DR. STE​VE M​CSWAIN

The Sufi poet, Ghalib, said, “For the raindrop, joy is entering the river.”

When you and I first appear, this is how we arrive – in oneness with all there is.  Which is why, when you look into the eyes of an infant, you get this feeling you’re looking at the face of God.

You are, of course.

Something happens to us, however, and, before long, we begin to see and so feel our separation from others…from ourselves…from our Source – it is the birth of the ego, about which I’ve written extensively in The Enoch Factor. Ironically, we begin the lifelong journey of seeking to restore…to find…and to feel again what we’ve lost…the closeness, the inner stillness, the happiness and joy of oneness.

The greatest discovery I’ve ever made came to me unexpectedly…a gift of grace…and, it did so after searching half a lifetime for the oneness I felt I had lost.  My religious tradition had taught me that what I had lost was my fault…that I was a sinner, undeserving of oneness, joy, peace of mind. That only made life all the more complicated, the perceived separation all the more serious and problematic.

So, I repented of my unworthiness, not once but almost daily.  It seldom helped, however, because, no matter how often I said I was sorry…how frequently I struggled to feel again a sense of connectedness to the Eternal Source of all, I could never seem to quite make it with God.  This, too, I was made to feel was my fault. Needless to say, my religious experience, rather than being a source of joy…of liberation…of peace, well, it was one big disappointment. I think it must be for most people. Which is perhaps one explanation as to why people are leaving organized religion in staggering numbers.

Then, one day, grace was born. I quit striving…struggling…seeking. I made the discovery and that is this: you cannot lose what has never been lost–namely, your oneness with Life itself.

I do not believe this.  There is nothing to believe.  There is, however, Everything to know. In other words, you can KNOW this for yourself.

How do I know this? I know this because, when I stopped searching for God…when I had finally given up all hope that I would ever find my Source, myself, or my joy and oneness with life, I awakened…I had a Buddha-like waking. I experienced the kind of “salvation” about which Jesus spoke. For the first time in my life, I realized I had discovered what all the great sages of history had been trying to tell us: that I could never lose what I am…who I am…why I am.  I am the raindrop, but I am also the river. I am the oneness I seek. I could never be separated from the Source I am. The Shepherd from whose flock I felt I had wandered had left the fold to find me.

Can you not see how this discovery…this KNOWING…changes everything in you? For you? It is life’s greatest discovery…the day when “the raindrop returns to the river.”