What is love? And what is unity? When you think about love, does your mind go to warm, fuzzy feelings in your belly? Do you blush? Or think incessantly about the object of your affection?
That’s not love.
When you think about unity, do you imagine people coming together to compromise and come to an agreement? Do you think about having to give up what you believe in order to get along? Or do you think unity is about being right and convincing others to believe it as well?
That’s not unity.
It seems that the definitions of love and unity have been influenced with ideas of what they should look like. It’s time to get back to the basics—to learn how we can put love and unity to work to heal our world.
One Love, in Different Forms
There are three types of love: Love of Self, Love of Others and Love of God (or Great Spirit, The Universe…whatever you call your higher power).
In order to love yourself, it’s important to understand that you are innocent and that you’re worthy of receiving it. You can start by looking at a picture of yourself as a child (when you knew you were innocent) and saying, “I love you.” Then move to the image of yourself in the mirror. Keep saying, “I love you,” until you can see yourself as an innocent being, worthy and deserving of all the love that comes your way.
The love of others isn’t just about being with people you like. It’s about making a choice to exercise empathy for everyone, and to believe that they’re innocent and worthy. You don’t have to like someone to love them. You can have concern for the entirety of humanity, and demonstrate that by listening, showing compassion, having empathy and making choices that result in the highest good for all involved. That’s love for others.
Love for your higher power, Divine Self, God…means knowing that you’re part of something bigger than just yourself. It means knowing that only light comes from this Great Source, and in that light is your innocence, your value, your worth and everything that makes you loveable.
Say, “Light comes from me and to me.” When you open yourself to receiving that love, it’s the same energy as giving it. You’re filling your cup. You’re confirming that great power’s existence. You are a loving and loved being.
When you choose to move throughout your work and your days with these three types of love in mind, then all of your decisions will be conscious ones that breed the highest good. You will make deeper connections. Your relationships will be fulfilling for all involved. You will have enough, you will do enough and you will be enough.
When you’re walking around in that Love Thought System, fostering genuine unity will come naturally.
Our Current State of Non-Unity
We have been through a pandemic, social restrictions, isolation…and that can be difficult for even the most conscious being. I am concerned about our loss of connection. We are joined as one people, as a rule of nature. Everything each of us says, does and feels affects others.
Because of all we’ve been through (and are going through), you may find yourself feeling combative—having to convince people to come over to your side. You may feel an insatiable need to be right—to win every argument. Or, maybe you’ve gone to your corner in order to protect yourself from all the turmoil.
So many of us are struggling with how all of this is going to work out. You may be wondering how you can possibly have a voice and express yourself when you fear that it will cause an argument, or maybe the loss of a relationship. You might find yourself pondering how you can tell your truth in a world that seems so black-and-white, man-and-woman, republican-and-democrat, haves-and-have-nots, physical-and-nonphysical.
What you’re feeling are the affects of duality. It’s the opposite of unity. It’s the idea that there’s a big divide and you have to stand on one side or the other so you don’t fall in the chasm. But that’s just optics. We’ve been conditioned to believe that we have to take sides. But in reality, you can exist in the gray area that lies between the black and the white.
Perturbation on the Way to Unity
That gray area? It can be pretty uncomfortable. When you’re walking out of the darkness and into the light, there’s a point where the two meet. You might want to go toward that light, that change and the place where differences are made…but the transition isn’t immediate. There’s a gradient—a time and place where you have the option to turn around and go back or move forward.
Perturbation, or the feeling of transition from one state to another (like a caterpillar to a butterfly, or water to steam) doesn’t feel restful or secure. There may be doubt, discomfort, agitation…but that’s how all positive transformation happens.
Unity is no different.
What Unity Looks Like
This thing we’re going through—the way you’re feeling—is us moving as a society to a new humanity, a new earth and a new integrated consciousness.
We can go through it in two different ways. Disjointed, divided and disconnected…or we can unify.
I know it may be hard to imagine unity in the world we live in—until you understand what unity really means. Unity is not compromise. It’s not having to give up any of your beliefs. You don’t have to badger anyone into coming to your side. In fact, no one has to give up anything in order for unity to occur. No one has to be right or wrong. No one has to win or lose. Everyone can stand firmly in their own integrity, not budging an inch.
All that’s needed is a consensus.
A consensus is a bridge that spans our differences. A consensus doesn’t support one opinion or another, it simply supports the resolution. It can mean we agree on a decision to feel heard and come to a resolution. And in many cases, it brings about an entirely new way of seeing the situation.
This is very different than compromise, which can result in feelings of animosity, or that one person owes something to another in the future. That’s not the way of a conscious leader.
How a Conscious Leader Creates Unity
Humanity is on a trajectory, and it’s about to be readjusted. Your role at this point in time (and moving forward) is to rise above and view it all as if you’re an eagle. Say, “I choose the highest good for all concerned,” especially when there’s disfunction, controversy or conflict. Repeat it often.
From that eagle-eye view, choose not to be mired down in the muck. Choose to find resolutions and create synergy. Educate about consensus, and always elect to use it. Support others’ decisions. Instead of arguing or having to be right, respect opinions that differ from your own. And then speak your truth with compassion, always first making sure that what you have to say is for the highest good.
These practices will create synergy, which will multiply and generate unity. The more you exercise compassion and empathy, and use them for consensus, the more others will see the effects and want to have what you’re having. This is conscious leadership, it’s contagious, and it starts with you.
Do you want to learn more about how to create unity as a conscious leader? Then please, know that your family, your workplace, your community—and the world—are waiting for the differences you are meant to make. Visit essenceofbeing.com/cla to read what others have experienced, to get a taste for what we do, and to get more information about joining the academy. Love and unity are waiting to change the world, and it all starts with you.
