Most of us learned the idiom “Don’t judge a book by its cover” when we were in primary school. The premise is that we cannot assess someone or something’s worth by what it looks like on the outside. I understood this in theory but found it difficult to apply in life the majority of the time: I had this tendency to look out into the world and measure people up, assessing their worth on their outer cover, so to speak.

Last month I had an experience that confirmed to me how much Serge Benhayon’s collections of books have supported me to become more open and real with people.

I was on a plane sitting next to a man aged about 30 years who had tattoos all over his body except for his face and head. In the past I would have immediately judged his outer appearance and interpreted that his inked body made him a threat of some sort. These thoughts would then affect my physiology and trigger a fight or flight response resulting in the hardening of my body as a way to protect myself to counter the perceived threat.

As I sat there I pondered on this situation. “Why was I sitting next to this man? What is here for me to learn?” The answer was almost immediate – I could feel that he was just like me. Here was an opportunity for me to feel the sameness between us and to be open no matter what his outer cover looked like.

So I made a choice to breathe very gently and re-connect to my body. I felt the hardness that I had gone into when I sat down melt away the more I surrendered to the feeling of connection within my body. As I breathed gently I remembered a Universal Medicine presentation that I had attended where Serge Benhayon and the scientist Dianne Trussell spoke about the particles of the body and how we are all made up of the same particles and that all our particles are interconnected.

As we sat in silence I contemplated on the Oneness between us and in the next moment the plane jostled us with turbulence and I bumped into his arm. I apologised and he smiled and we started chatting. I told him my name and he told me his, we spoke about if we were travelling home or going away. He had been at a tattoo conference so I asked him about his tattoos without judgement but with curiosity. He told me about his first and favourite one. I asked why he had got his first tattoo and he spoke freely about a traumatic experience that had occurred years earlier that prompted him to get his very first one.

As I sat there I felt there was an openness in my heart, a hum of energy between us. I felt like we were being held in this bubble of warmth where no judgement could be. I kept confirming that we were both the same and it felt like our particles were recognising the Oneness we are from.

When he asked if I had any tattoos I replied that I had never felt drawn to get one. There was no judgement in my reply, no arrogance that I was better than him because I didn’t have tattoos but an understanding that we each make choices every day of our lives. I asked if he had ever considered how making the choice to get a tattoo all those years ago had begun a journey where his body was now covered. He laughed and said he worked in the tattoo industry too and that he hadn’t thought about it in this way but could see what I was saying. We continued to chat openly throughout the plane ride.

As we disembarked the plane I said goodbye and thanked him for the conversation. He smiled warmly and said “It was nice to meet you.” I could feel there was a tenderness within him that he kept hidden away and that his tattoos offered him a shield to keep people at a distance. I took a moment to appreciate that by being connected to myself, I was able to be open and the real me with him.

This experience confirmed without a doubt the oneness that exists between us all.

By Bianca Barban, Registered Nurse, Melbourne, Australia|

(1) Esoteric Teachings and Revelations – A New Study for Mankind by Serge Benhayon

Related Reading:
– Shopping in Singapore: Reflections on Racism and a New (make-up) Foundation
– The Weapon of Arrogance – Discharging Separation
– Separateness or Connection