Same Plane(t), Same Fate: "I Love You"

From above Planet Earth, i.e. our world, is seen as a unified whole

"We're All in This Together."

That's the thought that struck me as we experienced turbulence on a recent flight. Yes, we were flying in bad weather, but the tumult of the flight certainly got several of us thinking: "We can go down."

As the pilot announced there would be no in-flight beverage service because of the expected turbulence, one of my seat mates said to me: "We'd better bucket up, then, huh?" 






And ...buckle up we did.. But I knew that he, like I, was thinking the same thing.

Fortunately, we made it through the turbulence and landed safely on the ground, each of us going our separate ways ...to our separate lives.

For a moment, though, we were all forced to stop and think of our oneness: "We're All in This Together."

One plane...one fate.

It's so easy to see this oneness when we're thousands of miles up in the air from the busyness of lives.

It's so easy to see our connection to strangers: we're all in this together.

Then, we hit the ground and our connection...our Oneness... evaporates.

Valentine's Day is this week. And on Tuesday when we're celebrating our "love" with our families, lovers, and friends, I want you to conduct an experiment:

Let's imagine that looking into or upon Earth from a "higher plane," with no pun intended, we see the ONENESS of all humanity here on Earth.

Imagine, if we were part of that "higher plane" looking down: would we be able to see the individuality in each family, group or nation?

From this higher plane: Can we identify all people...all groups... all nations... as separate entities, or would we only see one mass...humanity?

Let's see if from this higher plane, we can reach only those we love to segregate them to say, "I Love You," or is it that from this higher plane, we have to absolutely say to all of humanity:

 "I Love You" so that we can reach the individuated souls within that humanity we believe we "love."

So many of us easily say we care for all human beings. So many of us easily say we love our neighbors. Yet again, so many of us easily say we love Canadians and American alike; all Arabs and Egyptians; Muslims and Hindus, Jews and Gentiles. We say we love Parisians and Portuguese alike....
In short, we may say "I love you" to all people throughout the world. Yet...how empty are those words, when others begin to suffer and we do nothing. We may say that we have faith that things will work out for them, but then again:

"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can Faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you says unto them, 'Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled;' notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; What doth it profit? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."-James 2:14-17 

We will not revisit the absence of real love that allowed six million Jewish people to be sent to death in gas chambers in Germany; this was the darkest period of our humanity: The Holocaust.

The way we can honor the sacrifice of those millions of lives is to ensure that we love our shared humanity enough to ensure this type of disaster is never, ever repeated during our time on Earth and in the times of future generations. Right now, we're experiencing similarly trying times. Our faith is being tested.
My question to us all: On which side of love are we going to show up?

What gifts are we going to bring to the table of humanity, during this month of love, to those we say, "I Love You."

I've lit many, many candles over the last several months. Those were the days when I felt a deep sense of helplessness about what was happening in our world. I began thinking, "darkness cannot remain once the candle (hope) continues to burn..." 

I began to light candles every time and everywhere possible when I  began to feel a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. And whether only in my imagination, rays of hope began to shine through in the dark days and dark ways of others.

Over the weeks, I saw those with special skills and abilities beginning to rekindle the light back into our unified Soul. I began to see the love ...the real love...of those who went beyond their own areas of comfort to share their talents and gifts to those of us only able to watch with helplessness as people around the world were mistreated as they entered US shores. 

 (See these pieces from late January 2017: "An Army of Attorneys At Dulles Airport" 
and "Lawyers Mobilize Across The Nation,")

In my small way of lighting candles and in attorneys' big way of  taking action, we were each trying to chase away the darkness.

Indeed, on most days we can do nothing more than pray or light a candle of faith. But there's even some deeper actions...innate actions...that each of us can take to heal these troubled times:

Every day, it seems that we're being guided to learn more from life by examining our own lives and our own actions as we interact with others, i.e.  outside our circle of family, friends and acquaintances. Throughout the course of the day as you go about your day, ask yourself:

1. "Where am I holding resentment, i.e. lack of forgiveness, against another?

"2. "Where am I choosing to withhold support and caring to another, simply because he/she is not 'my concern?'"

3. "Where can I be more and offer more to someone else in distress?"

Even when we can do no more for strangers than offer a smile of support: offer it.
Even when we can do no more for a stranger than offer an eye of concern: offer it.
Even when we can do no more for a stranger than offer a dollar: offer it.
Even when we can do no more for a stranger than spare change: offer it.
Even when we can do no more for a stranger than offer a silent tear of caring: cry it.
Even when we can do no more for a stranger than offer a prayer of blessing: offer it.

We are all in this life together to share our humanity in this space and time.
We tend to forget this...until...
One day, we may be on a plane together and in that small world of the plane,
our collective lives become that of ONE Soul. 

One plane=One Soul. 

"Souls love. That's what souls do. Egos don't, but souls do. Become a soul, look around, and you'll be amazed...all the beings around you are souls. Be one; see one. When many people have this heart connection, then we will know that we are all one, we human beings all over the planet. We will be one. One love. And don't leave out the animals, and trees, and clouds, and galaxies...it's all one. It's one energy." -Ram Dass

Yes, with individuated bodies. But essentially One Soul to which all the individuated bodies and souls will return.

I urge you...if you have not done so already: see the activities being played out on the world stage as that of our ONE Soul. As hard as it is to see and believe, know that our humanity is manifesting only ONE Soul in various stages and places in the world. Don't be fooled by appearances. There's only ONE.

The fate of one of us is the fate of all of us in this humanity we share in the ONE SOUL. Respond to each other... family and strangers alike...with this in your consciousness.

Wake up to real love this Valentine's Day.

As a special Valentine's Day blessing to you, please be sure to watch this video in its entirety:

"Imagine," as sung by Emmanuel Kelly

"I love you."
Happy Valentine's Day!

Namaste',
Che'