It is both the hardest bit of advice on the list to follow, and the most profound. Many religions have some version of a holy man/woman going to a mountain/cave/ocean/forest and coming back with divine/enlightened wisdom. What they all have in common is some version of 'Unity: we are one'. It makes violence much harder, among other things. What left hand wants to shoot the matching right hand?

Pragmatically, this means whenever you are thinking with the us vs them mentality you can try to realize that there is some value of us which includes you and the ones you consider 'them', a common ground. A possible first rule is that this is the key step in any negotiation. A possible second rule is that everything is a negotiation.

I took it to mean there is no one conspiring against you. Sometimes people add more meaning to innocuous interactions and believe it's planned or concerted effort when really its just a bunch of random peoples choices.

There is no separation of "us" vs "them" and if for your own benefit everyone should be satisfied. See also "Think win-win" from 7 habits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effecti...

For me, it just means that when you are just saying "them" (or "they", or "their") the group of people your are referring to doesn't exist, and you are on your own.

"they are going to fix my problem": no one is working on your problem

"I told them": the message went nowhere

"It is their job": if it is someone's job, that someone is you

> In sociology and social psychology, an in-group is a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member. By contrast, an out-group is a social group with which an individual does not identify

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-group_and_out-group