Tag Archives: oneness

Sweet Spot

How can you miss something
you never even had?
Miss someone
you never even knew?
Yet that missing,
that longing,
is more real to you
than reality itself.
You try to be grateful,
to be glass half full,
but the empty is ever-present,
inescapable.
All you’ve ever wanted
is a sense of belonging.
Why didn’t anyone ever tell you
that belonging
IS
to be longing?
So the thing you’ve always wanted
has been with you all this time.

And yet that’s no consolation.
The surface where the silken water
meets the life-giving air above it –
that is the sweet spot.
Two elements that can only touch,
but never be one,
except in those rare instances,
when the air swells with moisture
transforming into droplets
falling into the ocean,
finally becoming one.
Or when the water overheats under the sun
transforming into vapor
rising through the sky,
finally becoming one.
Or when my heart swells with longing
transforming into Love,
surrendering to You,
finally becoming One.
Yes, that is the sweet spot.
Being aware of both the lack and the luster,
but embracing life anyway,
all for those rare glimpses of your beloved,
those magical moments you both merge.

Two Worlds

I am an experiment,
but also,
the experimenter.
I love,
yet I am Love.
I give,
though I am also the conduit,
and the receiver, too.
I am everywhere
and nowhere
at once.
I am that subtle scent of lavender
that erupts into the atmosphere
every time you think of me,
those gentle, airy flute notes
hidden in your head.
I am in these words you’re reading,
as they rise off the page,
letters dancing in the air,
swirling away as you jump up
to catch them.
I am the rich burgundy leaf
floating off Autumn’s tree,
resplendent in my being,
respectful in my submission
to the universe and its cycles.
I am the weakening of your legs,
the overflow in your heart,
every time you pass me in the hall –
not me, but the other “me” –
the tangible body,
the enthralling ego.
And though I’ve already turned the corner
and disappeared from sight,
the real “I” still haunts your eye,
still taunts your “I”,
still wants to be seen.
We exist in these two worlds:
one where all we do and say
is restricted, daily,
unless deemed appropriate,
where we are nothing more
than empty appearances
exuding angst and authority.
But in the other,
we are free,
boundless,
alive.
There,
you whisper sweet nothings
straight into my heart,
and I respond,
not with words,
but through the deep knowing
we both share.
In the world of appearances,
we hardly talk,
but in this world
that is realer than real,
we are one.
I am not I,
and you are not you.
Words make no sense
because there’s no sense to be made,
only experiences to be felt,
moments to melt into.

In this moment of timelessness,
this world of oneness,
we merge,
and Oh!
What a divine death it is!
What a blissful burial
of my “I”
and your “you”.

My Perfect Need

What does it mean to perfect my need?

My mind needs peace,
and that, You have granted me,
but Ultimate Peace is only with You.

My body craves pleasure,
and that You have granted me,
but Ultimate Pleasure is only with You.

My soul’s deepest desire
is to return home,
and that You have not granted yet,
but sometimes,
in my most agonizing hours,
my every effervescent moment,
You visit me
like an unexpected guest,
like an illicit lover,
like a powerful king,
like the Master of all that I am
all I ever will be,
and it is for these visits
that I live.

When You created me with Your Perfect Touch,
and sent me far away,
You rooted within me this need,
as a gift to guide me,
as a curse to cure me,
as an anchor to hold me down.

This need has always been perfect.
It is I who is just beginning to embrace it.

The more I voice my need,
the more it gets reflected back to me,
and reflected on to others,
until it grows to gigantic proportions
like a shadow,
like a monster,
glowing from one heart to another,
like love.

Instead of being patient, though,
I’m greedy.
What I really want
is to break through
this prismatic prison,
put an end to
this gleaming dreaming,
open up
this claustrophobic curtain.
I want to leave it all behind
for what lies beyond,
the blinding light,
the timeless,
spaceless,
Oneness,
of You.
Why do You call me closer,
if You don’t mean to let me through?
My need
is eating me
alive.

What can I do?
I must just let go
and fall back
into my skin-wrapped self,
live with limitation,
but also awareness,
that though a reflection does appear
in all the many mirrors I stand before,
it isn’t me I see,
it’s her.

An angel in the making,
rotten to the core,
Your humble servant,
Your sly sinner,
fully flawed,
and human,
bursting
with need.

This need has always been perfect.
It is she who is just beginning to embrace it.

Fairytale Gone Wrong?

Once upon a time, the world was One. It existed in harmony with all the elements of life, like paradise on earth. The laws of nature ran their course for many millenia before humans even entered the picture. Humans brought with them ingenuity, innovation and emotion, but also greed. The best of humanity sought to understand the Universe and live according to its ebbs and flows. They sought just enough to suit their needs and maintain the balance of life.

