Jacob, on the run and exhausted, readies himself for sleep. “He took from the stones of the place and he put [them] around his head, and lay down in that place” (Genesis 28:11). Then he passes out. As he sleeps, he dreams famously of the ladder rising to heaven. When he wakes, transformed by the mystical experience, he “takes the stone that he had placed around his head and set it as a pillar” (Genesis 28:18).
How did several stones become one?
I like to imagine that Jacob, rather than remaining supine on the ground, actually ascended the ladder. He saw the world from God’s perspective. From on high, what once appeared distant becomes close. Boundaries dissolve. What appears divided is shown to be whole.
The same is true for people. We allow ourselves to be blinded by differences in race, gender, age, nationality, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, and politics. But these are illusion. We believe that there’s an ‘us’ and a ‘them,’ when, in fact, we are all One.
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