These words are for anyone who feels, or has felt, the loving presence of a divine friend.
At various times in my life, for me, this has been God. At other times it's been someone like Jesus or a special guru like Ramana Maharshi. It felt like a presence, always with me, guiding me, like an unseen friend.
And I would give everything to this companion. In particular, I would give over my worries, my self-doubts, my insecurities, my grief. I would give everything.
At various times in my life, what a tremendous gift this has been to me.
Then at some point I began to see that the companion was not separate from me, or to word the same thing in a different way, that the companion is none other than the single Unity, the One, the Totality, and that there was no "me" to be separate from that.
This was part of my own personal journey. It may or may not have any relevance to anyone else.
For me, I saw that I had been externalizing Jesus and Ramana Maharshi, or even God, as if they were like a divine lover or friend always travelling with me. And what an incredible love that was.
Then one day something strange happened. As mentioned above, I began to realise that the "companion" had never been separate from me—never. Because there's only one thing, one energy, one Being, and no separation from or about anybody or anything was or is possible. Thus, there could only ever be the appearance of separation, including my divine companion, but no separation in reality.
There couldn't be an actual separation that existed between "me" and "anything else," including my divine companion, because there was nothing else but the One, from which nothing was or ever could be separate, since there was never any "second thing" ever.
Would you like Jesus to come back? Rignt now? He already has. Just look in the mirror; he's there. Would you like your guru to be back in physical form? She is. Look in the mirror. Would you like God to be present here and now? Look inside at your own Self. Or for that matter, look anywhere else.
Whether I looked at the passing streets from my car, or saw an expression on a friend's face, or did my work, or got in an argument, or petted an animal or whatever, it's was as if the "companion" was revealing itself as everything whatsoever.
And of course that included me, was me. It includes you, is you. It includes us, is us. It is the One and Only, or to put the same thing in a different way, the Eternal behind the appearance.
No matter where we go, or whatever we do, or whatever we see, we're always meeting the "companion," we're always feeling the "companion," who is nothing less than we ourselves, or rather, the Self, or rather, Itself—Itself meeting Itself meeting Itself—everywhere and forever.
—jim sloman, for 2/28/02
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