ONEing is a practice that moves us towards shared-contemplation where we consistently access a way of being inside reality together. ONEing bonds us with the people we practice with. It creates community by connecting us inside a holding environment (a shared space) that is safe enough for us to open and share our energy with one another.
Partnered Lectio Divina: A Contemplative Way of “Reading” and Igniting the Divine in One Another
As some of you know, I am a long time practitioner of Centering/Contemplative Prayer and a daily reader of Richard Rohr’s Meditation email. Rohr has been using the term Oneing since 2013 when he began his publication by that name. While he writes and speaks about God as “One,” and also refers to oneness and oneing, I have yet to see him offer any practices that give people direct access to the space of ONEing.
Beyond Contemplation
After his transformative experience at the corner of Fourth and Walnut in Louisville (now Muhammad Ali Boulevard), Thomas Merton wrote “I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness. . . .”
This experience of universal love, of recognizing one’s self in the other, is directly facilitated in the Mutual Awakening Practice. Like Merton, we discover our interconnectedness with one another, and something larger, but we do it together.