Oneness

In quiet solitude, my spirit and I are one.  I marvel at the splendor and infinite connection of all that is – every person – every creature, plant, planet and star.  The divine Oneness.

Still, each night, sleep escapes me.  I find myself not recognizing the person I became within the strains of the day.  I question the raging, ceaseless conflict between my spirit and mind.  In the very midst of Oneness, I perceive only me. Within a world of beauty and brotherhood, suffering and need, my mind incessantly turns to the tininess of my own experience – squeezed by screaming clocks, hollow conversations and looming deadlines. 

Morning comes, and my spirit longs again for all that is meaningful, tranquil and pure – that universal whole of which I am only one tiny part. My gaze fixed upon the sunrise, I watch in veneration as a vulture soars effortlessly through the pinks, oranges and grays cast across the clouds. She dances on the currents, her expansive wings steering her in long, graceful turns. The sky is her stage, and I am her captivated audience. We are one in this celestial masterpiece. 

Suddenly, a horn blares; an elevator opens; a phone rings. Instinctively, I turn from my spirit, dissolve in the concrete, plastic and noise, and my shallow mind and I, once again, become one.