The Bigger Picture

We go through life in our pursuit of happiness, innately knowing exactly how to achieve it, but still finding that our joys are interspersed with many sorrows. Often, the sorrows take us on a tangent, away from where we wanted to go, away from how we wanted to be. We immerse ourselves in selfishness and separateness.Deep down in the core of my heart I know that I am part of something bigger, and that integration brings me peace and joy. There is a connection to the entire universe, but I so easily forget that. I take myself to be the be all and end all, as if nothing exists apart from me and my petty selfishness, which is nothing but disconnectedness. I take that to be my reality and suffer for it, because I blindfold myself to the divinity that is everywhere and in everyone, including in myself.Often, I don’t even realise what’s going on and how far away from my goal I am being taken. I justify my desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride and jealousy by saying that everyone has these qualities or that they make me who I am. Don't we often say, "I'm only human?!" We see the 'sameness' of the negativities and make allowances for them, but we fail to see the 'sameness' of the divinity in all..Separateness is a crack in the foundation of who I am; it is a divide—and it will always cause pain. Think of any major problem or challenge in your life right now. Check within yourself whether it appears smaller and less significant if you zoom out and see the bigger picture of your life. For example, how major will the same problem appear many years from now? How major was this problem many years earlier? Did it even exist? In this way, if I can see time from a single angle and not as bitty, fractional parts, then I can have a completely different perspective. One can only imagine then, what would happen if one could look at every aspect of life from a single angle, from an angle of oneness. There you go, there’s the secret of happiness, right there.Can it really be as simple as that? Simple, yes, but not attainable if I am immersed in the sense of me, myself and I and of being in control of everything around me and thinking that credit goes to me for everything good that happens in my life! This seemingly never-ending, self-promoting ego is where the entire sham stems from!.But, have hope! Krishna would not have spent so much time and effort on Arjuna if it were not possible to eradicate the ego. When we are centred in something greater than ourselves, the fear of facing life’s battles cannot affect us. Then we can act in the world with a vision of oneness and connectedness, because that’s the only true way to be and the only single vision to have. The rest is just noise!Tune in to what Krishna is saying and apply it. Lose that separate sense of identity, rise above, and enjoy the view!

The Bigger Picture

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