Aleesha, this is an incredibly powerful, compelling, well written and forceful essay of wisdom and strength. Your focus on the Love commandment is excellent. I agree with you, I find so many of us not loving ourselves very well, or at all, That has been my own exeperience and also through my work. A lack of and denial of self love seems epidemic in our culture, reinforced so often by our systems, religious and otherwise. Systems built upon and emphasizing fear, guilt, shame, denial and iour sinful natures are not loving oens at all. Sadly, too many of our religious movements put more emphasis on those than on love. Love is just a word that sounds good but rarely practiced in its full embrace.
Rabbi Hillel the Elder was a Pharisee of the reformed, more adaptible perspective, and a contemporary of Jesus. He said a similar thing when asked to explain the essence of the Torah, expanding one of the central elements of Judiasm as well. I sometimes speak of a trinity of love--God, others, ourselves, and they are practiced best when in balance and not lopsided in any one of the elements of that trinity. In that context, God can be repalced by meaning outside of ourselves for those not from or following a God tradition.
I agree with you, the intentional and marvelous acts of love and kindness are all around us, so abundant in daily life. At least I have been fortunate enough to experence that. We have a ways to go, but writing, words, practices and spirits like yours get us a whole lot closer.
Thank you, Larry, for your perspective here. I wonder if Love is such a hard thing to understand and live, because love has no rules, no certainties, no formula. Love is in being present to the unknown, but we want the answers now. And, in those systems you're referring to, abuse is often spoken as if it's love--"I'm doing this harmful thing out of love"--when what it really is is our pain and fear--"deep down, I am afraid of how the world will treat you if you live in your skin fully as who you are.
I love that, the trinity of Love. I find that to be a central practice in my world, although I would never have been able to quantify it until reading that. In the days when I'm not sure what I believe about God, I always come back to this unifying sense that we are all a part of each other, that there's something bigger than us that connects us, and love is the meaning behind it all. Maybe that makes sense, maybe it doesn't haha. It's hard to express in this moment.
These are beauitful and insightful perspectives, Aleesha. I like your description of love, having no rules, no certainities, no formula. It seems like when we try to impose those, we strangle or distort the purity and joy of love. I also like the way you say how abuse can be related to or spoken of in systems. Your notion of a unifying sense, aka God, resonates so deeply with me. I have left the definitions behind, and try to live more and more in the mystery, and in in the reality of how love can shine in our present time.
We celebrated the 19th anniversary of our church being an Ooen and Affirmign communtiy today, with a rainbow cakes, flags and pins to share, and conversation about a call to witness to a more inclusive and diverse society, a beloved community connected by the rainbow bridges that we create. It was a nice morning.
Thank you for the nice and enlightening conversations you inspire, and for taking the time to chat. Many blessings to you and your family. Happy Father's Day!
Aleesha, this is an incredibly powerful, compelling, well written and forceful essay of wisdom and strength. Your focus on the Love commandment is excellent. I agree with you, I find so many of us not loving ourselves very well, or at all, That has been my own exeperience and also through my work. A lack of and denial of self love seems epidemic in our culture, reinforced so often by our systems, religious and otherwise. Systems built upon and emphasizing fear, guilt, shame, denial and iour sinful natures are not loving oens at all. Sadly, too many of our religious movements put more emphasis on those than on love. Love is just a word that sounds good but rarely practiced in its full embrace.
Rabbi Hillel the Elder was a Pharisee of the reformed, more adaptible perspective, and a contemporary of Jesus. He said a similar thing when asked to explain the essence of the Torah, expanding one of the central elements of Judiasm as well. I sometimes speak of a trinity of love--God, others, ourselves, and they are practiced best when in balance and not lopsided in any one of the elements of that trinity. In that context, God can be repalced by meaning outside of ourselves for those not from or following a God tradition.
I agree with you, the intentional and marvelous acts of love and kindness are all around us, so abundant in daily life. At least I have been fortunate enough to experence that. We have a ways to go, but writing, words, practices and spirits like yours get us a whole lot closer.
Thank you, Larry, for your perspective here. I wonder if Love is such a hard thing to understand and live, because love has no rules, no certainties, no formula. Love is in being present to the unknown, but we want the answers now. And, in those systems you're referring to, abuse is often spoken as if it's love--"I'm doing this harmful thing out of love"--when what it really is is our pain and fear--"deep down, I am afraid of how the world will treat you if you live in your skin fully as who you are.
I love that, the trinity of Love. I find that to be a central practice in my world, although I would never have been able to quantify it until reading that. In the days when I'm not sure what I believe about God, I always come back to this unifying sense that we are all a part of each other, that there's something bigger than us that connects us, and love is the meaning behind it all. Maybe that makes sense, maybe it doesn't haha. It's hard to express in this moment.
These are beauitful and insightful perspectives, Aleesha. I like your description of love, having no rules, no certainities, no formula. It seems like when we try to impose those, we strangle or distort the purity and joy of love. I also like the way you say how abuse can be related to or spoken of in systems. Your notion of a unifying sense, aka God, resonates so deeply with me. I have left the definitions behind, and try to live more and more in the mystery, and in in the reality of how love can shine in our present time.
We celebrated the 19th anniversary of our church being an Ooen and Affirmign communtiy today, with a rainbow cakes, flags and pins to share, and conversation about a call to witness to a more inclusive and diverse society, a beloved community connected by the rainbow bridges that we create. It was a nice morning.
Thank you for the nice and enlightening conversations you inspire, and for taking the time to chat. Many blessings to you and your family. Happy Father's Day!