WHOLENESS — Wonder and Love

By Garin Samuelsen

May 31

“The God within us is the one that gives the laws that can change the laws. And it is within us.” — Joseph Campbell

“All of us have wonders hidden in our breasts, only needing circumstances to evoke them.” Charles Dickens

Rather than looking outside myself to learn about who I am, I took the journey within. Within is where I came to understand that the inner and outer are one, that life is whole, that all is intertwined, and love is the expression of myself. I realized that trying to fix all the societal problems seemed impossible and hopelessly daunting. I observed that society is nothing more than a reflection of the conditioning that has been taught into me and all of us collectively. I needed to get underneath my conditioning and the imprisonment of my mind and wake up to what has always been wholeness.

No matter what belief one has, what political identity one has, or what one’s background is, one probably sees a broken society.

I challenge us to think about a different way to be, one that is in tune with who we are and sees how everything is related. From our cultural mythology, success means having much money and power. Yet, is this true? Is this what success is? If this is success, I sure don’t want any part of it. I grew up in that world and saw that money, materialism, outward success, and growth will never make you truly happy. Look for yourself and see if those who seem to have power and wealth are in joy. From what I have seen, there is a great deal of suffering in these people within our hierarchical system. And as long as there is oppression, which our system needs for its economic continuity, ongoing violence will perpetuate.

Our system is one in which we are at war collectively with nature and thereby at war within ourselves. This is all taught to us and then perpetuated outwardly by the way we think both consciously and, more importantly, unconsciously. As long as we don’t pause and observe our thinking, we are no different than an actor in a drama; only we act subconsciously.

Only in being free and authentic shall you truly discover the inherent joy in you. Wholeness is there waiting for you to pause, listen in, and quiet.

• Wholeness is undivided, immeasurable, and includes all. In wholeness, all are included in love’s embrace. From the smallest particle to the entire cosmos, all is included. Every plant, every animal, every river and stream, every mountain and valley, every forest and desert is woven and dissolved by love. Even the stars and galaxies are embraced. Stopping to see one thing, I see the Universe flowing in its form. In love, all manifestations disappear into one undivided stillness and emptiness. Love lies in the stillness of presence, the unknowable source, the immeasurable essence within us. Truth and love is when the personal is not.
• All is wholeness, and the expression of that wholeness is nothing but love. Wholeness is complete, perfect, flowing through all things. Wholeness is presence and the underlying reality. There is no arrival here or progress. This is and has always been and will always be you.
• Time and space need each other and are limited. They are useful to measure, but that is their only function. In ultimate reality, neither exists.
• All flows within in wholeness in a vast infinite kaleidoscope that, in paradox, seems to be always changing yet is complete and unchanging.
• One has nowhere to go and nothing to be. One doesn’t need to be somebody. One is. And even this is not it either. One is beyond all definitions, all measurements, and all labels. One is at home within oneself. No matter where one is, one is always okay, whole, alive, and free. Here, one needs very little. In simplicity, there is no I am but wholeness. In that wholeness, all horizons open,
• In the fire of awareness, Isorrow is not innate within anything wild, and like all species, we are not full of sin but rather exactly what we are supposed to be. Inherent in us is the wilderness; like the wilderness, we are free and intensely alive. Our system has evolved to help me thrive and survive. Our nervous system is directly linked to our brain. There is no real self. The ego is a misinterpreted term that creates the illusion of separation. Rather, a more useful term for ego is a navigational system. It. is useful and needed to navigate this world. It helps us when there is a perceived threat, such as walking up to a cliff or coming across a bear. It helps us problem-solve, communicate, imagine, create, and construct. In a healthy society, it would not be dysfunctional and would not be conditioned into a separate inward structure. In health, the navigational system would rise when needed and quiet when not. In our society, we have all learned to adapt to dysfunction and violence. We learn to protect ourselves and our identity through the conditioning that happens as a child. If we can see that the navigational system is an important evolutionary function, we need not identify with it, and can learn to let it relax and quiet when needed.
• Life is wonderful. Though for a long time, I didn’t see this. Even as I became clouded and weighted down by the darkness of my conditioning, a subtle light of wonder kept pushing through my anxieties and fears, somehow lighting my way and allowing me to see that something was underneath my thinking. After many years, it was wonder that made me stop and listen, to be aware of thoughts and see that they are not me.
• In awareness, thoughts began to quiet, not from forcing or fighting, but from seeing them as they are. In the quiet, wholeness not only entered but understood that it had always been there. Through the gift of wonder, this awareness was the fire that burned through societal conditioning and sorrow. As Albert Schweitzer shared, “Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.” And I would add, oneself.
• Wonder is in all moments. We live in an immeasurable, infinite wholeness. How can there not be wonder? I have seen wonder flow out of the dazzling radiance of a dragonfly darting and hunting through reeds and cattails. I have seen wonder flow in the kaleidoscopic texturing of the arching daytime sky. One can see wonder flow in the dynamic interplay of life and death, a circle with no end. Wonder flows in the pallet of colors erupting upon the mountains and plains. Wonder flows in the nuances and slithering meanderings of rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans. I have seen the magic of the Aurora Borealis and the indescribable immensity of the Grand Canyon and ventured deep into the heart of mountains with granite peaks that slice into the sky. I have looked into the eyes of many of our Earth’s inhabitants, and in all these species, I see the wonder and an innate immeasurable quality. I see one’s infinite beauty within the eyes of every being I meet.
• Even if I never left my home in Waterbury, Vermont, I would be able to voyage just as far as if I traveled across the Universe. In every step and every breath within the presence of wholeness, I see the wonder, the beauty of change, and the flow that moves through all. Here I experience love. I truly don’t need anything. Wonder begins within ourselves when we are open to life. Here, we shall discover freedom, living, and breathing in every moment.
• Love is the most powerful force in the Universe. Love is Wholeness. Because love is whole, love doesn’t crave, does not force, does not need anything. Love is the binding force of all that is. Love doesn’t conform and is vulnerable. Love doesn’t try to hide or manipulate.
• Love is the only thing that can heal the spirit, the animus of life, to reconnect ourselves into our innate state of wholeness and the world and Universe. The pathless land of love lies in presence and awareness. Awareness is love; love is awareness.
• If we stopped rushing and listened to our thoughts in complete openness, letting our minds quiet and still, we would see that we are not separate, that we are whole, and that we need not fit into our dysfunctional society. In our movements, we are contributing to dysfunction and division. In stillness, all illusions slip away; wholeness is.

• If we lived in wholeness and thereby did not see division, there would be no hierarchy, racism, sexism, war, and destructiveness to the environment. Instead of focusing on traumatic violence, such as energy put into political and military power, herbicides and pesticides, materialism, community, joy, equanimity, freedom, and interconnection would blossom. Love would flow through us in all our relationships. We would see how deeply we are threaded together with all life.
• If we can observe openly, we will see that all the problems and sorrow are not dreamed up by a God but rather by us collectively because of how we have been taught. In the quiet of our minds, we will discover who one is. Here is where right action blossoms.
• Inherently is a want to love, do good, live authentically, and live a life of wonder. We come into the world with this need. We have the capacity already accessible if we are all given the guidance and trust to foster this — especially our children. We need to discover the essence, let our navigational system be healthy, and let the quiet of the mind thrive.
• Here, dig into awareness, and continue to observe thoughts without trying to do anything with them or judge them.
• In awareness, see if any beliefs are real, and in this awareness, as the mind quiets on its own, what is left, will be beyond anything we could ever imagine. Wholeness.