The Birth of Universal Humanity
by Susan Scharfman
"We all know that something is eternal. And it ain't houses, and it ain't names. And it ain't earth, and it ain't even the stars…everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that ‘something’ has to do with human beings." – The Stage Manager from Act 3 of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town."
Looking Outside Yourself
On Oprah Winfrey's website there was an article about relationships called "Looking For Love" by Colette Bouchez. The author discussed how even when young beautiful women marry the men of their dreams–wealthy successful men who give them everything they can possibly want, it doesn't prevent marriages from ending in divorce. And the divorce rates continue to rise. People think they know what they want. But maybe they are looking for it in the wrong places. In her article Bouchez quotes Psychologist Dennis Sugrue, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School:
"If you are looking for a partner to make you feel worthwhile, to make you feel happy, to rescue you from a bored or unhappy life, if you are seeking someone to make you feel complete or whole–well then you have some work to do, because these are needs that are never going to be met by any one other than yourself. To put those demands on someone else is to set up yourself, and the relationship for failure."
Living Examples of Oneness
Dr. Sugrue’s article is insightful about what to look for in a lifetime partner. Oprah says core values are essential. This is no more evident than in those opposite Washington politicos married to each other, James Carville and Mary Matalin. They admit their core values are the same. Yet publicly, they have strong influential opposing views on how the country should be run and who should run it.
Regardless of whether the public (he said-she said) Carville–Matalin image may sometimes be an act to garner ratings, here are two extraordinary people in a long-term loving relationship with opposing views in their outer lives. Each is comfortable in their own skin, knowing exactly who they are. Along with the external play of consciousness is that “eternal internal something” to which playwright Thornton Wilder refers. It exists in every human being, in all that man has created, and in all of creation down to the tiniest atomic particle–universal consciousness, oneness with all there is.
Lights, Camera, Africa!
When I worked in Africa in the 1960s I never locked my door. Dark as it was, I could safely walk in the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a city with no lights, ferocious hyenas roaming the unlit alleys, and murky figures lurking in the shadows. A mysterious character we called the 'hyena man' had a way of luring these wild predators out of town by communicating with them through language and his flute. In Nairobi, Kenya I’d leave my office at the embassy at 5 o’clock, jump in a Land Rover and be in the game reserve around the time the lions were on the prowl. That Africa is now extinct along with the animals and the people who tried to protect them, destroyed by selfishness and greed.
“Wildflower, An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa” by Mark Seal is a beautifully told biography of Joan Thorpe Root, a British Kenyan-born woman married to photographer Alan Root, during the many years they produced Oscar winning wildlife documentaries. A relentless conservationist, Joan Root was more comfortable with animals than people. Like Dian Fossey and Joy Adamson, Joan was murdered trying to protect the thing she loved most, Lake Naivasha where she lived. When I knew the place it teemed with wildlife. It is now a flower growing enterprise for world markets, with no wildlife.
Being Aware of The Silence, The Aliveness - Living in Presence
Whether or not the planet survives depends on us humans awakening to that inner truth that we are not different from one another, that we are not separate from one another. That silent aliveness in nature is the same stillness that lives within us. The consciousness that created the stars that look down like diamonds from the obsidian African night is the same consciousness that created everything in the universe including us.
Sometimes that simple fact requires some self-inquiry and attention to our own stillness inside. Great numbers of people are already living in advanced states of consciousness, or are in the process of realizing their full potential right now. Their voices, their writings are ubiquitous–on bookshelves and on the Web. We know some of them by their fame; others may annonymousy live next door to us. We recognize them by how good we feel in their company; they tend to hug a lot. Maybe you’re one of them. If so, your light and love is bringing about a global shift in the evolution of humanity and the realization that every human being is Divine eternal universal consciousness. Living in presence makes it impossible to harm another sentient being.
When Henry David Thoreau went to live near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, he said it was only partly for spiritual reasons, and that he did not set out to live as a hermit. But the fact remains, when you are immersed in the natural world, with no one to engage in constant chatter, you become aware of the stillness and the aliveness in everything. That is who you are. This is the birth of universal humanity.
