"May you become as the waves of one sea, stars of the same heaven, fruits adorning the same tree, roses of one garden in order that through you the oneness of humanity may establish its temple in the world of mankind, for you are the ones who are called to uplift the cause of unity among the nations of the earth." ~‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 214-215
I want to move through the world with unifying energy that will stir the hearts of those whom I may be in contact with to spread the energy to others. This is my goal in my family, with my friends and with strangers. I am so very grateful for the opportunity I had to speak to a class of undergraduates who are learning about how they may generate these thoughts for themselves and how they may then create activities in their communities that are designed for the sole purpose of bringing people together in love and fellowship. These sorts of initiatives are so very necessary in the world to bring this awareness of oneness into focus. We harbour prejudices when we remain separate from one another. It can be scary to be in and among strangers but I have learned that is just my own fear of not being accepted. When I let those fears guide me, I stay away from others and isolate myself. I shut myself off from the beauty that lives inside all people. I also deprive them of the opportunity of seeing the beauty within me. I had the opportunity with this class yesterday to share some of that beauty with honesty and authenticity. It is only one experience, my own, of how I navigated through this terrain of behaviours and attitudes as the world learns how to recognise our humanity. We act out and get angry, push others away like a teen in the throes of puberty. The truth is this is necessary to get to the essence of who we are. I have observed my boys in these phases and have despaired that I have lost my child. But they always come back with a more loving and caring posture than they had previously. As I experienced this time and time again, I was finally able to just let go of the angst, let it be what it was and not fight it like it was some manifestation of my parenting. I surrounded myself with the knowledge that it was not permanent but temporary and would pass. And it did! I think our relationship with others is like this as well. If humanity is going through this phase of puberty then hurtful things will be said and done as people learn who they are and how connected they are to others. They waiver between fighting it and accepting it and then they know. The younger generation seem to grasp this very quickly and perhaps it is because the world has thrown out some very clear signs in the form of climate change, visible exploitation of the earth's resources and concrete proof of how barbaric human beings were in the pursuit of indoctrinating a marginalised population. The denials and verbal platitudes could no longer mitigate the stark nature of the evidence. I firmly believe that it is our hearts that need tender attention to begin to open to the acceptance of others. I turn to prayer to help me with this and this helps me to orient myself toward service. I am excited about the potential of taking this to another sphere of professional work but I know that it does not need a particular environment in which to find expression. Opportunities are all around for the taking! As the quotation shares, this is what we have been called to do!