BELIEVE IT!

A human being is part of the whole, called by us "universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for  us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all  living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. -- Albert Einstein

All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.... -- William Shakespeare, "As You Like It," Act 11, Scene VII

There is no Gertrude to protect. -- The words spoken to my friend Gertrude when she was planning an ocean voyage and asked her spiritual director for a prayer to protect her.

There it is...a  genius scientist, an equal-in-genius poet, and a hometown, but brilliant, spiritual director all saying the same thing: We are One. You, me, Ruckus, Aslan, Pope Francis, a rattlesnake and a porcupine...the universe and all in it...we are One.

Interestingly, I found it easier to believe, to accept, Einstein than I did my friend Gertrude's spiritual director. And I know that would be true even if it was Pope Francis who had said "There is no Gertrude to protect." I'd hope, but I only really believed when I read Einstein.

We are born into the material world, we will depart from the material world, and our work in between need only be in detaching from the material mind. (It is easier to believe coming from a high-flying mind than from a deeply spiritual soul, though, isn't it?)

Thank you.