Underneath everything I share is the realization of oneness. This means that underlying all of life and everything else in the universe, there is a single source and we are that source, and it can be directly experienced as cosmic consciousness. I don’t teach this because it is the only valid point of view. I teach it because it has liberated me to a degree that I never imagined possible, and I cannot not share it.
There are times when I share about this underlying wholeness and people feel it necessary to add to it that our lives as individuals on Earth are also important. They fear that by overemphasizing unity, I encourage people to undervalue their lived experience of being human.
I can understand the concern. The profound detachment from our normal experience of life that cosmic consciousness initiates, can be confused with negative disassociation. And I know it does happen that people have spiritual emergencies in which the idea of higher consciousness becomes an escape from the pain of life, and they fall into a disassociated state. Whenever I teach a retreat or a program in which the real possibility of a dramatic shift in consciousness exists, I am careful to make people aware of this hazard and give them tools for re-grounding themselves if they ever even begin to feel negatively disassociated.
As I said, I can understand the concern, but I can’t entirely relate to it myself. Cosmic consciousness for me didn’t leave me feeling in anyway separate or disassociated from my human life. In fact, it unleashed a torrent of love, wisdom, and purpose into my life in a way that I could never have imagined.
Inherent in the experience of cosmic consciousness is the realization that you were not born on your birthday, and you will not die at the time of physical death. You are the source of existence itself, eternal and everlasting. This is not just an idea or a belief; it is the direct felt experience of who you are. It is as obvious as the back of your hand, and as clear as the fact that you stand on Earth. You can’t forget it any more than you can forget to be alive.
Can you imagine how liberating that is? Suddenly there is nothing to fear. You don’t have to protect yourself even from death. You are radically free to live fully and uninhibitedly. Suddenly there are no limits and no constraints. This is it. You are here. There is nothing to wait for.
The second realization inherent in cosmic consciousness is as explosive as the first. As our consciousness expands into non-dual oneness, we see that the source of our being is an outpouring of pure love. This is the holy grail. You don’t look down at yourself or anyone else struggling to survive on Earth with disdain, you look down with eyes wet with tears so full of love and compassion that all you want to do is serve.
Your heart is unleashed to care for human life, and life in general, without any bounds. You care so much about your own physical existence, the existence of every other living creature, and of the entire Earth. There is no longer any underlying fear that could keep you from caring. There are no self-protective inclinations to constrain you. You are not driven by lack anymore, you are driven by possibility. You see the miracle of existence and you want that to be felt, experienced, and lived in all ways by everyone.
This unbridled passion for life is what moves me to teach cosmic consciousness and non-dual oneness. Perhaps I was lucky, and I know this is not everyone’s experience, but it is the only experience I have to share. I certainly don’t want anyone to follow this path that doesn’t feel authentically called to it and I will always do my best to make the journey as safe as possible.
For weeks I have been declaring 2023 a year of radical transformation and a big part of what that transformation means for me is for more and more of us to join in oneness so the infinite heart of the cosmos can shine universal love ever more brightly through us into the world.