MenoSundays; Life Lived Lovingly

Last week, Love and Fear were discussed with regard to their being two sides of the human condition. From them arise all our emotions in response to where on the scale our 'weight' is placed.

Make no mistake, Fear has its place in our condition. It is necessary for protection against that which can harm. Fear in appropriate balance ought only to rise to dominance when it is needed to drive us to defensive action for self-protection from actual threat. Sadly, there are many whose balance gets stuck on the Fear side of the scale and never resets to be Love dominant. Threat is seen everywhere, regardless of facts. What is more, there are people and institutions which, to all appearances, ought to be able to help lift away the Fear, but actually end up reinforcing the Fear through restrictive philosophy or practice of limitation.

Image and text copyright Michael Leunig

What is required is emphasis on expansion of the personality, not the limitation of it.

Whatever your philosophy, if it does not help to bring you from Fear into Love as the dominant balance, it is not serving you well. If it does not help you to be fully present at any given moment, free from ties, prejudices, pettiness, anxiety; if it does not permit you to be alert and attentive and keen to embrace whatever is happening as being part of your process; if it causes you to hit out and blame and justify that according to some mean and insufficient interpretation of that philosophy; if it does not enlarge and encourage further research of its deeper, universal meaning; well, that 'philosophy' is a shame to the name.

If you claim to be a human being then you have the tool called 'choice' and no matter the circumstances (and it is acknowledged that these too play their part), there is always choice. One way will lead to a deepening of the darkness of Fear, the other will bring the light of Love.

No human being is perfect. The key to being a human being is at least striving for a level of perfection in personality and condition. Even if one claims to have one's "own philosophy of life", it will be driven by the balance of Love and Fear in one's condition.