There's Only ONE of Us Here

As we awaken to the truth of who we really are, we start to see the unbelievable perfection built into this illusion we are all living in.

For example, the illusion of separateness--without this illusion, how could we choose between love or fear?

If we realized we were all One all of the time, there would be no war, no poverty, no racism, no issues that create an "us and them."

In practical every day situations, we would not look out at the people we have in our lives and blame them for what they reflect back to us. We would see that the more love we allow, the more love we feel safe to allow into our hearts is reflected back to us by all of those around us.

But most of us still live deeply within the illusion of separateness. There are many others of us who slip in and out of it depending on how challenging the situation is that faces us. And I am told there are a few which live completely in the knowing that they are One with all of us and they express themselves only from this knowing...with every person and in every situation.

This is the point I am aiming for, but I'm not quite there yet.

For those of us who are still working our way out of the illusion of separateness, we perceive that there are those in our lives who trigger us in ways that no one else does.

Our ego minds tell us that because it is just THIS person who affects us this way, then that means it must be about THEM!

But this is simply a rationalization...a rational lie that our egos tell us.

Because in truth, there is only One of us here.

The problem lies not in the facts, but in our perception of the facts. Because although there is only one of us here, we are each gifted with our own perception of how life is for us.

An interesting phenomena is...that when we change...meaning when we grow and allow ourselves to become more like our Source...our world appears to change. We may perceive that this other person who had been causing us to feel hurt or angry has changed dramatically, but in truth...it is us who have changed.

If we had not, no matter how much the other person had grown and changed, we would still be perceiving things that they do and say as hurtful.

We must always remember that if we are the ones feeling hurt or angry, it's about us.

If someone else is telling me all the things I did to hurt them and then I feel hurt or angry or embarrassed or ashamed, then that is about me.

If I am coming from a place of pure love, then I would recognize that it's not about me, that it's about them...and I would be available to them to listen with love, understanding and compassion.

Let me assure you. I'm not there yet. :-)

I feel myself getting closer...but not quite there.

There once was a time when someone told me that I did something to hurt them, I was pretty aware before they told me what I did or said, what it was. That was because back then, I was so entrenched in my ego defenses, that I did push others away in order to protect myself...and in doing so, I said and did thing to keep people away from me...and I knew it was hurtful to them.

But at that time, I believed that my primary responsibility was to protect myself no matter what.

Now, more often than not, I have no idea what I've done or said to hurt someone...because I am not coming from as conscious of a place of ego defense. It doesn't mean that I'm not still coming from that place, but now it's so subtle that for me, it's transparent.

Still when someone tells me how they perceive me as being hurtful, there are things that I want to change in order to grow. I can understand how what they are perceiving is hurtful and I want to use that new awareness to change my behavior when those situations come up again.

I can tell you that it's not always an easy thing to accept, but after it sinks in, it does take hold.

But if I start to focus on what the other person should be doing in order not to hurt me again, then I am losing myself in the illusion of separateness.

Because again, if I hurt, then it's about me.

Once I heal that hurt, whether through Forgiveness or in discovering what the original hurt was that this person is triggering and letting that go...or simply in transcending that pain, that person cannot reflect that back to me anymore.

They could if there were more than One of us here.

If that were true, my life would feel hopeless. I would feel trapped because I would think that I had to only be with certain people to feel safe, that possibly I might have to live my life alone in order to be safe, that I had to avoid people who triggered me...that I had to change them...to feel safe.

I would feel hopeless, because the task of changing the world...while appearing to be possible in just enough instances to fool me...is impossible.

I cannot change anyone else.  

The good news is that it isn't true. God created the illusion of separateness in order for us to have the free will to choose to allow fear or to allow more love into our lives.

The more I choose to allow more love into my life, the more love is reflected back to me.

It has to be this way...because there's only One of us here.