Someone recently suggested that Baba lovers need to establish a “country of our own.” This was prompted, I suppose, by the looming specter of war. The person who suggested it envisioned a country populated only by Baba lovers, where peace and love would reign.

Uh-huh, sure. I expect that this Baba lover lives in an area where there are few other Baba lovers. The impulse is understandable on one hand, but on the other it begs the question, “Are you absolutely mad?”

Just where would this country be located? I doubt that we could buy an already existing country, nor would we want to. We’d just take on its problems and we’d have to evict the current residents. I don’t think they’d go for that. How about an unpopulated island in the South Pacific, say? Are any left after years of nuclear bomb testing? Of course, we could buy up thousands of acres in the U.S., secede from the Union and then apply to the U. S. for massive amounts of aid.

Anyone who lives in or has lived in a community with a large number of Baba lovers knows it’s a mixed bag. On the one hand, when one Baba lover is in trouble, many others rush to his aid. On the other hand, this same community can well be afflicted with all the problems that come with living too close to each other, anywhere. Everyone knows everyone else’s business and feels absolutely free to interfere in it – nay, compelled to interfere. When disagreements arise – and they do – Baba lovers can get just as hostile and mean as anyone else. “Our own country” isn’t going to solve that. In fact, it could well acerbate it. More than twenty years ago, when it appeared an event would trigger a battle among Baba lovers, I told one of the mandali that so-and-so said “Baba wants harmony.” Her jaw dropped, “Harmony! You’re not going to have harmony! You have to try, yes, but Baba didn’t come to bring harmony; he brought a sword!” What she meant was that if the pot isn’t stirred, how do we learn?

The desire for a separate place also brushes aside Meher Baba’s wish that we live an ordinary life in the world. He expected courage from us. He told one Baba lover, “The world is worthy of your love.” And I have always been delighted at this remark from Margaret Craske, “I love Maya!” Smacks of balance, doesn’t it?

So, where could “our own country” be found? Only one place, I think, and that’s in our own hearts, with him.