Awakened awareness is like communion with the universal mind. That’s what Lama Surya Das says. I was thinking about that today when I was reading about the distinctions between Western and Eastern mindsets.

In the West, we hold individuality to be so important. We can’t fathom losing our identity; it’s our life’s goal. In the East, personal identity feels more like a burden. For many, dying means returning your individual drop to the mass ocean. And it’s welcome. It’s a relief.

This is so different, these two ways of seeing the world.

And I believe both of them are true. There is something so particularly particular about who we are, individually. And also? There is something deeply universal, wholly unified and unifying, about our existence. It is shared. We are connected.

Today, I’ve been thinking about how jnana, awakened awareness, is perhaps the intersection of these things. It is where we find ourselves so firmly rooted in the ground of our life, right where we are. While, at the same time, we awaken to the universal mind that extends far beyond our own boundaries. We cannot hold it all. We can only hold the awareness of it.

So I’m coming back to the idea I mentioned in the first post, also from Lama Surya Das, that jnana means not changing our lives but awakening to the lives we already have. And what that means, in part, is awakening to this communion that binds us.

Communion is such a beautiful metaphor. For me as a Christ follower, it is a beautiful ritual that expands our notions of space and time. It centers love as the guiding force of the universe. In it, we see this intersection where earthly elements carry a piece of heaven. And the present is a portal to past and future.

Every religion contains rituals that teach us these truths. That awaken our awareness to see the communion of all things.

So may you see a small glimpse of that communion this week. In your awareness, may you hold your uniqueness, as well as your connection to the universal. And may we all be the better for it.

This post is part of the Paramita Project, where I’m practicing one paramita each month. Read all my posts on jnana, awakened awareness, here.