The One – Part 1
In a conversation with Mother Teresa someone asked her “How do you take care of so many people?”, Her response was “I take care of The One.”
In today’s world there are so many labels, cultures, nationalities, political ideologies, religious beliefs all competing to be the one… number one, above all “the others”. This mindset only forces us to be selfish, focusing on our own needs and desires at the detriment/over that of “the others”. These labels separate us into groups that make us feel like we belong to something or connects us to things that we can relate to. On a human level it makes me think about how we justify punishing “the others” because they are not like “us”, how we go to war and justify it because “our” belief makes it ok to kill “the others”. It’s the old fashion “us” versus “them”. On an earthly level it makes me think about how we divide and destroy our only known home, earth, for “our” needs, not realizing it’s also a part of our oneness. The One is all of us and everything around us. Divided we are weak.
The conversation about “GOD” is beyond my puny intelligence but it is evident that we are all connected. All the labels and ideas that we hold on to were created in someone’s mind and then shared or pushed onto us to accept. A perspective that brings this home is our cultural beliefs. If you are born in the West there are customs that you accept without question. Yet these customs are not accepted in other parts of the world and in some cases are contemptible.
The point here is that we are influenced by our environment but, there are humane characteristics that bring us all together: need for food, shelter, love, safety, happiness. If we remember these things, we are reminded that we are all the same, a part of a oneness in thought and desire.
If we take this thought of “taking care of The One” and we see our fellow man and our place in the universe as a part of the same “One” that we are a apart of, would we still behave selfishly? Would you deliberately be selfish to yourself? Would we go to war with ourselves? Would we do things to damage our planet if we see ourselves as a part of the oneness that is our home?
Personally, I do my best to keep away from the labels, knowing how much it limits me from seeing the bigger picture. Labels have predefined/preconceived characteristics and prevents me from questioning if there is more. What if we accepted things for what they are without the need to put a label on it? Yes, labels have their place for communicating and understanding each other, but what if we opened our minds? Outside the borders of those labels is the greater oneness with limitless possibilities. Maybe we could be more hopeful and accepting of things that are not like the labels we hold on to so tightly, keeping us locked into the confines of it’s characteristics.
We are all a part of this place in the universe and what we do to each other affects us. What we do to the planet affects us. That is evidence of our oneness. Our actions are not isolated. They affect the “others” and in turn they affect “us” as well. The earth has so much evidence of this. The salt fields in Subsaharan Africa fertilize the Amazon jungle in South America. That’s oneness. Imagine if the salt fields were destroyed, what would happen to the Amazon? What if the Amazon was destroyed? What would happen to the life that lives there? How would that affect our climate? Wouldn’t that affect our lives too? So… are we separate from the salt fields in Subsaharan Africa?
Similarly, we see the effects of how we treat each other and how those things end up affecting us. So if we know this, wouldn’t it make sense to do positive unifying things so the result has a positive impact on our lives. That’s the kind of “selfishness” I would like to see in the world. The kind where we do good positive things because we want to impact the oneness of our existence in a positive way.
This mindset also inspires us to be our best, so, what can you do today to take care of The One?
Create Impact.