"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
On my way to church last Sunday, located in Oakland, CA., a city with the 5th highest crime rate in the country, I saw the following sign posted on the billboard of another church nearby:
"Let Love be your only weapon."
And I couldn't help but wonder what the world would be like if the only weapon we had in our arsenal was love. What would it be like to have only love to reach for in responding to life's challenges? Who would we be as a people, as a nation, as a planet?
I know what you're probably thinking. I thought about it myself. In fact, my cynical self, you know, the one I wrote about in last week's post, was the first voice that piped up and told me to "get real." It reminded me that love didn't work out too well for the likes of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the Kennedys or even Jesus.
Turning the other cheek and loving thy neighbor seems overly naïve for times like these, when, in the face of an event like the shootings in Tucson, the fear factor gets ratcheted up even higher and people rush out to buy more guns and ammo instead of asking how they could become more loving.
The blogosphere is rife with commentary about the Tucson shootings, the shooter, and the impact of the political rhetoric in creating the kind of environment that breeds hatred and promotes violence.
Which came first: the rhetoric, or the violence? Does an atmosphere of violence promote and encourage people to treat each other with disrespect and disregard? Or does a lack of civility in our speech and blatant disregard for the right of people with differing opinions promote and encourage those with violent tendencies to act out? Does A cause B, or does B cause A?
And more importantly, what are we going to do about it? What can we do about it?
For one thing, we can call for a renewed awareness of the need for civility, as President Obama did in his speech in Tucson last week. Yes, that's a start and it's an important step. But something more is required of us.
Raising awareness is the first step in transformation. We can't change what we can't see. But how long do you think it will take before we're sucked back into the old ways of being and interacting with those whose politics or ways of seeing the world differ from ours? Nature abhors a vacuum. If we don't implement new behaviors, we'll return to the status quo. Human nature is like that. Clearly, something more is required of us.
Let's face it: in this country, given that we began in revolution and have consistently been involved in wars of one kind or another, domestic and foreign, for most of our history, given that our military budget accounts for approximately 43 percent of the entire world's military expenditures, (more than China, Russia, France, the U.K. Italy, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia combined), we know about weaponry. We know about guns and military hardware.
How much do we know about love?
For that matter, how much do we know about peace? What's our peace budget in this country? Oh, that's right, we don't have one. Efforts to establish a Department of Peace have gone unfulfilled since George Washington issued the very first call for a "peace establishment" in 1763.
Here are some interesting facts about efforts to "give peace a chance" and legitimize it as a permanent part of our established government:
1792: Benjamin Banneker and Dr. Benjamin Rush call for an "Office of Peace" with peace education in all schools.Do the math. For 248 years, we've been unsuccessful in creating a critical mass of support for the establishment of something as essential to the fulfillment of our founding fathers' vision for this country as legitimizing peace as one of its core principles. How much longer will we allow that to stand? What will it take? Yes, something more is required us.
1925: Carrie Chapman Catt of the National League of Women Voters at the "Cause and Cure for War" Conference, publicly suggested, a Cabinet level "Department of Peace" and "Secretary of Peace" be established.
1926/1927: Kirby Page author of "A National Peace Department" wrote, published and distributed the first proposal for a Cabinet level "Department of Peace" and "Secretary of Peace".
1936: Dr. Frederick Kettner publishes essay "The Need for a Secretary of Peace."
1943-1968: Eighty-eight Congressional bills are introduced calling for a Department of Peace in the House or Senate.
1961: President John F. Kennedy launches the Peace Corps.
1969: Senator Vance Hartke (IL.), and Rep. Seymour Halpern (NY), introduce a Bill for a Department of Peace with a Peace Academy.
2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009: Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH.), and Sen. Mark Dayton (MN) introduce Bills calling for a Department of Peace
Rubberneckduck, a reader of last week's post observed:
In a nation that has just eliminated somewhere between 100K and 1 million innocent people in a foreign nation falsely accused of violence against the US, to indulge this one tragic death in this manner is stunningly hypocritical.
And, to a certain extent, rubberneckduck has a point. His observation was not lost on me. My thanks to him (or her) for pointing this out.
