By Wes Annac, Culture of Awareness

Read full post here.

Unity is commonly associated with conformity and the suppression of the individual, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

We can come together without conforming to the same beliefs or lifestyle, but we have to accept that we all think differently and look beyond our differences for the common good.

I’m not saying we should tolerate dangerous views that could cause harm to others, but it’s equally harmful to fight over ideological differences in a world where everyone thinks differently.

Our job is not to think or behave like each other, but to learn to respect our individuality and the value of independent thought.

People are accustomed to going to extremes with everything, so when a revolutionary concept like unity is brought to the table, it’s automatically associated with conformity and discouragement of the things that make us each unique.

The other extreme is to fight to the death over our differences, and nowhere in this spectrum does tolerance appear. We can change this by realizing that our differences aren’t going away any time soon and they can actually bring us together, with mutual love and respect, instead of diving us.

In order to come together without feeling the need to conform, we have to discredit and do away with the idea that different means bad.

We have to look at the big picture to see that we’ve been letting petty things keep us apart, and while this will be difficult for most of the world, it needs to happen if we want to sustain this planet for future generations.

The way we’re living right now is completely unsustainable, and if we want to change anything about it, we have to work together. There’s no way around it, and if we continue to stall the inevitable, we might wake up one day and realize it was too late.

I don’t think we’ll face multiple disasters or anything else that evokes fear, but something bold has to occur to shake humanity out of our slumber and help us see that unity and respect for our differences are crucial.

The path of love, unity and respect is the only thing that can free our planet from the devastation we’re knowingly causing, and while it’ll probably hurt the ego in the beginning, we’ll know it was worth it when we prevent the disasters our careless pollution would eventually cause.

The pain we suffer in the beginning would pale in comparison to the pain our future generations will have to endure if we don’t work together to make a change now, and the selflessness this change will require will hurt the ego as much as learning to respect our various beliefs and lifestyles.

We can do it, but we have to step outside of our comfort zone to work with those we would’ve fought in the past. It all requires a return to love, and until the world truly understands love and its importance in society, our efforts for change will be fruitless and the passion behind them will quickly die.

Continued in part 2 tomorrow. (Read full post here.)