Then a time came when people saw fit to break the world into pieces, much like a jigsaw puzzle. But where a puzzle is meant to be put back together, these pieces started calling themselves ‘nations’ instead, and believing they were the only ones that mattered. They built fortress-like walls around their borders to protect them from the others. Those who were once their brothers and sisters, were now nothing more than fearsome ‘foreigners’. 

When the land was divided, some got luckier than others, with more resources at their disposal. ‘Sharing’ became a dirty word, while ‘selling’ became everything. Suddenly, the earth, which had been given to us so freely to share and protect, became a product with a price tag. We began to feel ownership over nature, when actually, nature wasn’t subject to any laws other than those dictated by the Universe.

Humans, much like nations, began amassing wealth and resources, at the expense of others. Their brilliance shined through in the systems they created, but their fears of never having enough overshadowed any instinct they had towards helping those in actual need. Children were sent to schools to soak in knowledge, but more often than not, came back having lost their sense of wonder, with brains steeped in facts, mixed messages about life and deep insecurities for the future.

Love, which once came from within and was given freely without expectation, was now shackled by all sorts of restrictions. With the jigsaw movement came rules about who and how it was okay to love, and any deviation from those rules was utter abomination. Love was given an easily commodifiable interpretation, and anyone without such love in their lives felt wholly unworthy. These people made for friends misery and mental anguish, instead. What use was their life if nobody loved them? They forgot they were loved by the most ultimate being of all. They forgot their worth was inherent, their talents essential and their beauty undeniable. They forgot all these things, so the rest of humanity punished them for it.

As is wont to happen in times of great upheaval, there were a few who benefitted from this broken arrangement. They were the ones who kept stoking the fear because they had something valuable to gain – the power to control the narrative. And everyone knows there is no greater power in this world than that. For he who controls the narrative has an army of puppets at his disposal. And puppets who do as they’re told without questioning, are indeed much more dangerous than any fearsome foreigner you could imagine.

The world was sprinting along at a dizzying rate, when she came along. No one had time to pause and reflect for too long because there was always the next project to be done, the next day to get through, the next box to tick mark. There were never enough hours in the day for anything, let alone stopping to appreciate the Universe’s blessings. 

It took the blink of an eye to change all that. The world was overtaken by a common enemy it called Corona. Through her severity and speed, Corona put the world in its place. People began realizing they were not as powerful or untouchable as they had once thought. In fact, they were downright helpless. They’d just never realized it. 

Corona has caused widespread destruction everywhere. But she’s also done something no president, no religious leader, no spiritual guru, prominent businessman or insightful writer has ever been able to do. She has brought the world together. She’s forced people into their homes, made them focus on their families and reflect on the things that truly matter. She’s humbled them, bringing out their best (and sometimes worst).

Corona has delivered a warning for all of humanity: Get your act together. Be united. Live with love, humility and faith. Help each other. There is no hamster wheel of life or ladder to success. There is no point in creating borders and labelling humans. No one ever wins in war. And the only one who is truly in control is the Universe. 

Corona was neither an accident, nor a well-inflicted plan by some enemy combatant. She was sent by the Universe as the ultimate course corrector. Throughout history, whenever the world has gone off balance, the Universe has found a way to restore order. Now, when so many of us have stopped caring about Mother Nature, the Universe has given us a preview of what happens when Mother Nature stops caring about us, too. 

Yes, this is just a preview. But it doesn’t have to be. It all depends on what we decide to do next.

Although we’d like to believe Corona is the enemy, she is actually just a messenger. The question is, are we actually listening to what she has to say? 

Are you? And if so, what is it that you hear?  

When I Sit in Silence

When I sit in silence
with nothing but my thoughts for company,
my consciousness for comfort,
I feel,
palpably,
that something is missing.
For years, I didn’t know what that was.
An absence of goals and dreams?
A lack of purpose?
No connection to a single home,
a stable identity?
The theories behind my inadequacy came and went –
childhood trauma,
young adult depression,
laziness without ambition,
not enough gratitude.
Now I know better.
The thing that’s missing,
the lack of which makes me feel
this unbearable loneliness and deep-seated longing,
is You.
You who created me
and loves me like no other.
You, who are with me,
even when you’re not,
who gifts me moments of work and rest,
glimpses of transcendence and treachery.
Despite all that you have blessed me with –
family, friends, multiple homes, diverse experiences, a world of beauty and amazement –
nothing compares to the feeling
of being
with You.