However, here's what I hope: I hope, through our "indulgence" in this tragic event, a new door opens. I hope we can use this opportunity as a "teachable moment" and help elevate our national awareness of the need to end the wars abroad and at home and to begin teaching love instead.
As we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King this week, let us remember his words:
Man must evolve for all human conflict a method, which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
Dr. King paid the ultimate price in his quest to secure the right of freedom for all who suffer oppression. He may no longer be with us, but may the spirit of his dream live on in us. And may we be worthy stewards for carrying his dream forward and making it real.
May we be the ones who step up and say, in the spirit of Dr. King: "We'll no longer carry the burden of hate. We choose love." And then, in our homes and in our schools, in our families and in our communities, in the workplace and in the marketplace, may we be the ones who reflect love. May we be the ones who remind others, the answer is love.
Yes, more is required of us. May we be the ones who hear and answer the call, the ones who hold the consciousness and stand in the knowledge that love and understanding, compassion and empathy are the way forward.
I send you love and peace, hope and prayers, that our shared journey here on this planet is marked by the end of the old ways and the beginning of a new epoch where love rules.
What more is required of you? Please weigh in here in the comment section and while you're at it, please pay a visit to by my personal blog and website: Rx For the Soul.
Click Become A Fan and be notified when new posts appear every Wednesday. For personal contact I can be reached at judith@judithrich.com. I love hearing from you!
Many blessings on the path.
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Michael R. Bloomberg: Americans Can't Agree on Guns? Wrong.
Martin Luther King - Biography
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The English tried this with the poor laws and there have been similar and some continuing attempts here as well. However it's not valid for today's America.
For example people have invested in education but because of tax breaks their jobs have been moved over seas. So people should reinvest in education or should the government that gave the tax breaks cough up the money or should the businesses that are getting tax breaks passing the actual cost of their business onto everyone else? These are a lot of hidden corporate welfare so much so the numbers would swamp the "welfare checks" given to the poor.
The worst part of welfare checks are not that they are given to families that need them but they have played a large role in underming the role of fathers especially in the black community.
The worst part of corporate welfare is the lack of jobs today.
Death is feared and hated by the ego, usually interpreted as the ultimate loss of happiness (gained from material objects).. Immunity to disease, and mistakes of all kinds, is ‘earned’ by suffering. Those who swallow the imaginary pills of happiness expect something from life that they are not willing to earn. If I love you, I let you suffer, so 'God' is doing her job, yes? (continued)
Hate comes from anger which comes from being hurt. Hate isn’t created, it’s hurt that is created or caused. Anger and hate are differing kinds or levels of motivation or signals tor reasons change and depending on a person’s overall development there can be a wide variety of various responses.
Agree with love not being it’s opposite but indifference the opposite? Only in the sense that indifference is not motivational.
I feel that hurt, hate, anger, and resorting to power are all things of this world--use of the (daemonic) 'power' of Nature. Love, as the will-to-love (forcing ego to sacrifice itself) comes from a non-material 'world' (Bennett/Gurdjief's third world). Perhaps too abstract a distinction, but folks who talk about being 'happy' or 'loving' are patting themselves on the back and are growing their ego, so I like to think of impersonal love as being something that is the last stage on the spiritual path--very difficult to do, and not a 'mental' decision.
I'm in your corner, and so happy you are in mine,
Cara
You're too kind! Thank you........
Indeed, count me among the many who are in your corner. Consider me your most ardent fan, although I see the numbers growing weekly. You are on a roll dear woman!
Best best, best!
Judith
In Buddhism, as sanctioned by the Buddha, 'skillful means' are used to trick folks to do the right thing, by promising them 'happiness', nirvana, or samadhi through use of 'loving-kindness'. Folks who actually apply these techniques find they can't even will their own 'happiness', much less manifest a world-changing 'love'. Bodhisattvas perform a paradox, they help people to 'cross over' to the higher values, and they also realize the world is nirvanic--which is to say that all are already full of bliss-love, so no one needs to be helped or 'saved' by 'love'. Thus, 'love' is doing nothing, not doing something. :) Look at one of your own replies, below, you almost said this :)
Thanks for your skillful contributions here and elsewhere. You ARE love!
