Relating From Our True Nature

There can be no doubt, if we look at the world around us, that we, humanity as a species, are going through very challenging times. These challenges are raising a question as to our survival as a species. It is only by recognising our oneness with each other that we can address these difficulties and leave a sustainable future for the youth of the planet to inherit.

Since the Second World War there has been a recognition, on an international level, that we cannot continue to operate from the status quo of opposition between countries, races and creeds. There has been an acknowledgment on a collective level of the fact that due to the increased development of technology there is now the serious possibility that humanity could cause its own destruction. It is due to that acknowledgment that many desire a closer union between the different peoples of the world. My aim here is not to talk about the way in which this might manifest but the necessity of learning to work together co-operatively instead of as adversaries. This new attitude or way of being is something which has been advocated by spiritual teachers down through the ages. They point to the dysfunction which is inherent to human consciousness and offer different ways in which it can be transcended. Modern spiritual teachers also point to this element of the human psyche. It is through identification with objects, thought forms and emotions that the self centred, thought based “me” comes into existence. We then have a conceptual relationship with this false I, which has nothing to do with the pristine nature of our being. Through this identification with the false I, we make others “other” and how other they appear to be. This leads to conflict in our relationships with one another, conflict that can be magnified to a massive scale due to technology. This false I has traditionally been called the ego and spiritual teachings offer various different ways to transcend or disidentify from our ego. This has been called many different things from salvation to enlightenment but ultimately it is about the simple recognition of our true nature and the ultimate insubstantiality of our ego. In the Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese book of wisdom, it talks of the Tao or the Absolute Reality. It talks about how this operates in the manifest world and how the world would know peace if powerful men and women were centred in the Tao. Probably the most familiar corollary of the Tao would be the Now as spoken of by Christian mystic Meister Eckhart and revived by modern spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle. It is pointed out that our whole lives unfold in the present moment, how everything exists in the expansive state of Isness, so obvious that almost everyone seems to miss it. It is my hope that this article will provide a means by which individuals can recognise the value of Now, undergo a change in perspective and find firm ground amid the shifting sands of the manifest world. It is through the recognition of our oneness with all life that we can meet the rest of the century in a more compassionate and humane way. The ills of society are endless and it seems that the only way, and indeed the most efficient way, to address them is on the level of cause. It is through a deep understanding of the nature of ourselves that we can begin to create a new and more harmonious outer reality. It is not up to us to wait for our leaders to change. We must “be the change” we want to see in the world. As more and more people become open to the new dimension of consciousness which is pouring itself into existence the collective human made problems will begin to lessen. These problems, such as war and poverty, are literally expressions of the divided nature of human consciousness. If that inner division is healed the outer world we create will cease to generate the same old problems. In this way, the true activism consists in taking responsibility for our own mental-emotional environment and beginning to relate to others from the space of compassion and expansiveness that is our true nature.