I Am That I Am

Sunflower Sea on a Smokey Day in the Sangres

I Am That I Am Exodus 3:14 (King James Version of the Holy Bible)

This week I’ve felt a deepening sense of the truth of unity along with a heightened awareness of how subtle yet rampant the story of separation is imbedded in our culture and, indeed, daily life.

There are the obvious divides perpetrated and perpetuated by media and exploited on all ‘sides’ ‘by profiteering and fundraising using fear of ‘the other’, anything outside of us really, as the primary reason. “Give us your money so we can fight him/her, them, it, etc.” is their constant plea.

I’m pivoting away from giving to such ‘causes’ – even groups and individuals whose views align with mine. Earlier this week I cancelled a small monthly donation to a Congressional candidate because of the onslaught of fundraising emails each of which found a new way to bash the incumbent and proclaimed that I should donate for that reason. No more. Time to pivot. Time to reimagine and create our political system anew.

Continuing a trend that I’ve noticed for quite some time, environmental, natural health, and other organizations that hold positions I agree with seize upon recent disturbing climate and Covid news to ask for donations using fear and the need to fight as the basis for their plea. No more. Time to pivot. Time to dream. Time to create structures and systems that recognize our interconnectedness.

Want my support? Tell me what you dream of creating. Share a bit of your soul. Damn the current system – BE bold in unconventional ways. Hear the deeper longings of humanity to call forth unity. Lead from YOUR heart, not from polls, advisors and others who want you to believe they know the best formula to ‘win’.

Time to recognize that we are each part of a greater whole and that all is in each of us just as we are each in all. I Am That I Am.

Time to sharpen awareness of the choices we make and language we use that perpetuate the separation story in subtle ways we mostly don’t notice. Take, for instance, the term ‘common sense’, a seemingly innocuous term we use share our views and enroll others. I might say, “It’s common sense to drive slowly on wash-boarded, curved dirt roads.” The implication being that those who drive fast lack ‘common sense’, thus separating me from the drivers that I find not just annoying but dangerous. Yet, I Am that driver as surely as I Am me.

When I check in on social media, I see posts using common sense and other such terms to promote their point of view (heck, I’m sure I’ve done so as well) to get vaccinated, eat organic, become vegetarian, invest in gold, … and the list goes on (and on). Most likely there are elements in this musing that separate rather than unify, despite my best effort and intention not to do so. This is what we’ve come to practice: division, separation. It’s time to pivot: calling forth and practicing unity, oneness, the interconnected nature of life. Time to cooperate and co-create.

During a coach training conference some years ago, I participated in an exercise appropriately named ‘I Am That’. (Yes, some of you reading this were there!). The exercise was to be outdoors for a particular amount of time and to notice what attracted my attention. It could be anything – a tree, a bird, grass, a bloom, a car in the parking lot, a bench, etc. Then, looking at it, to declare “I Am That I Am” and to simply BE with that being or object. I recall being deeply moved by a tree (no surprise that I love the woods out back!). As I stood in its presence, I felt the deep connection of being at one with the tree. My core being knew it was so.

Amidst the discord and divisiveness present in our world, I’m adopting the exercise as a new practice. I long to feel that deep connection more consistently. I long to hear the tree, the land, Zadie Byrd, the planet on which I walk, friends, and associates, as well as those with whom I’m not aligned in a way that reminds me “I Am That I Am”. I have a hunch this practice can move you/me/us in that direction as well as supporting our navigation, individually and collectively, through the mine fields of these current times.

What is your heart yearning for? What ideas and practices do you employ to honor your heart’s yearning?

Smoke Clears - A Blue Sky Sunset with Beautiful Clouds Begins

TWO!

From ONE - Split! - Two

You cannot separate yourself from the Universe. … I must find within the separation the basic one unity so that I never really leave the thing I am separated from, and I never really leave the Universe or you. … We have never left each other. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Polarities – February, 2009)

When I noticed today’s date – 2-20-2020 – this morning as I began to write, I felt a surge of curiosity and sensed ‘Wow, what a powerful day!’  I wondered ‘what’s up with two … and with the sum of today’s 2s, 8?’

As I reflected a bit and read from Gregge Tiffen’s booklet quoted above, I thought about the seeming paradox that there is a Universal Law of Separation, yet we are not separate from the Universe or from one another. The number ‘2’ represents this. From ‘one’ we get ‘two’. Those ‘two’ each contain all the qualities of the One from which they came. And, everything came from the Universe.

