Lesson 11: Oneness

Interpersonal Oneness

We should never allow ourselves to feel separate and apart from God or our fellow human beings; for what affects our neighbor on the other side of the world affects us.  The people of the earth are one great family.  We should love without distinction, knowing that God is in all. (A Search For God, Book I)

Each soul is just as each atom, as each corpuscle.  For, remember, ye are as corpuscles in the body of God.  Each with a duty, a function to perform if the world would be better for thou having lived in it, and this is thy purpose in the earth.  (3481-2)

In almost every lesson thus far there has been an emphasis on interpersonal relations.  Each soul has its being as a corpuscle within the body of God.  Thus God is within each person.  How you treat others is how you treat God.

Manifesting the fruits of the spirit (kindness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, charity, etc) is an expression of the oneness of all humanity. 

Application: Meditate on the oneness of all humanity.  Ask within yourself: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Try to go through an entire day by consciously recognizing the God within each person you meet. 

Resource: Good Vibrations (Reply)

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Ecological Oneness

… he who understands nature walks close with God.  (1904-2)

God seeks all to be one with Him. And as all things were made by Him, that which is the creative influence in every herb, mineral, vegetable, or individual activity is that same force ye call God – and seeks expression! Even as when God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. For, this is law; this is love.  (294-202)

… all natural forces are of one source.  So is self!  and so is self's mental vision, and attuning self to these – making one's will one WITH that Creative Energy – out of same grow the WONDERFUL things in man's MIND, or the beautiful things as come in nature; for it IS Nature's and God's law.  (2756-1)

For, the entity was only just coming to that awareness of beauty of associations, of friendships, of the beautiful outdoors, nature, flowers, birds, and of God's manifestations to man of the beauty, of the oneness of purpose with individual activities in nature itself … (3162-1)

Ecological awareness has certainly grown in prominence in recent decades.  And yet, in many key respects, the world is still a mess.  There is a short-sightedness that fails to recognize the oneness and connection of all living things on this planet.

As a spiritual being, ecological awareness of oneness is an affirmation that the world is an expression of the divine mind.  The universe itself can be regarded as existing within the mind of God.  We are co-creators with the Divine.

Application: Take some new and specific action or behavior to express an ecological awareness of oneness with nature.  Take this to a spiritual level, rather than allowing it to be simply a matter of biology or social correctness. 

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Transcending Dualism

Unity is perhaps the most difficult truth that we have to realize and manifest, although it is evinced all about us… Strive to see God in every one as well as in every thing.  (A Search For God, Book I)

(Q)  Explain how so called good and evil forces are one.
(A)  This has just been explained.  When there is delegated power to a body that has separated itself from the spirit (or coming from the unseen into the seen, or from the unconscious into the physical consciousness, or from God's other door – or opening from the infinite to the finite), then the activity is life; with the will of the source of that which has come into being.  (262-52)

Seeing the connectedness of all experience, even when mesmerized by the appearance of duality is a challenge.  It is common for humans to think in terms of good and bad, right and wrong, black and white, up and down, etc. 

The call to oneness and unity is a challenge to transcend these categories and experience life in its totality as an expression of the One. For example, oneness avoids rigidity in morality and ethics by recognizing the law of love as the one criteria for assessing morality and ethics.

Application: Do a list or inventory of dualistic or polarizing ideas and experiences that you believe or trust.  With each item, reflect on how the dualism or polarity can be viewed in the service of oneness and unity.  NOTE: This is an advanced exercise, so if you find it confusing at first you might want to look over the Resource below before attempting Application.

Resources: Transcending Dualism (Reply), Oneness As The Unity Of God (Reply), Oneness Of Good And Evil (Reply)