We Can Love…
“You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love.” —Cheryl Strayed
Shocked by news of antisemitic statements broadcast outside a college football game following similar hateful messages spread by others in our country, I didn’t know how to respond.
Learning of the horrific loss of so many lives at a mass Halloween party in the streets of Seoul, I didn’t know how to respond.
Feeling anxiety about the mid-term elections, anger about the possibility of candidates spewing hate and divisiveness being elected, and sadness that it continues even after the attack on Paul Pelosi, I didn’t know how to respond.
But Love knows. Love can help us offer heartfelt prayers and support for those grieving, stay hopeful when the way forward seems hopeless, and fight for change to mitigate the impact of those experiencing such a need for power or depth of fear or pain that they act in ways we can’t comprehend.
“Love is not a being word, it is an action word…When you see hate out there, understand that the challenge will never be the hate of some, but the silence, indifference and apathy of the many.“ — Sen. Cory Booker.
How can you spread a little love today? Affirm your support for those of another faith, volunteer for a cause you believe in, urge people to vote, offer a smile to a stranger on the street. There are so many ways to share love.And in these next few days of honoring and remembering saints and loved ones no longer with us, please consider lighting a candle or two for those unknown neighbors grieving a loss, anxious about hate directed their way, or so in pain they’re acting in ways you can’t imagine.
Stick to Love
“I have decided to stick to love… Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
―Martin Luther King Jr.
The Fire of Love
“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
― Pierre Teilhard De Chardin
Everything Is a Facet of the One Thing
“Think in terms of white light shining through a prism to reveal the full spectrum of color perceivable by the human eye: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Each of these colors is part of the original whole and cannot be separated from it—turn off the light source and the colors disappear.
Now apply this metaphor to the world around and within you. Everything you see, think, feel, and imagine is a part of and never apart from the same Source. We call this Source by such names as God, Reality, Brahman, Allah, One, Krishna, the Absolute, and the Nondual. The list of names is long; the reality to which they all point is the same.”
—Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent: Sacred Teachings—Annotated & Explained.
Note: In the book, this quote is one paragraph. For ease of reading, we have broken it into two paragraphs.
May we all respect the many names and traditions offered in celebration and honor of the Holy One.
