“Sarvam khalvidam Brahma” — All this is indeed the Divine.
Family is the first mirror of the soul — where love and illusion are given the opportunity for recognition. Through them, one learns about belonging, identity, and the subtlety of expectations, both conscious and often unconscious.
In that same closeness, one can lose sight of the inner flame, mistaking duty for devotion and attachment for love. Detachment is not abandonment; it is remembrance.
When one steps back, it does not mean rejecting the family; it means returning to awareness. It is in this sacred distance that clarity arises and compassion deepens. Only by standing in one’s own center can love become unconditional, rather than a chain of roles, stories, and expectations that bring pain and suffering when those expectations are not met.
The “other” in the form of a mother, father, sibling, or child is none other but oneself in another form, a fractal of one’s consciousness illuminating what requires awareness around clinging or rejecting. They are reflections of the same Source, showing what within still seeks peace and Wholeness. When one forgives the “other,” while not clinging or rejecting, one forgives the fragmented self within the family structure and becomes free of the illusion of separation.
Through family, one meets one’s own soul wearing different faces. Through detachment, one sees through those faces into the One, and love becomes whole, free, and eternal.