On the evening of September 10th, 2001, my wife Stephanie and I drove down to Big Sur, California, where we had a two-night reservation at the Post Ranch Inn. We walked to the north side of the property to a private, undeveloped area and stood on a sheer cliff about 500 feet above the beach.
Overlooking the Pacific, Stephanie and I symbolically threw sticks and stones over the precipice to the rocky shore below to signify the closing of old doors as new doors were opening. My career as a technology executive was officially over. I’d learned valuable lessons that I knew I would take with me into the next chapter of my life, as my spiritual journey was about to take a giant leap forward.
The next morning, September 11th, 2001, Stephanie and I woke up to a quiet breakfast. The Post Ranch Inn does not have televisions or newspapers. A buffet breakfast is served in the restaurant and gathering area at a pristine location on the property. It has sweeping views and looks out over the Pacific all the way to the distant horizon. Sometimes you can see whales migrating along the coast. We noticed fax copies were being placed in a neat pile in the center of the buffet breakfast area. This was odd because this location was all about quiet conversation and contemplation, not written material and news accounts.
I was curious so I went over and grabbed one of the fax copies. It said that the second World Trade Center tower had just been hit and had come down. To say that Stephanie and I were in shock as we read this would be an understatement. The fax said nothing about what had happened to the first tower, so I went back and found an earlier fax that explained how the first tower had been hit hours earlier. The rest of our morning was spent quietly contemplating what had happened and praying for all those who had been injured and lost their lives, along with the countless families who were directly dealing with the horror of the attacks.
The irony of what was happening was not lost on me. The previous day, we had signed papers to turn over the assets of my thriving Silicon Valley business to another company, and my duties as chairman of the board were complete. Moving forward I was going to live my life in service to conscious evolution and my family. The next day, the world experienced a monumental case of mistaken identity when acts were committed that resulted in thousands of deaths.
I’ve often thought that if the pilots of those planes knew their True Identity—if they understood Oneness deep in their hearts—they never would have crashed into the buildings. They would have been fully aware that any action taken against another is taking action against oneself…
One Self.
Oneness is not just a word...
Oneness is our reality.
By our thoughts and deeds, we are constantly impacting the field of Reality. That field both receives and sends, acting with a boomerang effect. Whether realized as a positive or negative experience is entirely up to the individual. Either way, we are placing energy into the field.
Some deny Oneness or simply ignore the concept. But we can think of Oneness like gravity. We can’t see it and thus have the choice to deny its existence all day long. Still, gravity exists as an invisible force that pulls objects toward each other.
Similarly, Oneness or Divine Unity or Consciousness is a reality.
Deepak Chopra says:
The state of enlightenment is a direct experience of the core consciousness that is the raw material of one’s existence. Your awareness knows it is aware, that it is present. That is a self-evident knowledge where one’s basic existence is directly known to be the same as the basic existence of everything. That is why it is considered universal consciousness. This is the collective experience of all enlightened sages throughout the ages.
Living consciously and “in Oneness” is when we operate intentionally and from the heart. This being state places us on a particular and specific path. Where are your thoughts and deeds taking you? Are you headed in a direction that is in service to your own true self and to all of life?
On this 20th anniversary of what has globally become known as 9/11, I would like to encourage you to take some time for a period of personal, private reflection on who you really are, on what Oneness means to you, and on those things in your life that distract you from the Divine Truth of Ultimate Reality.
When I so often say that we are all in this together, I am speaking sincerely and with love for all of life. I don’t mean “together” in a limited sense of family, friends, spiritual community, nation, planet, or even Universe.
When I say we’re all in this together, I am speaking of Oneness in an eternal sense without boundary or limitation of any kind.
Our purpose as an organization and as individual members of Humanity’s Team is to awaken and embody Oneness and conscious living globally. Our mission is to make conscious living pervasive worldwide by 2040. Together we do this with friends and partners worldwide by way of our PACE initiative (Planetary Awakening, Conscious Evolution), and we invite you to join us in picking up the PACE.
https://www.humanitysteam.org/about
With deep gratitude for this day,
Steve
