(This weblog creates, for us all, a chance to meet at the interaction of Life and the New Spirituality. It is written by the author of Conversations with God, the worldwide best-selling series of books. The “New Spirituality” is defined by the author as “a new way to experience our natural impulse toward the Divine, which does not make others wrong for the way in which they are doing it.”)
This is the second in a series of blogs on the seemingly unending conflict in the world. The series makes the point that there is a way to avoid the constant conflict and killing upon the earth, and that way is for the earth’s people to adopt a New Spirituality — a new “story” about God, about Life, and about Each Other.

HIGHLIGHTS OF TODAY’S BLOG…
* Dare we look at what’s ‘broken’ so we can fix it?
* Why America’s time of world leadership may be over
* Could a ‘nightmare scenario’ play itself out on our planet…soon?
* Some important questions to ponder

There are those say that so-called New Thought Leaders should not “dwell on negative things,” because this “adds to the space of negativity in general” and tends to create it. On the other hand, there are those who ask, If we do not look at what we are now creating, how can we do a better job of creating tomorrow? If you don’t know what is broken, how can we fix it?
It is in that context that this writing is offered…
Some people have been predicting for years that the War to End All Wars will be fought in the Middle East, and it will be a war between Arab nations and nations of the West.
One recently laid out scenario: all of the Islamic factions in the Middle East stop their infighting and finally unite, then turn en masse against Israel, threatening to destroy the nation and annihilate its people within one week if they don’t simply give up their land and get out.
The United States, Europe and other Western Nations are hesitant to intervene, Israel being surrounded on all sides and with the sea at its back. To try to defend the land would only lead to another Dunkirk, some say. Nevertheless, a few nations…

…feel honor-bound to try. Especially the U.S.
And so…the War to End All Wars begins.
Russia and China come to the aid of the Arab states. England and Europe come to the aid of Israel – somewhat — but they do not match the U.S. commitment. The nations of South America pretty much stay out of it. As does Canada, and most other countries.
With Russia and China alongside, the newly formed (this is fictional, of course) Islamic Alliance of Arab States requires (according to this scenario) very little effort to defeat Israel. The question is not whether it will happen, but how many lives will be lost, and on how many continents, before the surrender and evacuation of Israel. (Said evacuation to the island of Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, as suggested in a piece in the National Post of Canada by George Jonas a few weeks ago.)
The U.S. is reduced to a second level power in the world as a result of the loss of Israel, with the long-predicted ascendency of China now guaranteed, and the dominance of Arab nations and Islamic influence in the affairs of the world likewise assured. Only one thing does not change on our planet: the use of violence and killing as a means of conflict resolution.
Can anything stop this scenario — or one very close to it — from playing itself out? Is it so very, very unlikely — or is it too close to what could occur to be comfortable for anyone who yearns for peace?
And what of the “Judeo-Christian ethic” as an influencing moral and philosophical formulation in Western society? Would it, too, dissolve, to be replaced in most business and commerce by Islamic rules of conduct — or by no religious foundation at all?
What — if anything — could head off a world of continuing violence and a massive shift in the global balance of power, bringing that power into true balance at last? Where — if anywhere — could what is being called “the New Spirituality” fit into a different and violence-free scenario? And what role, if any, can the average person reading this right now play?
Let those be our questions for the day…
(To be continued on Thursday)