United We Stand: Divided We Fall

Dear Reader,

Division in families seems to be increasing. In the Bible, Jesus tells us:

Luke 12:51
Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division.

Luke 12:52
From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.

Luke 12:53
They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

In the traditions of India, they say that we are living in the Kali Age, the fourth and worst era in the cycle of mankind, and division is just one of its symptoms. Because it is the toughest age, less is asked for from man, but attitudes of thankfulness and remembrance are key.

Everywhere we perceive division where love has diminished and selfishness has taken over. Publicly we can surely see this in the situation that exists between Prince Harry and the Royal Family. There seems to be something akin to a (political) family bust-up even in the Dominic Cummings fiasco. I see division in my own family and related families: understanding and common interest have gone out of the window. Self-interest and criticism seem to have taken over, very often due to false ideas prompted by ambition and status.

Yet there are families where, despite great trials, unity rules. And why? Because its members put aside their own interests and put the interest of the family first. In such cases, there is the common understanding that the greater good should prevail over individual interests. And in such families, there is usually respect for the elders, and remembrance for all that their parents have done for them.

At an international level, we see the same thing between nations, and in all areas of prejudice. But in these situations, it is even harder for the common good to rule. A way towards internal peace needs to be found as profound differences seem to be escalating.

Surely, if we were to develop a more loving understanding at the family level then there is a possibility for international understanding to take place. The family dynamic will influence local communities and then the nation and then onto the international stage.

So it is also between different religions. If the idea that any single religion is superior to another can be put aside in favour of looking at the essential commonality of all faiths, unity can be achieved. Again, such unity can influence the national and then the international scene.

And who can deny there is an essential similarity between religions? They all claim to work towards peace and speak of love but - because of human selfishness - seem to finish in division, both internally and between one another. That despite their essential commonality.

The common element in all this, in human life and its activities, is man himself.

The poet and writer Alexander Pope noted that "The proper study of mankind is man". Surely man (each one of us) needs to be the focus of attention if we wish for the world around us to be better than it is. Pope's initial verse went:

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the stoic's pride,
He hangs between;
in doubt to act, or rest;
etc.

The good news is that out of this Kali Yuga cycle should come renewal and a new, blessed, age of peace. But how do we deal with the present? Jesus said: "Seek and thou shalt find". But the 'seeking' has to be sincere - from the heart - for it to work. 

Sincerity usually begins in sublimating anger and pride with forgiveness and even respect towards, and listening to, those who have more insight through experience and/or study, particularly on the topic of love - the genuine kind. After all, God - the greatest philosopher, psychologist and scientist - started it in the first place!

I suggest we all need to contemplate and act on this theme - and this thought from Sri Sathya Sai Baba:

If a man loses his hand in an accident, he must believe that it was the Lord's Grace that saved his life. When you know that nothing happens without His resolve, everything that happens has a value added to it.

Thank you for reading this.




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