Shiv R. Jhawar, founder of Noble World Foundation, is the author of the book, "Building a Noble World." To register for free e-Newsletter, please visit www.nobleworld.org.

Your life, in essence, includes ALL lives. This concept is very subtle; so read attentively to grasp it.

What happens when you feel genuine love, kindness, and appreciation for a friend? That friend can actually feel your vibration, even at a distance of thousands of miles. What does this demonstrate? It is nothing but fellow-feeling, the united oneness of each and all, or the Universal Law of Affinity.

If you imagine the ocean and its waves, you can see how each wave is connected to another by the same water. In the same way, the heart of one individual is connected with the heart of another by a continuous medium called universal energy.

If this were not so, the feelings of one person could never be passed on or felt by another. Thus, fellow-feeling is a fact that you can personally experience. 

All the suffering in this world is the result of the violation of this Universal Law of Affinity. If you want to keep yourself above misery, do not consider yourself separate from others. The following illustration may help you understand this point:

Once a hand became selfish and began to reason this way—“Here I am, I work all day, but all the benefit of my work goes to the stomach, mouth, and other parts of the body. From now on, I will keep everything for myself.” There was a glass of milk on the table. The hand took a pin, made a hole, and injected that milk into itself, so that the mouth would not get the benefit. Oh, but this made the hand painful. After suffering for a while, the hand came to its senses and realized, “All that I earn must go into the stomach and there it must be digested to nourish every organ of the body. Then and then alone can I, the hand, be benefited.” Actually, the power or Self of the hand is the same as the Self of the eyes, ears, and other parts of the body. The human body is one, indivisible whole. So if you try to be selfish in the same way as the hand did, you will ultimately suffer the consequences.

The interconnected relationship we all have with each other is described in my book, Building a Noble World: “The same Spirit is at the core of every human being. The ultimate aim of all human beings is the same: to avoid pain and acquire happiness. We all have the same digestive, respiratory, and blood circulatory systems. The color of our blood is the same. We all eat, drink, endure pain, enjoy pleasure, and eventually die. The feeling of love or anger is the same in all of us. The relationship that one individual has with another is through the same universal energy. ‘Like attracts like’ is the Law of Affinity. Accordingly, we ought to live in harmony with one another.”

The Universal Law of Affinity implies that terrorist activity, corrupt political leadership, the stagnating economy -- or anything else you experience and do not like--is within your power to heal. But in order to change these situations, you have to replace your negative thoughts of wrath and hostility with positive thoughts of love and peace.

In a court of law, the government punishes only the person who has committed an evil action. But in the sight of Divinity or one’s own inner Spirit, a person who sends out malicious thoughts can also be responsible of wrong doing. In the words of Rama Tirtha (1873–1906), one of the greatest spiritual masters of India: “Thus says Christ that it won’t do simply to abstain from murder but you will have to abstain from sending forth any thoughts of hatred. He who hates his fellow is just as much a murderer as the man who commits actual murder. Why? While this explains why people who commit murders are often times exasperated quite out of proportion to the insult; the insult is very slight, but the exasperation and wrath are tremendous; there you see that it is not the personal wrath only that is provoked; it is the wrath of your brothers also that comes up to you and takes hold of you; and you become mad…and in that state you deal out the death blow, and people begin to wonder why this wrath provoked was quite out of proportion to the insult. This is the way your murderers are produced.”

Generating loving thoughts is the greatest way to improve yourself. Simply activate the vibration of love within you; be filled with love; let love overflow within you. As you improve yourself, the world around you will automatically improve.

We are all one. The same power that regulates my breath also regulates everyone else’s breath. Keeping this in mind, feel the oneness. The principle of united oneness of each and all is the secret of all secrets to bringing peace in the world.

In summary, whenever you want to improve anything in your life, there is only one place to look: inside you. When you look within, do so with love and compassion. This way, you can make a difference in your life as well as in the world.