In the worst of times, we feel our love arise and extend. We realize love cannot be defeated. In the worst of times we are united in love. And in the worst of times, we are reminded of the great need, of the urgency, to bring our awareness of who we are, and the loving acts we are capable of, to this world in need.

We exist in unity. Starting out in “the Course” each of us hear that the only exercise for our mind is to “dedicate all thought to unity.” By the time we are in “The Dialogues,” unity is not only a thought of our minds: “As your mind and heart joined in unity and became capable of hearing the same language, you truly began to enter the place of unity.” (D.12.4) “We work now on your awareness and acceptance of your changed state, for without awareness the value of what we do here does remain minimal, and this I cannot allow. The urgent need for your return to unity has been mentioned before, and I remind you of this urgency again. ” (D.12.6)

In some instances, I like the words head and heart a little better than mind and heart. I like them because I can visualize this movement into our hearts, coming from the top down, moving, as Lars Gimstedt describes (in his book Jesus on the Elevated Self), back through all the chakras—back into our bodies, and our Earth. But our acceptance, as Jesus so kindly acknowledges, may not always match our inner knowing and allow our awareness to grow. And so the time for this last step—of accepting and acknowledging, of coming to awareness of our true state of being—is here. It is here, and moving into you and me, into life, and into the world.

All of this is going on now. It is happening in us at the same time that acts of terrorism and war are occurring.  In this month, when remembrance of war is nearly constant, it is a particularly poignant and appropriate time to practice our awareness of unity.

Veterans Day in the US and Remembrance Day in other countries, remind us now of former ways of waging war. Nine million military personnel died in World War I. The WWII Foundation estimates a high figure of 80 million deaths from that war when including war-related disease and famine. The total military dead: 21-25 million, including deaths in captivity of 5 million prisoners of war.

In this century, the feeling that everything is changing, including ways of waging war, is keenly evident. On the one hand we have war waged in a way that feels like virtual reality (drones for example). In another, we have terrorism, which is dominated by rage and hate and who’s most devastating characteristic is its element of surprise. You wonder how such acts can be prepared for or responded to. You may wonder, Where can I be safe? You may wonder, What place has love?

In the worst of times, we realize that love cannot be defeated. Everything is changing. As we realize our unity with all, and as our love in-forms and descends deeply into us and deep into this earthly realm, we can become aware of the reality of unity, and truly know ourselves as carriers of the power of love. Love is the only power capable of changing the world.

As Jesus says, “So be it.”