Standing for Love and Unity — U.S.A. and the World

I want to speak with you tonight about the time that we’re in collectively, historically, as a planet, and as a human family. These are very big subjects for us to think about, and they’re very important subjects, especially during a time that’s difficult for us to navigate, one in which it’s hard to reconcile points of view that seem very different from each other.

We are living in a time of polarization, a time in which things happen that are unexplainable to our conscience and our consciousness. It behooves us, then, to try and make sense of what is happening during this time. And so, I would like to put before you two ideas that are very important for us to hold.

We all have a desire for greater love within ourselves and for the world as a whole. And we all have a desire for greater unity, the sense of peace and of harmony between nations and between people. It is a picture of the kind of life that we would want to lead. So, we have to ask ourselves, since we all have this desire, why is it so difficult to achieve? Why is it so difficult to create a world of love and unity?

The first is that we have entered a phase in the Earth’s history when the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘political’ need to come together, not in terms of religious orientation. Not that politics should embrace one religion. But that the moral values and principles we hold most deeply need to inform our public life. And so, with that in mind, I want to suggest to you that much of what’s happening, today, that we feel distressed or dismayed about, is happening so that this time can unfold the events that will bring this about — that will bring the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘political’ together.

The second thing that’s important for me to convey to you is that when we speak about ‘standing’ for spiritual principles, we have to stand on a foundation of something we hold to be truth. Therefore, we need to ask: What is it that we stand on? We stand on what we most deeply believe in, on the truth that is most deeply embedded in our hearts. And so, this talk, tonight, is about standing for love and unity, something that human beings innately feel a desire for.

We all have a desire for greater love within ourselves and for the world as a whole. And we all have a desire for greater unity, the sense of peace and of harmony between nations and between people. It is a picture of the kind of life that we would want to lead. So, we have to ask ourselves, since we all have this desire, why is it so difficult to achieve? Why is it so difficult to create a world of love and unity?

The answer is this: Sometimes, because of things that take place around us, we react to events and don’t feel love. We feel anger. We feel hopelessness. We feel despair instead. And so, we blame our feelings on the events themselves instead of finding the place within us that could, perhaps, feel love. In the presence of all the other conflicting feelings, it becomes a work we have to undertake in order to try to get past these feelings and feel love.

Why do we find it difficult to stand for unity? For a similar reason. Because of events that we take to be the cause of our feelings, we legitimize our belief that a certain group of people, or a certain class of people, or a certain kind of people are not like us. And once we get into that mind frame, that there’s a certain group of people that is fundamentally different from us, where does unity go? It’s no longer possible. Unity is a principle that is non-exclusive. And so, some of us get to the place where we can experience unity with these people but not with these people. That’s the second reason for our difficulty. First, is that we feel other emotions besides love, and justify those emotions. Second, is that we want unity, except for those people that feel like they’re not like us at all. From this perspective, we have a very circumscribed view of what unity is.

The greater expansion of light on the Earth is, despite all appearances to the contrary, awakening the hearts of people.

However, the most important thing that creates difficulty for us in standing for love and unity has to do with standing. Many of us find it easier to get angry than to stand for something, to shout rather than to talk. And gentleness is not considered a power for most of us. Force is considered a power. And so, the idea of standing for something rather than fighting against something, the idea of standing as an action that has power — the power to convey truth; the power to change minds; the power to affect human history — that’s a place where we have doubts. Why? Because all of human history is about using force. We’re used to it. We’re accustomed to believing in the value of force in order to create change and not in the value of standing for something to create change, employing the ways of non-violence and love as some of our beloved predecessors have shown us examples of.

In our present history, in our present time, this presents a threefold dilemma for us — to know how to hold on to love in the face of conflicting emotions; to know how to hold on to unity in the face of pressures that want to divide us, creating a willingness to be joined with certain people but not with others; and to know how to remain aligned with truth in the presence of doubt so that we can forego the need to employ force. Those are the threefold dilemmas that make it difficult to know how to bring spiritual life together with political life.

How do we get past this? In order to answer that question, we have to dig deeper inside ourselves to first ask: What do we believe about this time that we’re in? What do we believe is the reason that things are difficult in terms of finding love, or a sense of unity with others, or believing not only in the virtue of standing for something and not against something but in its effectiveness?  What do we believe?

Even though we have individual differences about what we believe, the common answer is shaped collectively. It’s shaped by our history in the United States and in the world. Our history as the United States of America has within it the flavor of dominance, the self-righteousness of dominance, the justification of imperialism, the justification of manifest destiny. We have a great many things within our collective history that have moved us in the direction of believing that power is ‘right,’ or, as we would say it today, that ‘might makes right.’ That’s why it’s difficult to believe in love as the foundation for all relationships, both between people and between nations, because we’re used to believing in power. And we’re used to believing in power because that is how we’ve lived. And so, I put before you, today, the idea that we’re going through a major transition. We could call it an upheaval and it is that as well. But it’s also a transition in what the fundamental values are that we are holding to in order to create change.

