But if we can get two fundamental propositions firmly in our minds, we shall find a fresh starting point. The first proposition is that God is Life, God is love, and desires only that which is right. The second is that we have obstructed the passage of Divine Life and Love through us and led ourselves astray by a misunderstanding of the whole meaning of our relationship with God and with each other.

If we were to say to the average person, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” he might say, “Look at all the ugliness in the world. Look at all the evil. Look at the unhappiness and confusion. How can you say that either beauty or harmony is in the eye of the beholder?” Here we are up against a real practical proposition, and this practical proposition is ourselves. Are we able to see peace in the midst of confusion? Are we able to reach out and feel the Divine Presence in the midst of everything that contradicts it?

There is a story in the Bible, which said that a group of men who were fighting for the Lord saw their enemies who greatly outnumbered them, and suddenly they became afraid and would have retreated in great confusion except for a “still small voice”, the voice of the prophet of God that told them to look up. As they looked up, they beheld the vast throngs fighting on their behalf. They saw a Power that could completely vanquish their enemies; they felt a Presence surrounding them, which would give them perfect protection. Seeing this, they were no longer afraid of the enemy, and the victory of right was gained over wrong.

This is a simple story, but it is not to be passed off merely as a beautiful word picture, for it has within it an element of deep reality – the final victory of truth over error. This is what we are confronted with in the world today. This is why it is necessary, as never before, that a great new vision come to us, a hope and an assurance that right is might, that the power of good can vanquish its foes, and that truth crushed to earth will rise again.

Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, if he sees it. And peace can come out of confusion if we listen to peace instead of confusion.