Excerpt
From the Preface
Our challenge today is not only to raise the frequency of our collective consciousness to a unitive outlook, but also, with that as our foundation, to build an infrastructure of families, communities, societies, and nations that will encourage, support, and sustain the process of achieving global unity through the realization of the unity of the human family.
This call to action initiates and guides the spiritual regeneration of individuals, communities, institutions, and social structures. It needs to be consciously and universally agreed upon as the goal to be achieved in the next stage of our collective evolution.
No matter how dark and foreboding things may look at any moment, all that is happening is part of a process of ups and downs that together contribute to collective progress. This, by necessity, includes the breaking down of old ways.
When the world starts to feel chaotic, competitive, and conflicted, it doesn’t have to feel out of control. The transformation going on around us is about turning the apparent tensions we perceive into the natural flow of opposing forces merging and becoming balanced components of a unified whole. We do this by learning to reflect the cooperation and harmony all around us. How we react to the world we live in is our choice.
Winter’s decline is followed by the budding of new life. Coming right along is a spiritual springtime with new collaborative ways of being that will slowly but deliberately transform the world into the full blossoming of our innate virtues.
Though everything happening now is following natural cycles of decline and renewal, even with long-standing structures being torn down for unclear or self-centered reasons, the ominous contrast of worldviews appears greater than ever. The contrast between disunity and unity feels so out of balance. The lack of peace has rarely been so evident.
Seeing only what is happening in the day-to-day world can easily evoke hopelessness. Yet this is a time when we simply cannot give up on world peace. We must not lose sight of the entire process we are in the midst of, as it is continuing to unfold every moment.
This book resolves the ever-shifting contrast of opposites by offering an evolutionary perspective that keeps its focus on the whole. This will lead to a world that works for the benefit of all, as Martin Luther King Jr. understood. His vision for change went well beyond the conflict of the moment, noting that it will be a long process for the “arc of the moral universe” to unfold in its fullness, but that when it does, it will be a living expression of “justice,” affirming that progress is inevitable, no matter how long it takes.
This perspective emerges from trust in a higher source. It is founded upon spiritual values and principles that are timeless, universal, and inclusive. It is based on an unfaltering faith in humanity’s highest nature to carry out its sacred purpose in the world, no matter what gets in its way.
This book is set in the context of the struggle between two starkly contrasting worldviews unfolding right before our eyes. On the one hand, disorder and destruction will result from the prominent pessimistic world view prevailing. On the other, world peace is the ultimate destiny of the more optimistic world view inspired by the rise of unitive thinking, being, and acting, if – and only if – humanity as a whole fully accepts and carries out its cooperative role in making that happen.
To ensure that this contrast is as clear as possible, a wholistic perspective is framed by what I refer to as the way of unity. Developed throughout the book, the way of unity encompasses a worldview, a philosophy, a methodology, a dynamic process, and an approach toward all aspects of life. It is a way of being and doing, guided by principles, values, beliefs, and actions that bring about and maintain the goal of unity and harmony in all settings. The way of unity rests upon a unitive consciousness to simultaneously bring about:
· inner peace by personally aligning with the unitive forces of the evolutionary impulse through our own focused spiritual practice
· interpersonal peace by being a source of social good and contributing to strong and unified communities,
· world peace by contributing to the renewal of local, national, and global infrastructures of an ever-advancing civilization.
At the heart of how I see the way of unity is a dynamic, evolving strategy that includes a collaborative learning process utilizing relevant guidance, the art and practice of consultation, social action, reflection, and growth. This is the way unity unfolds, is strengthened, and is manifest in the world. It is an expression of cooperation and solidarity that transcends divisions and offers hope in place of despair.
This process resembles the natural growth and development of a living organism. Chance and chaos are avoided, coherence between all component parts is essential, and continuity of action is maintained. On the social level, this collaborative learning process builds communities of peace.