3) your 'let reality do it' (even though I know what you, correctly, mean), is the one thing that is wrong with Buddhism, whose goal is to grow the tree and produce the fruit, to then let it sit on the tree for eternity. For the Western mind, the goal is to have the fruit fall (descend), split open (destroy itself), and then to produce more trees--by DOING something (destroy old to build new). The goal of Buddhism is to let the 'enlightened' slumber forever in the bosom of the Great Mother, while Western thought strives to an overdeveloped patriarchy. Perhaps the goal is in the 'muddle in the middle'--to be the path (raft) for some to cross to the 'other shore', and to allow the Will (that often lovingly destroys as seeming 'hate') of Gurdjieff's third world to enter this world, the first. comments?
without love life is barren!
Love is the greatest healer -
Ommmmm
Thank you, big love Eddie!
Perhaps because of pain we are called to release those experiences definitively and as Pema commented in Ed and Deb's post, to be "zen" because there is more and better and all that we lived, are living, is just a passage.
What more is required of me — to accept and embrace those of my birth family who believe that obligation equals love as they do not recognise love for what it is - free, with no strings attached - and so, allowing them to be, do as they wish, have whatever they desire really has nothing to do with me. I do not have to experience anything that I do not like.
Not always easy but do-able.
And being the standup gal that I am, speaking my truth and refusing to be deviated from my path sums up my contribution.
You know, this awareness business sucks. I wish I didn't see/know what I do now, then I could be more selfish and closed but am naked now, all fought out, and there is no going back.
Did I say that I LOVE this article, Judith. Well I do!
Gosh, that sounds like an emphatic prelude to a bed of roses hahahahaha
Cheers
Catherine
In this case, the "bliss" of ignorance has been forever erased for one can not pretend they don't know what they now know. I tell this to my students as a way of preparing them for the "real" world, the one where the vast majority of people still live inside a bubble of self-deception.
That's the bad news...... here's the good news......
You can no longer pretend you don't know what you know....... therefore, you now get to be conscious about your choices and their subsequent actions. You now get to "be a stand up gal" who knows who she is and lives in alignment with the dictates of her conscience.
Congratulation, Miss C. The war is over and you won!
To borrow a phrase from our friend, SShaw 490..... I peace you!
Judith
I often marvel at the courage it takes to do the human gig. Just to be a human being takes tremendous courage. Look at us! We struggle and suffer, we fail and fear, our hearts are broken, we're disappointed and discouraged. It doesn't look like all that much fun to do this human thing.
And yet, we keep on coming. This earthly classroom appears to be a mandatory part of the curriculum. And we're all here, in it together. If only we could get that there's only one "team", we're it, and nobody wins unless everybody wins. That seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I often wonder what happened to the peace and love movement from the late 60s; how did it evolve from such idealistic goals; to Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, the Weathermen, SLA and Black Panthers; then to the cynical consumption, materialism and me-ism of the 80s and 90s? Maybe we didn't realize back then that peace is a unilateral action, that it can't exist if it expects peace in return. Peace is its own reward to it's practitioner - it is not, and must not be focused on changing the world as a definition of success. The definition of success for peace is the changing of the practitioner.
We all want to change the world, but the only thing we have the power to change is ourselves. To practice unilateral peace in a turbulent world is, in my opinion, the highest human attainment; and the absence of unilateral peace is the depth of human failure.
In the movie "Pappion", Steve McQueen's character dreams of being on trial for killing a pimp in France. The judge says, "Your crime has nothing to do with a pimp's death. You're crime is that of a wasted life." Pappion hesitates, then walks off saying, "Guilty...guilty." We can live our lives committed to unilateral peace, or we can waste them. There's no middle ground.
Happiness to me is Peace. Peace not intended as passiveness, as boredom; not intended as a day without war, waiting for the munitions to be sent. Gray Cox, professor at COA, once made me think of how we do not have in the English dictionary, or in any I know of, a verb or an action to explain the active status of "making peace." We say "to fight," "to shoot," "to kill," "to bomb." We do not say "to peace." Peace is in our mind a negative concept. Peace exists when there is no war. Happiness, true happiness, to me will be when we will be able to embrace Peace as an active concept. As a verb. As "I peace you. Would you peace me back?"
