The problem of pain, or suffering, is a problem that no one faith has answered to anyone’s total satisfaction. It is encouraging to realize that God may suffer through each one of us, including plants and animals. Mutual pain and suffering have a way of bringing us all together. The narrative of the crucifixion of Christ can be considered the “Greatest Story Ever Told.” While pain and suffering by themselves are not inspiring, redemptive love most certainly is. History is best appreciated as a Divine, or Universal, Love Story. Our True Self is the hero in awakening us all up to Eternal Life.

Aggression, violence and war emerge out of fear and hatred. Violence is looked upon as a form of weakness in the martial arts. To kill someone is only a last resort. Likewise, diplomacy is set up to do whatever is possible to prevent war. The way out is to show love and compassion to everyone caught up in wargames. We are all susceptible. In a real war, there are no winners. We can then point to the arms merchants, who keep supplying the nations with weapons. Many rationalize that there is no other way. The breakthrough is the realization that Universal Love is impossible to long resist. It is utterly demoralizing to push away pure love.

Whenever we have a lofty ambition to change the world, we bounce against the possibility that someone might push the button and end it all. Here is where faith and love come in. No one in their right mind wants to destroy everything. When you begin to truly LOVE your enemy, you unleash a creative force that can nullify the most diabolic intent. Nuclear weapons can only destroy, they cannot create. When you love anyone, if even for a moment, you are sharing a creative force that can make all things new. If you keep on doing this, you will witness a cumulative effect that is truly stunning. As a Course in Miracles puts it, “The holiest place on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love.”

While any of us may experience fear and hatred from time to time, war, itself, is not inevitable. To date, we have yet to engage in a sustained nuclear war. Belief in inevitability is the problem. As the Hunger Project maintains, death by starvation is not inevitable. Despite a rapidly growing population, we still have sufficient food for everyone. What is essential to realize is that we can’t end war by simply waging peace. We can end war only by waging love. As more and more people realize the ultimate power of Universal Love, it will become more and more compelling an option. The need of the hour is to know how to access Universal Love, and how to channel it towards us all.

If you study the life of Gandhi in great detail, you will find he was a most unremarkable child. No one would even guess he could have a successful career, let alone transform the British Empire into the British Commonwealth. Yet, as Gandhi’s career continued in South Africa, and then India, no one and nothing could defeat him. At a critical juncture in his life, Gandhi stumbled upon the power of unconditional love, and the world has never been the same. So for you and me. Never forget that Gandhi LOVED the British out of India.