We are not separated from God.

“The illusion of separation from the God within means the loss of our true identity. God’s being is the source of our being, and this is the fundamental basis of who we are. We compensate for this loss of true identity by manufacturing a self-image. Contrary to what we are often told, we are not in need of a better “self-image.” There is no self-generated image that can save you. This self will only generate a counterfeit identity that is a distortion of the truth of who you are.

Why do we strive to attain what we already have and are? We life as if the illusion of separation is real.

We are not separated from God.

We are not separated from life.

We are not separated from love.

We are not separated from peace.

We are not separated from beauty.

We are not separated from goodness.

And yet this “self-image” we create lives as if all of the separation above is real, and strives to attain them. Every day we wake up in the Garden of Eden where God has richly supplied for every need and desire, and yet we reach out for the fruit of the tree of “self-image.” We imagine that we are separated from the God within, and feel we must fend for ourselves. We are a people in search of what we already have.

Religion tends to imply that there is a process to undertake in order to attain God, life, love, peace, beauty, and goodness. But all that is required is to accept that you have them in every moment without condition. “Faith” is not mental assent to a proposition. “Faith” is to live as if something is true.

What would it mean for you today to live as if it is true that you are as God made you – whole and complete, good and beautiful, worthy of love, and at peace? What would it mean for you today to live as if all that your heart desires is accessible in every moment because it is in you and is you?”

- Jim Palmer, Notes From (over) The Edge