3) The intuition of harmony
As with Principle 1),
the interest of one does not stand out as being above the interests of
all. Harmony develops out of the wish of each person to find the common
ground that unites, rather than the separate will that divides. It also
comes out of the belief that harmony is possible, given the fact that
all are one, for without this belief there would be nothing to strive
for.
The perception of harmony comes out of
an understanding that all of life is held within a common vibration of
love, beauty, and holiness, and that within this unity each individual
lifestream makes its own contribution to the whole. Harmony is achieved
when each lifestream is most truly itself, and so the work of achieving
it has to do with penetrating whatever layers of falseness or untruth
may stand in the way of correct perception. The layers of falseness are
accumulations of the ego that believes the self to be and needs the
self to be something that it really is not. Dismantling the false
perception of the self and, subsequently, dismantling the false
perception of others, is the most direct path toward the achievement of
harmony. For harmony exists eternally in the joining of the essential
nature of all beings. It only needs to be rediscovered.
Emotional factors limiting the expression of harmony include:
- Protection of self-interest; need for
power and dominance;
need to be in control; absence of trust in others; absence of trust in
life.
- Unhealed aspects of rage toward others
causing a feeling of
being unjustly treated by the world, by others, or by life.
- Rejection of love and of harmony due
to fear of opening
the heart more.
The possibility for experiencing more love or more
oneness with others gives rise to the fear of wounding or rejection due
to past experiences of this kind.
- An overinvestment in the 'will
aspect' of life rather than
the 'heart' aspect.
This relates to Principle 1) but describes it more
on a spiritual level. Here, power is sought for one's own purposes
rather than God's purposes, with an unwillingness to surrender to God's
purposes for oneself.
Resolution within
the experience of love:
The development of a
capacity for harmony, especially when there are factors present that
cause inner resistance, can only take place through the increased
experience of love. This experience comes not through personal
relationship but through spiritual awakening that causes a fuller
knowing of God's love. Harmony is based on the unfoldment of spiritual
truth to the awakening consciousness. It is enhanced through all
spiritual practices that help one awaken.
The experience of harmony is a
corollary
of the experience of love and unity which seeks to give to others what
each needs and what each rejoices in. It comes into being when there is
no longer a need to defend one's own self-interest, but rather when the
interests of all are seen as intimately connected with the interests of
the self. The absence of the need to defend comes from the revelation
of the truer, deeper identity of each self as a Divine creation of God.
From this place of identification, defensiveness is no longer needed.