Article December 1, 2014 Issue

Finding peace in God’s oneness

Rachel Troutman

I have always loved peace, deeply desired peace in the world, and striven to be a peacemaker. However, this past year I found myself challenged more than ever by the notion that people can be so different from each other and misunderstand each other so completely that they experience a deep sense of division instead of peace and unity.

I thought about this divisiveness in the global context. Believing that all of us, as God’s ideas, are not part of the one manifestation of the one infinite God, Mind, assumes a separation into groups—some groups that seem to be better than others, or should have more rights than others, or might be more deserving than others. I saw clearly that the belief that we do not live in unity as one spiritual—and equally loved—creation of God is the basis for war and violence in the world.

I knew that my prayers for peace began with my individual life: to demonstrate harmony in relationships, to more expansively and unconditionally love.