Thursday, December 28, 2017

To stand on the side of love we must diminish if not eliminate our fears

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. How do we help the people in our society with their fears? How do we act as agents of healing instead of hurt?

There are certain people who can't trust anyone. Everyone is suspect as being a potential for hurt and pain. The attitude is "get them before they get you." If you doubt this observation look at the popularity of guns in the United States. There are more guns in the United States than there are people, more guns than one for every person in the U.S. And it is statically more likely a person will die by a gun if they own a gun than if they don't.

Why the fear? Where does it come from? Fear is generated by the belief that one's fellow citizens are enemies not friends. We have created hell on earth for ourselves and this hell is a major symptom of our spiritual poverty as a nation. In our attempts to manage our fears of the other by arming ourselves we inadvertently wind up damaging ourselves up to an including over 30,000 deaths per year.

Supposing we decided to see people as friends and not enemies? Supposing we decided to help others and not defend ourselves because of our fears of their possible attack? Supposing we decided to heal our nation and no longer hurt ourselves and others because of our defensiveness?

Supposing we asked ourselves how we really wanted to live our lives and worked together to create heaven on earth instead of the hell we have made? Jesus tells Peter to put his sword away and says, "Those who live by the sword will die by the sword." Matt 26:52. The spiritually mature get this and not only have put their guns away but reached out to the people who frighten them in a spirit of radical hospitality. They have decided to live lives of peace, joy, contentment, and healing instead of fear, anguish, stress, and war.

3 comments:

  1. It is written in A Course In Miracles that the opposite of love is not hate, it is fear. This short essay nails it with the statement that we have created our own hell on earth living in fear of our neighbors as evidence by the popularity of guns in the U.S. Getting a gun is such a dysfunctional coping mechanism of our fear of the other. There must be better ways, right? Marie Curie said that nothing in life is to be feared only understood. This seems to be the UU way, but requires self knowledge and self discipline which many people are lacking because of their spiritual poverty. How to help them? I know that first I have to work on myself.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really resonate with this. My husband told me he wanted to get me a gun for Christmas. I said that if he did the first thing I would do with it is shoot him. I didn't get the gun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The moral of the story is that guns will never make us safe. As the song said in the 60s, "When will we ever learn?" Many of us have learned but we are still the small minority. We need to reassure the rest of our brothers and sisters that it's all going to be okay. Relax. Keep calm.

    ReplyDelete

Print Friendly and PDF