…. together drink from the same fountains of unity.
… unity is always caused. It never happens by random chance.
… a divided community — in marriage, parish, religious community — is worldly and immature.
Therefore, unity, oneness of mind, harmony, is a choice.
The question is, where there isn’t unity, oneness of mind, harmony, WHY are the parties involved NOT making the choices necessary to achieve oneness of mind?
It is amusing how scientists, when they find a written text amid ancient ruins, are immediately certain that the author of these ideas or laws was no mere animal, but rather an intellectual being, a man or a woman. Yet it must be either philosophical incompetence or extraordinary stubbornness that would lead them to deny that an endlessly more complex reality like a living cell comes from an intellectual being. The reason cannot be science. It is a philosophical monism, a dogmatic materialism.
When husbands and wives, when members of any primary community learn from the same sources of truth, understandably they possess the same basic truths. No one is forced. But once again, the beautiful unity happens only as a result of sincere inner change.
That’s why it’s so important for husbands and wives to be on the same page. If not of the same faith, it helps to tolerate and respect each other’s beliefs and practices (or non-belief). At least this is what I’ve witnessed even in households where husband and wife are not of the same religion. They’ve come to an agreement, often before the wedding, that their children will be raised a certain way spiritually, and that there would be no opposition from the other. It is also in these same households where I’ve seen conversions to the faith happen.
… this happy wisdom, largely unknown in other worldviews, comes from divine revelation.
So it’s important not only that spouses have a unity of mind WITH EACH OTHER, but a unity of mind WITH GOD. A shared vision is essential, especially when it comes to how married life should be, what influences are allowed into the home (whether through books, music, television, relatives and friends), what the goals are for the children in terms of spirituality, worldly success, education, etc. It would save the couple a lot of grief when these things are ironed out early on, or revisited when necessary. These are things that cannot be swept under the rug, lest bitterness and resentment take root. These will eat away at a marriage from the inside, and at some point the couple may find that all they have left is an empty shell of a relationship, and by then it may be difficult to prevent a falling apart.
A town or household split into factions cannot last for long (see Mt. 12:25). Contemporary evidence abounds that shows he is right again. The very word divorce means breaking or splitting up, sundering apart. Polarized religious institutes have been declining at an alarming rate for some decades now, and not a few are either on the brink of disappearing altogether or have already vanished.
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