Let’s start at the beginning for each of us—the very beginning. The moment we are birthed we suddenly leave the comfort of the womb where all our needs are met in a world that is completely safe—then we are separated from that cocoon of safety forever with the cutting of the umbilical cord. From that moment on, every sensory system we have confirms our experienced reality that we are separate. We are on our own and vulnerable to the free will of others. This is the trauma we experience collectively as humans.

We quickly come to rely on our physical senses to define our reality and are surrounded by others who do the same. We are born into a world where there is a pecking order based on superficial differences of skin color, gender, sexual orientation, country, ethnicity, and other aspects. Rather than simply seeing these as variations in human expression and characteristics, we are schooled to accept a pecking order based on judgment and ranking. In a system where some are more special than others, there are necessarily winners and losers. No one wants to be a loser. Instead of embracing what’s for the greatest good for all, most seek what is best for themselves because the illusion of separation tells us that we are alone, living in a dog-eat-dog world. 

Yes, our physical bodies are separate. However, beyond the body is our true nature—it is love. We are interconnected through the energy of Love and we seek to experience that wonderful interconnectedness throughout our life. However, our physical senses trick us into believing that you are different than me and separate from me. And that belief comes with a huge price both individually and societally—

It creates fear. The fear of not having enough shows up as greediness, hoarding, over-accumulation, and anxiety. Rather that working for the greater good, fear invites us to work for our individual good. Societally, these fears have led to great wars where those in power have sought power fighting over land, oil, and slave labor.

When we see ourselves as separate, we also fear not being enough. We overcompensate for this by bullying, controlling others, and needing to be right. This is the stereotype of the power-abusing male. The flip side of this is more passive and shows up as apathy, people pleasing, withdrawal, and numbing out. This is the stereotype of the submissive female.

These collective roles and actions, played out over eons in our families, cities, and nations, have created a dysfunctional world that is largely based in fear. To protect ourselves from these fears, we engage in zero sum games, where there are guaranteed winners whose success depends on many, many losers. We create great inequality, in all of its various guises, and forge a world that teeters on spiritual bankruptcy. We become ever more separated from the Oneness from which we come and lose sight of our interconnectedness with one another.

Of all the dysfunctional paradigms that stem from the illusion that we are separate, none have been more egregious in our country’s history than that of basing an individual’s worth on their skin color.

I want to give you a visual example of the way that the illusion of separation and racism intersect. I want you to imagine that you have a black balloon in one hand and a white balloon in the other. As you look at them, all you can see with your physical eyes are the skin, the outer latex. That which is within the balloon is hidden from you, but it truly exists. In fact, the unseen air gives the balloons “life,” for without air, balloons aren’t really of much use at all.

Now picture squeezing these balloons with each hand until they burst. The outer skin quickly falls away and the air which filled the balloons rejoins the much greater body of air from which it came. The air existed before the balloon and it existed afterwards—as do we.

My friends, our bodies are those balloons. We are sentient beings living in a container we call our body and are no more separate from one another than the air in those proverbial balloons. Even though we perceive separation, we are interconnected and there are numerous examples all around us in our physical world. For example, when we look at a beautifully woven tapestry, we see the wholeness of it, not so much the separate threads. Yet, that tapestry is made up of many individual strands that the weaver has woven with a unity of purpose to create a magnificent work of art. Each thread is separate but part of the whole.

Hidden behind the greatest illusion is the greatest truth—we are not separate. We are our brother’s keeper because we are our brother. Each of us is a thread in the tapestry of life and together we are stronger than we are apart. Working for the greater good of all is working for the greater good for each of us. All of our great spiritual teachers have echoed that teaching in one form or another. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is sage wisdom because what you do to others you do to you. Yet, despite the many sacred books and religious teachings throughout our history, we have continued to let the illusion of separation guide our thoughts, words, and actions.

What can create a positive shift in our world where the inequality of resources, inequality of opportunity, and inequality of treatment are its cancers? What could possibly dismantle the institutions that have a stranglehold on this world through their economic power? What could possibly alter our normal patterns to the degree we would step back and ask ourselves if this is the world we want to embrace? What could so shake up the current paradigm that we would have the opportunity to create a world based on love rather than fear?

Well, guess what? A tiny virus came along that could do it and it has! Who could have imagined a tiny, but powerful coronavirus, could open the doors to a reconfiguration of our world? Unimaginable, but true. It has given us the gift of an  incredible opportunity to re-imagine our world, both on a personal and global level.

“Well, I’m only one person and one person can’t really make a difference.”

That’s another illusion. When a cell in the body becomes abnormal and that cell multiplies, we call it cancer.  As we all know, cancer can spread throughout the body and destroy the health of the entire system. It all starts with one cell—one little “insignificant” cell. But the truth is that no cell in the body is insignificant and neither are we. Each of us plays a part in the health of the greater collective.

We now have the opportunity, in a way that has never presented itself in our lifetime, to create a new world based in Love. Through this pandemic, we are realizing the amazing gift of human contact we have always taken for granted. We are dearly missing the giving and receiving of love in our lives. The interconnectedness of our collective hearts has never been clearer.

Instead of longing for a return to a “normal” that was neither healthy or equitable, let us take steps to create a world built on unity and community. Let’s resist the old paradigm which had us believe we only need to take care of ourselves. Let’s dismantle the grandaddy of all inequality—the paradigm of racism—which will set into motion the healing of all other human inequities.

Your thread matters. Will you add yours to the weave?