We Are Stardust…

WE ARE ALL ONE

Dear Friends,

Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains what his colleague Carl Sagan meant when he said that we humans are from Stardust. Humanity has the same properties as the stars! Indeed, humanity is one with the universe! Fifty years ago at Woodstock, Crosby, Stills and Nash sang “Woodstock” with the lyrics, We are Stardust, written by Joni Mitchell. Scientists now know that the ancestors of modern human beings originally evolved from one continent, Africa!

I knew the truth of this as a small child. I knew that my parents’ closest friends, the Hymans and the Nemuths, loved me and my siblings like their own children. I just adored Curt Hyman who called me Sugar and Pud’n and who, unlike my mom, cut me some slack, freeing me from having to look after all the younger ones. Dr. Nemuth, my kindly pediatrician always ready with a cherry lollipop, was the only one able to calm my hysterics about the dreaded vaccinations.

The terrible day I read in my catechism that the Jews (like the Hymans and the Nemuths) would burn in hell was the beginning of the end of my trust in religious authority. How could that possibly be?! I was certain something got lost in translation from God. The catechism made no sense at all. I loved the Hymans and Nemuths and Mrs. Cherry, our black housekeeper, as much as my parents. We were one loving human family. Most children start off knowing they, and everyone else, are Stardust, right? They must be taught (brainwashed) otherwise.

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”–Mother Teresa

These days the scientific fact that we are Stardust, that humanity is All One, seems to be lost in the rapid-fire haze of hateful lie-filled fake news stories intended to divide us. It’s nothing new–man’s inhumanity to man. It’s nothing new–those in power seeking to divide in order to conquer for their own self purposes. What IS new is that some of the powerful are harnessing technology to spread stories of Disunity, to spew age-old lies that exploit the fears of one group against another. This way be dragons and worse, friends.

We are approaching a critical mass, a tipping point,in history.
It matters what story you tell and the stand you take about humanity’s Oneness, our essential Unity. Is that the story you will tell?
Or will you tell the story of humanity’s Disunity, the story of Tribal Differences?
(Or, at the least, will you challenge others when they tell the false story of Disunity?)
It matters which story you tell now.
In fact, I think history will turn on the story you stand for at this moment in time.

But first, there is the not so small matter of my own Unity/Disunity, integrity/incongruity, my own truth and all that jazz…

August 9, 2019, 3:30 a.m. Naperville, Illinois

After a week of attributing pressure on my chest and pain in my left arm to moving furniture and some rigorous Marie Kondo-ing activities, (deny, deny, deny) I got a chance to ponder my Stardust nature in an unexpected way. Thanks to a scary ambulance ride with Ryan and Mike, (as handsome and competent as any paramedics you’ve seen on t.v.) and the tender loving care from many beautiful souls at the high tech Edward Heart Hospital, the body got what it needed and is on the mend.

Much worse than the physical discomfort was facing up to the bitter consequences of my poor judgement. For I had not told Harry how I was feeling, not wanting to “bother” him while he was out of town on his long anticipated photo shoot. Needless to say, I had some ‘splainin to do when he got to the hospital! The experience caused me to reflect upon a primary teaching about Unity from my Kriya Yoga lineage:

“You are a part of Life, not apart from Life.“

How can I remember I am One with all of Life? 
What makes it so hard to remember this simple truth?
What causes my forgetfulness?
How can I overcome these erroneous, repeated limiting thought pattern (that dates way, way, way, back) that tells me I am not part of Life?

Telling the Truth

The experience forced me to tell myself the truth about…

• the ways I set myself apart from Life
• how I discount the body’s messages
• how often I do not ask for help when I need it 
• how I think I have to go it alone (do not “bother” anyone!)
• the subtle ways I feed the illusion I’m separate from Source Energy, my Self and others
• the illusion that my well-being should come second to another’s.

I know these thoughts are not unique to me.

Practice

• When do you feel part of Life?
• When do you forget that you are part of Life?
• How do you feel and what do you do then?
• Who do you know who is skilled at remembering they are part of Life?
• What can you learn from them?
• How can they help you?
• What are ways you can remind yourself (perhaps with images, words, songs, stories, colors, chants, prayers, yoga poses, rituals, etc.) that you are part of life?

“Look for the Helpers.”

Mr. Rogers

I’m grateful Mr. Rogers reminded us that Help is all around if we just have the eyes to see it and the wisdom and willingness to reach out for it. I am grateful for all the Helpers in my life. I’ve promised myself to overcome this ancient habit of going it alone and reaching out more often.

It’s never too late to have a happy Elderhood, to change and keep my promise to continue growing as I live into my 70’s. I needed this sobering reminder that I am part of Life, NOT apart from Life!

Inside moves: the microcosm reflects the macrocosm. The story I stand for.

I am clear that if I’m to stand for Unity in the world, I need to remember my Unity with ALL of Life. I need to remember I am Stardust and so is everyone else. Starting by compassionately reuniting with the parts of my personality I reject and moving out into the world to offer compassion to those people my personality wants to reject, those who (like me) seem to have forgotten the reality that they are part of Life, not apart from Life, including those people who tell the story of Disunity. Perhaps they’re the one who need the most compassion…

It simply can be no other way…

May any merit that comes from this essay on Unity go to the radiant memory of Flo Pertell, a woman beloved and missed by so many whose life was about uniting people in laughter, joy and love.

I invite you to join this conversation, sharing about your experiences of Unity, of being a part of Life, and also about the help you’ve found in those times when you’ve forgotten you are part of Life. Who and what has guided you to remember your Unity with all of life?

Thank you for sharing my essay with others and for sharing your comments in the section below.

May you walk in Beauty today and all the days of your life, dear friends.

p.s. I hope you enjoy the new look of the Designs for Peace website (now on the WordPress platform) that my beloved Harry Hitzeman, Jr. worked so diligently to bring to you. If you’d like to have a free consultation to discuss designing or updating your website. contact Harry at hhhitzeman@gmail.com