Your essay sent me off into deep contemplation for a while. Thanks!

We humans are driven by instincts. The most potent instinct is to assure continuation, even dominance of our gene pool. Success in that is human immortality.

We spiritual beings are driven by the urge to gain understanding bout our nature and the reality we inhabit. Success in that appears to be opportunities to gain even more understanding.

While we may all be one, it is for each of us to realize the world according to our personal inclinations. For instance, are we born ethical or is the nature of ethics something that we must learn and come to appreciate?

The Golden Rule is a great idea but it seldom works. My version of it is "Teach me as I teach you." It is the possibility to gain understanding through experiences that we gift each other. Some are good and some not so good in the view of humanity but all are great in the view of spiritual growth.

That is my perspective. The common ground is that both of us seek a more humane society. Thanks for making me think.