Honoring Uniqueness - Matt Licata

...honoring the reality that we are not only connected, 
but also separate, with our own interiority, subjectivity, and ways
of making sense of our experience.  In spirituality, we tend to
emphasize connection, unity, and oneness, which are essential

dimensions of the human heart.

Alongside this, however, it's essential that we also recognize
the reality (and holiness) of experiences - [that] we each perceive
reality, the divine, and this world in our own unique ways.
We each fall to the ground in a distinct way, and behold the
beauty of the stars and the planets and the trees uniquely.  No one
can perceive, fall, or behold for us, or on our behalf.

While from a transpersonal perspective, we can speak about unity
and oneness, within the relative we are also differentiated and
wildly unique, each with our own ways of organizing our
experience.  Each with our own fate and relationship with the
divine, and with our own path to travel.  To dissolve these
differences into some homogenized spiritual middle does not
honor the sacredness of form.

Matt Licata
Excerpt from an article entitled: The Yoga of Intimacy and 
Relationship

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  Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Doorways to the Sacred - Frank Ostaseski

To know the sacred is not to see new things, but rather to see
things in a new way.  The sacred is hidden in all things...

The sacred is the nature of reality - yet most of the time we
walk around in a sacred world with ordinary vision.  We see
in a conditioned way, staying on the surface of life.  When we
pay attention, however, we realize that the sacred reveals itself
continuously.  Ordinary people, like you and me, can and do
regularly experience the sacred in myriad ways and forms.
Recognition that the sacred is present may also arise suddenly
and spontaneously, as the sacred makes surprise appearances.
We may sense an inner stillness, as if the momentum we have
counted on to keep us moving through life is no longer needed.
Deep silence is not merely a pause between sounds.  It is an
inner felt quietness.  This silence strips us both of belief and
disbelief.  It takes us beyond the known, beyond language and
into the sacred.  Silence is the natural response to the presence
of the sacred, no matter where it appears.  Stillness and quiet
are the doorways to the sacred.

Frank Ostaseski

From - the Five Invitations

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Photo - Mystic Meandering