Rooted in Oneness
Dear friends,
I am in Belgium for a week to support my youngest son. He has started university and loves the new life he is exploring after staying in the safe and calm harbour of Amiglia. At the same time, he’s been dealing with stress symptoms — strange waves that keep moving through his body since he witnessed someone fainting in the auditorium. So, I decided to come over and bring some of the soothing, familiar mother energy.
When I arrived last night, we walked around together in the warm autumn air, watching people and talking about what is going on. He feels quite frustrated that these symptoms have stopped him from being a regular student, just when he was so much enjoying the adventure of his new life. He wondered if life wanted him not to believe there is a God.
“Maybe that’s the reason for all this,” he said.
“So, that would be God wanting you to become an atheist?” I asked.
“Well, your God, maybe,” he answered.
We often have these kinds of conversations — his pondering about the meaning of life — without ever reaching a final conclusion, of course.
When I woke up this morning in my B&B bed, close to his student room, I felt so much love and compassion for how he is trying to find meaning and purpose. I also realised how much easier it is for me, because I don’t identify with my person, my story, my success, or my failure. I consider myself (this person typing) an expression of life itself — as my son is, and as the couch I am sitting on is. Everything is simply an expression of life. Everything is rooted in Oneness, like trees in the ground. I can imagine how difficult it must feel to be like a tree without roots, or a tree that still needs to ‘invent’ its roots.
The difficulty is that we’ve learned to believe the person — the ‘I’ we are — is something separate from the rest of life’s expressions. That it can be different from what it is, and that we must manage, control, correct, or defend it. The path is to unlearn that sense of separation. This body and mind are simply expressions of life, equipped with senses so that life can experience itself.
Moving Language has shown itself to be a very powerful way to unlearn the idea of an ‘I’. The two Moving Language retreats we’ve held at Amiglia have been deeply moving indeed. I’ll share more in later letters, but I can already tell you that there will be more Moving Language retreats next year. Have a look at the calendar, and read some of the beautiful testimonials written by participants. Moving Language takes us on a wonderful journey of exploration, and I feel we have only just begun an ongoing, transformative path.
Loving happens,
Zoë
