E Pluribus Unum: Keeping World Connection While Holding Magical Independence
How exactly does that work?
How, as magic practitioners and energy workers, do we hold true to ourselves and still stay connected to the Oneness that binds us all?
It is a theory of this author-bard that starts with the understanding of the connection between our individual selves and the Oneness of all things.
We are all parts of a fluid, moving energy, not a static immobile entity.
We are designed to contain two contesting perspectives at the same time; the almost overwhelming views of the World around us and of our personal, inner world of the Spirit.
The trick is keeping a constant, tiny, steady shift between these two states of self-awareness and global empathy, always in motion, never resting.
Every day, we are exposed to the issues of the world around us.
Media posts, entertainment presentations, news reports, blogs, and podcasts all sound out their points of interest that request your attention, acquisition, and support.
Meanwhile, we are called upon by a sense of Oneness to think beyond ourselves and assist with fulfilling needs of those around us.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this.
The problem comes when another entity tries to make their issue become yours and it isn’t part of the Oneness, but their selfish, individual benefit. We need to see those when we pick them up and then promptly drop them.
If they can gain your empathy, their desire becomes yours. That’s how empathy works.
We must learn to discern what empathetic impulses are bonding as opposed to separating from the Oneness.
We need to make sure we are empathizing with ourselves at the same time we feel the needs of others.
At least once a day, we should be running a diagnostic on our own individual essence.
When we connect daily with ourselves and then reach out to bond with the Oneness, we reset all of the ultimate design that we as practitioners know to be the Truth of things.
When we reaffirm our own inner truths, it becomes easy to sort out fear from need, greed and gain from want of comfort. We can see our human confines within the unlimited Oneness. We can meet our own needs and clean away the desires and projections of others.
Breath is the key.
Double checking your empathy for its source can be done by breathing with intent.
When Chaos is demanding your attention, even just one deep, full breath and controlled exhale with intent to be One can clear your empathy from compulsions and projections that sever you from your Perfect Truth. You will need to do it frequently while under the influence of Chaos to maintain it.
A single breath reminds you of the vastness of Existence around you.
By bringing it into yourself, you can become that vastness and perceive feelings and concepts with a more proportional understanding.
You will feel the Humanity of which we all are.
Your own, or someone else’s fears, insecurities, needs, or healing, become detailed enough to identify affirming, individual action without damaging any surroundings.
Then, you can make choices that support connectivity, not separation.
Stay in connection to yourself while serving others.
Ensure that you actively perform a self-connecting ritual daily.
Ideally, two 5–10-minute self-connection rituals – one upon waking, the other before retiring at night – will effectively keep you functioning magically strong, centered, and successful in your intentions. Meditation, sun salutations, and journaling your daily experiences all can be part of these 5-minute rituals.
Customize your ritual to work for you.
A ritual involving deep, self-surrendering breathing, with or without music, brings you to the Oneness of us all. (My personal choice is to use music which gives me the encouragement to listen deeper into my Spirit.)
There, you see what your true needs are versus what are the compulsions and projections that you have taken on from others empathetically.
Within the depths of breath, lies the knowledge that we are all equal. We all suffer, we all quest for joy, and we all desire validation.
When the proportions of validation get skewed, we become self-focused, unfocused, or self-denying.
That’s when we sever from the Oneness.
Identifying and validating our personal needs fuels our magical self-empowerment.
We then employ this power for the benefit of ourselves and others within the embrace of the Oneness.
Routine affirmation rituals keep our vision clear, our needs truthful, and thusly, our choices compassionate. When you see yourself truly, you see others truly.
We are all equal.
The person labeled as your enemy, opponent, villain, or obstructionist, is no different than you.
They are avoiding pain, questing after joy, and seeking validation for their purpose in life.
It is in the individual concepts concerning these issues where the conflict lies.
Right now, there is a collection of people that are comfortable with their severance from the Oneness.
They delude themselves with the concept that they are in connection with “The Ultimate Truth of Reality”.
They see what they personally want and need as entitlements granted for wielding the Ultimate Power of a “One and Only Truth” that only they are developed enough to perceive.
The rest of us have not evolved enough to appreciate or wield the powers provided by that connection.
They have judged that we all are better-off being led along, programmed and domesticated enough so that we accept their control and direction.
I suspect, Dear Readers, that most of you feel otherwise and strive to express that.
As ethical magic practitioners, we fully accept all responsibility when employing the ultimate powers of Oneness.
We respect the real needs of ourselves and others.
For most common humans, empathy works both ways.
Not only can we adopt another’s state of being for ourselves, but we can influence another’s state with our own.
Staying connected with the Oneness involves connecting yourself to others, friend and foe alike.
When you connect with a fellow human and are met with conflict, don’t allow your empathy to mirror that conflicting energy.
If they do not retreat from your presence, find a thread of commonality that you both share.
Show them that you are seeing and validating their state of existence.
It can be as simple as commenting that you are both standing in line in the rain.
Once you are actually seeing each other, use your empathy to feel them.
Is this person acting out of fear, ignorance, or misinformation?
Acknowledge that. Validate it. Support it positively.
Then take a calculated risk, but do not try this if the person you are connecting with is giving off dangerous, aggressive behavior.
Find and reveal a part of this conflicting concept that your empathy tells you is in common with their feelings.
Given safe conditions, empathy overrides fear. When you can activate the other person’s empathy for you, then they will be able to feel you compassionately.
When you stay connected empathically with each other, differences in conceptual ideals are more easily identified.
The reassurance of your connection encourages suspension of previous assumptions and together you can re-examine concepts, learn truths, and then be able to advance forward together in embracing those truths and taking actions that support them.
Our only hope surviving as a species is to acknowledge that we are all the same species.
A species of Magic, of Deity, of Oneness.
We must connect with each other in our mutual empathy.
When you embody empathy, empathy rises to meet you.
Your independent magic is empowered by your Oneness with All.
Do not allow our independence to sever us from the Oneness, nor our empathy to erase our unique parts as the Oneness.
Balance is the All and the Nothing.
We need each other.
We are each other.
We inhale Ourselves.
We exhale the Oneness.
Don’t hold your breath too long.
For more information about Alexander James Adams, including his collected articles here on Pagan Song, his bio, and links to Alec’s sites on the web, check out Alexander James Adams’ page on Pagan Song.
All images, including the featured image, are by Alexander James Adams.
For more Pagan Song posts on finding our way through difficult times, check out Sharon Knight’s The Haunting – A Meditation During Tower Times and other posts on Justice, Ethics & Resistance.
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