Seeing Unity Today
This morning, I set out to explore the history of poetry. And almost immediately, I discovered a wonderful realm where I found myself contemplating of the unity of humankind and was inspired to write "Seeing Unity Today".
Turns out, the earliest poetry is thought to have been ancient songs to help people remember hymns, chants, genealogies, laws, and such. The rhythm and repetition made it easier to remember important things like religious beliefs and epic stories like the Odyssey. And so, I discovered the Vedas, a large group of texts originating in India and composed in Sanskrit 1500-1000 BC. Being among the oldest poetry known to humankind, the Vedas constitute the oldest religious texts of Hinduism. There are four Vedas, each with four sections. The sub-section related to spiritual knowledge is called the Upanishads. And the first of the principal Upanishads is the Isha Upanishad, "Isha" meaning "lord" and "self".
How does a person become master of herself, thereby mastering life? According to my amateur reading of this text, it is by realizing that she is one with all that is, and embracing it all.
And he who sees all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, he never turns away from it. When to a man who understands, the Self has become all things, what sorrow, what trouble can there be to him who once beheld that unity?
That notion deeply resonated with me. What single thought is at that heart of all strife between people and countries? The illusion that we are on opposite sides, that we separate at all when any distinctions between us are superficial at best. The reality is that we are connected, one family. We are interconnected parts of one living, breathing organism. May I remember that and live according to that truth today.