Oneness Vision

I have a confession to make... 

I have a tendency to put things into categories just so I can make sense of them.  Sometimes I do that to people, too. 

I'll say, "Well, that's just the way she is..."  Or "What do you expect from that kind of person." "He'll never change." 

And then there's my own "I always do that."   

I've also struggled when I interpret circumstances in ways that aren't entirely helpful.  I often imagine that the Universe is out to get me when I can't find my keys.  Or I'll take an innocuous comment and turn it into an indictment of my very personhood.  

I've learned that I'm not the only one who does this... most of us do.  

It's easier to divide things, to see the world in dualistic terms.  When you live this way, you can simplify everything into either/or categories, and you can always be the hero (or the victim) of your own story. 

This is not how we are meant to live, though. The Divine Image within us is not divided, not defined in dualistic terms.   

The lenses with which we view the world are often distorted and blurry, but we have been given the gift of sight beyond sight by the One who desires more for us.  We are imbued with the vision of Oneness. 

Unfortunately, we do everything that we can to keep from seeing the world through our Oneness lens.  We do this because to do so would blow up our neat categories, and would cause us to have to live with some measure of ambiguity. 

This past year has been filled with ambiguities, and I know that I speak for most of us when I say that it has been disorienting at best and absolutely painful at worst.  

For many of us, all we want to do is keep those categories going, and hold our Oneness vision at bay.  We want the world to make sense in the way we want it to make sense.  We want to deal with it all on our terms. 

We might lose joy and hope in the process, but we decide it's a small price to pay for a more black and white world with clear delineations that we draw over and over again until they seem tattooed on our hearts. 

Maybe what we all need is to fall in love with mystery.  Maybe we need to rid ourselves of our need to have everything make sense and fit neatly together in a way that keeps us from wondering. 

Patrick Borland recently wrote that mystery:  

"... doesn't mean that something is unknowable, it merely points to the fact that there are endless ways of seeing the same thing."  

I found this so beautiful and unnerving at the same time.  

This is the essence of Oneness seeing.  It doesn't mean that there isn't any right or wrong way of seeing.  It means that there are simply many paths to meaning, and to try and categorize them all does violence to faith... and prohibits trust.  

The ambiguities make more sense when they are seen through the eyes of Oneness.  They can be beautiful in their infinite variety--a kaleidoscope of possibilities that require us to rely on the One who has given us the gift of mystery, and the Oneness vision to see it everywhere. 

Jesus tried to teach his followers about this gift that they had within them.  He told stories that turned their expectations and their world upside down.  He confounded their notions of how and to whom grace is given.  

Then he died and was raised to new life, which defied every category his followers could have created.  It was the ultimate demonstration of Oneness.  

May you find moments today to recalibrate the way you see the world, and embrace the gift of your Oneness vision.  

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.