From I Am to The Earth Is

The shift in perspective from "I Am" to "The Earth Is" concerns a major, yet approachable transformation of our perceptions. Change our perspective, change our center of gravity, and our view of life may evolve. And there is no greater change than moving beyond one's own self-centered world view.

We seek to expand our very identity from I Am to The Earth Is, from being this one person in this particular body to being within the singular whole that is the Earth, and which includes everything and every living being in and on the Earth. Instead of seeing from inside my head, seeing from the whole within which I am embedded. Instead of being centered within my body, being centered in the whole. Instead of being my body, emotions, and mind, and even instead of being my own I, my will, letting those limitations dissolve and my perceptions resolve into being the whole Earth, being the will of the Earth, the will that supports all that we see.

This inner body of energy becomes part of the scene, a scene centered everywhere, or, equivalently, without a center. Because it opens us to a world deeper than our physical body, the inner body of sensitive and conscious energies helps stabilize this new perception, this expanded identity. The will of the Earth is everywhere and in everything around us. We become that. When you are in your house, you are not separate from that house. When you are among the trees, you are not separate from the trees. The same will that makes them what they are, makes you what you are. The One Will flows through all.

In shifting our center from within ourselves to within all that we see, we might presume that our presence would diminish. But on the contrary, our presence becomes the presence of the whole and the whole becomes the presence in us. Without the separateness, the walls, the defenses, we are liberated into the greater presence.

We can live on several levels. To maintain our body, our family, our duties, we need to live as a body. To maintain our relationships, our passions, our joys, our ways of giving, we need to live as an individual. At the same time, to open to the greater reality, the great purpose, to open to love and compassion, we need to live as the Whole, as the Earth.

Ultimately, of course, the whole means the whole universe and whatever may lie beyond it. But for our life, the Earth is the largest whole pervading our direct perceptions. We only see a small part of the Earth as our immediate surroundings, yet we can cognize out from here to the entire planet. Participating as the Earth effectively brings us into relationship with the universe, for in extending our perspective we do not impose boundaries, rather we release our boundaries. The Earth is our local universe.

This way of right living can begin with the intentional effort to shift our perspective from I Am to The Earth Is. We open our mind, open our vision to the entire scene around us and realize that everything has its purpose, its will to be what it is. That purpose, that will continually flows through it all, and through us. We open to the flow of will through everything. We let the will flowing through us merge with the will flowing through everything around us. There is only one will, one identity, one purpose. We are not separate from that. Within the ongoing operation of our attention, within our intentions, with all that we do, we feel our will flowing through us. We feel the will flowing through everything around us. We feel that behind it all is this one great river of will, supporting everything that we see.

There is more of a challenge when it comes to people. For they, we, are the only chunks of this great flow of will that can separate themselves from the one river. We have the freedom to do that, in contrast to an animal, or a plant, or a building. They are always in that One flow of will. We, on the other hand, train ourselves to be separate individuals, observers and users of the rest, distinct from the general flow.

Crucially, however, we humans have the possibility of choosing to align with the Whole. All of evolution has led to this possibility in a living being. All of our inner work, all spiritual practice, leads us deeper into that alignment. First, we become ourselves. Then we can seek to transcend our separateness and become the Whole. This is coming into Love, for Love is the perception of Unity.

With regard to people, can we see into the essence that we share, into the one will that flows through us all? Can we see the sacred possibilities, not yet fully realized, in all of us? Yet it may be easier to start with opening to the one will in your surroundings when you are not with other people. The journey of our soul takes courage, perseverance, and practical experimentation. The change in perspective that we seek is a creative act, and the Creator flows through us.

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