"I", which we mistake to be a little "I", limited [separate], is not only my "I", but yours, the "I" of everyone, of the animals, of the angels, of the lowest of the low. That "I am" is the same in the murderer as in the saint, the same in the rich as in the poor, the same in man as in woman, the same in man as in animals. From the lowest amoeba to the highest angel, He resides in every soul, and eternally declares, "I am He, I am He."
Vivekananda, Complete Works (1.4 Lectures and Discourses, page 190; Kindle)
Now I believe that spacious, nonjudgemental, nondiscriminating backdrop of "I am" is in all of us. I do. We are all embedded with this "I am" that Vivekananda lectured about, "the field" that Einstein spoke about... the Kingdom of Heaven Christ preached about...or the sky the Buddha taught about. I call it God (you can call it whatever you want) and I think of the sky.
One Spacious, Infinite Sky
There is one spacious blue sky/space/emptiness/sunyata. It is everywhere, all the time, and in everything. It is spacious and infinite, unlimited. We narrow our focus, however, so much that we fail to see how spacious this sky is...how it is in everything, how it is everywhere.
If we even dare to look up, we see this little bit of sky that is before us and claim it as "My, Mine, and Me". We become this narrow, little limited version of what we are focusing on: a small section of often cloudy sky with all its storms and its breaks....different, distinct, comparable, personal, and separate from all the other cloudy sections of sky. Things like clouds will form and pass by on this backdrop. Many of us, then, become so focused or so "overwhelmed" by the clouds that pass by (or linger for what seems like so long) over this idea of "me"/little "I", that we do not see the blue sky beneath them. We forget that infinite and bright expanse is there, let alone recognize ourselves as that sky or that "I am".
We desperately seek breaks in this cloud cover so we can see the sky...find our bits of joy...not realizing that we are the sky beneath the cloud cover and that all we have to do is fall back into who we are to float in this endless sky, in the everlasting joy that is its nature. We don't see this because we are paying too much attention to this tiny section of cloud cover we personalized as "me".
Expanding the Focus
We can expand our focus. We can stand back as humans and view this sky in panoramic view. That is a step forward.
Yet, when I expand my gaze...it seems through the eyes of "me" that is looking over at the other sections of sky ...that some parts of the sky are cloudier, darker, heavier than others. And I ask the question, I asked yesterday..."Why? Why do some people seem to have more clouds over their section of sky ?"
Varying Degrees?
If I think of clouds as those things that store our impressions, our expereinces, I cannot help but ask: Why are some sections of sky heavier and darker than others? Why is it so hard for some humans to see a tinge of blue beneath psyches' accumulations? Why is the cloud cover different from one person to teh next? Thus the questions about the effects of the amount and intensity of life challange/circumstances, biology, neuropsychiatry, personality traits, genetics, collective unconscious, and Karma on our pscyches accumulations come into my mind.
Why are so many of us standing here on Earth...so trapped in our human form...focused on or overwhelmed by different levels of cloud cover which appear to pass slowly or quickly by at varying levels of degree and intensity? Why do some of us tend to store Life's evaporations in light, fluffy Cumulus clouds while others store theirs in dark, stormy nimbus clouds. Why do so many of us have this sense of being poured upon by what we stored in these clouds when others see more blue sky (even if they are far from evolved or aware of what it is they are looking at)? Why are there varying degrees of suffering and darkness amongst the human population? Why can't we all be like the enlightened being behind the cloud cover, wrapped in blue spaciousness and freedom, looking down through the clouds at the human in us?
We Know Who We Are
We know, at some deep level, the field is there governing every particle. We know, in some explicable way we cannot articulate with mere words, the Kingdom of Heaven is within. We know, beyond our intellectual understanding of things, we are the infinite blue sky of awareness, consciousness. We know, whether we have heard of yoga or not, we are Sat Chit Ananda ( eternal, consciousness and bliss). We know, at our cores, even if that truth is buried beneath heavy cloud cover, that there in just One "I am" in everything and that "I am" is in us. We are that "I am."
Every one of us has our holiness, because we have the Buddha within us. When the Buddha is alive inside us we don't suffer, and happiness is possible. Thich Nhat Hanh, Fear, page 78 ( Harper One, 2012)
Our mission as human beings is to somehow see all this cloud cover that seems to be holding us back as nothing. Our mission is to fall back behind the cloud cover to the spaciousness of what is. Our mission is to reconnect with who we are. We are awareness, consciousness. We are the "I am" in everything.
For whatever reason, some of us have more work to do than others in this life time, more cloud cover to cut through. Regardless where you are and how much storm or potential for storm you seem to be staring at...remember...please remember...the blue sky is there beneath it all. It never once went away, nor will it.
Take a deep breath and fall back into it!
The field is the soul governing agency of the particle.
Einstein
All is well.
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