“Where There Is Hate, I May Bring Love”
© Joe Sohm. All Rights Reserved.
In light of recent events in my area of the country (and perhaps yours, too) I feel a strong personal inner call to extend love, be more loving, and think in loving ways about people who have committed unloving acts.
No one that I know ever repented for past ugly deeds, or lifted themselves up to a higher vibration because a whole lot of people hated them into loving. I do not see people change because others rail against them. Rarely do people understand the power of love because enough hate was aimed at them that they suddenly saw the light.
We could be talking about a mass shooting, or great grizzly greed or what we consider to be an ugly or non-inclusive political viewpoint. Or we could be talking about the now locally infamous coffee shop owners in Asheville, NC, who clearly have no idea who they are, let alone who women are. Each situation reminds me that it’s a really good time to be wide-awake-aware of the power of love and the inspiring and uplifting cosmic flow-through available to all of us.
What do we want to create more of — hate or love? Disapproval or acceptance? Rejection or understanding?
Throwing myself out of love because someone else is out of love
yields yet another person who has fallen out of love.
But, Hey, I’m Not Mother Teresa
I might say to myself, “I can’t help these people who have hurt others.”
I’m not Mother Teresa.
I’m not Buddha.
I’m not Jesus.
Or am I?
Maybe loving is simpler than we imagine. Consider the following invitation from St. Francis of Assisi given by Mother Teresa on December 11, 1979 during her Nobel Peace Prize lecture:
“…where there is hatred, I may bring love; that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; that, where there is discord, I may bring harmony; that, where there is error, I may bring truth; that, where there is doubt, I may bring faith; that, where there is despair, I may bring hope; that, where there are shadows, I may bring light; that, where there is sadness, I may bring joy.” — quote provided by the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.
I love that the quote says, “I may bring love.” It doesn’t ask the question “May I bring love?” And it doesn’t say “I will” or “I must” or “I should.”
It simply invites us. ” I may bring love” opens the option.
Love Is Powerful
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? … as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” — Marianne Williamson
Dr. Hew Lin and the Practice of Ho’oponopono
Dr. Lin was assigned to a state hospital for the criminally insane, a place which housed murderers and rapists — people who had done truly brutal things. Being employed at this facility was intense and dangerous. Patients attacked staff nearly every day and nobody wanted to work there.
When Dr. Hew Len was assigned to this hospital, instead of looking for ways to fix what was wrong with the patients, he began pondering the following question: “What is out of alignment in me that I have attracted these people into my life?”
He pored over one patient file at a time, reading the details of their crimes, and one by one, made peace within himself about what each person had done. He didn’t judge or look for ways to correct the person. He did not try to rehabilitate them. In fact, he consciously expressed gratitude for the opportunity they provided him to examine himself.
When he made peace with one person’s deeds, and with their life story, he closed that file and went on to the next one. And then the next. And the next. It was a slow process.
The most amazing part of the story is that Dr. Hew Lin never once visited the hospital or saw the patients.
Miraculous Changes
Startling changes occurred.
Patients improved, for no apparent reason. Some began to get off their medications. Others stopped fighting. The place got happier. Patients began to wake up.
It took about 4 years, but one by one, the patients were declared well enough to leave. In fact, at the end of 4 years, there were two patients left. They were transferred to another facility and the hospital was closed due to lack of business.
When we change our perspective of the world around us, the world around us changes. Light or dark? Empty or full? Love or hate? We get to choose what we see and what we experience.
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