We are currently living through an evolutionary step forward in our collective history, in which everything that’s been hidden, everything that we’ve known was there but tried to not see, or not know, or not respond to, because of the power of light is being brought before our eyes.

The reason for this transition may be found in two layers. One, is that the greater expansion of light on the Earth is, despite all appearances to the contrary, awakening the hearts of people. And if the heart awakens within us or within a large group of people, then that group of people begins, naturally, to gravitate toward the values of love, kindness, and respect for life, because those are the values that are indigenous to the heart. When the heart is asleep, we’re no longer gravitationally pulled in that direction, and can more easily slip into the frame of reference having to do with power. But when the heart awakens, we start feeling a greater desire to embody those values of the heart. The second thing is, (and here you can check with yourself to see where you are with this), that the turning point that we are at is based on the expansion of light on Earth that allows us to look at our collective history and see where there has been a gap between the principles that we’ve held and the practices that we’ve enacted. Because of the expansion of light, we become more aware of the gap between principle and practice. And when we look back, we see that our history in this country is filled with discrepancies between what people profess and what they’re capable of expressing in action. Filled. So, in this present time we have difficulty and we have illumination, both. We need to understand that the energy produced by spiritual light is the basis for the difficulty, the difficulty of polarization, of fighting, of the absence of love, of holding onto the value of dominance. What outpictures as part of the essential challenge of this time is accelerated, amplified, and infused by energies that are part of our collective past, now being brought by light into our collective awareness.

We are currently living through an evolutionary step forward in our collective history, in which everything that’s been hidden, everything that we’ve known was there but tried to not see, or not know, or not respond to, because of the power of light is being brought before our eyes. So, not only do the values of the heart tell us there’s something different that we want and that what’s going on is not what we want. They also create a sense of needing to do something different in order to create change.

Along with great strides forward in the demonstration and expression of elevated principles of human equality and freedom, our history as a nation has also been filled with motivations of darkness having to do with dominance over others. Our history from the very beginning of the founding of this country has contained both the goodness of the heart expressing in wanting the best for all people, all people. That’s what the Declaration of Independence says: All are created equal. All. But in practice, that’s not what human beings embodied. We didn’t practice ‘all being created equal.’ We practiced some being created equal. And so, the spiritual principle was identified in the founding time, but the practice couldn’t catch up with it. The reason it couldn’t catch up with it we tend to think of as a deception, or falseness, or hypocrisy in the consciousness of those who were the Founding Fathers of this country. We ask: How could they do that? What was wrong? Why didn’t people realize their inconsistency? Why didn’t we act differently? And, certainly, there were a number who were conscious that something needed to change. But the biggest problem, the biggest reason that we’ve waited, now, for more than two hundred and fifty years for things to be different is that there wasn’t enough light.

There wasn’t enough light in the Earth to hold the spiritual principles that would have given rise to the merging of principle and practice. There wasn’t enough light. And so, the principles were given, but the practices lagged behind. Nevertheless, each person and each nation is responsible for their actions. So, we don’t get excused because there wasn’t enough light, although it’s a significant factor to consider. No, as a nation, we are responsible for our actions. And so, those actions that did not conform to the values of the heart and to the heart’s humanity, those actions that were detrimental to the life and wellbeing of huge numbers of people, those are being called forth, now, for us to see, so that we see what we did, how we did it, why we did it, and so that we can do something different today.

This is the reason we need to take a look at the merging of spiritual life and political life— because underneath all that’s happening is the effort of the Earth to heal itself, the world’s cultures to heal themselves, and this nation of the United States of America to heal itself by finally facing the gap between principles based on the heart and soul’s knowing, and practices based on the history of dominance and the willingness to perceive groups of people as not part of the human family. That’s what’s happening now. Light is working to bring this about. Light is working to create the consciousness of what was wrong in the past within the immediacy of our present experience so that we see it happening now. We see what has departed from love and feel that we need to do something about it. We see what has departed from respectful behavior toward others, and we decide that we need to do something about it.

