Love Unites, Fear Divides

There is only one reality and yet it is as different as each and every one of us. It’s all a matter of how connected we are to the One Source and to each other. Do we see each other as kindred or as strangers? As friend or as foe? Are we motivated by love or fear? 

I received this insight on the eve of October in 1997 and journal-d about it: “This morning I walked up to the University of Chicago bookstore. It was cloudy and cool as I strolled along University Avenue, splashing my feet through puddles from last night’s rain. The houses and trees sat sleepily, looking lonely as Autumn unfolds. Tired from the hot summer, they held little notice of me or the man approaching on the narrow sidewalk.

A few brown leaves fell across the pavement before the approaching man and I brushed shoulders: cold shoulder to cold shoulder. Our eyes, on approach, searched nervously for comfort anywhere, everywhere but from the light within each other. After he passed me, I felt relieved yet sad. Why is it that we humans are so afraid of each other? Why can't we even acknowledge one another with a nice 'good morning'? We’re all the same, right? We could delight in the glow of each others eyes, while finding comfort in exchanging greetings; while sharing our human bond. All we need to do is allow ourselves to open our hearts in love of each other, rather than freezing them in fear of each other.

Love unites, fear divides. Unfortunately, fear is stronger in the hearts of most humans than love is. Instead of opening our eyes to each other, we quickly focus them on a crack in the pavement, or on the fallen leaves, or the busy squirrels, or the devouring sky-- anything to avoid human eye contact and the warmth of a smile. It’s sad and disturbing. We defeat ourselves and each other through fear. When will we, as God’s children, realize that we’re all siblings? We aren’t enemies, we’re kindred. If we allowed love to rule our hearts, instead of fear, our lives would know an enduring spiritual joy; and certainly our walks down city sidewalks would be more like walks through the Kingdom on earth.

As I reached the campus, I stopped and looked around me. The University of Chicago has a very international flavor. There are people from every corner of the earth, of every faith and persuasion. Autumn is my favorite time of the year, and the trees were just beginning to turn colors. Between the people and the colors, it was a scene I needed to breathe into my soul. The grand Gothic beauty of the buildings rising across the University of Chicago’s flowered landscape were a giant step-back in time for me. I thought of the great creativity and imagination that went into sculpting their mystical gargoyles and elegant castle-like towers. As I looked past the buildings, toward the many multi-cultured faces walking across campus, I realized that the very same talent, creativity and imagination surrounded me in that very moment: Past and present are always united through our enduring human bond. That bond, the Spirit of God, is alive in all of us, always. 

Suddenly I quivered from within as a Great Presence seemed to shake me awake from inside-out. Then every face I saw glowed of God’s presence and I felt overwhelming love for everyone: young and old, black and white, Christian and Muslim, male and female, gay and straight. A few seconds seemed eternal. But in those few graced seconds every one of us was equal in every way. I knew in my soul that we are all equally loved by God, and that there are no exceptions when it comes to God’s love for us all. I felt it in the center of my being. It was a blessed moment; a form of God-talk, or God-embrace that swept through me like a giant God-hug around my heart.”

That was 1997, but those few moments have stuck with me, and when I feel prejudice or resentments toward others, I remember those graced seconds. They were a glimmer of the Divine; a glimmer of God's love, which unites us all; a glimmer that needs to become an eternal flame within each of us. And through that flame, through that eternal love for each other, our souls can truly shine.