What matters in living in the world is stability and service and inspiration, problem solving, destiny—things of this nature, all of a higher order, not products of personality or the desire to be unique and special and separate. These are all the product of what unites people, gives them the opportunity to relate to each other at a deeper level where real meaning and value become evident.

While we all value our individuality and emphasize it greatly in ways that we are conscious of and even unconscious of, it is what we hold in common that is the most important thing…our deeper nature. Who we were before we came into the world, who we will be after we leave this world, represents our deeper nature, the eternal part of us, not the part that is a product of culture and everything that happens to us here down on the ground on Earth.

Therefore, the more that you really develop spiritually, the closer you come to this deeper nature, if you are doing good work. If you are doing the real work to get down to who you are and why you are here, down to what we call Knowledge—the deeper Mind, your deeper nature—then you find that it is what is similar between you and another, and between you and all people, [that] becomes really the emphasis.

It’s not what makes you special or unique or distinguished. These kinds of things begin to fall away on the true path because you are escaping insecurity—personal insecurity, the need to be special, the need to have recognition, the need to be somebody, the need to garner approval from people whose approval you seek. All these kinds of things begin to fall away gradually, naturally, because you are emphasizing what is essential, what really matters, which is connected to your real nature: who you are, why you are here and who sent you.

So in taking the journey to Knowledge, the Steps to Knowledge, this deeper Intelligence within us, we’re coming back to what unites us with people, not what distinguishes us. Beyond culture, beyond religion, beyond ideology, beyond race, beyond economic or social position. Where is the real connection happening? That then becomes the emphasis. That’s what you are looking for now, more than what makes people stand out, more than what makes you stand out, the things that culture celebrates in the individual: their uniqueness, their talent, their special gifts, their good appearance.

So the more we advance here in The Way of Knowledge, the more we become alike. Not totally alike, not identical because we still have our unique features and way of thinking. But alike enough that we can unite with people who are very different from us because what is alike within us becomes ever greater and more significant. What unites us is how we are alike, not how we are different. If differences between us are what are emphasized, then real collaboration, real union in relationship, real peace between nations and religions becomes the thing you seek for but can never find—always elusive, always beyond your reach. It is what unites us: what really matters in life, who we really are, why we were sent. We were all sent by the same Source. We’re all in the world for a higher purpose waiting to be discovered if we can escape the surface of our mind, our socially-conditioned mind, and enter the deeper realms of our inner experience. It is in these deeper realms that what is alike between us becomes the emphasis and the reality.

You accept the differences in people and their behavior and manner of being, but something more important is emerging now that makes us more alike than different from one another. And this is where true connection, true relationship and true union with other people become really possible.

What matters in living in the world is stability and service and inspiration, problem solving, destiny—things of this nature, all of a higher order, not products of personality or the desire to be unique and special and separate. These are all the product of what unites people, gives them the opportunity to relate to each other at a deeper level where real meaning and value become evident.

Therefore, seek in others what is the same: the same needs, the same deep yearning of the soul, the same aspirations that are fundamental to life, the same desire to give, the same need to make a difference in the world, to contribute something of value to others, the same need to discover your deeper nature and your higher purpose for being in the world. And in so doing begin to remember your Ancient Home and those who sent you here, for they are watching over you, even now.