Purification is taking place, now, of our collective past and of the world’s collective past. And I would like to remind those of you who don’t have this fresh in your mind, that what’s going on here with full force is going on elsewhere as well because of the purposes of light. The choice between the orientation towards power and the orientation towards love and respect is going on in any nation that is voting into their governing body authoritarian rule. There are a great many nations doing so today. Voting persons into high government positions who are essentially taking over policy through an authoritarian regime in order to allegedly guarantee security from influences that people fear. Such movement is taking place along those lines in the Philippines, in Turkey, and in a number of the countries of Africa. There are also an increasing number of protest movements taking place at the same time that are arising to counter this movement of concentrated power. The split is between the energy of dominance and the energy that seeks to put human equality and respect for life into practice. In each instance, the question gets posed: Do we vote for a strong administrator, president, or whatever the title might be, in order to guarantee our security, or is our security threatened in fundamental ways by the policies and practices of this person because they are willing to place themselves above the law. And what does it mean to place oneself ‘above the law’? What law are we following? What law are we placing ourselves above?

This is what it means to ‘stand’ for something – that in the face of polarization, in the face of that which is unlike what you believe, in the face of challenges to your point of view, you uphold the principles that are in your soul and in your heart.

Think of that. Think of what you believe about that. Because there are two kinds of laws. There’s the human law that was written down in the founding documents of any nation including this one, the Constitution’s law, the Declaration of Independence law, the Bill of Rights law. And then there is natural law, the law of the heart; the law of kindness; the law of the soul; the law of basic respect for life. The different laws are meant to be joined. That’s why I said to you that the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘political’ were meant to come together. But we’re not there yet. We’re not there. In this time of purification, we must see the choice we are being presented with between dominance and love, between fear and love, between unity and exclusion. If we see these choices, we can decide where to place our allegiance. We can decide with what to align ourselves.

This is what it means to ‘stand’ for something — that in the face of polarization, in the face of that which is unlike what you believe, in the face of challenges to your point of view, you uphold the principles that are in your soul and in your heart. This is the challenge of our time — to uphold unity and love for all in the presence of that which is unlike you and professes a different belief. This is the challenge to love — to continue loving in the presence of that which is angry, attacking, bitter, or cynical.

As I said earlier, we have beloved predecessors who exemplify the willingness to courageously stand for a value that society didn’t necessarily embrace or wasn’t ready to embrace in the time they were in. We think about Martin Luther King, and about Gandhi, and about Nelson Mandela. And those are just a few of the more obvious ones. Yet, there are lots of others— beings who who were willing to stand for spiritual principle and changed the world. They changed the world. Yet, there has to be the courage to do that. It doesn’t just happen. And that’s why standing is a power and a courageous act, to whatever extent it can be practiced. Because it’s not passive. Standing for something is active. It’s an action of the heart translated into beliefs and behavior that  upholds a principle. It’s not fighting. It’s standing and upholding a principle. It’s a powerful thing. Very powerful.

I ask you to think about where you are in your own life and heart with this because we are living at a time when it is all too easy to get involved with the energies affecting consciousness of hopelessness, despair, and anger. Also, indifference or numbness. But hopelessness, despair, and anger come first. Then, there can be a withdrawal or a giving up.

Do you know where you stand with this, and what you believe about standing firmly without fighting, standing for love instead of dominance in the presence of that which disagrees with you? It’s not easy. It would be easier if everybody agreed to stand for love, but that’s far from the case. Are you willing to care for something so deeply that you can commit yourself to it? And then, if you feel called by the Divine, and only then, to take some outer action that represents this caring? But only if you feel aligned with the values of your soul. Only if the action represents an expression of principle coming from your deepest self.  This would not necessarily involve an outer action. Standing for something in your consciousness can also be an inner action. This can be as important as an outer one because it deals with the plane of causality. It deals with the source of motivation. When you stand for a deeply held value, it transmits itself to everybody else, including to those who are standing for different values. There’s great power in that, a power that’s not visible. You don’t see the power it has, but it effects change because we are all connected. And so, the transmission of consciousness is an effective activity. It’s an activity, not passive. An activity.

I haven’t mentioned the word ‘hope’ yet, but hope is important. Hope is very important. We need to have hope in order to stand firmly, aligned with the truth within us. We need to have it for the future so that we can begin to manifest it in the present. So, how do we get to hope for the future? It’s an important question.

In your soul, you know that you have come here for a purpose. Each of us who’s here at this time has come here for a purpose. And the purpose is not just your individual life. You may think it’s just your individual life with your family, and friends, and your personal hopes and dreams, and certainly these are part of it. But you have also come here to participate in the transition that the Earth is going through. In this time of value change, you have come here to help. What you choose to do to help is going to be up to you. You have a choice about that. But no matter what the expression, you’ve come here to help.

Are we going to go back to the exclusionary principles that were part of the practices of the founding of this country? Or, can we move toward the values of the soul?

