A Thought for the Day From Sri Eknath Easwaran
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November 9

A human being is part of the whole, called by us "universe,"
a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his
thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest -- a
kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind
of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to
affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free
ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to
embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

 - Albert Einstein 


None of us see life as it is, the world as it is. We all see life
as we are. We look at others through our own likes and dislikes,
prejudices and prepossessions, desires and interests. It is this
separatist outlook that fragments life for us - man against
woman, community against community, country against country. 
Yet the great mystics assure us on the strength of their own
experience, if only we throw away this fragmenting instrument 
of observation called the ego, we shall see all life as an
indivisible whole.

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>From Eknath Easwaran, "Words to Live By" (Nilgiri Press, 1997)
http://www.nilgiri.org/Html/Thoughts/today.html


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