In the hidden recesses of our collective consciousness lies the idea that certain others are 'less than' the rest of us.  Who these others are may differ from person to person, for the stereotypes and prejudices that lurk in the hidden folds of unconscious thought are both shaped by collective history and by individual experience and perspective.  Yet the willingness to allow these perspectives to remain is what must be rooted out at this time, for no matter what the specific nature or direction of the perception of 'less than,' it always restricts our individual capacity to open our hearts, and it always prevents us from truly interacting with others and with life.

On one level what needs to happen is the revelation of our unconscious self to our conscious waking self so that we see and know what we have not been willing to see and know.  On another level it involves the opening of our hearts to embrace an idea of unity that lives most deeply within them, the idea of being "our brothers' keeper."  For in keeping safe the sanctity of other lives, in loving and protecting these other lives from harm and disregard, we implicitly grant to these lives the ability to be viewed as 'like us,' not different from us, and we implicitly open to the possibility of finding our common essence.

Much of our unconscious need to continue to regard others as different from ourselves or as 'less than' resides in fear, fear created by the belief that there are not enough existing tangible resources or enough love in an intangible way to go around.  We therefore believe that the world must divide itself up into 'haves' and 'have nots' economically and socially, and we believe that our hearts must divide themselves up into those whom we can love and those whom we cannot love with the fullness of our being.  This sense of inevitable division often lives within our unconscious minds, fed by the experiences of collective history and of our personal history, and it needs to be faced boldly and with a great deal of compassion in order to bring it to the light of day.

We may feel that the belief that "there is no one whom I cannot love" is far beyond us.  We may feel that there are certain acts or actions that are so horrific or reprehensible that we cannot even imagine loving one who has committed such things.  We may feel that our hearts are limited in their capacity to love, but this is not the truth.

The truth that our deepest hearts know and recognize is that there are no 'disposable people.'  There are none who were not created as souls who remain so in their deepest core.  Therefore, when we seek to find the love within us that tolerates no exclusion, it is not to the actions of others that we must look, it is to their essence that we must look.  For seeking this essence we will find it, and looking for it, we will be liberated to the sense of true capacity that we innately have to see past the actions of others to the deeper heart that lives within.

The idea of 'disposable people' or disposable populations has been with humanity for as long as fear has been present, based on the sense of being separate and alone and on the perceived loss of unity with the surrounding environment and with the One Spirit that pervades all.  This fear has governed human life for millennia, and it lurks even now within the hidden recesses of our hearts and causes us to continue to think of ourselves as needing to protect ourselves from others, rather than finding ways to include or embrace them.

We have all kinds of justifications for fear that we can point to outwardly, the main one being the things that human beings are willing to do to each other.  In the presence of such fear, the heart must grow larger.  Our desire to be inclusive must become stronger, and equally importantly, we must become able to separate the emotional energies that become a source of dark motivations among people, from the true self that has been overcome by these dark motivations.  For there continue to be many today whose hearts have become buried beneath false beliefs and darkened energies that cause them to misperceive the true humanity of others.  Out of this separation from self and from their own hearts, these souls are willing to commit crimes against humanity.  Yet, even while they do this, the equally great crime is against their own humanity which they have been removed from, and for this we may have compassion, even while denying consent to their actions.

To have a heart which beats to the impulse to love all is to be willing to love as God loves, and to be willing to perceive the sacred life within all.  It is to refuse to allow any group, population, or label to separate us from others, so that we are willing to deny dignity and respect to that particular cluster of human life.

It is time for this calling to become conscious and for us to recognize those we deem 'less than' within our hearts.  It is time to determine that we are no longer willing to live in fear but only in love.  Only such a courageous commitment of our hearts can awaken  us and the world to a new way of life that supports all and that embraces all.  And only such a commitment can allow us to live and to express with the fullness of love that is our true nature.

May we, individually, and the world as a whole, awaken to the heart within that seeks to love above all else.  Out of this love, may it be understood that when we deny the brother/sisterhood of humanity to any other, we deny it to ourselves as well.

Relative Writings:

An End to Second-Class Citizens

The Human Family - A Message For Our Time

The Human 'Family' - How Do We Get There?

Article Section -  Earth