Love
vs. Power
“Humility,
that low sweet root
From
which all heavenly virtues shoot.”
Thomas
Merton
There
is so much tension in the air today you can barely breathe. The election is
hanging in the balance in a nation divided against itself. I saw this post on
Facebook this morning, “I never want to hear anyone say again ‘this is not who
we are.’ This is exactly who half of us are,” under photos of armed
protestors at vote-counting stations. Unrest incited by a president who refuses
to entertain the possibility of losing. In all human history, hubris is the one
sin that the gods do not forgive.
Nigerian
businessman, Olawale Daniel, says, “Lack of love is the root cause of
pandemonium and unrest in this world.” I agree with him. Lack of love has
brought us to this place. The question remains, is this who we are? Or better
still, is this who we want to be? The sight of men with guns on city streets
raises the specter of unbridled patriarchal rage—the opposite of Eros. As Carl Jung
said, “Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power
dominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.”
What will
happen if we continue down this path that lacks love? What will result if we
continue to exercise division and contempt for one another? No one will prosper
in this beautiful nation because we will spend all our energy fighting each other.
Is that what we want? We have real problems that need real solutions, and we
can only discover those solutions if we put down our weapons and work together.
Divided, we simply defeat ourselves.
As
fellow human beings, I ask that we come together today and pray for peace. That
we ask God for the strength to be patient while our votes are counted. That we
find brotherly/sisterly love in our hearts despite our differences. And that we
love this country more than we love power. May it be so.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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