My Vision of Our Oneness

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My Vision of Our Oneness

By Honey Judith Rubin

About thirty years ago I had no spiritual life, no visions, no grand passions driving my life and certainly, no relationship with God. I never thought about God. When I did start thinking about it, I saw God as angry with me, separate and judging. I wanted to distance myself from anything about God — as though I ever could!

I guess I saw God as a masculine being with a beard, a big rulebook, a temper, and an attitude — the bad "cop in the sky." While exploring the idea that we are created in the image and likeness of God, I came to realize that image must mean something different than our variations of form. It must have to do with our essence, our spirit!

Once I got THAT part settled the idea of all the different religions felt puzzling and upsetting. Hundreds of faith traditions, all claiming to be right — all claiming that the "others" were wrong/bad/lacking. Aarrgghh! This time, the question seemed so big, I asked for what I call a prayer dream before going to bed. I literally pose a question to the part of me that IS made in the image of God and quite reliably, I receive lucid, valuable answers. The answer for this one came in a "movie" picture.

I could see a huge circular table, whose edge had a lip, around which hundreds of children were milling. All the children held something in their hands. There was an air of excitement and expectancy as the children gathered. Oh, their faces were just gorgeous — fresh with the beauty of eagerness and innocence. My heart felt glad to see them. Then, one child approached the table and placed upon it the object he had held. Quickly, each child in turn approached the table and placed their object near to the ones that were already down. I could now see that the objects had irregular shapes and reminded me of puzzle pieces. Of course, I thought gleefully, they are working a giant jigsaw puzzle, and it was indeed gigantic — hundreds of feet across, big enough for every piece.

Shortly, all the pieces were in place except one. The child holding that piece was hanging back, not willing to relinquish it. Everyone really wanted the last piece to go in its place but instead of focusing on the completion of the puzzle, the children soothed this one, surrounding him with their love. The child was afraid of losing the value of the piece if it were surrendered to this whole. But love prevailed.

As the final piece was set in place, the scene took on a glow. The table and the children were all filled with streaming light, getting brighter and brighter -until, there was only light. Everything transformed! It reminded me of the movie, "The Dark Crystal," in the scene where the Gelfling child places the Crystal shard back in to the place it had originally been and through an alchemy of opposites, so to speak, everything transforms into a beauty not seen when the parts were separate.

When I awoke, I had a clear knowing that every faith tradition held a precious piece of a larger whole and that we were somehow meant to find out how all the pieces fit, and to remember our oneness. I knew that the power of love would give each and every one of us the courage to let go of our small thoughts and engage in a process where the oneness could begin to take on form. I have had this dream several times in the past decades, and would always ask what I could do to help it come in to reality.

When my spiritual family moved into our huge new home, the landscape offered those of us who are so inclined plenty of opportunity to play in the dirt. Behind the fellowship hall is a 45' X 85' open space that is currently covered in wood chips. Several times I stood in the middle of that space, praying for guidance and inspiration since I am the self-appointed coordinator of the "pretty project" — a drive to create many lush and lovely planted areas around the property.

After September 11th, all of us went through a grieving and healing process. I asked in a prayer dream how I could be an instrument of healing. I knew that what was called for would be a complete, planetary change of heart — with love, courage and vision leading us from despair to hope. There was no answer right away, but I have learned to trust the process and so just walked with the yearning.

In mid-October, someone approached me with a pretty project idea. She wanted to make a large yin-yang symbol, with gravel and plants. I immediately saw greater possibilities! We walked around to the large open space and I suggested having several symbols of various faith traditions, since our community truly honors diversity. Well, she was on fire with the idea. As it got tossed around and discussed, the vision seemed to get bigger and bigger. We named it The Imagine Garden– Awakening to our Oneness.

Finally, I felt inspired to have a theme to hold it all together and to give it a higher meaning than just the symbols and plants might convey. So, of course, I asked for a dream! WOW! When the focusing prayer theme of the Garden came to me, "May Every Mind Remember God," I knew that it would give the project a sense of grandeur that would inspire so many people. Later, as I walked with the idea, I realized that it was the answer to that long ago prayer of being instrumental in a transforming reconciliation between all faith traditions.

Even now, while having to find an independent and separate location for The Imagine Garden as that orignal location was so badly needed for other activities, the Garden has taken on a life of its own and has become the shared vision of many people. The magnificence of the simple prayer continually touches my heart.

"May Every Mind Remember God"

May it be so!

Blessings and Gratitude,

Honey

For more information about The Imagine Garden, contact:
Honey Judith Rubin, Executive Director and Garden Visionary

theimaginegarden @ mindspring.com