28 Oct

Elixir of Love

elxir_of_love

 

Another school shooting.

Another terrorist attack.

Another act of senseless violence.

Each tragedy sends a shockwave of chaos through our society, shattering lives and breaking hearts. We will respond to these events the way we always do. We will assess blame and punish responsible parties. We will intensify our military presence. We might even create new laws. We’ll do what it takes to make ourselves feel safe so we can go on with our lives, but we will also retain deep scars from the experience. Chaos has a way of bringing about immediate change, but it always seems to be the same kind of change. A change that invariably closes our once-open hearts and minds. Must we always react in this way? Is it possible to react to tragedy in a way that allows us to heal our broken hearts and at the same time avoid future pain? I believe there is a way, and that way is through love. Read More

17 Sep

Seeing Peace

seeing_peace

No person or possession is capable of taking me higher than I can take myself. I believe the same is true for all of us. Each one of us elevating ourselves to the best self that we can conceive of. Limited only by what we think we see. Read More

24 Feb

Love as a skill

Love_skill

Several years ago, I set out to teach myself how to play harmonica. I had a desire to express myself musically and I chose the harmonica because A. I love blues and B. How hard can it be to play harmonica? It’s only got 10 holes, for crying out loud! Well, I learned very quickly that the instrument was MUCH harder than I thought but I still wanted to learn so I kept at it. Read More

19 Dec

Infinite Blessings

infinite_blessings

I was listening to holiday music on the radio the other day and Irving Berlin’s classic “Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)” came on. As I was listening to it, my mind began to drift as I started to count my own blessings. Among them were the usual suspects of friends, family and fortunate events. Before I knew it, I had amassed quite a list of blessings and with it, a profound sense of peace, joy and gratitude. The more I counted, the more I began to notice what I wasn’t counting; the moments between blessings. Read More

02 Dec

Happy Thanks-accepting Day!

Thanks_acceptance_day

When we thank someone, we are delivering a blessing. No matter our faith or belief system, “thank you” is our way of showing appreciation and good wishes. It’s a way of letting someone know you love them for what they did. Is it important that we know that we love and appreciate each other? We believe that it is. Over the years, I’ve become quite good at giving thanks and expressing gratitude but it’s a different story when someone is expressing their thanks to me. Read More

14 Nov

Our Past Is Not Our Future

history_future

Philosopher George Santayana wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Over time this has been changed around a bit to refer to history in general and has been widely accepted as a true and logical statement. But, upon closer inspection, I’m starting to question it’s wisdom. Read More

21 Sep

The Power of Perspective

power_of_perspective
Long ago, when I was just a little kid, I saw a comic on TV who was complaining about February being Black History Month (BHM). His complaint was “The man shorted us again! We have a month to celebrate our history but it’s the shortest month on the calendar!” As a black man, I certainly appreciate the gesture of having a month set aside to acknowledge the contributions of my race to American society but, for some reason, I’ve always remembered that routine and had this lingering feeling about BHM as being somewhat “less than”. Read More

04 Sep

Our Love Affair with Truth

love_affair_with_truth

When we find something we believe to be true we enter into a kind of relationship with that truth. In a very real way, we fall in love with that truth. We honor it by accepting it into our hearts. We consult it when making our judgments and decisions. We defend its virtues vigorously and forgive it’s faults generously. Because we consider truth to be good, we are proud of ourselves for finding it. We consider ourselves fortunate for knowing it and pity those that do not. Sometimes we do more than pity those that don’t share the same truth. We condemn, belittle and stifle all voices contrary to our beloved truth. The love affair continues until we are wooed by an even larger truth that we find is undeniable. When this happens, it’s just like ending any intense love affair. Denial, anger, confusion and then, the messy break up. In many cases, we will look back at the old discarded truth with resentment. Lamenting the time spent believing as a waste and that we are fools for loving such an incomplete truth. “How foolish we were to believe in Santa Claus.” It is this love affair that makes honest, civil discourse and debate so challenging. It often takes on the desperate tone of fighting for your deepest loved one instead of opening ourselves to finding greater, deeper levels of truth and therefore, of love.

Let us loosen our desperate grip on what we think is true to make way for new possibilities. Who knows what we could learn? Who knows what we could love?