Clear Choices in a Divided World
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At least now, the choices are clearly defined—the alternatives revealed in ways that were once less obvious: what kind of world we want, what kind of country we aim to be, and what kind of people we aspire to become. It is up to us, then, to make our decision, upon which the future will be built.
On the face of it, there appear to be a variety of choices around any given issue. But if we look with dispassion and love at the major concerns of the day, can we truly say there are choices at all? Take a simple example: should we support drilling for oil, or not? When viewed through the lens of our guiding criteria—dispassion and love—the answer is plain, and is therefore free from choice.
Or take a more urgent example: is it “right” to support Israel in its actions against the Palestinian people? The Israeli government and military are committing genocide, all support—arms, aid, and political cover—therefore, should be withdrawn, and Israel completely isolated. This again is a choiceless decision, free from dilemma, if, and it’s a big if, we are willing to see the situation clearly, through the unflinching light of dispassion and love.
But most—if not all—of our choices arise not from this point of clarity, but from a muddled, self-centred position: our likes and dislikes, our desires and fears, our psychological and sociological conditioning.
Within this fragmented space, choice—routinely conflated with freedom—has little, if anything, to do with, freedom – true freedom. And can there be any other kind?
In fact, freedom does not equate with choice—but with love, and it is from this shining source that our ‘choices’ should emerge, if we—humanity—are to face the challenges of our time and begin to build a new and just world.
While it may appear counterintuitive, I would suggest it is, in fact, the cleansing energy of love that is driving everything to the surface—where it can be seen and recognised for what it truly is. This revelatory force acts as a mirror to humanity, exposing both the pure and the corrupted, the path of progress and unity, alongside the divisive, violent ways of the past; the cruel alongside the compassionate.
In the same way that both weeds and flowers grow under the same sunlight, neither side has a monopoly on this revealing light, which nourishes both the good and the bad, the true and the false alike. As a wise man has said, all are fed equally—“the one who loves and works for justice and sharing, but also the one who causes the divisions, schisms, and greed in the world.”
The opposites revealed—large and small, everyday and pivotal moments—demand that we choose. Some issues are more polarising than others, dividing families, fracturing friendships: Brexit, the environment, Trump, Israel/Palestine, and all things religious. Lines are drawn, sides are taken, and the space between becomes a battleground; and where there is division, there is almost always conflict—whether within an individual or a group
In the stark, unflinching light of our times, nothing can remain hidden for long. All is being revealed in the chaos: the ways of peace and the machinery of war; just and cooperative modes of living, in contrast to isolationism and the violence of inequality; environmental responsibility set against endless consumerism and corporate greed. On and on it goes—choices rising from the noise, asking us: Where are we? Where do we stand?
It is clear: the opposites are evident, and with them, so are the ‘choices’—if, of course, we are willing to set aside our selfishness and fears and observe these opposites with dispassion and love. When we do, we will discover that unity and Oneness are the natural order of things, not division and separation, as we have long believed.
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