The Same Seeing Being
The essence that sees through your eyes, perceiving the world around you, is the very same essence that sees through the eyes of all others. Pause for a moment. Look around. See the faces of those near you, the strangers passing by, the loved ones beside you. Observe their eyes, the way they move, the expressions they wear. And as you do, hold this truth in your heart: The being that looks out of my eyes is the same being that looks out of theirs.
Do you feel it? The great silent presence behind those eyes is the same as the one within you. It wears many faces, speaks in many voices, and lives in countless forms. It has never been separate. The misconception that we are separate from one another is like taking a cup, filling it with ocean water, and calling it different from the ocean.
Look at the mother with her child. Can you not feel that the same life that beats within her and her child’s heart beats within yours? Look at the old man sitting alone. Know that the same presence that has carried him through the years is the one carrying you now. All are expressions of the same essence. They are not other than you; they are you.
Live through the world with this awareness. See into another’s eyes and recognize yourself looking back. Let go of the false conception that says, “I am here, and you are there.” There is no “other.” There has never been.
Walk through the streets, sit in the café, watch the crowd move, and as you look upon each face, know: I am that. I am them, as they are me. And in this knowing, separation dissolves. Love is no longer something to be given or received; it simply is, because there is no division between giver and receiver. There is only one, looking through all the pairs of eyes in existence.
Imagine, for a moment, that you could take the form of a single cell within your own body. You could travel through your entire being, observing the hidden life within. You would see how the cells communicate with each other, how they pass information and share resources, how each part belongs to a greater whole. You would watch the immune system working. You might see white blood cells rushing to a wound, inflammation guiding repair, platelets gathering to seal a break. You would notice how tissues reorganize, how signals are sent to grow, to close, to heal. You might notice that some cells have forgotten this truth. They act as if they are separate, serving only themselves. And yet, you would know, they are still part of you.
How would you want the cells you see to live? How would you want these cells to treat one another? Surely, the right way would be love. Anything else would feel unnatural. For in a body, as in the universe, anything that is not love works against the whole. And in doing so it works against itself. And just as each cell is a unique expression of the same life, so are we.
When cells love one another, they do not strain to do so. It is their nature. Cooperation, harmony, and mutual care are simply how life flows. But if they forget this and act out of selfishness, the body suffers. The systems begin to crack and break down. The body cannot thrive when its parts war with themselves. In the same way, humanity cannot flourish without love. Not loving is not just unkind; it is unnatural. That bumper sticker we see, with the cross-equals-heart symbol, is a way of expressing the idea that God is love. It is the truth of oneness. The way of love is the natural way before this truth gets forgotten.
Seen in this light, love is no longer something sentimental or cliché. It is not a soft ideal, but the very structure of harmony itself. Love is the natural order and the quiet intelligence that holds all things together.
That which makes us differ is not the essence I point to. This oneness knows nothing of difference. To understand this, you must look within. It is there, in the quiet center, that this shared essence is known. Not sameness of shape, but sameness of source. Not the external forms we see with the eyes, but the unity in being we feel with the soul.
For those who see themselves as above others, the truth of oneness is hidden behind a mask of pride. The mind, steeped in the illusion of superiority, resists the great leveling force of unity, for to accept it would mean surrendering the high throne it has built for itself. Those who cling to status, wealth, knowledge, or their position in the world, find it difficult to look into another’s eyes and see themselves. They have spent too long defining themselves by what sets them apart, by what makes them greater than those around them. To recognize that they are not above but one with everything is a truth too humbling for the grasping ego to accept.
In latching on to superiority, you deny yourself the very truth that would set you free. For to see oneself as greater than another is to see only the surface, the mask, the fleeting form. Likewise, those who see themselves as less than others are equally blind to the truth. Those who believe themselves unworthy, who feel small in the presence of others, they too, have been deceived. They have mistaken the shifting sands of the world for reality, allowing them to dictate their worth. Yet the same infinite essence that dwells in the king dwells in the servant. The same presence that shines through the wise shines through the fool. There is no greater or lesser in the light of the whole. This is why humility is not found in lowering oneself, but in seeing clearly, seeing that we are neither above nor below, neither superior nor inferior. We are not more than another, nor are we less than another. We are another.
To those who are consumed by pride, this is a hard lesson. To those who carry the weights of unworthiness, it is just as difficult. But for those who see with the eyes of truth, there is no struggle. They walk among all beings as reflections of themselves, knowing that in every heart, behind every face, there is only one life, one consciousness, one being.
If the same being that sees through your eyes sees through all eyes, then every action you take toward another is, in truth, an action taken toward yourself. This is where the timeless principle of karma finds its root. When you lift another, you lift yourself. When you cause harm, you plant that seed within your own field. The energy you send out does not disappear without any effect; it returns, shaped by the same substance from which it came.
To treat others as you wish to be treated is not just an act of kindness that your school teacher told you one time. It is wisdom. For there is no "other." You are the one who suffers when you inflict pain, and you are the one who rejoices when you give love. Like a boomerang thrown into the wind, every act circles back because the circle was never broken.
In truth, every moment, the same being that sees through your eyes, sees through all eyes. There is no division, no separation, no "other." There is only the one, appearing as many. And in this realization, we see the wool that was pulled over our eyes. That which divides us crumbles. For in knowing that the same awareness resides in all beings, we cannot help but feel the deep, unspoken connection that binds us to all.
The suffering of another is not theirs alone; it is ours. The joy of another is not theirs alone; it is ours. And in this oneness, in this holy spirit, we find the true meaning of love. For love is nothing more than the recognition of our shared essence. It is the acknowledgment that there is no "me" and "you," but only the one life as many forms.
In every creature there exists the collective spirit, a common awareness that is the very thread of life. It is the same consciousness that stirs in the heart of the human, and in the hearts of all the other animals that roam the earth. The horse that meets your gaze with a steady calm and the bird that flies into the trees are both animated by the same presence, the same awareness, that you and I know. Empathy and compassion arise naturally from the understanding that we are not separate, but expressions of the same essence, each of us reflecting the whole. When we experience another’s joy, sorrow, or pain, we are not stepping outside of ourselves but recognizing the same presence moving through both them and us.
Let us then live with this awareness. Let us see not just with our physical eyes, but with the eyes of the soul, seeing beyond the fiction of form and time, perceiving the unity that underlies all things. In doing so, we awaken to the truth that we are never alone, for we are always one with all.
