thehealingjournal.com: June- July 2007 - Inspirations – Magic Doorways: Point One Percent of Separation, by Devrah Laval

Anyone who is even remotely interested in spirituality has heard about Oneness – the idea that there is no separation between us and all other beings. Oneness is a great concept, but how does it relate to our everyday lives? How can we look and think so differently and yet be One with everyone else, especially those who cause us distress? And why, if we are all One, do we have so much antagonism, hatred and war in our world? The 13th century Sufi poet and saint, Jelaluddin Rumi, answered this question by saying, “God made man to play the game of love with himself.” In his poem, Seeking the Source, he urges us to “make your last journey / from this strange world / soar for the heights / where there is no more / separation of you and your home.” According to Rumi, separation is intended to create such an acute intensity of longing that the soul experiences great ecstasy upon the final return to God.

So now we are living with separation every day. Or are we? Not according to the scientific evidence. Geneticist Dr. Aaron Shafer of Stanford University tells us, “The DNA sequence in your genes is on average 99.9% identical to that of any other human being.” Therefore, only .1% of our DNA is responsible for all of the differences that we see in the people around us.

Essentially, we are all of the same substance. So whether we hate each other or love one another, we are, for the most part, all One.

For centuries, the great religious leaders have exhorted us to accept our Oneness with God and each other. Unfortunately, we have been unable to do this because this world focuses solely on the .1%. And because our attention goes to our differences, we judge, compete with, compare to, and fear what we don’t know or can’t understand. This ultimately leads to some form of war – from a relatively mild argument with a friend to a full-on attack on another country.

Feeling separate from God and from each other can make us feel depressed, sad or frustrated. This can lead to addictions, not just to drugs and alcohol but also to television, The Internet, food, sex, chocolate – the possibilities are endless.

It is in the experience of merging into the sensations arising from that person or treat that we lose ourselves. In that moment, our differences vanish and we feel the ecstasy of Oneness. But if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that our distractions never make us feel ecstatic for very long.

Another symptom of our .1% separation is resistance and judgement. Because we are out of touch with the 99.9% that we share with all human beings, we fall prey to destructive emotions such as anger, greed, hatred, pride, lust and so on. Separation from others is like cutting off our nose to spite our face.

But all is not lost! By changing the prescription of our glasses, we can see this obsession with the .1% and the suffering it causes, as simply the soul’s longing for God. We can then rescue ourselves from swimming endlessly in the muck and mire of all of life’s dramas and return to living in the 99.9% of Oneness.

Why settle for a few pennies when we can have infinite wealth?

When we are caught in the grip of separation, there are doorways we can walk through, doorways that allow us to glimpse the power of the True Self, doorways that allow us to shift our consciousness to the 99.9% that we share with all other human beings. The reward is living from a place that is constantly engaged in ecstatic bliss – far more bliss than even chocolate can give us!

Speaking of chocolate, here is a simple technique that can act as a doorway through which you can glimpse your True Nature.

Next time you eat a chocolate, close your eyes and allow it to melt. Stay with the delicious sensation. Then remove the label, “chocolate,” and stay with the sensation that remains. If you allow yourself to dissolve into the sensation, you will begin to experience the ecstasy of “I am One with everything.”

The chocolate is simply a doorway that allows you to experience what you already are and can access at any time. Do this exercise using any other desirable sensation as a focus, until you no longer need one.

People whom we judge or blame present another opportunity to transcend separation. Next time you feel like judging or blaming someone, ask yourself, “What part of me is similar to them?” When you contemplate this question seriously, you can begin to see a world in which you truly know and experience Oneness with all others. What we hate in others exists within ourselves, as do those things that we love in others.

When we can see others in this way, Oneness ceases to be a concept. Our life becomes one of unconditional love for Self and others. By remembering that every bit of separation that we encounter is only .1% of the whole and that all of our “negative” experiences are just reminders to turn our attention to the Infinite, we can use the power of Oneness to create a world of Love.

Play the game of separation and Oneness like a passionate lover of the Truth. Endeavour to reconnect with Love and Oneness with the same longing that you have for any worldly pleasure. Let’s not waste precious time being tricked by the limitations of the .1%.

Decoding Darkness

(Poem excerpted from The Magic Doorway into the Divine)

How is it that this beautiful earth is so filled with pain and darkness?
Who allowed such beauty to be destroyed and people to be veiled so completely?
What dark forces of denial programmed us to look at all that we are not, rather than at all that we are?
Who wanted us to be robotic and unquestioning rather than alive, feeling and knowing beings?
It’s as if a circle of silent denial has been drawn about us to make us weak and believe lies.
Someone must be very afraid of the great power that we all are to go to so much trouble to hide it from us.

Devrah Laval is the author of The Magic Doorway into the Divine. Please address any comments or questions to: devrahlaval@telus.net or visit www.themagicdoorway.com

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