It encapsulates so much more than the product of our superficial understanding, and of our subsequent willingness to equate it with an apparent lack of disunity.
In one form or another, an awareness of the need for a fundamental form of togetherness awakens whenever I pause to appreciate something, to think on some question that demands further thinking, or whenever my mind succeeds in creating space within it.
I have become increasingly aware of the call to unity seemingly, and repeatedly, riding upon my trains of thought, and, though there seems no obvious limit to the variety of directions in which my thoughts carry me, they all appear to lead towards the same destination. It has become clear to me that the call to unity does not in fact ride upon my trains of thought, but, unlike the thoughts themselves, is an invariable part of my mind’s journey, almost as though it is the train itself.
This is the thinking that has brought clarity and simplicity to the previously unrecognized truth that unity is what underlies everything that is good. And yet it has not come through thinking; it has always been there, gently rising through the layers of my awareness to the surface of my understanding. The thinking has only become necessary as a much needed tool in my attempt to convey my understanding onto these pages. Without it I would be unable to begin, and even with it the process can sometimes feel like trying to haul something heavier than myself out of quicksand.
The call to unity is a pivotal aspect of God’s calling of each of us to Himself. It is His beckoning and drawing of us that carries everything else. The call to unity provides the focal point towards which our trains of thought should lead, and it is what holds it all in place, what gives us both the ability to keep on the straight and narrow, and the opportunity to return to it when we have loosened our grip and gone off the rails. The call to unity is the track upon which the train travels; without it, it is going nowhere fast, but with it, it moves towards the unseen destination planned for it. Whether hurtling or trundling, it is on track.
In this way we are each called to have a ‘one track mind’. That expression is usually used in the context of thoughts and attitudes which are regularly at the forefront of our minds, resulting in frequent and sometimes inappropriate displays of a mindset we are unable to suppress. Here we have the opposite; an essential way of thinking and feeling and doing and being, that would bring us all together in harmony: an inbuilt longing that we barely recognize, but which underlies our whole lives and is a central part of the destination for all humanity.
Unity is more than an absence of violence and obvious aggravation, more than the suppression of all discontent which could otherwise lead to some form of conflict, and more than acceptance of diversity, contradiction and difference. The reality of our calling is not to the nodding acquaintance of tolerance, nor to the smile of acceptance; it can not be satisfied by the loose-knit communities in which we live, and nor can it be achieved in the fostering and maintaining of our frequently sterile and stationary friendships. Indeed it is not an absence of anything, it cannot be achieved through the suppression of anything, and its lamp will never be seen to shine if its only generative power-source is mere acceptance.
In general terms, the day-to-day lives of peaceable people are lived in an atmosphere of semi-isolated dullness; by minding our own business and expecting others to mind theirs, we remain untroubled by glaring differences which, in other circumstances, would provide a constant cause of frustration and ill-feeling between us. Nearly all of us have friendships of some kind and it is these, grafted onto our familial ties that compensate for the dullness and make us believe that all is well with the world. These relationships also provide the counterbalance for the worse than average happenings around us: events that, through the support gained through these links, are prevented from dragging us down too far into discontent or unhappiness. We never doubt our own possession of the truth, and we think we know how everyone else should see the world and all that lies within its apparent confines if we are to relax into a feeling of safety and contentment in each other’s presence and in each other’s company: if we are to create, inhabit and enjoy what we imagine to be unity.
There is an undeniable unity in death – whatever our outlook and understanding of the word – though my writing of that basic fact has brought a feeling of unease through awareness of some of the news items heard about in recent weeks. It is a unity that will come to us all when it will, and not at a time of our own choosing. That is the one experience we shall all share and is the gateway to the ultimate unity that lies beyond, but it has similarities with the unity to which we are called during this life. It is simply a letting go of all that has divided us from one another, and seeing each person around us as a brother or sister, a mother or father, a son or daughter, in ways beyond the connections of our birth and family history: it is seeing every other human being absolutely as an equal.
Unity is more than an absence of violence and obvious aggravation, more than the suppression of all discontent which could otherwise lead to some form of conflict, and more than acceptance of diversity, contradiction and difference. The reality of our calling is not to the nodding acquaintance of tolerance, nor to the smile of acceptance; it can not be satisfied by the loose-knit communities in which we live, and nor can it be achieved in the fostering and maintaining of our frequently sterile and stationary friendships. Indeed it is not an absence of anything, it cannot be achieved through the suppression of anything, and its lamp will never be seen to shine if its only generative power-source is mere acceptance.
In general terms, the day-to-day lives of peaceable people are lived in an atmosphere of semi-isolated dullness; by minding our own business and expecting others to mind theirs, we remain untroubled by glaring differences which, in other circumstances, would provide a constant cause of frustration and ill-feeling between us. Nearly all of us have friendships of some kind and it is these, grafted onto our familial ties that compensate for the dullness and make us believe that all is well with the world. These relationships also provide the counterbalance for the worse than average happenings around us: events that, through the support gained through these links, are prevented from dragging us down too far into discontent or unhappiness. We never doubt our own possession of the truth, and we think we know how everyone else should see the world and all that lies within its apparent confines if we are to relax into a feeling of safety and contentment in each other’s presence and in each other’s company: if we are to create, inhabit and enjoy what we imagine to be unity.
There is an undeniable unity in death – whatever our outlook and understanding of the word – though my writing of that basic fact has brought a feeling of unease through awareness of some of the news items heard about in recent weeks. It is a unity that will come to us all when it will, and not at a time of our own choosing. That is the one experience we shall all share and is the gateway to the ultimate unity that lies beyond, but it has similarities with the unity to which we are called during this life. It is simply a letting go of all that has divided us from one another, and seeing each person around us as a brother or sister, a mother or father, a son or daughter, in ways beyond the connections of our birth and family history: it is seeing every other human being absolutely as an equal.
If this could be easily accomplished it would have been done long ago.
Why do we find it so difficult? Why does it sometimes seem that it will never be achieved?
As with so many of our questions, finding the answers involves a search within. Unity cannot exist until we have brought to an end the conflicts and unrest that dwell in our own hearts and minds.
Why do we find it so difficult? Why does it sometimes seem that it will never be achieved?
As with so many of our questions, finding the answers involves a search within. Unity cannot exist until we have brought to an end the conflicts and unrest that dwell in our own hearts and minds.
‘Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start?
Is it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? (James 4:1)
We have to be at peace within ourselves before we can hope to be at peace with others. At all levels, from individual right through to International, we have to ride the train which rides the tracks of unity. We can only begin to do that when we have acknowledged that the underlying call to do so is an invitation to become what we are made to be – humankind: men and women of God. And that begins one person at a time, one day at a time.
How little we comprehend what that may mean, and yet how easy to begin to find out.
If our trains of thought do not already ride on that unifying call, let us not wander away from the narrow line that runs through each of our lives, but let us linger close by while searching our mental horizons.
Stand beside the track, poised at the very edge of something to which we are all quietly drawn.
The awareness will come: the thoughts will follow; the train will arrive.
The awareness will come: the thoughts will follow; the train will arrive.
When it does, we have no need to step aboard: we are already being carried along by it.
.
