Building the Universe with Love

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

The recent attack on the Capitol has been appalling. That day we witnessed the scary scene of an angry mob unleashing hate, violence and intimidation to try and shut down our democracy. Having a voice is what our democracy was founded on but violence is not the way. I got very angry at them, those disgraceful, ignorant people.

I turned off the news and with a heavy heart, hiked out into the day listening to poems by Mary Oliver.

Song of the Builders

On a summer morning I sat down on a hillside to think about God, a worthy pastime. Near me I saw a single cricket. It was moving the grains of the hillside this way and that way. How great was its energy. How humble its effort. Let us hope it will always be like this, each of us going on in our inexplicable ways building the universe.

As I listened, hearing her voice and her words helped me soften inside. I wondered, how can I turn my anger around and humbly be guided by the compass of love?  I knew that a part of me wanted to know more about that possibility. I asked questions.  What is the pathway from reactivity to love?  How can I be authentic and real to my true feelings without stepping over them? I don’t want to live with anger. I don’t want to participate in energy that judges and separates instead of builds one humanity.

I stop, take a breath and ask, what’s really here? Can I let down my guard, my protective armor of fight or flight and allow myself to be vulnerable?  Can I let be what is here, even when it might be painful?  I hold myself with mindful presence in the embrace of caring compassion. Stinging in my throat. Fear. Sadness. That is what is truly here. I take a moment. There is no need to rush or push on. A warm tear finds its way out of my eye and falls onto the ground, the beautiful earth where I stand.

Hawk calls out from the blue sky above. I take a step and then another on the path.  I wonder, could it be that ‘their’ angry, violent acts come from that same, fearful and sad place?