Eckhart Tolle describes sensing your own essence as the basis for sensing it in another person. He suggests that a few minutes of quiet eye contact can reveal a shared presence beneath body, mind and personality. He frames this meeting of essence as a felt oneness rather than a concept.
Transcript
When you can sense the essence of who you are, then you can also sense the essence of who the other who or what the other person is. And sometimes you can sense it when you look into a person's eyes for a couple of minutes. And you can then join together and feel that oneness beyond the personality. You see the body. You are aware of how their mind manifests through their words, their facial expressions, and so on. And you interact with that. You might touch the body of the other person. You may engage with their mind. You might could feel the emotional bond. But you can also sense the underlying presence in you and in in him or her.