Seeing Love in Every Action
Tuesday, 29 June 2010 14:29 Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:07
Someone questioned me further on my assertion that there is love in every action because love is the nature or essence of everything. Specifically, they questioned whether this leads to a denial of and even justification for cruel and horrible actions. Here is my response:
You are absolutely correct that seeing love in everything can easily drift into a denial of or justification of unkind or even cruel and horrific actions. However I would suggest that it is equally a kind of denial to ignore the love that is present in every action. And paradoxically when we are in denial that the core or essence of everything is love, that is even more often used to justify cruelty, shame, violence and destruction.
The antidote is to see the whole truth of the situation. We can see that the essence of all action is a kind of love or caring, and also clearly see the way this love or caring becomes narrow and incompletely experienced and expressed, including the ways this love can be tragically and horrifically narrow and therefore dangerous and destructive. But in seeing the love that is here in every action, our response tends to be loving and compassionate. Instead of perpetuating the cycle of shame and violence we tend to see the hurt and pain and fear that is contracting the essence and love so horribly. And so instead of inflicting more shame and hurt to punish someone, we address the shame and hurt that is already here to possibly heal it and release everyone involved from their suffering.
And just to be clear, this more complete response to the whole truth of the situation includes doing whatever is possible to prevent someone from doing harm in the first place and to protect ourself and others when necessary. Often this can be accomplished without further violence or shame when we are clear about what the problem really is, and so our actions are in response to the hurt and pain that is fueling the violence, instead of being only a response to our own fear and hurt.
Our mind seeks a world where everything is black or white. But with more experience and maturity we come to see that the world is the way it is and not the way our mind wants to see it. And in this real world there is incredible complexity and subtlety, and at the same time there is an underlying simplicity or oneness of love. It is a tremendous challenge to see the whole truth and then to respond to that instead of our limited ideas and beliefs about good and evil.
All dualities are really differing amounts of one thing. There is no actual energy called darkness, there is just differing amounts of the energy we call light. There is no actual substantial presence called evil, there is just the experience of less and less love and compassion when we are lost in pain and fear. Seeing this truth can inspire the experience and expression of more and more love and compassion. Denying the truth of the presence of love in every experience usually inspires more and more violence and hatred. It is as incomplete a perspective and response as denying the violence and cruelty in the first place.
Ultimately, the question is what do we choose? Do we choose to respond to shame, hurt, violence and hatred with more shame, hurt, violence and hatred? Or do we make the radical choice to see the whole truth of the hurtful or cruel act and so respond to it with love, compassion and understanding as well as protective strength, discrimination and integrity?
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