When I dwell in the energy of unity and oneness, I let go of concern as to whether I am the student or the teacher. It is of no import to me if inspired information comes from within or from another. I experience this as a deep union with all energies, and a letting go of the separation of “this and that.”
Meaning, if I am channeling certain beings, or a group consciousness, or a historical figure, or an angel, there is both the sense of discrete otherness, but also an experience of oneness. The same if I’m working with another healer or guide. I’ve found it is very challenging for human beings to let go of the linear path (myself included!) and the idea of progression and attainment…of who is where on the path…and of assigning authorship to who or what carries a message, and what that means about the said author.
What if there is only one author?
This has shifted for me over time. In the past I have strived to attain with the best of them! And then recently, I watched my own consciousness steep so deeply into unity in Bali that I didn’t hear when one of the healers called me Sadhu. A Sadhu is a holy woman or sage, or wise teacher, and frequently they live in nomadic poverty, relying on the generosity of others. It is a title of honor. One of our group members mentioned it to me, what the healer had said, and, after asking her what that word meant, I found myself thinking, “huh!” While I fully received the deep respect this man had conveyed for me, I found no exaltation in it, or particular importance, or even any desire to figure out if it were “true.” Because everything was one for me: Teacher. Aspirant. Guide. Student. Wise One. Beginner. Those who work with me know this is a core passion of mine, non-hierarchy.
As an aside, I first worked on this non-heirarchy by become neutral to others’ negative opinions about me – also a worthy practice!
And my friend and I laughed that maybe my response to his gift did mean something about my consciousness, that a revered elder and powerful healer’s honorific declaration of me registered no reaction. Well, I felt gratitude, and honoring of him, for sure. And I was touched with a deep sense of Love. But beyond that I had no interest in taking up another identity in favor of the many I have let go! So we laughed at the irony, that some time ago my person would have been actively seeking such a recognition or affirmation, and that perhaps only when there was no more seeking of that in me did this description apply. His words felt to me like someone saying to the room, “The sun is shining.” We simply say, “Why, yes!” while realizing the same is true for everyone.
Like Rumi said, “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the ocean.” Well, then we all the ocean, aren’t we? There really is no “you” in that! It’s sweet how our individual identity takes that and runs with it: “I’m the ocean! I’m the whole thing! I’m the universe!” while we might be missing that this means there really is no I left to speak of! Or like the tree of life – all one thing, whether roots or trunk or branches, leaves or fruit. And while fruit is not the same as root, if you go back far enough in the field, before individuation, you see it is exactly the same. Like a baby who develops its many diverse cells from a single, fertilized egg. And once it’s a person, it’s brain cells are different from its skin cells. And they are also all the same.
So as aspirants on the spiritual path, we can receive everything with equanimity. Our own knowing. Someone else’s counsel. The energy of an ascended master. Our own wisdom. The beauty is, they are both the same and different. And for me the greatest and most powerful truth is the sameness.
Now, if we are handing someone else’s assessment more value than our own, letting it create our truth, that is a clue for us, isn’t it? How many times have I seen this with clients, when they have been thrown for a loop for weeks or years by something some healer or reader told them?! Often the “wisdom” shared was untrue at best, irresponsible at worst. Similarly, if we are attached to a sovereignty that says ultimate wisdom only comes from within, that is another snag. For me, it is about checking the energy (message, teaching, awareness, whether from within or without) to see if it resonates as a vibrational yes. I can learn and receive from every direction.
And thank God there are these differences among us! The roles we are playing. The awareness we discover and create with. I’m grateful that I can write these words that you can then read, and that you can share your lives so that I get to partake of the creation that you are. That we can have conversations with our gods selves in the form of family and friends. That we can have fights and disagreements with our enemies. Thank God for this. How incredibly interesting! And what a grand illusion, that we can convince ourselves that we are separate. Well, because we are. And we aren’t.
I’d say we are pretty skilled! 😉
