Here's an oldie but goodie post.
Consider
for a moment that there are only two things human behavior is made up
of—love and fear. And every choice you make is either one or other. If
you're not choosing to love, you're choosing fear. And if you're not
choosing fear, you're choosing to love.
Why
love and fear? Because love is love. And fear is the absence of love.
Love is a divine trust that everything is beautiful and perfect as it
is. Fear is an absence of trust that everything is beautiful and perfect
as it is.
Of course there's a spectrum...a little fear and a lot of fear. But whenever you're not
choosing love, you're choosing fear.
That
person you hate? It's not really hate. It's fear that what you dislike
in that person is also within you...fear of what you'll do with that
realization...fear that you are not yet who you wish to be...fear that
you are not who you represent yourself to be.
We
all contain the capacity for the full spectrum of dark and light within
us. Whenever we see a behavior in a person that we don't like, we say
"that is separate from me." But there is nothing in god's universe
separate from you. There may be behaviors you don't exhibit or places
you don't go, but the capacity is within you. And denying that what you
hate in others is not within you fractures you, holds you captive, keeps
you separate from god and keeps you from loving and embracing
yourself. And the more you deny being that which you hate, the more loudly you become that which you hate. That is the power of fear.
If
you can't see those dark parts that are mirrored back at you from your
"enemy" with true understanding and if you can't look upon people you
judge with the genuine grace of "there but for the grace of God go I",
then you're not just in denial, you're choosing fear. And when you're
choosing fear, you're choosing to distrust that everything is perfect as
it is, you're choosing to distrust god's plan, you're choosing not to
love, and as a result, you're choosing to live in the darkness within
you and not in the light. When you live in the darkness within you,
you're just a shade or two or three from the unspeakable atrocities you
witness on this earth.
The
Westboro Baptist Church? Just a darker shade of fear than the shade you
choose when you hate and separate. The KKK? Just a darker shade of
fear. Hitler? Just a darker shade of fear. All, by the way, have some
love mixed in and you should be able to see that, too. But all began as
all babies do, with pure love. I always make allowances for those with
the kind of genetic anomalies that cause mental illness. We all have
genetic anomalies, though. Ours just resulted in funky ear lobes or a
tendency to heart disease instead of mental illness (there but for the
grace of god...) But fear is something we learn, not something we're
born with. And when we turn toward fear instead of love, we run the risk
of traversing into ever deeper shades.
Beneath
most negative emotions is fear. Behind happiness, joy, trust,
acceptance and peace is love. Every choice you make that does not
embrace the beauty of what "is", is a choice of fear. The traffic jam
that makes you feel impatient. The person whose lifestyle you envy. The
homeless person you judge. The weather conditions that "ruin" your
picnic. Or the obstacle that vexes you. All of that is fear. All of that
breeds separation. All of that exhibits a distrust in the universe...in
your god.
So
as you walk through your week, consider the choices you're making. And
when negative emotions well up, trace them back to the fear within and
consider what a loving choice would be instead. And if you're reading
this on Facebook, consider clicking through to my blog where you'll find
more thought-provoking quotes on the topic of love vs. fear. :)
Definitely a goodie! I'm working on a project at the moment based on exactly this - love and fear as the roots of all other emotions. And yet, even knowing this, the reminder is so important. Just this morning I drew a card and BOOM, there was the fear again. I think partly it's that we are hard-wired to trip fear circuits: it's part of the fight-flight-freeze response. But that's just in the first second. If we choose to continue the fear beyond that, that's our choice. We can overcome it, we can come back to a place of love <3
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