PP 297537/00068
PO Box 627
Caringbah NSW 1495
Tel: (02) 9540 2391
Fax: (02) 9524 0025
www.sydneygoodwill.org.au

No 191 / November 2002

Dear Friends,

It is a strange paradox that even though we might live under the illusion of separation we are yet driven by the sense of the synthesis of all things. Caught unconsciously in this paradox, we can distort that essential oneness by seeing only our own separate version of it and by requiring everyone else to conform to our view of how the world should be. And we can do this even when we acknowledge that we, as yet, do not see life from the perspective of the divine. Thus can we misinterpret events, motives and inspiration when we view life from the outside, from the surface of things, rather than from the point of inspiration out into its many manifestations in the world. If we live from that inner sense of union with all, we do not experience the same requirement to create an external conformity by imposing our view, our way, on others.

How beautiful is our diversity. The same falling star may be witnessed and recognised by millions and for each one its significance will differ depending on where they are and with whom, the moment in the unfoldment of their life, the tenor of their thoughts, the mood of their emotional life, their cultural, religious and social context, and so on. Yet the essential and simple truth of the event will be the same though our response may vary in richly diverse ways. There is no real comparison, and no point in any competitive comparison between each response. But there can be wonder and joy in the revelation of the rich tapestry of response to that one simple event - a response that far exceeds the limited capacity of any separate, single individual. Thus the very diversity of human expression reveals the reality of our essential unity and, at the same time, its greatest scope of expression.

How can we compare one expression with another when they are all part of our evolving planetary life? Each has a unique part to play, unlike any other and yet part of the one co-operative life. The scope of the familiar becomes a prison if we refuse to allow it to grow and evolve and encompass more and more of the whole truth. Our partial worlds, our partial views, cannot contain all and trying to make them fit all merely leads to deception, pain and sorrow.

While we live, we learn and grow - life and living never cease. If we close ourselves to this growth, life will still proceed though it passes us by. A man may become great while his childhood neighbours of lesser vision wonder how the child they thought they knew could so have exceeded their expectations. The very familiarity of our world view can blind us to the next moment's emerging truth and to the flowering of the human potential.

Everything and everyone is a wonder to be met with the freshness of first sight in order to see the truth it reveals. Each is beautiful, each is unique and each is defined by its own essence and potential, not by others' expectations, examples and expressions. We do not need to be like anyone else. We, as we truly are, are the soul's gift to humanity and as such we could not expect anyone to conform to lesser expectations.

We are completely free to be who we are - but who will leave through the open door of the cage? What stops us? Fear of the unfamiliar in which we may become lost, fear of what people might think and so cut us off, fear of failure and loss of self worth? All these are the fear of separation and loss - and yet we cling to separation in order to quell the very fear of it because it is familiar! The other side of that fear is desire - to be recognised and accepted, to be seen as important, knowledgeable or well-connected, to be part of a unity when the true unity of which we are always an inalienable part is far greater and only awaiting our recognition for it to begin to inspire us and to express through our living. We are the co-creators of the next expansion towards divinity. Knowing this, how can the old pattern of the familiar still attract our surrender to the daily demands of the world of effects?

World events are challenging us as a united humanity - more than ever before - to face the issues fearlessly; to see every part of the world within the embrace of divine purpose, transcending our imprisoning personal desires; to respond to divine wisdom with love for the unfettered human soul; to act with all the unique skills which insight draws forth. If we see only enemies and aliens and respond with fear to protect the familiar past we will fail to see the soul of humanity stirring and expressing across the globe.

Who has the courage to see how issues can be resolved peacefully and with mutual, long-term benefit; to see how peaceful resistance to old repressive forms can be wielded powerfully; to speak the greater truth which encompasses all; to see the unfolding of the greater plan and to know that it embraces us all in divine intention; to see that life in the world is a dynamic evolving expression of Life itself; to know that the future civilisation will be expressed through a culture of peace and will be inspired by that dynamic, enlivening centre of peace at the heart of the Will of God.

For peace is not just the result of worldly efforts to end war - it is, in reality, the initiating cause of all that enables the emergence of truth, goodness and beauty into the world. It is the source of Life purpose - not the temporary and bitterly fought hiatus in a continuing battle, in a constant, aggressive defence of the momentary, material possessions of a limited lifespan. Truly there is no death other than the form. Life is eternal and eternally expanding in its divine and majestic expression through us. Peace is a return to our natural and true estate. How can we say that it is natural for humans to fight and disagree when all our history has been guiding us inexorably to this moment of global awareness - this moment of synthesis in the process of manifesting?

National responsibilities are being re-defined in terms of world requirements and in response to the power of world thought and action. Individuals increasingly feel the need for a moral stance on all issues - local, national and global. They are taking individual responsibility for the whole and making their understanding known. Change is accepted as a way of life - opening the door for conscious evolution towards the glimpsed ideal and its revelation.

We have only to offer our being for the good of the whole - to dissolve those past defining boundaries that brought only pain and death - and we will find that we have not lost anything but instead will find that individually, nationally, globally we are much more than we hitherto dreamed possible. The emerging will of the divine whole will reveal the greatness that we are part of and party to.

"Said Solomon: 'I shall set thee at the crossroad and make thee silent and motionless. Before thee will pass the signs of events. Thou shalt restrain thy human curiosity, and thus shalt thou peer into the predestined flow of the current. For beyond human thought is borne universal thought.'" (Agni Yoga)