There is beauty in the number ‘2’ for without two we could not experience and learn about balance and harmony. It takes two to tango, the saying goes, and when we dance together, we demonstrate the synchronous joy of the Universe as One harmonious unit.

When I need to make kindling for starting a fire on a cold winter’s morning, each swing of the maul or the hatchet separates one piece of wood into two (okay, sometimes I need two swings to achieve separation, but that’s a topic for another day!). I repeat from each of those two and two becomes four, et cetera, until I have the size needed. Each piece retains the qualities of the first piece I split. And, that first piece has the qualities of the tree from which it came. And each piece has all the qualities of the Universe.

I take this back in time to the beginning of the tree from which the log came. At some point a seed separated itself from another tree and fell onto receptive ground. That seed held the potential to become a tree. Over time it did so, growing in receptive ground that likewise contains all the qualities of the Universe. Yet the soil and the tree are distinct manifestations, both necessary for the seed to fulfill its potential.

Eight is the number that represents manifestation. Viewed laying on its side, 8 is the symbol of infinity. From One, separation brings Two, an infinite cycle throughout all time and across everything in this wonderous Universe.

We are not separate from the Universe or from one another. You cannot separate yourself from the Universe period! You just cannot do that and nothing can. That is the Law, and that is how the Law operates. The premise is that you are not different from the Universe from which you are drawn. Gregge Tiffen (The Language of a Mystic: Polarities – February, 2009)

What is possible to manifest if we learn to live from knowing and understanding this basic Universal truth?

Favorite Old Tree — from a seed and with all the characteristics of the Universe

Unity IS ALL That Is

Blessed Snow on the Peaks!

If there is one thing that causes the downfall of mankind in all forms (consciousness, mind, body, spirit, soul, or what have you), it is human’s great desire to separate or divide. Within the statement ‘United We Stand; Divided We Fall’ is the whole key to spiritual awareness. Gregge Tiffen, The Collected Works of Gregge Tiffen: Earth and Second Earth 

Sadly, even spiritual truth is used to divide, set apart, separate. United We Stand has its roots in the American Revolution, when a band of colonists separated from the British Empire and went on to colonize what is now the United States. In doing so, they tromped over any indigenous peoples’ ‘rights’ by virtue of their presence in this land for thousands of years. The colonists separated themselves as ‘better than’ the so-called savages.

Throughout history, man has declared unity in many ways. And, throughout history, mankind has fallen short of experiencing the unity that somewhere deep inside we each know as potential because it is the Law, Universal Law.  In an effort conquer, our institutions, laws, systems, habits, thoughts, divide everything. Divisions of time separate us from the reality of infinity. Divisions of money separate us from the abundance and wealth that is imbued in this amazing universe. Political subdivisions (cities, counties, states, countries) attempt to unite in order to control within and conquer beyond their borders.  All defy the truth that Unity is ALL that is.

In unity there is truth, pure, infinite truth. Unity is the foundation for mutual understanding, cooperation, acceptance, peace. Unity calls forth the best in us, our authentic selves as one critical part of the One. In unity we understand and accept responsibility for what we experience on this sojourn called life, understanding that there is no ‘other’ to blame. In unity we are strong within, not needing to flex our muscles to prove that strength.

Clinging to separation, we suffer conflict, competition, conquest. We create a win-lose world where there is always someone to blame so we can avoid taking responsibility.

Separation is a construct of man. Unity is of the universe. With every breath we take and decision we make, we are choosing one or the other.

Separation is in our face, constantly asking us to choose this product or the other, this candidate or another, this friend, this belief over that. Separation wins wars, but has no potential for lasting peace. Unity lies patiently (or perhaps not) within each of us as potential.

As the curtain falls on my 67th sojourn around the sun, I’m aware of how much of my life has been lived in that trap. I’m also aware of moments, sometimes fleeting, where I’ve experienced unity with every fiber of my being.

As I prepare to raise the curtain on a new trip around the sun, I’m aiming to expand my capacity to experience that I am ‘one of the One’ and to live and write more fully from that foundation of truth.

Unity is infinite, forever. Unity is everywhere, yet nowhere. Unity is, whether we choose to be aware or not.

A Cheerful Mountain Bluebird Greets the Day