I recall reading once that analogy is the least perfect way to express ideas, but that it is the most perfect way we can use words to reach mutual understanding. One analogy came to me a short time ago that seems to convey our teaching/learning process in life.

Picture a huge swimming pool partially filled with crystal clear water, kept absolutely clean and as pure as the finest drinking water by some mysterious process (not using chlorine). Every day, each of us fills a glass from the purified water system in our house and pours it into the pool, helping to fill it up. Sometimes, when thirsty, we fill our empty glass from the pool and drink it.

The pool represents the sum of knowledge and experience of all BEings created by the ONE God, and the glass we pour in each day is our individual contribution to the whole. When we drink from the pool, it is a time when we are willing to accept that all knowledge IS ours for the taking. There is no need to ask, merely the taking, the receptivity, the acknowledgment that we are part of the whole and entitled to all that entails.

The "pool" of knowledge and experience is infinite, and is whole and complete in the eternity of NOW, yet to our finite minds it seems incomplete, and we are only able to accept the tiny glassful we can drink at one time. Our true MIND, however, IS part of that infinitude, and IS capable of BEing in and with that knowledge and experience when we rise above the limits of our conscious thought patterns. That is in our moments of prayer or meditation, when we not only drink from the pool, but immerse ourselves completely into that experience.

Though the pool is whole and complete in its omniscience, that does not mean it is static in what we call time. Our contribution is essential to its ever flowing nature or we could not BE part of All That IS. And, our contribution cannot be less than perfect, no matter how it may appear to our limited senses. We are living the grand experience of life, and finding, both individually and collectively, what is best, most joyful and most loving.

Often we discover what is best by experiencing what is not "good" (in our limited judgment). Ultimately, ALL is "good", for good and bad are mere concepts we have devised with our limited and separated minds. It is in the sharing, the pooling of our experience, that we discover for ourselves what works best for us. If wise, we will drink often from the pool, and avoid the "bad" experiences shared by others and choose the path that is uplifting and more loving and joyful. Thus, by having "separate" experiences to share, we can avoid duplicating the errors and hasten our progress.

Shortly after having these thoughts, I read an article in Science of Mind magazine that related the differences between societies based on loving partnership and those based on domination (such as the Taliban). I suddenly understood that societies make their contributions to the "pool" as well. Through "time" we are able to review how different societies and cultures fared in their evolution, and again choose, as a society, those paths that are most loving and joyful.

Our function, then, is to be aware of the pool, to happily accept both our contribution and our due share of of the whole. ALL IS GOOD, all is helpful, and all IS our choice of experience right here and right now. ALL contributions are purified by the whole, but we make it easier if we remember the signs posted at all public pools.... "DON'T PEE IN THE POOL".