In your soul before you took birth, you knew that there was a large task that was going to be asked of a great many people. You knew this, and you knew that the Earth was changing, and you wanted to take part. So, if I say to you that the Earth is expanding in light, and the light is bringing forth the darkness within our collective awareness that has been hidden in order to transform it, and that this transformation is in the direction of the values of the soul, you could say to me: “How do you know that?” And I would say to you: “Because you know that.” Because it’s written in the soul of each of us. Because it’s why you came here. I would not try to prove something to you, since spiritual truth doesn’t get proven through the mind. It gets revealed and articulated at a deeper level. So, I can’t prove it to you, but if you meditate on this and you ask yourself: “What is my soul telling me about the direction of life?”— life, not the immediate situation, not what the present Administration is doing, but what you believe about the future, you will see what comes to you. Your soul already knows why you’re here. And so, I count on that. I count on the soul responding with a sense of greater strength and courage because this was given for all who are here, today. This was given to know — that we live in a momentous time. Some might call it a terrible time. Some might call it a magnificent time. It can be all of those, but you were given that knowledge in your soul. And so, the knowledge you hold at the deepest level is that you are here to participate in the Earth’s transition into light, and that as a result of the expansion of spiritual light in the body of the Earth, those things that are dark, those things that negate the values of the heart, the values of love and unity, are being made visible so that all of us can make a new choice about how to deal with them. We have the opportunity as we experience the effect of the opening of the heart in relation to things of the heart, including beliefs that you may have held about the limits of human unity, and the limits of the human capacity to extend, and express, and convey love.

Today, the question is posed for us: Are we going to go back to the exclusionary principles that were part of the practices of the founding of this country? Or, can we move toward the values of the soul?

Your soul knows that everything is one. It doesn’t have a problem with that. It’s made of that principle. For this reason, you can choose which direction to go in. And, similarly, about love. Love is awakened in the heart by the power of light. Love is being awakened, today, in the presence of other things that are not love, and that’s why there is a choice that needs to be made. You came here to make this choice, to be an example, an emissary, a messenger of these values. You came here to do this. But in the state of fear which many people feel, it’s hard, sometimes, to hold on to the reason for which you came.

I’m not saying, by any means, that this is easy, only that you came here to do this, to stand for the spiritual principles of truth that are in you, not that somebody tells you, but that are in you. This is what you came here to do.

I spoke earlier about forces, forces that create polarization. And I’d like to increase our vocabulary to think not just about one person that’s influencing everything else. One president, one governor, one anything that’s influencing the rest. No. Think about energies and forces that move through people as mental and emotional currents that affect all of us together, influencing the way we look at life. Those forces have operated to create a particular style of government in the United States at this time. One person didn’t do that. The presidency is based on the votes of millions of people. So, forces or energies affecting the consciousness of millions of people have created the thing that many people are upset about. Not everybody’s upset, but many people are upset. And those forces are creating a division on the international stage between those who seek joining with other nations and those who seek isolation; those who seek gentleness and humility and those who seek dominance as a principle of engagement; those who believe in standing for something, and those who believe in standing against an adversary. This division is taking place in our country as well.

We know that word ‘adversary’ very well. It’s a way of conceiving of our relationship with the world. We can picture a world of friends and of souls without whitewashing behavior. We can picture a world in which there’s a fundamental goodness in the soul of each being, no matter what their point of view. Or, we can picture a world of adversaries. We get to choose that, too.

When we look at the present political structure or political life in this country or elsewhere, we need to not be seduced into getting angry with one person or a few people. Vast numbers of people are affected in their consciousness by energetic forces that are pulling in this direction or that direction. And it’s for this reason that we need to stabilize something in ourselves so that we don’t get pulled. So that we don’t believe that some people need to be written off because their actions are wrong or bad. These people are still souls. These beings, whoever they are, are still Divine creations. We can’t give ourselves the luxury of writing off people because we don’t like what they do. I say this to you as a spokesperson for the truth of the soul of each one who is alive in a body today, that we need to believe in the potentiality of that soul, and we need to believe in the potentiality of our own soul to effect change through consciousness, and through representing the truth that we hold. If we do, if we can be strong enough and courageous enough to let light do its work, to let the Earth’s light that’s filling physical matter, including the matter of our bodies, do its work, then what we are left with is the need to become what we want the world to become. That is the task. It’s a heroic task. It’s a difficult task. And we’ve come here to do it.

And so, I invite and encourage those of you who are listening to me this evening to see if you can feel the courage within yourself to stand for what you believe in. Not because I’m saying it, but because you know something about why you’re here. Ultimately, it always comes down to that, that in your soul, in your deepest heart, you know something about why you’re here. If fear can be set aside, truth will remain. And it is upon that truth that we all need to stand.

I offer blessings for all beings on the Earth, today, and for the Earth herself, and for all nations, and for all leaders of governments — those who we approve of and those who we do not approve of. I offer prayers that in the presence of the expansion of light, that all will be able to feel the truth of their hearts, and be able to stand in and for that truth. Thank you.