We are all cockeyed again. Demonstrations throughout the country are taking place protesting the unseemly killing of black males by white police due at least in part to a persistent tribalism in our culture. Yet, isn’t this a slap in the face to five white policemen killed in a wholesale murder in Dallas? It is a widely-known fact that the vast majority of police never fire their weapons when on duty throughout their entire service in law enforcement. We are grasping for ways to think about current outrages and where we find ourselves as citizens and simple human beings. We cannot look away from either scenario, but we don’t know how to look at them either.
Many have the answer…perhaps the only answer…and they are speaking of it over and over. Many are speaking about love so often that it feels almost glib, something pulled out of the air. But we are not just talking about what Joseph Campbell called “the attraction of the organs for each other,” we are talking about the greatest spiritual power in the universe. We are talking about chosen love, always available, seldom understood. Everyone comes into life with love, but we have to learn how to use it. We think of some of us as worthies, some as unworthies, but many have come to believe that we are all sons…and daughters…of God; therefore there are no unworthies, only those who do not know who they are and therefore cannot know who others are. We can choose love at every turn and resist the turn to anything less, no matter what. Throughout our history as human beings we have not done this. It is time and past time.
There are so many ways in which to love, some very big, some small. We can begin to dissolve tribal attitudes. Race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sex, religion are but distinctions in tribal thinking. We are all more than these and always have been. Some of us may bring money as a tool for education, enlightenment and physical care. Prayer for self and others is a constant in active loving. We can, we must no longer engage in anger and half-realized rage; here is where wars begin. Mentally we can no longer fall into "default" thinking and actively choose to walk in love. Respect, small courtesies, these are some of our gifts. Ours every single day.
Tips…just tips…on using the power of love every day.
So many ways to choose love. It is way past time.
"We can choose love at every turn and resist the turn to anything less, no matter what. Throughout our history as human beings we have not done this. It is time and past time."
ReplyDeleteTwo thousand and sixteen years ago, Jesus Christ came as our Messiah to teach us the meaning of LOVE. We have a road map. We have chosen not to follow the map because it demands too much of us as long as we continue to allow our human animal to get in the way of our desire to be the best version of ourselves possible and to find our way back to God. And, to help each other to do so. It seems to me this is where we've all become cockeyed.