The Panoply of Love

 

Photo credit: Blake Lasater

I heard a program on National Public Radio  in which people who had been involved with hate groups were interviewed. There were white nationalists, neo-nazis, and Islamic terrorists. Some of the men wanted out because they realized they were wrong, and others had wives who gave them ultimatums when they saw their children behaving in this way. Whatever their reasons, they all had something in common: they couldn’t leave without support from groups. It was very similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. They said they were addicted to the feelings, the strong emotions, which were aroused when they screamed messages of derision toward others. Listening to these dear people talk about their experiences — how and why they were drawn to such a destructive group, the way it made them feel, why they had to get away from them — I was struck by how much we truly are all the same. Sometimes we lose our way and think that pain is pleasure, hate is love, and ugliness is beauty. I’m going to double down on my efforts to scatter joy and love my neighbor. It is, indeed, important!


"...fear demands the sacrifice of love, for in love's presence fear cannot abide. For hate to be maintained, love must be feared; and only sometimes present, sometimes gone. Thus is love seen as treacherous, because it seems to come and go uncertainly, and offer no stability to you. You do not see how limited and weak is your allegiance, and how frequently you have demanded that love go away, and leave you quietly alone in 'peace.'" A Course in Miracles T-29.2.7.


“Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 571:18-21

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