We are the agents of change for an organic renewal process of society. We can assist the natural flow happening right now under our feet. There is an innate strategy to this renewal process. With a deliberate persistence, the tentacles of renewal, firmly rooted, are coming to life once again, in a cyclical reawakening, to replace decaying structures with fresh fibers of life-giving tenderness and beauty, to eventually bloom into their fullness.
Organic renewal chooses to move at its own pace, because it knows its outcome is assured. It doesn’t resist anything around it, because it is busy building towards its own innate potential of a future not yet stolen. It is focused solely on building its own networks of care, cooperation, and sharing, by safeguarding the common good.
Such organic renewal spreads invisibly, through networks that are self-sustaining and growth-producing through the strength of its own unity-in-diversity. This describes the mycelial networks that are always weaving their wholeness beneath the surface of the ground.
Whether we realize it or not, we are all part of such a mycelial network. Humanity is its own mycelium network, patiently, insistently weaving our own wholeness. We too are meant to endure whatever is happening above the surface. This is our time to emerge, to rise up in new growth with a fresh force to put forward.
The existence of such a process of organic renewal should provide us with hope, instead of despair, with conviction that can lead us onward. Organic renewal doesn’t fight against what assails us, it builds toward what inspires us, toward the vision we hold most dear.
The equivalent of mycelium networks in the social world, how a natural process of organic renewal translates to the social world we live in, lies in our commitment to renew and recreate the entire infrastructure of social relationships upon a new foundation of universal harmony and unity achieved through an ongoing process of growth and transformation involving the full participation of the entire human family. Carrying out our mycelial functions in the social world could mean building out vibrant, resilient, inclusive, deeply connected, peaceful communities right where we are.
We are in the early stages of creating the world anew. The old systems are not working. They are easily disrupted. They appear to be beyond repair. Yet, the vision of building lasting peace that has given us hope for eons can only be achieved community by community. Just as organic mycelial networks, this process is globally scalable, evidence based, and the work of the way of unity.
This book is focused on the early stages of an emergent process of individually, collectively, and collaboratively building the foundation and framework for a unitive perspective on recognizing all things as interconnected and Whole.
Unity is the way, but not the ultimate goal. Unity, rather, is the process used to achieve the preconditions for the greater goal of realizing peace. All the world’s ills are but symptoms of the disease of disunity. While conscientiously and unflinchingly following the way of unity is surely the longest and most personally demanding way, it may nevertheless be the only viable way to lasting and sustainable world peace.
The way of unity is presented here as a new path synthesizing and integrating the wisdom of the ages with practical solutions to the needs of today. Unity, as both a process and a plan, is not just a way of talking about peace and identifying foundational principles needed to support an infrastructure for nurturing and maintaining a peaceful world, but a way of acting to build peace step by step through the application of a model of coherence that is already being implemented in thousands of communities worldwide.
From the Introduction
Out of necessity, we have come to the point in our collective evolution where we stand in a unique position to realize and establish unity – and peace – on a global scale.
Evolution – and history – do not occur in a straight line but in a nonlinear, spiral-like process. This leaves divisions and separation overlapping with a transformative process meant to lead us toward greater and greater levels of unity, until the oneness of all things is realized.
The emergence of the Unitive Age is the culmination of an evolutionary flow brought about by periodic leaps of consciousness throughout humanity’s history. The origin of this current leap in consciousness may be traced back to a time of widespread discord, division, and inequality in the mid-19th century.
Conditions having reached an unprecedented level of imbalance, disharmony, and oppression created the need for and brought about many unifying human rights initiatives – the end of slavery, the advancement of women’s rights, the first Parliament of the World’s Religions leading to the interfaith and interspiritual movement, the ongoing civil rights movement, and many other unitive efforts – signaling the dawn of a new consciousness.
Since that time, a focus on unity as the way of healing the ills of an ailing humanity has been more apparent. Unity is the central organizing principle that all progress in the world depends upon. It is the natural outcome of an organic process of restoring seemingly opposing forces to their inherent wholeness.
Unity is the glue maintaining the wholeness-in-motion of all things. At the mystic heart of all sacred traditions – and now at the leading edge of the latest scientific findings – is the knowledge that a hidden thread of wholeness connects and unites all things in existence. Love is its underlying expression in the world. Love is the sacred activism of our time.
