How to Meet the Madness—And the Opportunity—of This Moment in Time

I’ve been having a hard time writing lately.

For over twenty-five years, I’ve written about love, empathy, forgiveness, and the truth that we are all one—connected on a soul level.

In my book, published fifteen years ago, I predicted that the world would start to go insane. That our disconnection from ourselves and from each other—our collective tendency to look outside for what can only be found within—would eventually drive us mad. And that the only path back to peace would be to turn inward, to remember who we really are.

You could say I’ve been preparing for this moment for more than two decades.

And yet, even with all the tools I’ve cultivated and all the preparation I’ve done, I find it incredibly difficult to meet this moment. My human self is struggling to remember what my spiritual self has always known: that at our core, we are beings of love, light, truth, and connection. That peace only comes when we choose to live from that place.

Lately, I’ve been struggling to remember that truth—especially when I see what’s unfolding in our country…the lack of empathy and even the gleeful cruelty I’m witnessing.

The powers that be are trying desperately to divide us into political camps. But if we strip away those man-made ideas—Republican or Democrat, American or other, Christian or something else—what’s left is what’s real.

When we peel away all those fictional identities, we find that at the center of our being, we are all the same—and we are all connected.

We are beings of love, light, and truth…even those who have seemingly lost their way.

Imagine what it must be like to live inside the body, heart, and mind of someone so lost, so scared, and so disoriented that demonizing and attacking their own brothers and sisters feels like the only way to find relief.

Imagine not realizing that we are all connected on such a deep level that when you attack another, you attack yourself. And when that attack doesn’t bring the relief you hoped for—when it makes you feel even worse—you double down. You attack harder. You spiral further toward the brink of insanity.

When we can imagine what that feels like, compassion becomes possible.

We’ve allowed political parties, religious doctrines, and national identities to twist our truth. In doing so, we’ve forgotten who we are. We’ve bought into the illusion of Us vs. Them.

And in that illusion, we became splintered—untethered from reality, disconnected from truth. We’ve fallen into a collective dream of division, one that justifies turning against our own brothers and sisters.

This is the madness of our time.

When we stop letting ourselves be manipulated by those with the loudest voices and the biggest platforms—when we step back from the machinery of hate being broadcast through news cycles and social media algorithms—we begin to see the real crisis: mental illness born from disconnection…from our hearts and from each other.

It’s not Left vs. Right, American vs. foreigner, or Christian vs. anything else that’s tearing us apart.

It’s believing in those ideas—those illusions, often pushed by those who profit from division—that’s truly dangerous.

But we only fall under that spell when we forget who we are.
When we believe in Us vs. Them, we become trapped in that spectrum of madness.
Because these are all mental constructs—stories we’ve made up—and they’re not real.

We’ll either wake up from these illusions, or we’ll continue to go mad.

I feel the anger too. Every day.
My human self feels such deep sadness and disappointment toward those who’ve bought into separation—who believe anyone deserves to be marginalized or dehumanized.

But I know that anger is often a defense.
It’s easier to feel angry than to touch the heartbreak beneath it—the grief of watching our human family forget its own divinity.

Yet if we don’t allow ourselves to feel that grief, we can’t reach forgiveness.
And without forgiveness, we lose ourselves to the very madness we’re meant to heal.

Because the only thing that will save us now is forgiveness—forgiving our brothers and sisters, and ourselves, for forgetting that we are all one.

That may be the hardest part: accepting that those we love, both known and unknown, chose to ride the train of division straight through the heart of humanity. Because when the loudest voices preach hatred, attack, and war, we all feel that energy in our hearts.

The only way through this insanity is to stay grounded in truth—rooted in kindness, compassion, empathy, and forgiveness—and to release everything that isn’t of love and light.

Quiet your mind: turn off the news, step away from social media, breathe.
Move your body: walk in nature, practice yoga, laugh, travel, reconnect with life.
Soften your heart: practice compassion, empathy, and forgiveness.

That’s the lifeline out of this mess—the only way to stay sane, and at peace, in a world swept up in hysteria, violence, and fear.

Because no matter what messages of division are being shouted at us, our brothers and sisters are not our enemies.
As lost, scared, angry, and confused as they may be…as sick as they may be…they are not our enemies.

We must wake up from that hallucination.
We must remember that we belong to each other.
If anyone in our human family suffers, we all suffer.

There is no separation. It’s an illusion.
Every act of attack is an attack on ourselves.
Because there is only one of us here.

When we see ignorance, violence, or hate in another, we can choose to recognize that person as lost, confused, and suffering—and understand that, in their pain, they are simply looking for salvation in all the wrong places.

It won’t be easy.
But it’s the only way through.

As Mother Teresa said, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”