Q: John, are we all one?

John: Yes. (laughter) But that’s very different from all of us really being there. On a deeper level within, yes, we are all one, but if we live being separate from what our being is like then we will all be separate: separate from our beings, separate from the heart, separate from each other, separate from meaning, separate from goodness, able to be one, but don’t, won’t be one.

The way to oneness anywhere that there is separation is through openness and softness of heart. So the beginning of oneness is opening in the heart. As you are being that openness and that softness of heart, you are right within the entrance to your being. As you, through that openness and that softness come into your being, what you are also coming into is our being.

Q: When you say “our being,” do you mean one and the same, of the same kind?

John: Yes. As you open and soften in your heart despite all of the differences that you can have with everyone around you, it’s through that openness and softness of heart that you begin to come into what is the same in all of us, whether we are all there or not. As you come into that sameness despite what differences are there, you start to see that sameness in others, even if they’re not being it, even if they’re covering it. By being it, your eyes open and you begin to see it. It enables you to feel for others even when they’re closing and hardening.

All the ways in which we perceive ourselves as being so different from each other is all actual; they’re actual differences. None of that is real. To be given to those differences is to be given to illusion. It’s only when you’re given to the sameness within that is actually there in everyone that you are being real. The real isn’t in our selves; the real begins within the open and soft heart. That openness and softness of heart that moves freely within our thinking, our feeling, our use of will and emotion, is then realness having presence in our selves, slowly making our selves real or making our selves, by what we are being in our selves, the same as our being.

Instead of our selves being so different from our beings, by being the same as our beings in the midst of our selves, our selves slowly become the same as our being: being, in form. So in that way, instead of our selves being merely actual, our selves become real and our beings, instead of just being real, become actualized in our selves.

Q: Would you call that illumination?

John: Transformation. Awareness, as it opens, becomes illuminated, filled with light. Awareness opening and being filled with light in the midst of the heart fills the heart with light. That light-filled awareness and that light-filled heart that is dwelling within the self fills the self with light.

Your self becomes what you are being in it. In that way, it doesn’t matter what condition your self is in. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done to your self, it doesn’t matter what others have done to your self. What really matters is what you are being in your self.

Q: Thank you.