This past week was the annual Islamic Hajj,                                                                               the pilgrimage to Mecca. As with all religious pilgrimages, those who undertake these sacred journeys are usually seeking an understanding or a connection with their God and the Divine. During the Hajj, pilgrims perform cleansing rituals and adorn themselves in the same white clothes. Everyone looks the same, regardless of race, gender, social status, wealth, or education. All are equal under God. The things that separate people from one another, the identities of the ego, are wiped clean so that they may stand “naked” before God.

It is only when we set our egos aside that we can bare our true selves, our souls, to the world and the Divine. Underneath the delusions and illusions of the ego that each of us is separate, lies the naked Truth that we are all interconnected beings on our interwoven journeys to understand Life, Love, God, and the Universe. By striving each day to not let the clinging of the ego control us, we can free ourselves to become one with our fellow man, all sentient beings, and the Divine. This surrendering of the ego to allow union and oneness with All is Yoga. We are all one and the same. We are all a part of the Universe, of the Divine, and of God. Let us all embrace this beautiful responsibility by treating all others with the same love and respect that we wish to receive.

Just as hands and other limbs are thought of as the members of a body, can we likewise not consider others as the limbs and members of a living whole?

– Shantideva 8:114

And One is God the Father of all, and over all, and with all, and in us all.  

–Ephesians 4:6

Know ye not…that the spirit of God dwelleth within you?

-Corinthians 3:16