I often think of how much time I spend in comparing myself to others; “He or she can do things better than I,” or “I can do better than that.”  The world we see around us is a world of comparisons in order to “make things better.”  It is the world we usually see and thus miss the one which is complete.

Happiness and peace of mind are no easier attained today than they were in past centuries or ions, without a significant shift in our thinking.  We are no happier or secure in today’s world, in our country, than people were twenty years ago, two hundred years ago, two thousand years ago, and beyond.  Despite all the analysis to make the world a better place to live, happiness and peace do not come until one is able to look beyond the imperfections of the world and see the Sameness and the Oneness in all.

Presently we are fixated in our country on the senseless killing of several in Tucson, Arizona by one who is described as deranged and crazy.  This scene is one which has been played out millions of times in history.  Kings and Emperors did it to each other.  We need only go back a few years to recall all the famous ones shot at or killed in our short country’s history; Presidents, diplomats, philosophers.  On the more commonly accepted level, an average of eighty people each day are shot in our country for one reason or another.  If we add these to the numbers of people shot by “government actions” for perceived differences, the numbers multiply exponentially.

I think of all hatred and the anguish of loneliness as rooted in our ideas of personal comparison.  Such comparisons lead us to think of others as different from us, usually less normal or whole.  In my early years, I heard the phrase often, “That person is ‘funny’,” meaning a bit odd and a bit abnormal.  Well, we all are, aren’t we, on this plain, this normal way of the world in viewing things?

The Bible says that in Christ we are all One and there are no differences between anyone of us; men, women, bond or free, rich or poor, church folks or non-churched.  It is as way of saying that True Love makes no comparisons, being able to see beyond the forms to that which eternally One such as the Creator, who is Spirit and Truth.

Until we come to the place where we can “see this,” we will always have the tendency to cut ourselves off from the peace of wholeness by making constant comparisons.  We compare in this worldly sphere in order to make us think we can make ourselves whole.  It is very popular with organized religions and ideologies.  It is a subtle way of taking from another so that I can think I am winning, I am becoming whole.  We do it all the time, and yet when we finally see ourselves as so lonely and judgmental because of it, we can repent, let it go, and return again to a more sane perspective.

So beware of constant comparisons, of judging one as closer or further from the truth than you are.  In this world we are all “mad” with judgments but in the Real World, far beyond what sight can normally see, we are One in Spirit with the Creator of us all.  Forgive yourself for the foolishness of such illusions and dreams, and you’ll find a sense of peace returning.  It’s what I think of as a step closer to sanity.

Being with my parents this past night, my father had a troubling night.  He kept awakening and turning on his night light.  I would go to see him and about the fourth time and he said, “Where am I?”  I asked him where he thought he was and he said, “In the hospital place in Westfield.”  When I told him where he was, he began to weep and say, “I have lost my mind, haven’t I?”  To a large extent he has, but then some sanity or reason is still left there enough for him to recognize his foolish dreams.  But not for long.

To think we are somehow different from others, either by a strong inferiority or superiority complex in our comparisons is to be lost as to where we are.  Such thinking puts us in a place of confusion and dismay.  It is insane.  Home is where the Spirit is, and the Spirit is What we truly are which unites us to all others and to Eternity, the Oneness of Completeness.

So spend some time today letting comparisons just go; your race, your religion, your country, your whatever.  Breathe in Oneness, completeness, and Love.  It will be as satisfying as the clear winter air on a star filled night.  And as you walk through the world of differences, enjoy them for what they are but don’t take them very seriously.  See beyond the apparent beauty or ugliness, the lovely or the angry, to the Oneness we all are in our deepest Selves and Hearts, One in God the Creator.