It’s July 30th, and summer is flying by! This summer, my daily 5-mile walks have become more than just exercise; they’re a moving meditation, a time for deep self-reflection as I strengthen my body and prepare for a new exercise program that includes yoga and TRX.
The Shifting Landscape of My Routine and Perspective
As I gear up to return to work, I’m already anticipating the challenge of fitting in my exercise. My mornings will likely only allow for one 2.5-mile walk, and I’ll miss the second one. This means I’ll need to get creative about integrating more physical activity into my workday. Perhaps I can utilize the campus gym or commit to evening yoga classes, though I know that will be a significant shift. Yet, I truly believe these efforts are as crucial for my sanity as they are for my physical well-being.
Embracing Non-Duality: A Journey of Connection
Lately, my walks have been focused on a profound theme: learning to see the “God-spark” in everyone and recognizing the underlying unity of all things. This journey into understanding non-duality has been unfolding for a couple of years, and it’s making more and more sense to me. It’s helping me see the world not as fragmented pieces, but as a holistic, interconnected whole.
I believe one of the challenges for those of us in the Western world, particularly in the United States, is our strong emphasis on individualism. We often judge what is good, bad, right, or wrong based on what it can do for us personally, rather than for the collective. We proudly proclaim “E Pluribus Unum” — “out of many, one” — but often, our actions suggest “out of many, I should have more than the many.” The sense of oneness in our nation feels diminished right now. Perhaps something will shift, but for now, it’s a stark reality.
Affirmations for Loving Others: A Deeper Dive
This morning, as I walked, I focused on affirmations for loving others. One that truly resonated was: “I will cultivate self-compassion for a full well of love that overflows for others.”
It’s fascinating, isn’t it? To truly love others, we must first have compassion for them. And compassion, to me, implies understanding—understanding their traumas, their sorrows, their misguided notions, and the ways they’ve been led astray. It reminds me of Jesus’ prayer: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The world often seems more misguided than guided in how people think, believe, and act. But compassion asks us to understand this. For those of us who believe we see a better way—a path rooted in service and love—we must extend compassion and long-suffering to those who do not.
The Revelation of Self-Compassion
Initially, I misread the affirmation as “I will develop compassion,” but then I saw it clearly: “I will cultivate self-compassion.” And that’s the truth of it, isn’t it? For some, developing compassion for others comes far more easily than developing self-compassion.
I’m learning more and more about self-compassion. For many years, I wrestled with feelings of not being enough, of being worthless, unproductive, or ineffective. Self-compassion is about seeing ourselves, flaws and all, and realizing, “This is who I am.” We all have a shadow side, the same failings as everyone else. Self-compassion means accepting ourselves, even when we don’t meet our own standards. It’s about loving the parts of ourselves we deem unlovable, or at least accepting that we are works in progress, incomplete, struggling, and desiring to do better, even when we don’t know how.
Seeing Potential Amidst Flaws
Another affirmation I pondered was: “I accept people’s flaws, but I also hold them in the light of their potential for good.” Everyone possesses a potential for good, yet it can be so easily compromised by circumstances. It’s heartbreaking to witness how readily we fall prey to misguided notions, especially when I observe some of our leaders—in Congress, in the Senate—who outwardly profess deep faith and belief in God, yet seem so easily swayed to do evil. They vote for unfair policies, promote injustice, support cover-ups, and persecute those they dislike.
It would be simple to dismiss them as fakes, but I believe the truth is more complex: it’s about how easily our sense of self can be compromised by the situations we find ourselves in. We are all flawed individuals, so easily swayed, so quick to do the wrong thing.
I’ve observed this in various contexts: border control, homeland security, local police officers who participate in racial profiling, arresting people of color and taking them to jail before they’ve conclusively proven their citizenship or legal status. They conduct public raids, often covering their faces, to instill fear in marginalized communities, a stark message that no one is safe from the government’s power—a power that, in these instances, acts from a place of weakness. These are individuals dedicated to upholding law and order, yet they are so easily compromised, participating in abuses of power, deprivations of human and legal rights, often with the excuse, “That’s just part of the job; I have to feed my family.”
