Human life is a wondrous thing. There is much beauty to enjoy, much happiness to be had, much love to be shared. There are also the opposites of these things; some fail to see the beauty and in its place see evil and ugliness, some seldom feel happiness and in its place feel fear, anger and despair, some are unloving or even hateful.
Many of those who feel and express what we call “God qualities” do so only for their own regard, in their own interest, and very often don’t extend those feelings to others outside of themselves or their circle of family and friends. They, in fact, often deny “outsiders,” or “others” not only the opportunity to experience these qualities but deny that they have the same right to them. This includes many people who consider themselves (and are considered by others) to be religious or spiritual. This is separation. This is faux spirituality and religiosity. There is One. Only.
Those who have not yet come to understand the Oneness of all things are not truly spiritual. There is no exclusivity in the Divine Mind. God does not recognize one type of person or one type of behavior to be more or less valuable than another. In fact, God does not recognize anything as separate from the Whole. As Ernest Holmes said, “There is one life. That life is God. That life is perfect. That life is my life (now).” So, when we think or act we are thinking and acting for all.
I cannot wish good for myself without wishing it for all others; nor can I wish harm to another without wishing it for myself. We are all the Sonship. That we have different experiences and we access the Wholeness to varying degrees does not make us other than One. As Jesus, the master teacher said – “that which you do to the least of your brethren you do to me…” – and by extension, to yourself. We cannot truly love ourselves and love God except by loving all. We are one.
In today’s world there are wars and acts of terrorism, and many and varied examples of man’s inhumanity to man. Violence generally begets violence and so the unholy circle continues. We fail to see that the person or group that one “side” sees as a terrorist, another side sees as a freedom fighter.
There have been those who have shown the world that non-violence is so much more powerful, yet their lessons are not always fully understood or received and even when they are they seem to have a short shelf life. When enough people act from the One-self Principle and refuse be part of the thinking that we can hurt others without hurting ourselves, the consciousness of the race will transcend and we’ll love God by loving ourselves. And we can only love ourselves by loving each other.