Inner Work

For the week of: October 25, 2004

Fingers of One Hand

When you look at other people, what do you see? Perhaps you see them in the ordinary way, from the outside, as animated, physical bodies, each with their own personality, talents, and limitations. But our most basic assumption about others goes unnoticed: that we are separate from them. You have your body and I have mine. You have your opinions, concerns, and interests and I have mine. Unless we are family or friends, we matter little to each other. We see others through the filter of our self-centered egoism .

But the reality remains that the closer contact we have with the depth of our own true spirit, the closer we come to other people, all of whom share in that same spirit. First we might notice our shared humanity: other people are like I am inside, with their own hopes, fears, and dreams. Deeper still, we may notice that our very awareness, our consciousness is not really ours alone, is not individual, but is a sea of energy in which we all partake. This can lead to a revolution in how we see others, in recognizing our essential sameness within our individual diversity.

But finally, most subtly, we may realize that our core individuality and drive, our most basic free will itself emanates from the Great Universal Will , in Whom we humans are like the fingers of one hand. This is the source of the magic of cooperation, in which individuals give a part of their free will to coalesce into the greater will of a family, a team, an organization, a nation, or a community of worship.

So when we see others, we can look beyond the surface, beyond our differences of body and mind, to open to that base-level conscious awareness shared by us all. And beyond even that pan-human consciousness, we may glimpse the one Root of free will in all people, that Source in Whom we are the fingers of one hand.

For this week, notice how you see others and work to deepen that perception toward the true reality.

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