was written for our live twitter conversation on Sunday mornings – Sunday, December 8th at 9am ET. Join us on twitter or at at http://chat.spiritchat.org as we discuss and celebrate all that unites and unifies us. Namaste!

Postscript: Full transcript (including statistics) for #SpiritChat held Dec 8th 2013 via #hashtracking – Thanks to all who shared 🙂 bit.ly/sc-tr-1208. In addition, A Hand-Curated Transcript – with love, for better reading, is available via #storigy at bit.ly/sc-st-1208 – Namaste 🙂

Q1. Those who have the effect of a “Unifying Spirit” on our world – what makes them so? #SpiritChat

Q2. What is the essence of Unity? Thoughts? Words? Actions? Or… #SpiritChat

Q3. What KIND of Unity adds the most value to our daily life, our spiritual growth? #SpiritChat

Q4. Is dissent an indication of the lack of a Unifying Spirit? Why or why not? #SpiritChat

Q5. “World Unity is merely the dream of romantics.” Agree/Disagree? Why? #SpiritChat

Q6. Is it possible to have Unity of faith? Is it even necessary for spiritual growth? #SpiritChat

Q7. What is the connection between Unity, purpose and living a full life? #SpiritChat

Q8. Three action steps will you take – to be a Unifying spirit in your family, community… #SpiritChat

The Spirit of Diversity

Tags

change, diversity, spirit, spiritchat, unity

Growing up in India, the theme of “Unity in Diversity”, was a common refrain in our social studies and civics text books. For a country with twenty-two states (at the time I was a student), many of them with their own languages (and many more dialects), customs and sub-cultures, interpretations of Hinduism and many other religions, it would seem that theme of “Unity in Diversity” would be indispensable to keep the country together. In fact, I remember writing many essays in middle school and doing many projects celebrating this theme.

When I moved to the United States, this country seemed, on the surface, very “homogeneous” as compared to the widespread cultural diversity that I grew up with. The more years I spent here, the more I realized that diversity has many aspects. It manifests differently in different countries and cultures, and, of course, there is tremendous diversity in the USA – one just has to look a little bit beneath the surface. External diversity can conceal internal homogeneity, and vice-versa.

Yes, it is indeed a herculean task to weave a thread of Unity in the face of external, visible diversity, as it exists in India. Perhaps an even bigger task is to inculcate some aspects of Unity in the heart of diverse people, diverse cultures and perhaps even diverse religions. This revelation was brought home (again) to me in a wonderful conversation that I had with my good twitter friend, @EdwardColozzi on Friday afternoon. Edward has been a wonderful friend of the #SpiritChat community, almost since the inception of the weekly chat. He is a Career-Life counselor, and a big believer in Unity and the concept of “One Spirit”. The topic of “The Spirit of Diversity” is inspired by our conversation about the discovery of “One Spirit” among our diversities.

Some of you may be aware that Science has been hard at work to identify this fundamental commonality – sometimes referred to as the search for the “God particle”. While Science remains hard at work, we can approach this from the Spiritual side. One proclamation of this Unity is made in the Advaita philosophy of the Vedanta ~ which states that there is the One, indivisible, and we all are manifestations of the One. An analogy would be that of the One milk, and the many products (cheese, yogurt, sour cream and so on) that are manifestations of milk… I am sure that you can come up with some analogies of your own too 🙂

Well, I believe I have said enough to frame our “Spirit of Diversity” discussion. A few questions that come to mind are – where does this Diversity among us come from? Why is Diversity necessary at all? And what would happen if all this outward Diversity were to disappear? Why is it important to understand the nature, the spirit of Diversity? And where does Love fit into the equation of Diversity and Unity?

I invite all of you who have read this far to join us on Sunday May 5th at our regular time of 9amET in our weekly #SpiritChat discussion on twitter. Let us celebrate our Diversity as we contemplate the ideal of Unity.

Namaste. Be well.

Kumud