You say Happiness to me is Peace. I agree with that because when you live on this foundation, usually hard fought and hard won, you see everything so differently. And that is the only way to go if we are to take our place on the universal stage called life.
I don't adhere to the "senseless violence" lable as there is always a purpose, skewed, myopic, destructive, absolutely but from the perpetrator's point of view, violence always makes sense. And so, it is events like this latest heinous act which expose the hidden underpinnings of society into the glare of public scrutiny.
Nobody likes seeing their dis-eased reflection which because of an adamant refusal to face the consequences of lack of love and caring metastasized into disease and thus, the explosive result.
I am no longer a pessimist but neither do I consider myself an optimist. However, one thing I know for certain is that each and every individual on this blue planet must and will eventually take part in Peace-ing the other because there is no other choice. No matter how long it takes us all, en masse, it is going to happen.
And as always, it starts with one.
Much abundances to you Sam in this fabulous new year.
Till next time.
Catherine
Peace is like love. They both emanate from a state of being. Dr. David Hawkins (Power Vs. Force) calibrates peace and love at the highest level of consciousness.
To "peace you" I must "be at peace". To be at peace is to be one with what is. I believe that to be a very active state of awareness. It's like surrender.... which is not a passive state of "giving up", but a very high state of accepting what is. The egoic self is conditioned to want what it wants when it wants it. Therefore, it's always in a state of resistance, rarely in a state of peace.
It's only in those moments when one can transcend the eternal chatter of the conditioned mind that we can access the peace that is always there, like a screensaver that sits in the background and makes its presence known when our mental activity is stilled. In experiencing a state of peace, the sense of separateness, the observer, merges to become one with that which is observed.
One can learn to "activate" that screensaver, to bring to the forefront of consciousness, the awareness of its presence, in every waking moment and to unfold their life from that place. Thus, I am the presence of peace, the presence of love- peace-ing and loving are my natural expressions of being.
To bless is to extend peace.
I peace you, friend.
Judith
As a nation, during times of stress, we are often described as a unified, filled with a spirit of community and concern; more like one big family that defends outside aggression well enough, but continues, as families often do, to maintain internal squabbles for some reason. When things calm, we forget the reasons for unity during times of threatened national identity, yet those reasons remain when we are relieved of stress and become focused on our individual issues: We become self-centric.
So, we do need a reminder that family members, by tradition, by design, and by golly are supposed to love each other with that verb kind of love, where actions reflect intent, behavior expresses commitment, and the soft voices of compassion and empathy speak the loudest. We need an example of a political post-a-note reminding us that caring about others is as necessary and important as caring about ourselves. We need a reminder of spirit that says to gladden our hearts with the joy others reap from our presence. And we all need to set examples for the following generations by modeling a peaceful intent to living with others, a calm approach to settling disputes, a consideration of circumstance when we are inconvenienced, and a deep affection for those in our "house".
All of this and more is needed, if we are to ignite and perpetuate that attitude of peace, and spirit of love, of which you spoke.
With my deep affection,
Lawson
Beautiful.
Have a grateful day, and I know you will!
Catherine
According to the commenter, you CAN fan people multiple times. I don't know if this is true, but check it out and let us know. If that's the case, I'll be multiple fanning all of you.
Spoken so eloquently and with such a ring of truth! I nominate you as a "designated post-a noter" because you do it so well. As do so many of you in this community of readers. We need every voice in this choir as those who beat the drums of fear use louder instruments than post-a notes.
Yet, people are waiting for those notes to appear, whether they know it or not. Just check it out the next time you're standing in the check out line at the grocery store. Strike up a conversation with the person in front or in back of you and see how willing they are to engage at a level beyond mere courtesy talk if the door is opened for them.
I'm so grateful to know you and have your presence here. Keep those post -its coming!
