Commonly Asked Questions About Being Ourself
Responded to by the Author
Responded to by the Author
Q: What is Ourself?
A: Ourself is the source and substance of everything and
everybody, everywhere. It is reality-- seen and unseen, provable
and unprovable, measurable and unmeasurable-- as an absolute
and all inclusive whole.
Q: What is the relevance of Ourself?
A: When we really recognize that our true identity lies in the
great wholeness of Ourself, the isolating illusion of
separateness which results from the "me, myself, and I"
structure of our thinking is totally undermined. This has
profound implications not only for our psychological and
spiritual freedom, but also for the healing of the earth and the
harmony of all those who live on earth.
Q: How does healthy individuality fit in with such a vision?
A: Being Ourself is about being ALL that we really are. Every
unique facet of our personality, and all of our special gifts and
talents become increasingly clear and valuable when we
experience them with the dramatic sense of belonging and
connectedness that we discover when we witness ourselves as
parts of one great whole rather than as separate isolated units.
Q: If everything is one, then why is there so much injustice and
oppression in the world?
A: If we observe the process of oppression, which exists at
every level of human relationship (for example, between friends
and family members, within local communities or individual
companies, and within and between nations), we see that the
initial building block is always the illusion of separateness.
Once we have thought "he is separate from me," we are on our
way to being able to act out oppression. Similarly, all forms of
racism and prejudice follow from the same illusion of
separateness. So while the truth is that we are all facets of one
whole, reality, interacting with itself, we approach life as though
we are all separate entities who stand to gain by ripping one
another off. Therefore, until a significant portion of humankind
recognizes that we are all Ourself, it is impossible that there will
be lasting peace in the world.
Q: But even in the natural world predators constantly violently
tackle and devour their prey, and natural disasters swallow up
plant, animal and human victims. If everything is one, then why
does all this violence occur?
A: Why do we assume we can understand with our thinking--
with mere strands of words-- why Ourself manifested itself into
the diverse universe we are part of which requires creatures to
feed on other creatures to acquire energy and mass? Disney's
"Circle of Life" from the children's movie The Lion King says as
much about the answer to this question as we are capable of
understanding with our human minds. Obviously life isn't
always nice and neat. The "why" of life's inherent physical
challenges is something we can only achieve a satisfying
understanding of through our intuitive knowing, because our
mind just isn't capable of a logical explanation for suffering.
While we entertain each other with the notion that everything
happens for a reason related to our "personal" growth, that kind
of anecdotal explanation doesn't provide much comfort to
innocent victims of deadly animal attacks or natural disasters.
The great mystery of Ourself contains the answers to life's
nagging questions, but these answers are not thoughts formed
with words-- they are realities which can only be understood
through our feelings. We become exposed to this kind of
intuitive understanding when our consciousness bleeds
beyond the walls of our thinking, and it's "me, myself, and I"
paradigm, and instead is sprung open into the all-encompassing
vision of wholeness that is Ourself.
A: Ourself is the source and substance of everything and
everybody, everywhere. It is reality-- seen and unseen, provable
and unprovable, measurable and unmeasurable-- as an absolute
and all inclusive whole.
Q: What is the relevance of Ourself?
A: When we really recognize that our true identity lies in the
great wholeness of Ourself, the isolating illusion of
separateness which results from the "me, myself, and I"
structure of our thinking is totally undermined. This has
profound implications not only for our psychological and
spiritual freedom, but also for the healing of the earth and the
harmony of all those who live on earth.
Q: How does healthy individuality fit in with such a vision?
A: Being Ourself is about being ALL that we really are. Every
unique facet of our personality, and all of our special gifts and
talents become increasingly clear and valuable when we
experience them with the dramatic sense of belonging and
connectedness that we discover when we witness ourselves as
parts of one great whole rather than as separate isolated units.
Q: If everything is one, then why is there so much injustice and
oppression in the world?
A: If we observe the process of oppression, which exists at
every level of human relationship (for example, between friends
and family members, within local communities or individual
companies, and within and between nations), we see that the
initial building block is always the illusion of separateness.
Once we have thought "he is separate from me," we are on our
way to being able to act out oppression. Similarly, all forms of
racism and prejudice follow from the same illusion of
separateness. So while the truth is that we are all facets of one
whole, reality, interacting with itself, we approach life as though
we are all separate entities who stand to gain by ripping one
another off. Therefore, until a significant portion of humankind
recognizes that we are all Ourself, it is impossible that there will
be lasting peace in the world.
Q: But even in the natural world predators constantly violently
tackle and devour their prey, and natural disasters swallow up
plant, animal and human victims. If everything is one, then why
does all this violence occur?
A: Why do we assume we can understand with our thinking--
with mere strands of words-- why Ourself manifested itself into
the diverse universe we are part of which requires creatures to
feed on other creatures to acquire energy and mass? Disney's
"Circle of Life" from the children's movie The Lion King says as
much about the answer to this question as we are capable of
understanding with our human minds. Obviously life isn't
always nice and neat. The "why" of life's inherent physical
challenges is something we can only achieve a satisfying
understanding of through our intuitive knowing, because our
mind just isn't capable of a logical explanation for suffering.
While we entertain each other with the notion that everything
happens for a reason related to our "personal" growth, that kind
of anecdotal explanation doesn't provide much comfort to
innocent victims of deadly animal attacks or natural disasters.
The great mystery of Ourself contains the answers to life's
nagging questions, but these answers are not thoughts formed
with words-- they are realities which can only be understood
through our feelings. We become exposed to this kind of
intuitive understanding when our consciousness bleeds
beyond the walls of our thinking, and it's "me, myself, and I"
paradigm, and instead is sprung open into the all-encompassing
vision of wholeness that is Ourself.
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
