The drums of war pound. Europe and America are divided. Protesters line the streets as sounds of American guns once again fill the air in Iraq.

The anger in the West is as least as great as the anger in the Middle East. The inexorable mounting pressure of the buildup to war has been replaced with a growing tide of anger at ``American aggression.''

But what's really going on here? Is the war in Iraq really about ``weapons of mass destruction'' or ``regime change?''

Of course not. The polarizations represented by the issues of the day are never at root cause for social or political events. Those nations who stood against the war from the very beginning, and their citizen allies in the streets of cities all across the globe, do but mark one literal side of the necessary two polarities needed for an event to exist in the physical world. On the other side are America and her allies who have, from the very beginning, wanted to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

Beneath the headlines, political speeches, and street protests lies the symbolic meaning driving the physical events that have manifested. And it began long before Iraq hit the headlines as a political issue. It began, in fact, on September 11, 2001.

That singular event marked the first physical manifestation of a global evolutionary lesson that had been growing in our collective consciousness for nearly a decade: Compassion. Suffering with other human beings whom we don't even personally know and will probably never meet.

The world's initial response to the September 11^th attacks showed hope. The world united, for a brief time, in its determination not just to eliminate the fundamentalist Taliban from Afghanistan, but to assist that country's people in reclaiming their power and dignity as a free, self empowered people.

But as so often happens in human evolution, we then lost our way and began a journey into darkness. We decided by virtue of the leaders we chose to experience one last time who we are not, so that we can better appreciate who we really are.

And this is the true meaning of these evil events in Iraq. Just as individuals must often put themselves through hell to get to heaven, so too at times must our world. It is often painful and ugly, hard to watch. It marks a descent into a period of unrest and unease. But when it happens, it is also very necessary.

Rest assured, however, that it will not last forever. As Gandhi so wisely observed, evil and dark times do not last because good always ultimately wins over evil. Evolution requires it. Truth demands it. Too, it is at times like these that our ``angels'' get to dance their wildest dances; that the enlightened among us, holding up their lamps of Truth, are best seen and heard.

So, as the light temporarily dims into blackness and gloom; look for the ``angels,'' follow the lights you see in the darkness. They are here to be our guides through this difficult time. They will lead us back into the light, to compassion, to love, to the ultimate truth we are all struggling to realize: That All Is One, and we -- each of us -- are that One.

Dr. Matson is co-founder and President of Church of the New Renaissance (www.vetl.org) He is also the author of The Modern Mystic's Guidebook to Enlightenment, published by MFL Publishing. First release scheduled for January 2004. His email address is michael@vetl.org.