Monday, February 27, 2012

Planting Seeds of Tolerance

I flinch when I hear people use the word "hate" to describe their opinion or perspective toward another person or group. The word is bantered about so freely that we are forgetting its true power.  The emotion of hate is dangerous, especially when it is used to form bonds. Communing with others through hatred is connecting through ego, often blinded by self-righteousness.

So here we are in an election year and the haters are taking sides. As you decide which leadership most appeals to you and which philosophy of governing most aligns with your beliefs I ask that you do so with intelligence and thoughtfulness. Leave hatred behind. Hatred, sarcasm and defiling others in order to be right are tools of the weak.
Hatefulness is akin to ugliness. Think about photos of people in the throes of expressing hate. They are devoid of beauty. Hatred has the power to inflame and direct in ways that are dictated by the basest of our emotions. Think "angry mob."

Pondering hatred led me to examine what fuels it.  Possessing an unyielding conviction that one perspective is the single way to think or feel is a powerful way to ignite hatred. This type of tinder, the stance that a belief or philosophy is the only truth, is challenged in a book I am currently reading by author Robert A. Burton, M.D. He reports of studies done on "knowing" and the ability to recall the past with accuracy in "On Being Certain, Believing You Are Right Even When You Are Not". Most interesting to me are the cases in which people adamantly believe they are right even when facts point to the opposite. It is a must-read if you want to examine what shapes your own "stories"  of   the "Who, What and Why" that have formulated your opinions and beliefs, especially when they are attached to emotions such as hatred. 

If you seek to resonate with love and increase your intuition then turn inward and examine how you have developed your own personal truth. Look within and see where the seeds of love reside and nurture them. If you uncover hatred ask yourself how you can disconnect from its appeal.
As Ghandi said "Hatred ever kills, love never dies; such is the vast difference between the two. What is obtained by love is retained for all time."

Love and light,
Nora
Love moves through me. I serve my world with love.