Love in a Time of War
Part I
How do we possibly be love, or contribute love to a world that is at war? This seems to be a significant question for us all as we watch Ukraine being invaded. It is so easy to feel helpless or not want to look at the news. I think it’s a very human response, which I find at times I have a tendency to do. (Sigh. I wish it wasn’t true.) But I believe in my heart we can do more than that, even from far away from those living in the horrors of a war.
What does it mean to love in the face of it? There are the obvious actions of protesting or contributing financial support to those affected by war. But on another dimension, war is a call for us to focus on peace on many levels.
How can we personally bring more peace to ourselves, our relationships and communities?
Where have we been fighting with ourselves or others in our lives?
What if it mattered that you contributed to world peace by focusing on it in your own corner of the world?
Where can you add to the matrix of peace from where you live?
Not only is it a call for peace, but it is an opportunity to know that each one of us can make a difference. What if your meditations for peace, your aid contributions, and prayers for the awakening of those abusing power mattered? What if our collective ability to focus on taking what action we can, sending love, peace and holding for the awakening of all people changed the world we live in?
I read a really interesting message by another teacher I follow, encouraging us to hold for peace and the support of not just those who are victims of war, but everyone involved – those who are on both sides, those who may be feeling forced to fight in it, and the terrorizing leaders even. So what does that mean for those who are perpetrating the atrocities of war on innocent people?
It can be a very big stretch for us to imagine someone like Putin as being the subject of our prayers for peace. But I started thinking about the possible impact of having someone who I saw as evil – being awakened. What if we could influence him to awaken from the darkness he lives in? What if someone with that much negative destruction was awakened instead?
I imagined that Putin’s ego would struggle tremendously against this change because not only would awakening feel like a threat to its survival (it no longer being in the driver’s seat), but it would have to see and acknowledge the destruction, harm and atrocities that have been the result of his life. That is a hard change thing to face and a hard change to make, but I kept thinking. (Yes please go down this rabbit whole of ‘what ifs’ with me for a bit longer).
What if we all held in our hearts that those abusing power DID awaken and then they REALIZED they still have time left to try to rectify, restore, repay and reverse EVEN SOME of the harm they had done. It would give the ego a way out, a way to stop resisting then change to awaken. Maybe, just maybe, it’s a path we can imagine.
I don’t know why but it gave me a little bit of hope. A little bit of hope that even those who have lost their connection to the divine center within can find a way back. I hold hope that those who are living in the darkness, creating the destruction of war can navigate back to the light. Maybe that is going to take lifetimes to occur, but I see the light within as inextinguishable. And one thing I do know, is that our own Way of Being in the world is an act of love.
We can choose a Way of Being that is simply holding a quality based on love within us. For example, we can hold a place of compassion for those involved in the war, envision a way for peace to emerge, and hold in our hearts a prayer of awakening, restoration, and change. May we stand in love despite all we currently see, and hold for the awakening of all and peace to spread throughout the world.
We often don’t realize that sweeping change stems from individual changes at the core. Each of us can ask ourselves what our part in creating a better world is. Then, no matter how small it may seem, believe in your ability to contribute and that it may make a difference. Be Love where you can, how you do it best and let’s make a better world from the inside out.
Useful Links:
Daily meditation by Stephanie Miller (Tonglen Practice on Tuesdays)
Meditation Music by Jeff Hall – (a personal favorite of mine)
Affirmations of Love by Laura Smith Biswas
Remembering Love - Channeled message on how to return to love