Blessing you,
Judith
You are too kind. As a mere reflection of your intent and purpose, I feed off your abundance, while standing in your shadow, as do so many herein… thank you!
You are right about people waiting for doors to open; I believe many stand beyond closed doors, stilled by the anxiety or fear of grasping that handle for themselves; frozen in their moments of trepidation.
One facility I do possess is no fear or hesitation to engage anyone in conversation (sometimes drives my wife nuts), In fact I experience no resistance to expressing myself period. Stage fright... What's that?
What I have learned is that people will respond to the spark of inquiry and interest under most circumstances. The key is more often than not, to ignite, then be warmed by the fire, to question more than tell, and to be interested and expand on what they are saying rather than simply taking turns talking, like two strangers in a bar telling stories of conquest and capitulation... OK, that can be fun too!
The word “engage” is critical. When we truly engage another in a conversation, the level of interest is evident to both, and a “trust bond” is established; a touching of minds, both feeling mutual intent and purpose, (like conversing with you).
The absence of this type of sharing retards social growth and removes "unity" from community. We should all become more engaged in our converstaions.
Buckets of love!
Lawson
"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgement. Life's most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others."
We've all seen the famous old photos of MLK -- through thr jail bars in Birmingham, giving his "I have A Dream" speech. But, many people haven't seen the vintage photos of Dr. King with his small children, which are my favorites. Ethic Soup has a good post, showing a number of these great photographs:
http://www.ethicsoup.com/2011/01/martin-luther-king-jr-and-coretta-with-their-babies.html
Reminds me of JFK's inauguration speech and his call to ask not what your country can do for you but rather what can you do for your country. A life lived in service to a cause greater than one's self is a life well lived. MLK inspired many to answer the call to serve.
Blessings your way,
Judith
I have recently noticed that I have been imparting lessons from personal experiences with friends lately. Times are definitely tough, many are struggling. It’s either finances, marriage, parenting, or stress and emotional well-being. I’m certainly no model for dealing with hard times, I’m hanging by a thread myself. But it’s possible this is what’s required of me at this time.
There are an infinite number of ways to be in service. Sometimes, it looks like just "being there" as a compassionate friend, a listening ear, a grateful heart.
I've no doubt, my friend, that you are all of that. Thank you for being you.
Blessings to you,
Judith
take care and much love to ya
catherine
We're good now....Ever heard that before?
The reason for the difficulty in receiving the message of love from 'the likes of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the Kennedys or even Jesus' was exactly what he explained:
that it's a method.
Because what it means is that those who remain closed to the message actually 'fail' at something. They take revenge for that and that's why the message of love often doesn't stick too well with them.
It may sound like bad news again, but it isn't. In fact it explains why the message of love is always associated with progress, never with barbarism.
I always learn something from your way of seeing things. What in interesting point of view! I never would have thought about it this way, but of course, it makes perfect sense.
But here's another interesting perspective (at least to me)..... it's the awareness that love just is, everywhere, all the time, even in the midst of barbarism, the possibility of love exists. It may be rejected, or go unrecognized, but love is always available. Notice what happened in Tucson..... in the midst of the shootings, love arrived in the form of people who threw themselves in the way of the bullets to save their loved ones.
Love is. And so are you.
Blessings,
Judith
What is required of me? Good question to conclude a great and heartfelt article. What I hear in me is to contribute more of myself towards effecting peace, without losing the peace that I tenderly nurture in myself.
That is the intention. And what I know about intentions is that they have a way of being fulfilled and realized beyond my conscious control and limitations. Set the direction and listen to the guidance of my heart and then follow it! Life often has remarkable ways of throwing opportunities at my feet which are too good to resist Life is so very neat in this way.
Loving and peace - I look forward to seeing much more of them before the year is ended!
With love and appreciation to you,
Anne
The great cyber bandit is at work again! My first response to you went poof and disappeared into the nothingness from which it originated!
So let me say how good it is, as always, to see you here. I share your wish to "be the peace I want to see in the world". It's an every breath kind of thing, yes?
May you be blessed with the fulfillment of your intentions - a peaceful, joyful, loving year ahead.
Much love to you,
Judith