MenoSunday; Life Lived Lovingly

❈❈❈  2017  ❈❈❈

That came on apace, heh na? Let us begin the year with some hope in our hearts for peace and well-being to spread upon the world.

It is concerning that this may be rather more wishful thinking than a genuine expectation that there will come some magical alteration to the path the world is currently treading. There are many individuals, such as ourselves who gather here, who live life to the best level they can, in tolerance and forbearance and with Love in their hearts and minds.

However, there are some individuals, who manage to spoil the party. Like the one rotten apple in the barn of good fruit, there is a festering, and the good fruit is considered spoiled because of the presence of that one.

This is not a political column; it is a philosophical and spiritual one. However, the entire globe is now in a position of shifting political strategies and power-bases and one cannot be so naive as to think that what will take place in daily life will be entirely unaffected by the consequences of those shifts. At the very least on the economic level. At the worst, manifest in risk to life and limb.

Where does this leave those of us who desire only to live life Lovingly?

Exactly there. To live a life with the capital 'ell', embracing the best of values and principles and seeking only to spread good will. It can be b***** difficult at times, particularly when negativity keeps coming at one, like the waves of the ocean in a storm. All who are wise take appropriate precautions and make plans for surviving the storm. There will be the backpack with the emergency clothing and personal items. Torches with fresh batteries. Places of retreat organised; friends or family or even just acquaintances who understand and open their spare rooms for shelter.

What all the preparation does is eliminate, as much as is possible, the unknown - which means keeping fear to a minimum.

Fear is the greatest crippler, the greatest source of rancour, the source of distrust, and it comes from surrendering our power to the unknown. Even the most rational people can be immobilised by fear. It is a peculiar thing that fear of something can actually prevent us from taking action to eradicate it, so powerful is this particular emotion.

Love is the only true and lasting protection against fear. The storms will happen. Unless we are in a position to take some physical action which will contribute to preventing such storms - which most of us are not - we have to accept that tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes or eruptions are an inevitable part of life's cycle, be they actual phenomena of nature, or of the socio-political kind. In that acceptance, we must then shift our thinking to what we can do locally and within our own 'home'. In that acceptance, we are already half-way onto the path of Love. Setting up networks of folk to whom we can express our concerns; strengthening ourselves with a positivity which is not dependent on the material world; being prepared to offer succour to others without pride or prejudice; educating ourselves as much as possible about what is happening so that we can adjust our ground-level requirements... so many ways we can rid ourselves of fear and live in Love.

I say again then, dear ones, let us move into this new year with a modicum of hope in our hearts, and let us resolve to effect what change we can within ourselves to build that hope... through which, we may find, the world around us also builds hope.