Islam and Peace
Spiritual Unity
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SPIRITUAL UNITY
It is generally said that in present times, the world
has assumed the form of a global village. But this is
only half the truth. Modern technology and
communications have, of course, greatly reduced
distances across the world. But the closeness thus
produced is of a purely physical nature. Modern
technology may have bridged certain gaps, bringing
the external world closer together, but the task of
bringing unity into the internal world has yet to be
accomplished.
What is spiritual unity? Let us take a very simple
example. When you live in a crowded settlement,
the walls all around give you a sense of limitation.
You experience the friction of living in close contact
with others and you suffer from mental tension.
Later, when you emerge from that dense human
settlement into open, natural surroundings you
immediately feel that your tension has evaporated
and you have once again become serene. You feel
that you have joined a limitless universality. The
feeling of separateness is replaced by an all-
pervasive feeling of unity. You immediately become