I miss you always.
I sometimes wonder how I’ll last
with just this tenuous connection between us.
I want more.
Is this what greed is?
Then, truly, I am a greedy person.
Honor, nobility, morality be damned.
You can see right through to the core of my being,
even if no one else can.
I ache for you,
like a child who’s been separated from his mother,
or someone who wants only to be wrapped in her lover’s embrace.
I ache.
And that is the root of all my pain.
Everything else pales in comparison
to the joy of being with you.
Yet I know
that “everything else” is your gift to me,
to keep me balanced,
too distracted to drown
under the weight
of this painful disconnection.

How can I help others to heal
when my own wounds feel so fresh,
so physical?
When will this ache diminish?
How do I move forward in this life
when all I want is to fall back
into You,
when all I can think about
is melting into your embrace
and becoming One
again?

You say heaven or hell lies ahead of us,
on the other side of this life.
I say heaven or hell is right now,
this life and what we make of it.
What, then, waits for us on the other side?
Home?
Perfect union?
Limitless love?

You, with arms outstretched.

All Stories Can Be Summed Up Into This One Line

We are one.

Whether it’s a Regency-era novel or reality TV, self-help books or Sufi poetry, indie movies or Insta highlights – every story we read/hear gives us a peak into someone else’s life.

The story might be set in a past or future landscape, and take place halfway across the world from you. It might be an encapsulation of one person’s emotions or her description of a moment in time. Whatever the story, each one shows us another perspective, another life into which we could have been born. But just because we weren’t, doesn’t mean we can’t try to understand what it’s like to be “other”.

Stories create empathy. They allow us to see ourselves in others. And if we can truly see our reflection in another person, or in several other people, or, indeed, the whole of mankind, we would realize that we’re all the same. We each have a human body with a soul or consciousness. We all go through the same cycles of life and experience the same laws of nature.

If you walked down the street today, and passed by someone who looked exactly like you, perhaps you’d be more likely to smile and say “Hi!” If your enemy suddenly transformed into your mirror image, you’d probably be more likely to resolve your conflicts and forgive him. What if you saw yourself on the news, being attacked or oppressed in some way; wouldn’t you be more likely to help yourself? To speak up, to tell your story, to call out injustice. To create an uproar.

We are one. And like some idiot who hammers nails into his feet and sets his hair on fire, we’re only hurting ourselves by not taking care of each other. It’s only natural for our world to be in pain right now. It’s a symptom of all the damage we’ve inflicted on each other. What’s unnatural is for us – all of us – to not be screaming out in anguish.

Dayton. El Paso. Chicago.

Kashmir. Palestine. Syria.

The Amazon Forest. Our polluted oceans. The toxic atmosphere.

There is no lack of stories to be told, people and places to be cared for. And the great thing is, there is no lack of love in this world, or positive energy with which to spread that love.

So next time you’re walking down the street, see if you can spot yourself – your thoughts, your emotions, your experiences – in the person that passes you by. Then take a moment to wonder what that person’s story might be. The tingle that you feel in your heart? It’s called Empathy, and it’s just another word for Love.

There is a Space

There is a space

where words run out

and logic meets emotion,

the metaphysical meets the metaphorical,

and our entire human experience can be distilled into one basic premise:

Oneness.

Logic tells us we will thrive if we unite, and suffer if we divide.

Emotions tells us it is when we feel connected to, and loved by, others,

that we feel our best.

Science tells us that the planets revolve around the sun,

the electrons around the protons,

and everything around the universal laws of nature.

Our storytellers describe the paths of protagonists as being arduous,

yet surpassable if conquered with others,

and the outcome of villains to be loathsome and lonely.

Just as there exists a soul within each of us,

there exists a collective soul in the entire human race,

an unfolding story,

from Creation till today,

a developing vision,

of tomorrow and beyond.

There is a thread that connects us all,

our predecessors to our progeny,

one race to another,

from tribe to tribe,

and warrior to warrior.

If we acknowledge that bond and base our life around it,

there is no obstacle we cannot overcome,

no goal too far from reach.

But if we ignore the thread, or worse,

forget about it,

even snip ourselves free from its “burden”,

then we are on our own,

each man for himself,

survival of the fittest,

law of the jungle.

Who do you want to be?

What is really in your best interest?

Sure, success is a valid form of measurement,

so long as it’s based on the prosperity of the whole,

not the wealth of the few.

How far we’ve come,

yet how far we’ve fallen.

Do you think there’s still hope?

Well, we are still standing,

at least for now.

Let’s give it our best shot.

Let’s let go of all this disingenuous “othering”,

and allow ourselves to melt into the earth,

and meld into each other.

Magnify our One Voice.

Manifest a future free of fear.

Let’s immerse ourselves

within the space

where words run out

and logic meets emotion,

where what I want

is what you want,

and all we have to do is get there,

together.