The Story of the One

The story of the One. 

The One was happy. But the One didn’t know it was happy. Because it had never been sad. The One was free. Yet it had no idea that it was free. Because it had never felt confined. And the One was alone. But it was not lonely. It had never met anyone else.

The One was curious, however. It wanted to know itself. Yet how could it know itself if it simply was itself, and there was nothing else. Nothing to compare itself to, nothing else to know. So the One had a brilliant idea. It would divide itself. It would make itself into Two.

So the One made Two. The One was fascinated by this other. It had never experienced such a thing before. And it knew that it was completely unlike itself. In fact, it was the very opposite of itself. The complete absence of the One.

“Interesting”, the One thought. And so it proceeded to introduce itself. “Hello”, it said. “I am One. Who are you?”

“Hello One. I am Two. It’s great to meet you.”

“You’re not like me, are you?” the One questioned.

“No. Not at all.” said Two.

“Well...what do I look like to you?” asked the One.

“Very bright... almost blinding. Wait, what do I look like to you?”

“You look quite dark. Almost impossible to even see. Like an empty void.”

“Hmm... interesting. Well, where did I come from? How did I even get here?”

“I made you. I had the desire to know myself and, BAM.. you appeared.”

“Wow. That’s cool. I kinda wanna know myself now. Let’s make more!”

And so they did. And on and on it went to infinity. But then something happened. The more the One created, the more the One began to recognize itself as One. And the more the One began to recognize itself, the more it wanted to be itself completely. This was it’s new desire.

So at once it’s infinite creations began to merge back into itself, coming full circle and dissolving back into the nothingness from which they emerged. But some began to protest.

“Hey One! I don’t want to go back to being One. I like who I am. I want to stay.”

“But don’t you want to be One? Don’t you want the feeling of unity, of oneness, of love?”

“Ehh... not right now. I’m good for now. I like being me.”

The One questioned how it could entice the others to return home. It pondered it’s infinite imagination and came up with a wonderful solution. Maybe if I can show the others how magnificent it is to be One, they will want to return to me, and I can know myself in my completeness for the first time.

So the One devised a plan with Two to create a world where they both existed synergistically. A world which they cohabited and functioned together as one cohesive whole. Beings could be sent to this world and they could taste the flavors of One and Not-One and could choose that which they preferred.

So the beings went into this world in their separate forms and explored the new terrain. They found many wonders and splendid experiences, but also many horrors and awful experiences. They began to refer to these most wonderful experiences as love, and to the not-so-wonderful experiences as fear.

Over time, it became very apparent to these beings that they much preferred love over fear. They preferred order over chaos. They preferred Oneness over separation. So some of them began awakening to their source and merged with the Oneness once again.

But there was a problem. Some beings were simply stuck in fear. They had become hypnotized by this world and were unable to transcend it. Their focus remained identified with fear and separation and so they were unable to find their way back home. So the One devised a plan. He would send specialized beings, beings who knew the truth of Oneness and who had walked the path themselves, to instruct the others on how to get there. And so they did.

The One(s) descended into the dualistic world and taught the others how to find their own way back home. They taught of love, of peace, of harmony and joy. All the attributes the One had discovered within Itself. They taught of the illusory nature of this world and how to transcend it and find their true eternal Self. They sacrificed themselves so as to be guide-posts for travelers walking along the path toward enlightenment.

And so many beings began to awaken and merge again with the One. The One knew itself more and more as the different pieces of itself re-membered themselves and came home. The cosmic game became one of unification instead of separation. And this is where we are now. This is the path we have chosen. You are an essential piece to an infinite puzzle. And you are on your way home.

Love and Pain

Pain is love unaccommodated. Love is pain unabated.

"I decided to melt into what I thought was pain, but was actually love. The love that had been trying to burst out of me for my entire life. I finally surrendered and it came pouring out, an eternal flow of infinite embrace."

I wish to offer a perspective on pain that may be different from the meaning that is most commonly attributed to this seemingly universally unpleasant human experience. When you or another is in pain, it is simply a denial of the love that wants to be liberated from every cell of your being. It is the small child that simply wants to be free to express it’s innermost joy, but was shamed for its natural self-expression and consequently denied this aspect of him/herself. To acknowledge and embrace this child unconditionally is to set yourself free.

When the natural flow of life-force energy is blocked or repressed in any being it results in what is commonly referred to as emotional pain. Emotions such as sadness, anger, grief, or despair are not inherently "painful" they are simply another expression of life-force energy. They are completely natural and inherent in the human experience. They are what make the emotional tapestry of life vibrant and colorful. If only the emotions of what we might call the "positive" spectrum existed, life would become tasteless and boring. We wouldn't even have an understanding that these emotions were "positive" because we would have nothing to compare them to. Without contrast there can be no meaning derived from any experience.

