Oneness and Allness

"To be alone is to be separated from infinity, but how can this be if infinity has no end? No one can be beyond the limitless, because what has no limits must be everywhere. There are no beginnings and no endings in God, Whose universe is Himself. Can you exclude yourself from the universe, or from God Who is the universe? I and my Father are one with you, for you are part of Us. Do you really believe that part of God can be missing or lost to Him?" -- A Course in Miracles

Oneness is beyond what our minds can grasp. We can think about it, we can conceptualize it, we can make up stories and fantasies about it... but the mind which dissects, measures, compares, and analyzes by holding things separate and apart can never know itself as a part of the One.

Oneness requires a widening of perception. This is what I call 'widening back', like climbing a mountain for the perspective it brings. This is only a step in knowing Oneness. From a larger perspective, we start to see that it might just be true that all is One, and that nothing is what it seems. But what is required to know Oneness is to let go of wanting to be separate.

This longing for autonomy is the source of all suffering. The Buddha said that desire is the source of all suffering... and what is desire but the longing for separate interests and special gratification? Even the desire to join with another person is based on individual preferences. In other words, we want what we want, as a separate being in a separated world. Who, what, and where are beside the point.

Desire is not bad or wrong. It's just that when you look at life from a separated mind, you suffer, subtly or obviously, sooner or later. Period. Because the separated mind is not Home. It's a lie, and not the Truth about Who You Are. How can Allness desire anything? How can Oneness desire more than its Allness?

The comfort in knowing the Allness of God and therefore our Self is beyond measure. As ACIM reminds us, we are forever free of all limits, safe and whole, and forever free to forgive our false perceptions and change our minds about the world.

"The ego made the world as it perceives it, but the Holy Spirit, the reinterpreter of what the ego made, sees the world as a teaching device for bringing you Home. Correct and learn, and be open to learning... You who made delay can leave time behind simply by recognizing that neither beginnings nor endings were created by the Eternal, Who placed no limits on His creation or upon those who create like Him. The laws of the Universe do not permit contradiction. What holds for God holds for you." -- A Course in Miracles