What is in One is in All!
The one important philosophical principle we learn in Philosophy 101 is the problem of One and Many. This principle simply states that there is a variety of anything in life or in creation. Yet, in this variety of any form, there is a unifying essence. For example, there are about 400,000 flowering plants on the planet. Each is uniquely different, but they are all flowers. That’s why a garden is often made more beautiful by a combination of different flowers. It does not matter their shapes, colors, sizes, and smells, they are all flowers. What is in one is in all of them.
This truth in all of nature and God’s creation is a struggle among human beings. In our consciousness, human beings find it hard to recognize that what is in each person is in all human beings – children of God! This is the basis of God’s love shown in Jesus Christ, through which all human beings are brought into the family of God – the Church. Everyone struggles to be loved and to belong to the human community. But some continue to work hard to make sure that there are some persons or groups of human beings who are less or should not be part of the in-group, those who matter, as if what is in them is not found in others.
All of Jesus’s teachings on love of neighbor, forgiveness, and love of our enemies, are directed against the false beliefs that alienate some human beings from the sunshine of God’s love and grace. Every human being is our neighbor. That’s why the war in Sudan, Ukraine and the earthquake in Turkey and Syria that claimed and are still claiming many lives, should evoke compassionate sentiments and concrete actions in us because they are our brothers and sisters. What is in one, is in all. It is this encompassing love that embraces all that is the revolution of Christianity in a world where power and domination, lead to all forms of oppression and disempowerment of God’s children. Think of how your life affects others, including your good and bad choices. I pray for the grace to embrace the values of the Gospel so that we can see all God’s children for who they are: beautiful and loveable brothers and sisters. We can start this right from our families and parish. It is in God’s grace we will always trust. Amen
~Fr Cornelius Okeke