We are all so easily compromised and flawed. And the question inevitably arises: Would I be any better in those situations? I think of the individuals at the Nuremberg trials who participated in the Holocaust, who put people in concentration camps and burned them in ovens, claiming they were “just following orders.” Would I be any different under such immense pressure? The sobering answer is, I’m not sure.
This is why we need compassion for those who are so easily compromised, to see within them their potential for good. The story of the Apostle Paul comes to mind—a man who hunted down early Christians, bringing them to sham trials where they were killed. Yet, he was transformed by a heavenly vision, becoming a person with immense potential for good, who profoundly shaped the Western world’s understanding of Jesus Christ. It is truly possible for the potential for good within all of us to triumph over evil.
Releasing Judgment, Embracing Complexity
This leads to another affirmation: “I release my need to judge and choose to see the complexities with each person.” Someone once said we are neither the worst day of our lives nor the best, but somewhere in between. We are all navigating the world with limited emotional resources, accumulated over years; with our genetic predispositions that we may struggle against; with the trauma of our upbringing; and with the societal and cultural programming ingrained in us by well-intentioned teachers, ministers, and parents who often taught us what culture dictated, rather than encouraging us to follow our hearts. These are complex struggles, and the mature person recognizes them as such for all of us.
Love’s Unconditional Embrace
“My limited understanding cannot encompass another’s journey, but I can choose love anyway.” At some point on love’s journey, one must make the decision to love despite the apparent flaws in others. Some people’s evils are obvious, while others hide them deeply. But we all carry the seeds of our own destruction, just as much as the seeds of our success. Sometimes we make terrible choices, believing they will be good, only to find them leading to disaster, because we are easily fooled, misguided, ignorant, and manipulated.
The point is, we either love or we don’t. For me, love means acting in the best interest of the other person, despite my internal misgivings, knowing that a truly evil person may exploit my compassion and love without any intention of reciprocating. Yet, love is the way. Love signifies that I matter, you matter, and we matter. It’s possible to love even when we cannot participate in, approve of, condone, or even actively campaign against another’s actions. Love is a decision—a continuous act of faith in the good of others, even when there’s no visible evidence of that good. We can simply choose to believe that there is good in everyone, even if we cannot see it.
Paul’s definition of love is as good as any: “It is patient and kind; love never fails. It is not boastful or proud.”
Celebrating Diversity, Even in Opposition
“I celebrate the beauty and diversity and embrace the richness of the world.” This is easy to say on a superficial level, isn’t it? But to truly embrace diversity, even among those directly opposed to what you stand for and believe in, to say that diversity itself is good—that’s the hard lesson for all of us. Can we love not only what is different and diverse from us, but also what is different and in direct opposition to us? Can we turn to love despite all those differences? I believe it requires a truly special, even supernatural, capacity within us.
We can see the potential for good in everyone, even when it’s hidden from sight. And we can believe that love sparks love in others. I truly believe that love and kindness attract love and kindness; light attracts light. By showing love, kindness, and compassion to all, most people will respond in kind. And for those who do not, we must have even greater compassion, for they have been robbed of a great beauty in their lives—the experience of feeling strong and loved.
The Transformative Power of Love
“I trust in the transformative power of love, believing people can change and grow.” I believe love in action can help people change and grow. However, it’s also possible to mislead ourselves into thinking we have love for others when we create laws that favor one group over another, or criminalize others, so that we benefit while they have nothing. It’s easy for people to be oblivious to how they’ve benefited from these often selfish, majority-driven laws. If I have a retirement account, I might believe I love other people, without realizing how the system of unchecked capitalism has hurt so many, depriving them of jobs and the ability to save for the future, let alone a retirement plan. This is certainly something to ponder.
On this July 30th morning walk, with an open heart, I hold onto the hope that God’s love will ultimately prevail in all. I believe that in the end, we will all discover God’s love to be true, and we will bring it to fruition in our lives and the lives of others, even if we don’t perfectly realize it now.
The more I come to know other people, the more I generally understand. And the more I understand others, the easier it is to love. So, in the end, it’s crucial to develop loving relationships in this incredibly diverse world of ours. By cultivating beautiful, loving connections, perhaps, just perhaps, the love that unites all things and all people will manifest sooner rather than later.
Thank you for listening to my reflections today.
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