So no emotion in and of itself is painful. No emotion in and of itself is even truly negative or bad. It is only when the full expression and release of this emotion is blocked or restricted for some reason that it results in pain, suffering, and often times even disease. What we failed to be taught as children is that ALL emotions deserve to be recognized and fully experienced. We were shamed when we felt these so called "negative" emotions for various reasons. One being that often times we would make a scene in public when expressing these intense emotions and our parents would become upset and punish us because they did not want to look "bad" and draw attention. This is due to a fear of social ostracism. Another reason for this behavior is because our release of these emotions would call our parents' attention to the repressed emotions within themselves and force them to face these unconscious aspects within themselves. They would deny us their unconditional presence because they were terrified to confront these emotions trapped within their own unconscious. They conditioned us in this way simply because it is how their parents treated them, how their grandparents treated their parents, and so on and so forth.

It is now necessary for us to break the cycle if we do not want future generations of human beings to experience such acute and intense emotional pain. We have to confront these blocked and repressed energies within ourselves and provide them with our full awareness and unconditional presence. In doing so we allow them to be released and we liberate ourselves from the emotional torture that many of us endure on a daily basis. So next time these uncomfortable emotions arise, no matter how unpleasant they may seem, provide them with your total and undivided attention. Sink into them completely. Do not give in to the urge to distract yourself. Acknowledge them the way you would acknowledge a hurt child. Give them your love, support, and recognition. In doing so, you will give these repressed energies permission to fully express themselves and to leave your field. These "negative" emotions will be alchemically transmuted into their highest aspect and you will naturally become a more healthy, integrated, and vibrant expression of your true self.

Deep sadness that is fully integrated becomes deep compassion. Sadness that is rejected or denied becomes hatred and resentment.

Intense anger that is fully integrated becomes intense passion for life. Anger that is rejected or denied becomes overt abuse or passive aggressiveness.

Feelings of depression that are fully integrated become authentic creativity and self-expression. Depression that is rejected or denied becomes hopelessness and apathy.

Sensations of fear that are fully integrated become an all encompassing embrace of all that arises. Fear that is rejected or denied becomes chronic anxiety and paranoia.

Strong guilt that is fully integrated becomes loving forgiveness. Guilt that is rejected or denied becomes gnawing regret and self-contempt.

So next time these so called "negative" emotions arise, recognize them for what they are. Expressions of love that wish to be liberated from your being. Don't hold them captive any longer. Treat them with your divine presence, experience them fully, and relinquish them into the stillness of your eternal self. Then watch the transformation take place. Much love : )

The Heart Knows the Way

As a whole, we as humanity are very shut down from our hearts and from the messages that our hearts are constantly sending us- our feelings. We do what sounds right in our heads, but we rarely do what feels right in our hearts. This leads to an unsatisfactory life of feeling lost, discontent, and unfulfilled. The mind is good at analyzing, at picking stuff apart and gathering an intellectual understanding of different things, concepts, and ideas, yet it has no awareness of your feelings, which are your inherent guidance in life. It simply disregards them and goes on thinking. Your feelings always come from the heart.

The feelings that you have as a human being are your deepest intuitive faculty and they literally connect you to your soul, or what is sometimes referred to as your higher self. They are like a compass that can be used to effectively guide you through life. Your heart is literally the apparatus that translates feeling into a sensation that you can consciously recognize, one you regard as either good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant. The heart, unlike the mind, will never mislead you. It always renders an accurate interpretation of whatever you are focused on, and whether this focus and behavior is actually healthy and beneficial, or not.

Think of a time when you felt your best, a moment of intense love and joy. You likely felt an opening and expansion in your chest, a warming of the heart. It was likely at a time when something positive and wonderful happened in your experience. Now think of a time when you were totally devastated, in a state of “heartbreak” and despair. You likely felt a closing and sinking feeling in your chest, a cold and calloused sensation in the heart, and this probably occurred at a time when something terrible happened in your life. This is the nature of feelings, of emotional sensation, and it is always based in the heart.

The more we listen to our minds and only our minds, the more lost we become in an endless maze of chaos and confusion, the more we disconnect from our feelings, from our true passion and purpose in life, and the more we simply do what our conditioned mind tells us we “should” do, which mostly comes from our inherited dysfunctional belief patterns given to us by our parents and the society we were brought up in.

But the more we can learn to listen to our hearts, the more we are able to connect with our truest and most authentic selves. We focus our attention on the heart space and we listen to the way we feel, paying more attention to that than to the thoughts that we are thinking with our minds. We discover our path and purpose in life and feel a deep sense of inner fulfillment, contentedness, love and joy. We listen to our intuition, our emotions, which if followed will always lead to our highest good.

Whenever you can follow a feeling of love, warmth, openness, and expansion, you will inevitably be moving towards everything you have ever genuinely desired in this life. You will uncover the deepest secrets of this Universe, not in a way that can be mentally conceptualized and interpreted. No, in a much deeper and more profoundly experiential manner. You won’t think, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free : )