It's Oneness, Beloved

I have been contemplating my hedgehog concept since writing about it last week (The Main Thing). If “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” then I want to know what my main thing is.

I can identify guiding principles in my life, such as the practices listed in the 10 Steps, but what is the one that ties them all together? Like the ring in Lord of the Rings. To paraphrase--One main thing to rule them all, one to find them, one to bring them all and in the light bind them.

When asked to describe his religion, the Dalai Lama replied, “My religion is kindness.” That is his main thing.

When I contemplated the theme of my guiding principles, what finally emerged was the concept of oneness. The concept that we are at our core one, one with each other, one with all life, one with God.

A Course in Miracles teaches that all suffering comes from our mistaken perception of separation. When we separate ourselves from each other, we separate ourselves from God. Jesus said that when we serve others, we serve Him. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Someone once asked, “Do we breathe or are we being breathed?” Perhaps there is a divine Oneness breathing life into all living things. We are all joined by this single breath.

Perhaps this is why I love the greeting namaste, which means “I honor the place in you, where if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.”

I mentioned before the sign at Bill Clinton’s campaign headquarters – It’s the economy, stupid. I think I will put a sign up that expresses my hedgehog concept, my main thing – It’s oneness, beloved.

Namaste.