We are all waves in life’s vast ocean. No matter how we appear, we are all unique and never-to-be-repeated expressions of that one consciousness.
In our relative identity as waves, we appear to be separate from each other. There is a ‘you’ wave over there and a ‘me’ wave over here, at two different points in space and time. I have a name and age, gender, skin colour, size, and so on, and so do you, and on this level, we cannot deny our relative differences. But as separate waves, we never truly meet.
However, beyond our differences there is an underlying unity, as the great spiritual teachings throughout the ages have always been reminding us.
For in our true identity prior to concepts, prior to form, prior to space and time, no matter how we appear, no matter how we ‘show up’ in the world, we are all the same ocean, nameless, ageless, formless. On this level, so to speak, we are not separate at all, and never were – indeed, there is no ‘me’ or ‘you’ in the first place to be separate or not separate. As the ocean, we are already meeting, deeply.
Love is not a feeling or even an experience – it is the timeless recognition that, although ultimately there is no ‘you’ and no ‘me’, as consciousness itself I am what you are. We are all expressions of the same underlying reality, different in appearance but the same in essence, and so what I call ‘other’ is actually myself in disguise, and what I call ‘over there’ is really here. And so I don’t need to love you, I don’t need to “do” love – I simply recognise that I am you. Who recognises? Exactly.
Understanding “there is no me” or “there is only Oneness” with the intellect is a beautiful first step. But it is only that – a first step, and not the final truth, however much thought loves the idea of a “final truth”.
Seeking and suffering do not end with intellectual understanding, however beautiful that is. Truly recognising this love, truly seeing it for yourself – this intimacy, this non-separation – recognising it in everyone you meet, knowing them as none other than yourself, that’s where this teaching moves off the page and into lived experience, where words dissolve into wordless reality, where the whole kaboodle moves from the head into the heart. For what is wisdom without love, and what is clarity without compassion? What is the ocean, without its beloved waves?
The ocean waves to us through the illusion of “other”.