Coexistence and Essential Oneness
Coexistence is a way to experience our Essential Oneness in
our daily life. It is a beautiful word, a worthy ideal…like an elegant dance
where we live our own life while accepting the ways of others.
Yet coexistence can also be much more difficult to attain
than we think, because our unique way can often feel threatened by the ways of
others. This may lead us to compare ourselves with others and even attempt to
define our way as somehow better.
But it can be done. When I was in Chile over a month ago, I
gave a seminar in a town whose mayor is trying to bring the reality of
coexistence into practice. The town hopes to build temples for the three major
religions of the western world—a synagogue, a church, and a mosque. Two of
them, the church and the mosque, have already been built. And it was
interesting to see that his inspiration actually worked. People from different
religions participate peacefully in their spiritual practices at their
corresponding temples. In addition, the mosque has a library that can be used
by people of different religions and backgrounds to offer talks and
seminars. I had not been in a town
before in Latin America with a conscious intention to practice coexistence, so
I felt hopeful and impressed. I have heard there are other towns and cities
like this one around the world…but not enough yet.
Coexistence is not only about learning to live with other
people, but also with animals and
plants and the land. Life naturally coexists; ecosystems are a form of
coexistence. Plants and animals
share their existence with the land. They are not separate from the universe,
or each other. They are an integral part of everything. In their own way, they
live in paradise.
But as human beings develop the capacity to differentiate
from our environment, when we develop a sense of I and you, we leave the
natural way of being and enter the realm of separation from life. Then we begin
to see ourselves as different from everyone and everything else. We experience
our uniqueness; and frequently in this process we forget our similarity with
all.
In this way coexistence confronts us with the difference
between our idea of essential oneness and the here-and-now reality of living it
with other unique beings. Coexistence demands a quality of tolerance, of
looking at what we have in common rather than stressing our differences. It
means to live with one another in an open and respectful way towards both
ourselves and all.
Coexistence does not mean to give up one’s traditions and
ways, but rather to enjoy the diversity and uniqueness that the whole of life
is, while perceiving the oneness that unites us underneath the variety of forms
of expressions of existence. It means experiencing our essential oneness by
consciously coexisting with the whole of life on this plane of reality—the
plane of the opposites—on our own. We can try it, enjoy it, and encounter its
difficulties.
Coexistence is a way to live our individuality within
diversity. It is an experience of sameness and difference at the same
time. It is an experience of
Reality.
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| Universal Worship Mandala, Art by Amara Karuna |
