"...Our adversaries have the same human/Divine essence as our friends. We can choose to see them as different from us, or we can choose to see them as growing and learning in their own way, according to the same principles that govern our own growth. How much courage we have in maintaining this belief will determine whether we take up the historical position of self-protection and self-defense, or whether we rise to a higher ground of trying to locate the common search for peace, love, and harmony that beats within each human heart and which is a result of the soul's presence. This is true between individuals, and it is also true among nations.
To release a worldview of opposition - of friends on one side and enemies on the other - is not an easy thing to do in a state of separation from the Divine. Here, there appears to be no assurance that there is another foundation upon which to stand and from which greater accord can be created. It is only when the Divine source and origin of all can be acknowledged that the truth of the common Divine principle that lives within all can be supported, believed in, looked for, and acted upon.
Fear has been humanity's governing principle in the presence of differences, fear and self-protection based on a sense of being alone and a belief that only self-defense could guarantee one's continued existence. Yet, fear is only an inevitable companion in a world in which it is every person for themselves, a world in which it appears that there are those who are fundamentally different from ourselves, not simply in their expression but in their being. Such a worldview cannot be the basis for harmony among nations, or even among individuals.
To deal with fear, we must begin from the premise of common divinity.
We must begin by being willing to hold the possibility that those who oppose us, resist us, reject us, or wish to change us are not different from us. It is only then that we can begin to look for, to pursue, and to ultimately find that which we share in common. We are afraid that we will have to give up too much by seeking compromise. We are afraid that our own lives or choices, or those of our children will be jeopardized. And these fears keep us from looking for commonality. However, in the Divine wholeness that holds all things and all beings, there is a way that all perspectives can be held within a greater whole that unifies them, and that all points of view can be reconciled at a higher level. This is not wishful thinking. It is Divine thinking that corresponds to the higher Intelligence of the universe.
When we are able to seek this higher level of common good, of common principle, nations as well as individuals will no longer believe in the value of self-protection from one's enemies as the way of life that corresponds to truth. We will no longer accept fear as a motivating force. At such time, the way will open for new commonalities to be found among adversaries on all levels, and the principles of the heart will become the principles that men and women everywhere live by. This is the time that the Earth is moving toward, and those who are peacemakers and peace-seekers at this time, whether in personal relationships or on a larger scale, are openers of the way."
