from Verse Seventy-Nine
Unity is a path without opposition, the basis of all beings.
~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
While this seems so straightforward and clear, it's the kind of thing we need to remind ourselves of continually!Too often, the word unity is utilized in terms of bringing together disparate people to work towards a common goal. In this vein, it's often used when describing a sports team or the military. While there's no question that a unity of purpose is a laudable objective, on a more basic level, unity is something all beings share naturally.
It is unfortunate that we humans -- as a species -- spend our lives trying to shred the unity we're born with. We're too quick to see the perceived distinctions that separates each of us or our group from everyone else. We use these distinctions to characterize people and things as good or bad, rich or poor, smart or stupid, beautiful or ugly, and us versus them. And these distinctions lead to war, theft, poverty, prejudice, intolerance, resentment and jealousy.
If we allowed ourselves to behold the unity of all, none of these things would exist in our minds.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
Oh wow. This reminds me so much of the posts both FW and I did about labels and how they are crap....
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you remember those posts, but the gist was exactly what you write here.
I vaguely remember, though it's difficult since both you and Forest Wisdom have (sniff) quit publishing.
ReplyDelete