Oneness, also called the pathless path, has been front and center in my life of late.  To me, Oneness is the ultimate, perfect, and infinite paradox.  It exists at the fringe of my comprehension, just beyond the tips of my outstretched fingers.  Like a curious animal, it keeps its distance, drawing near when I’m not paying attention, then darting away when I glance up and take notice.  And the more I actively attempt to lure it closer, the farther away it moves, always remaining just out of reach – visible, but seemingly unattainable.

Shaltazar tells us it is in the searching that we will never find and that even the act of seeking assumes what we seek is not available to us in this moment.  I remember reading somewhere that the secret to getting what you desire in life is not wanting it.  Similarly, Shaltazar says that not knowing you already have what you seek prevents you from having it. Intellectually, these concepts make no sense, yet somehow they resonate at a deep, unconscious level.

My present learning around Oneness seems focused on my beliefs surrounding financial abundance.  My life is already quite abundant in all respects.  Even financially, I have never lacked the monetary resources to provide for my needs and those of my family.  My struggle is with the reality I have come to accept regarding how money comes into my life, and my difficulty in aligning with the idea that money can flow to me easily and effortlessly.

I’ve been raised to believe that acquiring money requires effort:  more money = more effort; more effort = more money.  I’ve thus tethered my belief in the potential of achieving financial freedom to the number of hours I spend working.  I’ve come to realize of late that this is an unsustainable business model.  Under my approach to financial abundance, there can never be enough hours in the day.  What’s more, in spite of much effort to cease its progression, my age continues to creep upward.  It is thus becoming apparent that neither can I continue to work at my current pace long-term without suffering dire physical consequences.

According to Shaltazar, the path to Oneness requires letting go of our humanness and transcending our self-limiting beliefs.  But how does one transcend self-limiting beliefs?  Shaltazar tells us it’s as simple as surrendering to what is – to stop fighting against contradictory beliefs, to cease the mind from wandering, worrying, expecting, or desiring, and just be with what is in front of us right now.

I believe this may be the most difficult of all concepts for our ego-dominated minds to grasp.  We are so conditioned to qualify everything in our experience with duality-based labels such as good or bad, right or wrong, love or hate, positive or negative, that maintaining judgmental neutrality in the face of the events, situations, and experiences which confront us each day is a monumental challenge and why we remain separated from Oneness.

That said, let’s add a layer of irony to the paradox: because of our lower, denser, physical vibrations, we are more or less stuck in the duality and can never fully live in Oneness while in human form.  While we can glimpse it – taste it… feel it… experience it in short episodes of bliss, interconnectedness, and transcendence – remaining there permanently is not possible.  Even monks who sequester themselves in caves to avoid the distractions of life’s non-spiritual polarities cannot entirely escape the fetters of our dual human/spirit natures.

To experience Oneness – albeit temporarily – Shaltazar tells us we must allow our minds to slow down and enter a state of pure potentiality… silence… stillness… allowing our thoughts to simply float away and wait patiently for what comes.  That sounds a lot like meditation.

Like honing an athletic talent, acquiring a new language or learning to play a musical instrument, quieting the mind and getting oneself still and centered is a developed skill that requires practice to perfect.  The more we practice, the more easily we become aware of the difference between immersion in the present moment and when our minds are running wild, making up stories, and judging everything we see and do including ourselves.

I have heard that awareness leads to choice, and choice leads to change.  So once we learn to recognize where our attention is focused and how to bring it back into the present, we can eventually choose to stop the labeling and judging, remain neutral, and become the observer of events that transpire in our lives rather than judge and jury.  In this context, Oneness is the idea that everything which appears in our experience is not happening to us, for us, or against us in separation from all the rest of creation, but simply that which is – unified, whole, and in perfect Oneness.

Mark Layne

Applying the Wisdom:

In the example above you can see how my beliefs about money are preventing me from attracting financial abundance into my life more easily and with less effort. Do you have any self-limiting beliefs that are holding you back from having all that you desire? How can you bring your desires into more of a state of Oneness so they will manifest more easily into your life?

How to spot a self-limiting belief:

• Does the belief appear to reside outside of yourself (ie. Is it a truth belonging to someone else – society, a parent, a spouse, television, etc.)?
• Does the belief resonate with your personal truth, or does it contain presupposed limitations?
• How does the belief feel? Is it freeing and liberating allowing your cork to rise, or does it seem heavy and constricting?

Once you learn to spot a self-limiting belief, simply replace it with one that feels better.  For example, if you believe yourself inadequate in some capacity, change that vibration to “I have everything I need within me right now to succeed at ________.”  Or if you feel yourself resisting what is, you could say, “I fully and completely trust the universe will supply all I need, and I accept everything that comes to me with gratitude.” Saying it is not enough. You will have to learn to truly believe it. Make it a part of you. The key is to create a new belief that not only feels non-limiting, but which you know to be true. You may have to play around with this, trying a few variations until you get the belief that allows you to know that you already have what you desire. You just need to allow it into your life.

We invite you to leave us a comment and share your experiences about creating new non-limiting beliefs.

Jeffrey Eisen