Journey to Oneness.

The world is a reflection, after all.

We are hurtling down the train tracks. Well, not exactly at top speed but it felt like a scene out of a movie.

I had booked a sleeper cabin but lay awake, staring at the ceiling.

I never imagined myself to be here. The chaos I left in Manila was still all too real. I have an inkling that I had somehow buried a part of myself along with the business. I had poured my heart and soul into bringing it to life, and yet somehow, failed.

I am in India, on a train headed to Jaipur.

Getting restless, my buddy and I decide to go check out the other carriages.

I grabbed my bag and slung it cross-body, walking through rows of people and families.

To my surprise, the next carriage looked completely different.

The people were different, the interiors even more so.

Curiouser and curiouser.

The next carriage was definitely lower-end. And more so the next.

The stark difference jumped out at me, as well as the distinct segregation. Everything is relative after all.

The power of contrast. Polarity existing to give us the fullness of experience.

The train starts slowing down and I see the next stop coming up.

I glanced at my friend and nodded. We bolted out of the train, running into the last carriage we could reach before it started up again.

Immediately, I felt a thousand eyes on me.

Slightly uncomfortable, I go back to my breath.

Inhale. Exhale. Good, it’s still there.

Feeling a little out of place, I glance up and inadvertently lock eyes with one person.

What I saw terrified me. Anger, sadness and regret — staring straight back at me.

I realised I was looking at a reflection of myself.

We all are One after all. Everything is part of the other.

What I see in you, is what is in me.

All the rage and sorrow I had buried inside of me, reflected in the eyes of another.

In that split second, it was clear to me.

The situations and people we encounter are mirrors of ourselves, especially projecting that which we hide from the light.

I wonder what else I had hidden from myself.

For now, I’ve had enough.

I turn to head back to my sleeper cabin, but I was met with a metal wall.

This carriage was locked off from the rest of the train.

“Well,” I thought. “That gives me time to think about things…”

I spend the next hour or so hanging out the side, with the door open wide.

The Power of Contrast

Insight comes like a sudden rush of cool winter breeze to the head.

My thoughts drift to the wrenching agony loss brings. The pits of despair I could only navigate alone. The constriction debt brings.

I could separate myself from this situation — put it behind me, hide it in a sack along with all the scary, shameful emotions.

But the further I moved away from myself, the more reminders I saw everywhere.

I glanced back at the angry man. He has a story, just like me.

The train sped past the countryside. In the wide expanse, my worries now seemed minute.

Contrast gives us the perspective for appreciation.

To truly cherish happiness, we must know sadness. To truly celebrate success, we must know failure.

How could I perceive this situation in such a way that it would serve as a catapult for a whole new experience?

A whole new level of living.

As we move to separate, we are driven to integrate.

Polarities exist so we can choose to consciously integrate separation.

This is the absolute point of all life experience. To find our way back home.

Our journey back to wholeness is through contrast.

In that vein, any encounter points us home. Every encounter points us back to love.

Each affliction, a blessing in disguise. Every heartbreak, a gift.

We can always choose to align ourselves with the highest good at any point.

Or, take another route.

Journey to Oneness

In the end, all routes lead home.

No matter which train you take, nor which carriage you find yourself in.

Whether you are happy, sad, joyous or mad.

All routes lead back to love.

We find completion when polarities are brought together.

When we are one with any situation no matter how tough, we merge with it and it becomes us. Suddenly, life begins to flow through.

When we are one with any person no matter how difficult, we not only learn to love — we become love.

We become the world. All we’ll see is love in the world.

The world is a reflection, after all.

Especially when seeing the Oneness of all.

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