I Know As I Am Known

Have you ever had one of those moments, sometimes referred to as mystical moments, when even  if only for a split-second you knew that you are not separate from the Allness that is; not separate from God, or from anything, or anyone?

For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; but then shall I know, even as also I am known.

- I Corinthians 13:12 (KJ21)

My guess is that if you are reading this, you have had one or more such experiences.  Perhaps it occurred during a time of prayer or meditation, or while spending time in nature, or just looking at the stars.  I have a vivid memory of one such moment which happened the first time I visited the redwood forest in Northern California.  The early morning mist was lingering just above the ground as I entered a grove of trees.  I was immediately overcome by a deep sense of belonging, love and nurture as I smelled the earth and heard the soft sounds of birds singing in the trees amidst what was otherwise a glorious silence.  Walking along the path, I looked ahead and noticed rays of sunlight streaming down through the trees.  As the sunlight encountered the mist they created the most beautiful rainbow I had ever seen.  It seemed close enough for me to reach out and touch.  In that moment, time stopped.  I lost all cognitive recognition of where I was.  And, for what seemed to be minutes, but what turned out to be only seconds, I also lost touch with the conditioned mind that believed in a separate self.  I became the rainbow, the birds, the earth, the trees and the mist.  Of course, I know now that I did not “become” anything that I was not already.  I was simply enjoying a moment of knowing the truth that there is only one, and I am that.

There are no words that can fully capture the feeling that arises.  In fact, it is only in the seconds following the experience that conscious awareness of feeling is evident.  In the moment, there is no reference for ‘feeling’; there is simply the knower knowing Self as all that can be known.

During such experiences the veil between our usual waking consciousness and our natural awakened consciousness seems to lift, and we know as we are known.  Some have described such moments as euphoric experiences with a resulting feeling of ecstasy.  Dictionary.com defines ‘ecstasy’ as “rapturous delight.”  That was my experience as well.

As ecstasy begins to subside, it is replaced by an overwhelming sense of gratitude; not gratitude like one might express to someone for giving them a gift, but gratitude that arises from the core of your being as the natural expression of knowing you are the gift presenting as both the giver and the receiver.

To know this and to experience this awareness of “heaven on earth” in varying degrees is not, as many believe, a promise of the afterlife, but an assurance of what is possible in every moment.  It is our choice to open ourselves to this realization of Oneness.  We do that when we are willing to look upon everything and everyone in our experience and say to ourselves, “That is I” and allow the truth of that statement to reveal itself to us.  As this truth is revealed, we can feel it and live from that knowing with every thought and every action.

When we see God in all as All; when we know the Truth of our Oneness, we are free.  We are free to live ecstatic lives.  In rapturous delight we express gratitude in every moment of every day knowing that everything and everyone is a gift I am giving to my Self.  I see all as though seeing my Self face to face.  

I know as I am known.