President Biden focus on Unity inspired Sister Chirya to write this article.
President Biden was elegantly humble in delivering one major thought in the collective conscience of the nation in his inaugural speech. He wants unity; he wants to ‘restore the soul of the nation’.
“We can see each other, not as adversaries, but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces…. Without unity there is no peace, only bitterness and fury”.
To experience unity in humanity’s crisis of identity, we now must have a brand new understanding of ourselves as spirit, not as flesh. “Dust thou art, and to dust thou shall return” refers to the ‘human’ part, the body. I, the soul, radiating eternal spiritual light, never dies. The soul gives life to the body and when it leaves the body, it is called death. The true identity of a ‘human being’ is the soul: the thinking ‘being’ part, a tiny eternal spark of light, separate from the physical body, the ‘human’ part, with all of its divisions of age, gender, culture, color, religion, etc. How I see myself is how I define myself, as soul or body. The face in the mirror says body, and the internal mirror of insight says – soul!
The eyes are remembered as ‘windows of the soul’. Our most valuable resource, the soul, is located behind the eyes, in a cavity of the brain. With Covid-D restrictions, we now meet and greet each other through the eyes; not with the usual hugs, handshakes, or smiles (now hidden behind masks). Consider these days to be beneficial as we are receiving lots of practice communicating and smiling through the windows of the eyes, smiling as a soul!
“To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and to secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the elusive of all things in a democracy, unity”
–President Biden.
To experience unity in the face of the limitations and dangers that come from seeing only externally through physical eyes, one must think: “Now is the time to go beyond all divisions, beyond all the physical barriers and limits that divide us and our sense of self.”
Look within, practice and experience being a soul. Soul consciousness allows us to get back in touch with God, and see ourselves made in the image of God, defined by the Light of God as love, truth and peace. Allowing ourselves to be transformed, I will also know about you – you are also a soul, an eternal being of light, you are my brother. It doesn’t matter whether you are white or black, rich or poor, Russian or Anglican or whatever. We all have the same Father! “America, America! God shed his grace on thee; and crown thy good with ‘brotherhood’ from sea to shining sea”. These words become reality, when the crisis of identity finishes. As spiritual beings, souls, we remember we are united as one family, sisters and brothers, the living sparkling lights of a global family under the Fatherhood of God. Defining myself and others as ‘beings’ residing in ‘human’ bodies, is the key to transform the self and create unity in the nation and ultimately the world.
Sister Chirya has served at the Brahma Kumaris Peace Village Retreat Center in Hunter Mountain, New York. For 35 years she practiced and taught BK Raja Yoga meditation internationally and conducted Living Values Education in over 65 schools while based in the Caribbean for 15 years. She studied Education at Cornell University and brings her experience as an educator to various workshops and classes.