Happy "At-One-Ment" - Happy Easter!

The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two, is really one, seek unity and that is love.

Nisargadatta Maharaj

All the talk of religion and spirituality is wasted in the end if we can't experience ONENESS ourselves. In the olden days, before the Fall, we experienced ONENESS every step of the WAY. There was only one VOICE in our head, and only one FEELING in our heart, and that was of GOD. When we ate from the Tree of Knowledge, a second voice popped into our head, and new feelings arose that deviated from the world GOD had created for us. We experienced this world as a new-comer; an external spectator of the Universe whose mission it was to find back that ONENESS that was once our own.

You may ask how exactly we can we embrace this ONENESS. The WAY of the East is observation: Lao-Tzu's Tao Te Ching observes the TIMELESS, the INFINITE, the DIVINE in people and in all daily events. Along the WAY, you experience ONENESS, and like a scientist, Lao-Tzu invites you to discover this ONENESS for yourself. Buddhists famously claim, "If you see the Buddha, kill him." That's the scientific mindset at work, no path is accepted unless the traveler makes it her own. 

Christianity - the Western road to GOD - wants to initiate ONENESS. Compared to the scientific mindset of the East, Christianity is a religion instead. The seeker appeals to the Son of Man, to the Holy Spirit, and to GOD to show her the WAY. The process of "At-One-Ment" is a blessing of HEAVEN. It is the alchemy that takes place when two or more people of the right intention come together; it is the divine symbol that GOD places next to us, ready to be discovered with a loving heart and a right-minded perspective. It is a blessing always at our disposal as long as we do our job to remove all the distractions and the debris in our WAY.

They say many roads lead to Rome. I consider myself part scientist, part believer and am ready to take any turn - the well-traveled journey as well as the virgin path - to return HOME. The Tao Te Ching can be observed and studied like a scientist, but the symbols you find there - and religiously hold on to - are the messages of GOD. I love the quote from the Hindu Nisargadatta Maharaj who neatly sums up the message of the Christ: Love is the uniting principle. Happy "At-One-Ment" - Happy Easter!

Love Yourself

Most Religions practice Atonement - a time and scheduled process when you can let go of your perceived  sinful acts; a time when your higher authority forgives you for all your misdeeds. Wouldn't it be nice if you could let go of your guilt every day, or perhaps even better, not accumulating anything to start with? This doesn't mean that we expect you to be an angel, but rather that you accept all personalities about yourself.

Love has to start with loving yourself, even the darkest part. It is so easy to love our good part, just like it is easy to love a good person, but it is so difficult to love all the aspects of yourself that appear to be a little darker. It may be lust, it may be greed, it may be the hunger for social and professional recognition. Often these guilt programs run subconsciously since you are not always willing to face them. The psychological fact is though, whether you acknowledge these drives in you or not, you will punish yourself over your perceived misdeeds. Can you imagine that you are in fact cruel to yourself? Where do you think your illnesses come from - it is you beating yourself up over something. We are mad at ourselves and want to punish ourselves for our mistakes. Isn't this violent and aggressive?

When you are greedy, psychological programs are running that have been in the making for eons. Have you ever noticed how a soccer dad is spurning on his boy during the game and afterwards, when the team has won, tabs him on the back and says that the game is just about having fun. How can you criticize yourself for having competitiveness inside you, how can you blame your father or coach? How can beat yourself up for hormones running through your body, or society telling you subconsciously as well as openly that you should conquer women? Accept everything that is going on inside. Love all aspects of your being.

Every day we experience lots of different kinds of energy which we identify with and think that it is us. No, these energies are not you, they are just flowing through you. A personality wheel is spinning with different aspects shining through dependent on the energy centers that are activated inside of you and the triggers that are activated by your environment. Whenever, you identify with all the characters you create a false self for yourself. You probably realize yourself how these false selves are often in conflict with each other. The saint in you has an opinion about the devil in you. The truth is neither the saint nor the devil are you. The devil is your ego, as is the voice of the saint. This is how you fragment yourself. We are not saying that you should go and live out all your urges and desires, but we are saying that it is possible to integrate all aspects of your personality in a wholesome way. Acknowledge first all the drives in you and then do something creative with them.

Being in peace with yourself is the first step to building a peaceful society. Peace, love, and kindness should start with yourself. Stop attacking yourself and accept every part of you; to experience them as they are without judgment is your key to your peace and to becoming whole. Love every part of you, then you will be able to love every person who comes your way. Jesus says you should love your enemy - you should certainly be kind with yourself as well, right? May peace be with you!

By Christian and Su Zhen

Atonement

The other day I wanted to introduce Yom Kippur to our boys so I invited them into our Pooja Room and explained the Jewish tradition of starting the new year by recalling some of the mistakes of the old one with the promise to not repeat them in the future. Our younger boy said with an apologetic tone that he would treat his brother better next year. Our older boy said with a defiant voice that some of his worst mistakes on the baseball field will not happen again in the upcoming season.

So what exactly is Atonement about? I tend to know it when I choose against love. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes when I am cranky or when I have low energy, I know that it happens and my conscience tells me that this lack of love is likely to come back to haunt me one day in some way. But then, there is also the subconscious ballast that we have to throw overboard. Stuff that we do and trust that it is ok with our liberal spiritual mindset; yet, our subconscious system thinks differently. If we listen to our body carefully, we will find this ballast. The psychologists tell us that our body expresses our psychological burden and I believe they are right. One obvious example is a person who is hunched over. The weight of the world is symbolically on his shoulders. Diseases are another example. Louise Hay in 'You can Heal Your Life' has an entire appendix that assigns each disease with its psychological meaning.

If that all sounds complicated to you, let me tell you that it does to me as well. Perhaps it is my Protestant upbringing, but I tend to struggle with the concept of Atonement. I said to the boys on Yom Kippur that they should focus on the good intentions for the upcoming year and that is my approach as well. Whatever the mistake might have been in the past, it will probably come back to you with the reminder to do it better next time around. Focus on that positive fact and don't mind that life will probably shake you up a little to help you to let go of your baggage. Viewed from that perspective, Yom Kippur is every day, an invite to put your best foot forward at this holy moment.

Nightmares

When you wake up and discover that you had a nightmare, do you think about what happened to the others in your dream, or do you reflect on the learning opportunity the nightmare has for you? Life is but a dream as well. Learn, adjust and do better next time, but do not dwell on the past;  it is time to move on and choose love this time around.