Power of Understanding

Understanding our common humanity is an important aspect of the Power of Understanding as suggested by Charles Fillmore. And it seems that one of the hardest lessons we have to learn is understanding our fellow humans.

We all can do something that other life forms can’t do: we can think about what we think about. So the right question we must ask ourselves is, what do I think about other people? What do I have in common with everybody else?

Regardless of our ethnicity, gender, political affiliation, religion, we all want the same things: clean air, clean water, enough food, a safe place, and to be loved. And I think the desire for love is the main thing we all have in common.

So why should someone’s color or politics or religion separate me from the family? It has been said that seldom do members of the same family grow up under the same roof. There’s truth to that, but we also can remember that we all grow up on the same earth under the same sun. So in the most profound way, we are all relatives.

At the CSL Service last Sunday Mary Ann and Randy sang that great song by Jesse Colin Young first sung by the Kingston Trio:

GetTogether
Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now

Will our efforts make a difference? Why do we have the ability to even ask the question if we’re doomed to failure? I don’t want to be, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “one of those timid souls who knows neither victory nor defeat.” And I know you don’t either.