"We all know that something is eternal. And it ain't houses, and it ain't names. And it ain't earth, and it ain't even the stars…everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that ‘something’ has to do with human beings." – The Stage Manager from Act 3 of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town."
Looking Outside Yourself
On Oprah Winfrey's website there was an article about relationships called "Looking For Love" by Colette Bouchez. The author discussed how even when young beautiful women marry the men of their dreams–wealthy successful men who give them everything they can possibly want, it doesn't prevent marriages from ending in divorce. And the divorce rates continue to rise. People think they know what they want. But maybe they are looking for it in the wrong places. In her article Bouchez quotes Psychologist Dennis Sugrue, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School:
"If you are looking for a partner to make you feel worthwhile, to make you feel happy, to rescue you from a bored or unhappy life, if you are seeking someone to make you feel complete or whole–well then you have some work to do, because these are needs that are never going to be met by any one other than yourself. To put those demands on someone else is to set up yourself, and the relationship for failure."
Living Examples of Oneness
Dr. Sugrue’s article is insightful about what to look for in a lifetime partner. Oprah says core values are essential. This is no more evident than in those opposite Washington politicos married to each other, James Carville and Mary Matalin. They admit their core values are the same. Yet publicly, they have strong influential opposing views on how the country should be run and who should run it.
Regardless of whether the public (he said-she said) Carville–Matalin image may sometimes be an act to garner ratings, here are two extraordinary people in a long-term loving relationship with opposing views in their outer lives. Each is comfortable in their own skin, knowing exactly who they are. Along with the external play of consciousness is that “eternal internal something” to which playwright Thornton Wilder refers. It exists in every human being, in all that man has created, and in all of creation down to the tiniest atomic particle–universal consciousness, oneness with all there is.
Lights, Camera, Africa!
When I worked in Africa in the 1960s I never locked my door. Dark as it was, I could safely walk in the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a city with no lights, ferocious hyenas roaming the unlit alleys, and murky figures lurking in the shadows. A mysterious character we called the 'hyena man' had a way of luring these wild predators out of town by communicating with them through language and his flute. In Nairobi, Kenya I’d leave my office at the embassy at 5 o’clock, jump in a Land Rover and be in the game reserve around the time the lions were on the prowl. That Africa is now extinct along with the animals and the people who tried to protect them, destroyed by selfishness and greed.
“Wildflower, An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa” by Mark Seal is a beautifully told biography of Joan Thorpe Root, a British Kenyan-born woman married to photographer Alan Root, during the many years they produced Oscar winning wildlife documentaries. A relentless conservationist, Joan Root was more comfortable with animals than people. Like Dian Fossey and Joy Adamson, Joan was murdered trying to protect the thing she loved most, Lake Naivasha where she lived. When I knew the place it teemed with wildlife. It is now a flower growing enterprise for world markets, with no wildlife.
Being Aware of The Silence, The Aliveness - Living in Presence
Whether or not the planet survives depends on us humans awakening to that inner truth that we are not different from one another, that we are not separate from one another. That silent aliveness in nature is the same stillness that lives within us. The consciousness that created the stars that look down like diamonds from the obsidian African night is the same consciousness that created everything in the universe including us.
Sometimes that simple fact requires some self-inquiry and attention to our own stillness inside. Great numbers of people are already living in advanced states of consciousness, or are in the process of realizing their full potential right now. Their voices, their writings are ubiquitous–on bookshelves and on the Web. We know some of them by their fame; others may annonymousy live next door to us. We recognize them by how good we feel in their company; they tend to hug a lot. Maybe you’re one of them. If so, your light and love is bringing about a global shift in the evolution of humanity and the realization that every human being is Divine eternal universal consciousness. Living in presence makes it impossible to harm another sentient being.
When Henry David Thoreau went to live near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, he said it was only partly for spiritual reasons, and that he did not set out to live as a hermit. But the fact remains, when you are immersed in the natural world, with no one to engage in constant chatter, you become aware of the stillness and the aliveness in everything. That is who you are. This is the birth of universal humanity.