The Law of Love and the Law of Violence

In July I began reading Jean Giono's The Solitude of Compassion and noticed Henry Miller had written the introduction. Within it he included an excerpt from Tolstoy written close to 100 years ago. I was stunned by what he said, and realized just how significant his voice is for us now. The words below were written at the end of his days, where it seems he had many years to come to understand how information, knowledge, and wisdom evolve.

"This then is everything that I would like to say: I would say to you that we are living in an age and under conditions that cannot last, and that, come what may, we are obliged to choose a new path. And in order to follow it, it is not necessary for us to invent a new religion nor to discover new scientific theories in order to explain the meaning of life or art as a guide. Above all it is useless to turn back again to some special activity; it is necessary to adopt one course alone to free ourselves from the superstitions of false Christianity and of state rule.

Let each one realize that he has no right, nor even the possibility, to organize the life of others; that he should lead his own life according to the supreme religious law revealed to him, and as soon as he had done this, the present order will disappear; the order that now reigns among the so-called Christian nations, the order that has caused the world to suffer, that conforms so little to the voice of conscience and that renders humanity more miserable every day. Whatever you are: ruler, judge, landlord, worker, or tramp, reflect and have pity on your soul. No matter how clouded your brain has become through power, authority and riches, no matter how maltreated and harassed you are by poverty and humiliation, remember that you possess and manifest, as we all do, a divine spirit which now asks clearly: Why do you martyrize yourself and cause suffering to everyone with whom you come in contact?

Understand, rather, who you really are, how truly insignificant and vulnerable is the being you call you, and which you recognize in your own shape, and to what extent, on the contrary, the real you is immeasurably your spiritual self—and having understood this, begin to live each moment to accomplish your true mission in life revealed to you by a universal wisdom, the teachings of Christ, and your own conscience. Put the best of yourself into increasing the emancipation of your spirit from the illusions of the flesh and into love of your neighbor, which is one and the same thing. As soon as you begin to live this way you will experience the joyous feeling of liberty and well-being. You will be surprised to find that the same exterior objectives which preoccupied you and which were far from realization, will no longer stand in the way of your greatest possible happiness. And if you are unhappy—I know you are unhappy—ponder upon what I have stated here. It is not merely imagined by me but is the result of the reflections and beliefs of the most enlightened human hearts and spirits; therefore, realize that this is the one and only way to free yourself from your unhappiness and to discover the greatest possible good that life can offer. This then is what I would like to say to my bothers, before I die."

—Leo Tolstoy, The Law of Love and the Law of Violence circa 1909

Wild Heart: Seeing Red? See Blue Instead

I've been looking a lot at the flowers that surround the area in which I live. Most recently I caught site of the morning glories who are in their last throes of bloom. I noticed this: when they first sprout out of the seed their tiny leaves are in the shape of a butterfly. Gradually this butterfly changes shape and becomes a heart. I made several photos of these clustered together in a pot, but just couldn't get the images I wanted. A few days passed. I went outside and sat quietly. Looking to my right behold: a wee adventurer sprouting away from the others: A perfect heart.

About the same time I came upon another interview with Terry Tempest Williams on New Dimensions Radio. I downloaded it and have been enjoying her thoughts from 1994 where she spoke to, "the passion that we feel is naturally translated to a politics of place—standing our ground in the places that we love." Perhaps these places aren't only geographical. Wild Heart: The Politics of Place is the name of the segment and it can be found here. And here I share with you a few words which seem very appropriate for these times of great turmoil, but also of great awakening and change.

"If we lose our connection to the landscape, if we forget where the source of our power lies—our real power—not the power in Washington, not power based on oppression, but power based from an authentic life, from a life in balance, from a life of beauty, awe, integrity, compassion, empathy; then how can we know liberty? How can we know the truth of our souls? How can we know other?"

I have felt the vibration of my own aggravation being reflected out to and joining with others, as many of us are appalled at some of the choices that have been made in the last few weeks during the presidential campaign. This is a whole post unto itself, but what came through several days ago was a real understanding (I had been petitioning for one) of needing to "Be the change you want to see in the world (Ghandi). I knew my seeing red was not going to serve myself or anyone else and so I made a conscious choice to acknowledge the agitation and anger, and then move away from it and focus on seeing blue instead. This was such a a relief! The negativity of anger, flight or fight, fear, warring, and oppression was replaced by the cool hue of blue: vision, compassion, calm, higher viewpoint, inspiration and hope. 

My feeling is that as I hold this state of consciousness it will create a vibration, as it must according to the laws of nature. And this vibration will then be imprinted upon the ethers, as again it must. And I saw others holding this intention as well, releasing the red and imbuing the blue. Gone was the vision I had of angry hornets swarming across the country. And in its place I saw the most glorious thing: she bees, honey bee workers, females; all in harmony, working with ease and cooperation, creating a sweet vibration permeating the ethers, wafting from flower to flower, hive to hive, garden to garden, street to street, town to town, state to state, coast to coast, and beyond.

And it was a very lovely thing indeed. And entirely possible. And very likely. Then Ghandi whispered to me across the blue, Be the change you want to see in the world, yes. But also, See the change you want to be in the world.