Love as Resistance

Overcoming Hate and Dystopia in America’s Future

Image by alexmogopro from Pixabay

My friend Jorgen Winther - asked a question that has been on my mind for some time. He says Donald Trump has him puzzled.

My own thoughts begin (without any proof) in the belief that there’s something psychologically wrong with certain people. That they can take from so many without a scrap of care or compunction—that they can act so cruelly, so callously—makes me question our shared humanity.

How is it that they can live lives so grasping and selfish and blind to their impacts on others? These are people who should never be let anywhere near the levers of power and dominion over anyone or anything.

They’re sick, and because of that sickness, they seek to fill that broken space inside themselves with possessions and power, with things and thrones instead of people.

They are a manifestation of the darkest parts of ourselves and let’s not fool ourselves—this resonates with so many of us who have been manipulated, moved and molded into holding some of that darkness in ourselves.

When we learn how to hate, some of us choose to let it go, it’s a choice we make to save our own souls. Holding on to burning embers to throw at others also burns our own hands. But when we see others seeming not only to thrive but to triumph using that dark force, it becomes easy—too easy—to identify with it and loose that darkness in ourselves.

This is how how people find ways to support cult leaders and others who clearly abuse them and yet they find joy in the process. It’s a dark communion of souls—a gathering bound not by light but by shadow—on a path into the worst parts of our animal natures.

And yet, these are people just like ourselves. Neither better or worse than us. Lost perhaps, but not lost to evil. Even the devil was once an angel and the worst of us may find redemption, for the path to salvation is never truly closed.

Perhaps one path out of this place we all find ourselves in today (the valley of the shadow of death?) is to teach people how to love one another. How not to be a bearer or darkness but carriers of light. How to wield the beauty and power of kindness, the grace of generosity.

In that world, no leader is required to overcome the darkness, instead we all find and identify with each other as light bringers—those that love, those that consciously choose a different path.

We can’t force others out of their paths, they must make their own way. But we can light the trail for them. We can show them the very real benefits of living in the light: of caring for one another, of sharing, of lifting others up instead of casting them down. A world built for community instead of commerce. For extended family instead of existential foes.

To break the stranglehold of hate, we must lead by example, knowing that those who walk in darkness have made a choice—a choice to hold onto the shadows rather than embrace the light. And yet, they remain mirrors, reflecting our own states of being and consciousness.

We created them by not showing them a better way to be.

Our real enemy is anything that brings us together in misery and hate. It came as a surprise to me when I worked this out, that Trump isn’t the only one pushing us into dark places. You’ll find black hearts among the Dems as well. You know them by their works (to paraphrase a bit of scripture).

I shouldn’t have to tell you this, you already know bombing children is wrong no matter who our allies are. But that’s where the path into the valley of the shadow of death always leads. It can be no other way.

We are all one consciousness. We affect each other. We can help or harm, uplift or destroy, equally. In the grand scheme of things, neither is more important than the other, we all die in the end, and the world will continue without us.

But what we do in life creates the world in which we get to live. It is on us to choose which world we want to build. We’ve created one that pulls us apart and makes us responsible only for ourselves and which drains us of time, life, wonder and beauty and replaces all the joy of existence with money that should keep us from suffering but instead amplifies it.

And what has this brought us? Separation. Anxiety. Greed. Loneliness. Hate. Borders. War. You don’t build a paradise out of the bones of your enemies no matter which holy book tells you, you can.

But what if we choose differently? What if we chose to build a world where money was a tool to heal and to lift each other up? One where it cannot be hoarded to artificially create artificial lack and harm and separation? What if we chose joy and peace and love?

The way out is simple. All we need do is open our arms and embrace each other. Love. Care. Consider. Welcome. Share. By simply turning away from a rapidly approaching dystopia, we can create a paradise.

Just open your arms, open your heart and you will change the world. Darkness cannot withstand the force of love. There is no greater power and we deny it only because we insist on seeing it before believing in it.

But I humbly suggest, believe in it first, and it will be made real the moment we take our first steps to evolve our species into the higher realms of consciousness available to us all. All it requires is that first step. The rest will follow naturally.

The absolute power upon which our world is built is simple human attention. What we focus upon is created. What we ignore and refuse simply falls away. And that includes everything: from cassette tapes and 45 records to Kingdoms and Presidencies.

The shift to a better world is nothing more than a simple refocus of human attention. And it starts with the person in the mirror.

What do you think? I’d love to know.In the meantime,
walk Good my friend.
Better days are coming.
Mitch.

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HI

Jorgen Winther

I hope you don’t mind that I answered your question with an article. I believe we can change the world. That’s why I write. Perhaps your questions might bring others to figure out ways to bring this change. Exciting times we live in yes? There is always light in the darkness. If you can’t find it, you can become it.

M.