THE POWER OF DIVISION IN SOCIETY - SEPARATION AS A CATALYST FOR UNITY

Lawrence Toye - 28 July 2021

Many societies around the world have become tolerant of division as a part of daily life. 

As reliable and predictable consumers of goods, services and information, we are each asked to make daily choices that will align or divide us.

Many won’t question this being woven into our lives at all. It may just seem easier to be told when it’s time to choose a new phone, pick a new political candidate or change your profile picture to support the latest campaign.
Life can almost happen for us if we let it be controlled by corporations. Seems sweet, right? 

Others will become very passionate about their own choice or opinion being “right” and seeking to find fault in the choices others make. Even the conflict and unrest which ensues from that seems to be tolerated, sensationalised perhaps to be like entertainment or sport. Taken to the extreme, dehumanization is used to strengthen division - “the enemy”, “the poor”, “the lesser”. Well, it’s obvious someone has to be to blame?

Few will stop to question the deeper implications of living with these attitudes. Or that living by personal gain, competition and individual success are cultural norms across much of the world. 

What might be uncovered in such an enquiry?

What are the wider consequences of continued division for the ways we live, relate and create communities? 

Are you ready to ask these questions? To consider the damage that may continue to happen whilst division is and continues to be commonplace in our society? 

Accepting and acknowledging the presence of division in society is indeed the first step to transcending it’s pitfalls. Allowing ourselves to face it all is the starting point for finding the strength to move through it. 

So once we’re at this point, it’s time to find the others - to unite. 

There is a story which has been reinforced for millenia, crystallising the reality that everything exists independently of everything else. Philosopher Charles Eisenstein speaks to it as “the myth of the separate self…” which “...underlies our entire civilisation”.

So it goes pretty deep... 

Where do we even begin to explore the switch to a different story? One of connection, interdependence and unity? 

We’ve got to want it first. Until enough humans become curious or aware of there even being an alternative, will it ever happen? 

There are growing efforts, by an increasing number of pioneering thinkers, academics and spiritual teachers, to help more of us experience deeper connection to ourselves, others and the wider living world.

Work exists which supports us to: 
- Transcend the restrictions which come with dualistic “us and them” thinking. 
- Become more aware of the reinforcing circumstances of our daily, habitual lives. 
- Participate in reuniting what has been separated out.
- Begin to see that we are and always have been connected and interdependent with all life.

Engaging in this sort of thinking and embodied experiencing is a sure fire way to realise something quite profound. The story is just a story, we have the power to begin telling a new one whenever we like.

So you’re interested... there’s curiosity of an alternative to living in division and separation? 

We’ve got an opportunity to begin collectively writing a new story. The “collective” part is important. In order to successfully write a new collective story we will need to become able to see the truth in multiple perspectives. Where previously, our differences have divided us, they must become the way that we seek to discover the “signal” in the noise. We must learn to hold multiple views and opinions without descending into conflict and dividing ourselves again.    

Many will say that to get to that point is going to take an awakening of considerable force. An “evolution of consciousness”, according to author and meditation teacher Dr. Gillian Ross. 

Although the evolution of consciousness begins within each of us, it is a journey into the deeper layers of our human experience, beyond our individual lives and activities. From an experience of separateness and individual presence to one of connection to something greater than ourselves.  

Not too far beneath the surface of You and Me, we become us. It is in this connected place that we have a greater capacity for understanding, compassion and love for all life. 

It is here that we might just find the inspiration for a new story.

Keen to delve deeper into the ideas in the blog?

Join YES& with a panel of guest speakers, on Thursday August 5 for:
YES& | DIGITAL EVENT August Edition: The Power of Division in Society
- How can separation become a catalyst for unity?

Thursday 5th August 2021
6 pm - 8:15 pm AEST | 10 am - 12:15 pm CEST |9 am - 11:15 am BS
Open Event 

Register and more information HERE.