~ Les Miserables, the musical
We are all, each, someone else's other.
We are all, each, someone else's self.
I'm convinced more and more that the central teaching of Jesus and so many other sages, prophets, and visionaries "to love the other as we love our self" is the only way to truly know and love the Eternal Presence we call "God." In doing so we discover that we are "the light of the world" and "the salt of the earth." Jesus teaches us to be fully human and in the process we discover our divine nature.
Author John Philip Newell shares the following story in his book A New Harmony: The Spirit, the Earth, and the Human Soul:
One day as we sat in the Lal Bagh Gardens, we were approached by an elderly Indian gentleman. He greeted us kindly and entered into conversation. After a few pleasantries, in which I learned that he was a retired banker, he said with a gentle sideways wagging of his head, “I have one question for you. Who are you?” I sensed that he was not asking me what my name was, but, wanting to feel my way into the conversation, I said, “My name is John Philip.” To which he replied, still kindly nodding his head from side to side, “I was not asking you what your name was. I was asking who are you?” So I said to him, “I come from the same One you come from.” This pleased him well enough that he proceeded with our discussion, in which he expounded for me the heart of Hindu wisdom. He spoke of the Self within all selves and of true self-knowledge as consisting of an awareness that our selves are rooted in the One who is at the heart of all life. He then said, with an even more emphatic wagging of his head, “I must be going now, but I have one final thing to say to you. You are God. And until you realize you are God, you will not be wise, you will not be happy, and you will not be free. Namaste.”
What if God were one of us? Namaste!
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
I recently did an interview about my book "Hidden In His Own Story..." with Ron Way of "Author Talk."
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