The story of the six blind men and the elephant

 It was six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the elephant,

—though all of them were blind—

that each by observation

might satisfy his mind.

John Godfrey Saxe 

You may remember the story of the six blind men who all described the elephant from their vantage point. They all described their respective experiences—body like a wall, tusk like a spear, trunk like a snake, knee like a tree, ear like a fan, tail like a rope—but together they couldn’t come up with anything.

Likewise in spirituality, we have six approaches to get our arms around the illusionary nature of self to be united in Oneness.

Knowing     Understanding the illusionary nature of psychological self 

Meditation     Experiencing the stillness of mind

The Way     Perceiving the flow of life

Love     Grasping the oneness of everything via the heart center 

Energy     Activating the seven energy centers 

Healing     Letting go of psychological baggage

The irony is that Oneness can be perceived through all dimensions yet the practitioners sometimes mistrust each other just as much as the six blind men of Hindustan do. It’s a pity!