I know it doesn’t seem like it, but the Universe is always conspiring to draw humanity together. The opposing force that resists this process is our own Animal Instinct – our senses, our tribalism, and our ego.
I must confess that, lately, I have fallen asleep and allowed my Animal Instincts to pull me deeper into that process of resisting Oneness. As a result, I have forgotten to focus on building the new and I have fallen back into the bad habit of fighting the old, using the same familiar weapons that are native to the “Us vs Them” tribalism that is baked into our bones.
Believe it or not, both Conservatism and Progressivism are attempts to bring humanity back into our original stasis of Oneness, but they both mistakenly employ primitive methodologies to accomplish this task. The Conservative strategy is to “take us back” to an imaginary world where everyone was happy under the banner of “agreement” on theology, politics, and morality. The Progressive strategy is to “move us forward” into an equally imaginary world where everyone finds peace through an abundance of resources and shared ideologies. Neither is “wrong” to want to bring humanity together, but they are misguided in their attempts due to an ignorance about where humanity is going, or what we truly need to find Oneness together.
In some ways, Conservatives are right about the idea that we need to “go back to the beginning” to find answers. The problem is that they don’t understand that what we need to go back to is our original knowledge of Oneness with all things.
Progressives are right about the idea that we need to “move forward” to find answers, but they don’t understand that what we need to move forward into is an awakening of our shared Divinity and Humanity.
The truth is that going back to “the way things used to be” won’t awaken humanity to Oneness, because this strategy is based on the false assumption that an artificially imposed set of laws and rules will lead to any real sort of transformation. We cannot legislate our way to Unity.
We also cannot find Oneness by providing education and resources to everyone who needs them, because all that will bring us is a well-educated and abundant world where no one can see their own need for the other.
The truth is that we are all already One. We cannot see it, but it is true. From a Quantum Physics perspective, everyone and everything is an expression of the same thing: the Quantum Field.
When I look at you, I see an expression that is not like mine. Therefore, I assume that you are not the same as me. This is the most basic illusion that everyone falls under. We assume that those who look like us, and sound like us, and believe like us, are our tribe, and that everyone else who does not look like us, or sound like, or believe like us, is an outsider. So, we form tribes around our race, our religion, and our ideology, and we exclude everyone who doesn’t conform to our own image.
It’s the age-old mistake of assuming that everyone who is like me is “normal” and “sane” and everyone who is unlike me is “strange” and “stupid.”
This is what comedian George Carlin was speaking of when he noted that everyone on the freeway who is driving faster than me is insane, and everyone who is driving slower than me is a moron. The basic human reaction is to assume that anyone who is doing it the way I am doing it is perfectly normal, and anyone is doing it faster or slower than I am isn’t.
This way of relating to the world betrays an underlying assumption that most of us would never say out loud: I am the standard for all truth in the world.
In other words, as long as everyone does it the way I do, everything is fine, but the moment I encounter someone who does it differently, we have a problem. Without realizing it, we make our behaviors the standard for goodness, rightness, and truth, and we alienate anyone who might deviate from our standards.
As I mentioned earlier, I have found myself being drawn back into this “Us vs. Them” mindset lately, and I want to break out of this pattern. I want to stop seeing people who think differently from me as the enemy. I want to stop focusing on how “wrong” they are and how “right” the people who think the way I do are. This is easier said than done.
But, perhaps Socrates had it right when he said that the best way to effect change is not to spend our time fighting the old, but to focus instead on building the new.
I’ve felt this way for a long time now. I’ve known this was the better way to go. Still, I allowed myself to get pulled deeper and deeper into the tribalism that only perpetuates even more division.
What Socrates says is true. I just wish he had mentioned how incredibly difficult it is to stop fighting the old, especially for someone like me who has been doing it for a very long time. It’s like an addiction that I need to recover from, and I’m not entirely sure how to do it.
One way to break my addiction to ‘fighting the old” might be to limit my social media access. What I’ve noticed is that the algorithm is programmed to feed me a steady diet of posts that either confirm my bias or agitate me to react impulsively. Both of these things only draw me farther away from my desire to “build the new.” So, that’s probably a good place to start.
Another way might be to spend intentional time meditating on my Oneness with the Divine, which can only reaffirm for me my Oneness with everyone else. By reconnecting with God on a daily basis, I can hopefully be reminded that everyone else is also connected to the same God within, even if they’re not always aware of it. And I can also realize that their inability to see their own connection with the Divine is no different than my own.
So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry that I’ve wasted so much of my time, and yours, focused on the wrong things. I’m sorry I’ve become distracted by the “Us vs Them” illusion for so long. I’m sorry that I’ve neglected to build the new and to communicate the beauty of Oneness and Connection.
I don’t want to fight the old anymore. I want to stop cold turkey. I want to stop being triggered by what “they” are doing or what “they” are saying. I want to stop feeling helpless to change the world around me, using the old tools that only drive us further and further apart. I want to begin building the new. I want to start pointing to the light and stop cursing the darkness. I want to help people awaken to the beauty of Oneness and Connection. I want to show everyone the way out of this tangled maze of division, but I can’t do that as long as I’m trapped in it myself.
So, first, I know I need to escape this tribalistic mindset. I need to really abandon it completely. I need to break my addiction to Us vs Them thinking. And I know it won’t be easy. Even now, I can feel that it might be the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I know it won’t happen quickly, and I know I won’t be able to break these deeply ingrained habits easily. It will be a challenge. It will take the strongest possible amount of courage and resistance that I can find within myself to break this addiction.
Starting today, I resolve to resist the voices that lie to me about my rightness. I resolve to ignore the voices that rage against the wrongness of others. I resolve to focus on my connection with the Divine and to remember my Oneness with everyone, everywhere.
Our shared Divinity and our shared Humanity are all that matters.
This is the truth that will set me free.
And until it sets me free, I know I can never help anyone else to experience this freedom.
Building the new starts with me.
I am the proof of concept.
Time to build.
The new book, “The Quantum Gospel of Mary and the Lost Gospel of Truth” is now available on Amazon.
The book from Keith Giles, “The Quantum Sayings of Jesus: Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas” is available now on Amazon. Order HERE>
Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has been interviewed on CNN with Anderson Cooper, Coast to Coast Radio with George Noory, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He co-hosts The Heretic Happy Hour Podcast and his solo podcast, Second Cup With Keith which are both available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Podbean or wherever you find great podcasts.
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