It's All About LOVE
/“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be...
This is the inter-related structure of reality.”
So much has happened over the past month—in our country, as well as in my own life. Perhaps you've experienced the same? Rounding the corner into the New Year (or two if you count the Lunar New Year) tends to be a time of transition, and this being a year where our country has undergone a "transfer of power", it can be a time of uncertainty, discomfort, hope, or perhaps a gazing out towards the unknown possibilities for helping one another to shape a common future.
Our futures can only be common—we are all bound to each other. We must coexist. We are coexistential. The fact that we exist together takes precedence over our individual egoic self-interest. Somehow we must take care of each other.
It was tempting to make this month's topic about romantic love, as we have Valentine's Day coming up, and while I typically reserve talking in political terms on this platform, I cannot ignore the fact that vast numbers of people all around the world are feeling unsettled by our new administration. The Women's March this past month was an important indicator of that, and a show of solidarity for championing the values that both women and men hold dear, namely basic human rights, the rights that are inherent to simply being human.
I'm not trying to sound naïve or utopian here, but the sense that I get is that it's ALL about LOVE. The basis for every argument, on the right and the left and in between. Deep down, it's love that compels people to act as protectionists, even when fear is the driving emotion. Women rise up by the millions in the spirit of love to preserve each others' dignity and the rights to their own bodies. On the flip side, others oppose the right to choose because they love and value life in all forms. Mind you these debates span every aspect of daily life and there is oftentimes staggering hypocrisy and contradiction on both sides. This is nothing new. There has been division amongst people since the beginning of time. And the differing of viewpoints is a beautiful thing... right up until it causes us to hurt one another.
The unifying quality that all human beings share is LOVE. To me, this is the source of our essence, which goes beyond the mere fact that we exist, and we can use this commonality to identify with each other's struggles. The more we feed into an "us against them" mentality, the further we drift from that innate essence of love and the more we allow hate to seep in. This does not mean sit back and do nothing. By all means voice your viewpoint as a conversation. Love encompasses reason and I appreciate those that have been standing for something rather than against something. If we can do less opposition and more observation and harness our own instincts for compassion, we can press on together in a meaningful way. ♡
