A Valentine To The World

Refugees in Darfur


What is not love, is a call for love. We are on this earth to heal the broken pieces of the world.

Darkness penetrates the human experience, but our response need not be frightened or weak. Our task is not to avoid or deny the darkness of the world, but to lift it into the light. We do look at the darkness, yet we deny its power over us. Our function is to transform it by becoming the light.

Feeling our sadness and fear is actually more difficult than exploding in anger, yet it's essential if we are to become the spiritual activists who can re-create the world. We must see with total clarity that what is not love is fear. And we must understand that every negative emotion therefore derives from fear.

When we allow ourselves to feel the fear and sadness that lie behind our anger, our judgments undergo an extraordinary transformation, and our fury turns into compassion. This is an important issue if we really want to change the world. We have no morally persuasive power with people who can feel our underlying contempt. We cannot communicate in meaningful ways with those whom we approach with judgment or blame.

We can consciously and courageously claim a different experience for this planet. But only if we are ready to commit to change. We must all come to accept that thought forms of separation and fear --with their inevitably violent results ---have no place on this planet anymore. When love and forgiveness replace blame and retribution, we will have begun construction on a new and better world.

Think of the daily news as humanity's prayer list...Bless everyone mentioned in every news story, no matter where they stand or what they do. Bless those who do harm as well as those who do good. Becoming emotionally reactive when we are confronted with darkness only serves to keep the darkness alive. Reacting to fear with fear merely feeds the fear.

Instead, let us claim for ourselves the power of love. Read about war? Pray to be a peacemaker. Read about abused children? Pray to be an advocate for them. Read about corruption? Pray to be an active citizen who does his or her part to change that. Read about a reign of terror? Pray to see a loving world that exists in a realm beyond it, and for God to make you a significant part of the effort to bring it forth.

Children starve by the tens of thousands on this planet every day. They starve not because they have to but because we allow them to, and decisions that each of us make every day affect their plight.

People do not dwell in poverty for no reason; they are poor because of conditions over which all of us exert some control. As long as love is not our top priority, we will continue to manifest a world of pain. Only when we make love the basis of all our institutions will the news begin to change.

When I read or watch the news, my biggest temptation is to judge those who disagree with me. The prayer that often pops into my mind goes something like this: Dear God, please remove from my mind my sense that I'm right and other people are wrong, my temptation to feel contempt toward those I disagree with, and this feeling of complete and utter powerlessness with my sense that the world is falling apart. Help me to forgive. And use me, if possible, that I might help to make things better. Amen"

Viewing life through the eyes of the world, we learn about a world that is; viewing life through the eyes of spirit, we learn about a world that could be.

From Marianne Williamson’s book, “Everyday Grace – Having hope, finding forgiveness, and making miracles