One and All

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Who am I?
Am I real, or do I only think I am?
When my body’s done, what will happen next?
Will I still be myself?
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A hundred strong, we’ve come here from across the world
To be together, sharing love, stepping forth as one.
I’m a member of this group.
That’s who I really am.
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Each of us who’s here is one, and also All.
Each, like me,
A raindrop in the showers falling gently on God’s earth.
A single note singing out within the universal chord of praise,
A hue that lights the rainbow spectrum of the spirit,
A voice in never-ending choral love,
A wave that meets the earth in ocean’s dance.
I am, like each, a one; Each one is also All.
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Reflection
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I once had a parrot who could imitate sounds perfectly. I was amazed that, where I heard one blended sound in the squeak of a hinge or the tone of a bell, he obviously heard every single harmonic and tone that made up the whole sound. Inexplicably, when he made his perfect echoes of the sounds he heard, he produced many, many tones simultaneously, parsing out and singing forth all the strands making up the one unified sound. I felt great awe when i realized how complex a single sound is, and how each strand within it contributes to creating the whole. 

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Similarly, I’ve experienced the complexity of a beam of light.   I remember a mystical moment in which I perceived I had left my body and entered into the most beautiful, loving, soft rainbow light. I was united with the light. My heart felt bliss. But I still marveled at the infinite variety of single hues that composed that amazing light. They were at least as numerous as the stars in the sky on a clear night. 

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These perceptions taight me to appreciate the way in which all experiences contain complex blends of elements, each one essential to the nature of the moment.  The same is true within groups of living beings. 

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Recently, at our wedding, over 150 guests came from all over the country to celebrate together. We spent the weekend becoming a single blended family. The shared love felt awesome – transcendent. Each person contributed his or her unique love and spirit to the blend; and the group’s existence magnified the joy and power that transcended any one person’s single being. Together, we manifested and experienced infinite love and joy.

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This week, our class has come together in a similar way, expressing the loving energy and knowledge of the greater whole. We are as waves, raindrops, hues, tones, voices; Our hearts, minds, and love gloriously ilumine and blend our shared experience. We can rejoice to be an each within the All. I feel deeply grateful and blessed.