America and the world face more polarization than ever. Perhaps it seems that way because social media spreads information, and misinformation, faster and broader today. We can debate whether there is more division now than in the past. However, we can see the antagonistic divides in our politics, such as Critical Race Theory, and whether it should be in public schools, and even if it is a legitimate idea. An extension of the Critical Race Theory debate includes whether politicians or professional educators ought to be choosing books for school curriculums. There are zealous, and unwilling to compromise, proponents on either side of the issue.
There continue to be environmental breakdowns that reputable experts who study this subject claim are now an ecological emergency. In contrast, others believe that climate change talk is overblown, or an outright fabrication, ginned up by climate alarmists. The chasm seems so wide one wonders if it is an impossible gap to close.
Then, data shows there is an ever-widening income divide in America and other countries, as well as between countries, that social scientists claim harms the well-being of our societies. On a worldwide scale, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has the world on edge and concerned about a more expansive conflict because of a power grab by the Russian President to expand his territory and control. From a human perspective, it can make one want to shout the line sung by the late, great Marvin Gaye: “What’s Going On!”
I have conversations with my minister colleagues and people I know about how to resolve the challenges of our human condition, or if it is even possible. It is possible. We face challenges from our human way of being, but solutions come from our spiritual dimension. The answers lie in developing and operating from our spiritual consciousness. What we see out-picturing in the outer world is nothing more than the reflection of our collective consciousness. Most of that is from perceiving reality in compartments and from the belief in separation.
If we want to see something different in the outer world, we must start by transforming our inner world. As the axiom goes, “as within, so without.” Spiritual law reminds us that we must start by seeing the vision or result we want to achieve, before we manifest that vision for our communities and our world. And how we get to that point matters.
An American architect, author, inventor, philosopher, and futurist, Buckminster Fuller, noted, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Put another way, it is incumbent on our generation to imagine, articulate, and build the different world we want to see. The spiritual foundation from which we operate is most important. If we don't start with a spiritual foundation, we will build the new model on sand rather than rock and it will not last. We must begin with spiritual principles to create that new, evolved, and different world and not solely on outer laws and mechanical policies.
The critical spiritual principle is oneness. When we see and operate from the lens of oneness and the realization that everyone and everything is interconnected we will never set up models that will harm another individual or the planet. Nor will we create separate categories or boxes and see reality as an “us vs. them” game. We will realize it is always us, and whatever we do to another or this planet, we directly or indirectly do to ourselves.
We ought to create the models we want to see from the principle of oneness and interconnectedness.
Peace and Blessings,
James