Divide and conquer. It is quite an effective technique. When people feel isolated, when they feel separated, when they feel cut off from the truth of who they really are, they are much easier to control and conquer. Hence the reason those in so-called power have used this tool to their advantage since the beginning of time.
How Divide & Conquer Manifests in Our Daily Lives
We see it all around us today. Battles between Americans and “Foreigners,” between black lives matter and white privilege, between the police and the community, between the left wing, right wing, and all other parts of the bird. Hell we even see battles between Chic-fil-A and Popeyes over whose chicken sandwich is better. The programming of our society tells us that there are always opposing sides to everything, a winning side and a losing side. One side must be declared better or superior or “right.” The daily messages we receive from all the outlets we have, echoes to us a long held illusion of separation that has been perpetuated since the beginning of time. But the truth is: separation is the only lie.
All these structures, labels and categorizations designed to keep us believing we are separate from each other—all illusions. Race is an illusion. There is only one race and that is the human race. If anything happens to the oxygen supply on the planet, we’re all in trouble. If anything happens to the water supply, we’re all in trouble. If anything happens to the planet itself, our dear Mother Earth, we’re all in trouble. Like it or not, we’re all in this thing together, for better or worse.
We Are All Special Unique & Necessary
Now I know that someone reading this is saying to themselves, “How can you say this as an African-American woman? Aren’t you aware of the injustices being perpetrated by them against us? The unfairness of the justice system? The huge pay gap between us and our white counterparts? Aren’t you aware of all the reasons we have to be angry? Why aren’t you angry?”
I am keenly aware that there are incredible injustices built into just about every system, worldwide. I am keenly aware that there are so many reasons to be enraged, to be angry, to be bitter and hateful. However, the truth is that it does no one any good to hold onto this narrative of victimization. It doesn’t help you and it doesn’t help the world to focus on everything that’s wrong with the world and everything that’s being done to “us” by “them.” But what can help bring healing and progress, is to begin to embrace the concept of unity and wholeness. Recognizing that there is no “us” vs. “them,” there is only the collective “we” that forms our global consciousness.
This narrative of separation has been constantly fed to us to keep us in constant conflict with each other, cut off from true strength in numbers. In that constant conflict, we are unable to reconcile with our brothers and sisters in the human race, we are unable to harness our collective power, and we are unable to change the direction we are headed in as a global society because all the wheels are turning in different directions.
I get asked all the time by people, “How can I help change the world?” In response, I say that one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and the world is to begin to see yourself as one with everything and everyone around you. You are not your brother’s keeper; you are your brother. You are the world. You are an integral part of the intimately woven tapestry of life. We are all special, unique and necessary parts of one body—the body of life itself. So R.I.P. to divide and conquer. We the People are deciding to move forward as a unified force and we are here to change the world.
Written by: Misty Oaks Paxton, The Spiritual Attorney (tm)
(c) 2019
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