ONE AND NOW ARE ONE

If we are not prepared to realize the unity of life, the Lord in his infinite love will let us suffer until we are forced to change our ways. -- Eknath Easwaran, "Words to Live By," November 8.

The "realization of the unity of life" is awakening to the reality of Oneness. That awakening opens us to the realization of Now, the fact that One and Now are inseparable...one is now is one.

Further, per Easwaran, The grace of God sometimes comes in the form of sorrow. Since the qualifier is, "If we are not prepared to realize the unity of life...," I'd say that by our degree of resistance to sorrow, to pain (to anything our ego-victory minds will not accept, actually), we set the bar for our own misery.

I've ever been drawn to the movement of non-violence...victory through non-violence (to me, non-resistance). The Civil Rights movement, the life and acts of Gandhi, for example. It seems to me one's very soul must be prepared to accept the fact of pain if one is truly resolved to achieve victory through non-violence. I can't imagine how one could do that without an equal resolve to forgive, to live forgiveness for those dealing out the pain as they are dealing out the pain. 

I remember the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, and the fact that those who boycotted...non-violently...won sang in my heart. The best part, I've come to realize, is that by their winning, both sides won for they all came out the better for it...whether or not all knew it.

Keeping it simple (for my own self), resistance is self-will, non-resistance is God's will, and I'd rather have God's will done in my life than my will...no matter what my ego-victory mind says.

Thank You.