THIS WEEK

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Enlightenment

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"Make me One with Everything"

A friend told me about an experience they had long ago, they had flown a small plane into a desert to picnic with their spouse and young children. It was a beautiful day in the vast expanse of solitude and she was suddenly inspired to take off all her clothes and go walking out in the desert Sunshine. As she felt her feet on the sand, the breeze on her skin, the Sun on her body, an impression grew that she was part of the all of everything, in some deep way that she had never experienced before, the desert flowers, the clouds in the sky, the breath moving through her nostrils, her heart and her lungs, her muscles and bones, were all of a single flowing intelligence. That the separation experience she was accustomed to was all an illusion.

And I recalled an experience I had several decades ago, I was walking through Manhattan in mid-day, and I became acutely aware of the people walking past me. At first I had the experience of judgement, interpreting assumptions based on how they looked, the expressions in their faces, the mood of their movements. But then suddenly my experience shifted and I felt the distinct humanity of each person I passed. I was in their body, their clothes, in their motive, in their life, their children, their job, moving through this shared landscape. It seemed I became them, just for a few moments, and then the next person, and the next. Everyone I allowed my eyes to land on, I became. And for several minutes, all of my judgement assumptions vanished and I felt like we were all one kind of shared personhood.

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The Circle Is Open!

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Seven Daughs