The Unitive Age – when the unity of the human family will be realized – will not be fully achieved until this wholeness is the basis for all our endeavors. Unity on a global scale, in all social, cultural, and economic spheres, requires living by common foundational values and central organizing principles that bring about the oneness of humanity.
Unity on this widest scale will be achieved progressively. Through a purging process of ups and downs, the Unitive Age will come about gradually after a thorough renewal has resulted in a unitive consciousness being the norm.
We are entering a time when the equality of women and men will be fully realized, when the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty will be fully realized, when freedom from all forms of prejudice will be fully realized, when harmony between science and spirituality will be fully realized, and when the protection of nature as a divine trust will be fully realized.
This will be a time when narratives are unitive, when justice is unitive, when education is unitive, when economics is unitive, when all relationships are unitive, and when local, state, national, and global governance is unitive, all endeavors being approached to bring about unity.
These unitive principles, especially a unitive system of global governance, depend upon the undertaking of a dynamic, evolving process of growth and transformation to arrive at a truly inclusive and equitable governing structure for all members of the human family. They are all preconditions to peace, intricately tied together.
To be realistic, world peace through world unity will be built upon many preconditions in a long, arduous journey to wholeness and true interdependence. Our collective peacebuilding efforts depend upon undertaking a process of implementing the necessary principles in all levels of society, as unity itself is the ultimate precondition to peace.
Three elements are also needed to complete this ongoing dynamic progress: knowledge of the unitive principles and their necessity for peace, volition to commit to their conscious implementation in the world, and the action taken now to carry this out.
Peace on Earth needs a strategy for global transformative change that is scalable throughout society, from local to regional to national to global. This book offers a glimpse into how such a plan has been implemented by thousands of communities around the world for over a century. It proposes a consideration of the way of unity as an approach we can all aspire to, and as a method and process we can apply for achieving humanity’s long-promised goal of living together in peace on this Earth.
The purpose of this book is to offer a fresh, new perspective on what the world needs most right now – a viable, vision-driven, evidence-based, spiritually grounded, wholistic way to peace. It strives to confirm the power of unitive principles and values to empower and build capacities in individuals and communities needed to sustain long-term progress. It shows that these principles are not just conceptual dreams but rather realities that have already been put into action and are being lived out in communities worldwide through social action initiatives inspired by these unitive principles.
The process of peacebuilding consists of achieving a set of evolutionary preconditions, each one an interconnected unitive principle contributing to the infrastructure necessary for building and maintaining peace on Earth. This consists of two simultaneous, progressive processes – one, the widely accepted emergence and establishment of a unitive consciousness that will become the groundwork for world unity, and the other, the complete consolidation of this unitive consciousness, with the implementation of changes needed based on unitive principles at all levels of society. This will signal the realization of the unity of the human family, will complete the preconditions for the Unitive Age, and will usher in the promised time when peace on Earth will prevail.
This process is founded upon equitable relationships where resources are not concentrated in the hands of a few, but all have access to in ensuring personal, community, and global well-being and harmony. Even when there is resistance and backlash, this is the world toward which humanity is moving.
The purpose of this book is to illustrate the coherence of these themes:
· Humanity’s spiritual evolution, including ancient and modern sacred traditions, consists of one evolutionary process of ebb and flow, as do all other systems of evolution.
· The fulfillment of this singular process, guided by one unifying Source, depends upon unity-in-action by a unified global society working together in harmony and cooperation.
· Only the collective and collaborative effort of all unitive movements of our time working in harmony will lead to the intended outcome of this evolutionary process: peace on Earth.
The way of unity leads to world peace by creating the conditions for realizing the unity of the human family, the final step of a long evolutionary process leading to an age of peace. Yet this will require unprecedented interfaith, interspiritual, and interdisciplinary dialogue and social discourse in communities worldwide on how humanity’s shared spiritual heritage, universal values, and common destiny can address and resolve the many challenges plaguing the world in our time.