The Separation
In the very beginning, before time, space and the physical universe were created, All That Is was all that existed. Everything was in the mind of God.
According to ancient, mystical teachings, our souls came from that mind. But, within that incomprehensible mind or the Absolute, God and our souls could only know things. We could not experience and feel what we knew.
In order to experience and feel, God created the physical universe in which everything that existed, including emotions, had an exact opposite. That is the only way it can work. To experience and feel cold, hot has to exist, to feel joy its opposite, sadness, must exist... and so on.
Our Source created our souls as fragments or extensions of Itself. As such, those souls retained a portion of God's consciousness. We were also gifted with free will and the ability to create whatever we wanted.
At the right moment, we would be released into the material universe of opposites so that we could experience and feel all that it had to offer. And God was to experience and feel the universe through each and every one of us. Just as importantly, we would be an expression of our Creator wherever we wandered through the cosmos.
As spirits, we entered the physical universe to create, to do whatever we wanted and to experience and feel all of it. We were also aware that there were higher, love-based and lesser, fear-based choices that we were always free to make.
We also knew that God's love for us was unconditional, that no matter what we did we would be loved. That part of the original plan guaranteed that all us would become ONE again, as we were in the beginning, when God decided to someday recall all that had been sent forth.
As we entered the universe and roamed through its infinite wonders, immense groups of souls split into smaller groups and these smaller groups separated into races, the races divided into families, and so on, until individual souls existed.
Eventually, the human race came upon Earth, a truly beautiful paradise. We recognized it as a place of 3-dimensional physicality, which was vibrating at a rate that was much slower than our spirit form. And yet its beauty was so breathtaking that we decided to see what it would be like to experience and feel all that it had to offer.
In order to do this, we had to slow our vibrations down and materialize into physical, (flesh) form.
We realized that by materializing into physical form we were faced with two options. One was to appreciate physical existence, but not get attached to it. The other was to get fully involved and caught up in its material pleasures. If we chose the latter, we knew that we'd risk losing our centeredness and connection with God. That is exactly what happened. This is called the separation or the Fall of mankind.
After we entered the Earth's plane and remained for longer periods of time in physical form, our consciousness became more ego-centered rather than God-centered. And the separation from the One became greater over the ages.
Not only did we separate from our Source, we separated more and more from ourselves as a family of souls. We were no longer one with each other or our God. With time, we've simply forgotten who we really are and that all of us are ONE.
The separation from God and ourselves brought on more ego-based, self-centered thinking. The self-centeredness then led to excessive selfishness and self-gratification. This, in turn, resulted in separation and greed. All of this has lead to a life that is motivated by fear and ego so that we can survive in physical reality.
Another by-product of separation is our pain and suffering. It originates from the belief that we are separate from our Source and ourselves. How does it work? By believing we are separate, we end up making selfish, self-centered choices, which then creates karma that causes suffering and pain. The accumulation of negative karma subsequently returns to us through the universal law of cause and effect. That is, what we put out comes back to us in this life or future lifetimes.
Our delusion, or the material dream that we are separated from the ONE and ourselves, and the selfishness that results from it all, is the root cause of all of the problems we face here on Earth. This way of thinking has also created a new mindset for each of us, which supports the illusion that we are indeed separate from one another.
How have our separate ways of thinking caused problems? Very simple. It has led to...
- our race is better than your race
- our religion is the only one that will get you to God
- the final score shows we are the winners and you
are the losers
- our way is the only right way
- our political system is superior to yours
- men are smarter than women
- white skin is better than black skin
- Native Americans belong on reservations
- Indigenous people are savages
- and so on
How do we change all of this? We cannot change the world. However, we can change ourselves. Don't fight the separate, selfish part of you... your ego. That will only give it more energy to resist your efforts.
The best way to heal the selfish, self-centered part of our nature is to love it unconditionally and put to it in proper perspective. How do we do that? By simply loving one's self and all things unselfishly. And by being caring, forgiving, humble, understanding, and harmless. We must try to live a life of unselfishness in all that we do.
This will take quite a bit of effort and many lifetimes to achieve. But it can be done. In the process, all of the many false, negative beliefs we have accumulated over so many lifetimes will begin to dissolve away with the fears that motivated them in the first place. In essence, we will have to reverse and then heal everything that got each of us to this point on our path throughout the ages. All of it must eventually be resolved with unselfish, compassionate, forgiving, love.
What happens when we choose a life of unselfish love?
Enlightenment results, which will only come when we have experienced the “death" of the separate, selfish self we have become, and live in total harmony and oneness with the Universal Spirit. In doing so we become a servant and vehicle for God's will. At that point our pain and suffering will finally end.