There are signs to remind us all around. Reminders of how connected we are to one another. Signs that we are all part of one humanity. These are the things that unite us: Music, art, dancing, laughter, literature, poetry, beauty, sunsets, ocean waves, puppies, kittens, sleeping babies nestled in their blankets.
At these moments we are not black or white, left or right, Atheist or Christian, straight or gay. We are just human beings who share an appreciation for something that reminds us who we are at our deepest core of being.
When we forget these things, however, we become enemies. We draw lines of separation. We argue. We fight. We demonize. We become twisted, ugly, inhuman creatures who fiercely deny the truth, the reality, the undeniable fact that we are all – in actuality – inseparable from one another.
When we share a knowing smile with a stranger across the room, or when we join the crowd in laughter at a good joke, or when we hold someone close and watch the sunset in silence, or when we close our eyes to absorb the magnificent beauty of a song that touches our soul, these are the moments that remind us who we are, and who we are forever connected to: one another.
Lately, I fear we are beginning to forget these things. We are starting to see one another as Liberals or Conservatives. We’re drawing lines of division with labels like Gay or Straight, or Muslim or Christian, Black or White. These labels are only intended to divide us, and they do a wonderful job of it.
But, if we try – even just a little bit – we can start to see what we have in common with those across the divide. Once we start to make note of those things that make us human, those labels start to fade away. Instead of seeing “the other”, I only see a person like me who loves their kids and enjoys ice cream and watches the same movies I do, listens to the same music, appreciates the same artists, plays with their kids just like me, goes to work and stresses over finances just like me, laughs at the same comedians I do, misses their friends like I do, cries at the same movie scenes that I do, shops at the same stores, eats at the same restaurants, and much more…just like me.
Quantum Science is starting to confirm this hypothesis. Everything in the entire Universe is connected on a level we can barely comprehend.
That means that – like it or not – you and Donald Trump are connected. You and Nancy Pelosi are too. You and Jeffrey Dahmer and Mother Teresa, and Jordan Peterson, and David Duke, and Kevin Spacey, and Napolean, and Gandhi, and that guy at work you can barely stand to be in the same room with, and everyone else, are all inseparably, undeniably, and profoundly ONE with everyone else who has ever – or will ever – live.
For now, most of us can only see how different we are. We can only focus on how we are NOT like those other people because we think different, believe different, pray different, love different, dress different, vote different, or act different. But that’s only what makes us “different”, it’s not what makes us alike.
As long as we insist on only seeing what makes us different, we will never fully understand or embrace what makes us all the same – deep down, in ways we sometimes don’t really want to admit to ourselves – very, very much the same.
But, what if we could try to see what makes us one? What if we decided to start noticing only what we have in common with everyone we meet, everyone we see on TV, everyone we follow on Facebook, everyone we see at the grocery store, everyone we encounter as we go through our day? What if we could look into the eyes of a homeless man holding a sign at the stoplight and see our brother? What if we could look at the face of a Trump supporter and see ourselves? What if we could look at everyone around us and start to take note of how much we have in common? What if…?
What unites us is so much stronger than what divides us. But as long as we only focus on what divides us, that is all we will ever see.
Simply put: Whatever we look for is what we will see. If we look for what divides us, we’ll find it. But, if we look for what unites us, we’ll find that, too.
So, I encourage you today to really embrace the reality that you are a member of the human race and that you and I are connected at a more profound level than you (or I) could possibly imagine.
Remember, God is love and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
When we live in love, we can see the God that lives in us lives in everyone.
That’s what makes us one.
Have you noticed?
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WARNING: Embezzlement: The Corporate Sin Of American Christianity by Ray Mayhew is only a few pages long, but this article on the early Christian church changed my life. After reading this, my wife and I left the institutional church to start a house church where 100% of the offering was given away to help the poor in our community and nothing was ever the same again. Download a FREE PDF copy of this article HERE. [But don’t say I didn’t warn you].
Keith Giles and his wife, Wendy, work with Peace Catalyst International to help build relationships between Christians and Muslims in El Paso, TX. Keith was formerly a licensed and ordained minister who walked away from organized church over a decade ago to start a home fellowship that gave away 100% of the offering to the poor in the community. Today he is the author of the best-selling “Jesus Un” series of books, including “Jesus Unexpected: Ending The End Times To Become The Second Coming” which is available now on Amazon.
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