A Valentine To the World - Solving Hate and Strife
Worldwide Strife
Day by day in an electronically connected world, the people hear more about problems and potential problems. Strife seems to be growing everywhere like a black basement mold with deep roots. If it gets into the nasal tract and attacks the brain, many bad things happen, sometimes death. Strife is like basement mold.
Politicians promise to end strife - often with power takeovers, sometimes with worldwide disarmament, Will any of it work?
Writers pen articles about strife and how to end it. Commentors fill online forums with siggestions while they increase strife itself. Reporters describe it over the airwaves, and poets sometimes offer an opinion and an emotion or several to go with it.
Sone of the public go off the grid and take care of their loved ones and a trusted few professionals that can help them.
What is the answer to strife?
Where Can Love Be in a Chaotic World?
Since the universe tends towards entropy,
Then we must restore order daily.
How does one do this in a chaotic world?
With love.
We do not restore BIG ORDER, but smaller,
In a corner of our earth-touching.
If the oceans of chaos wash it to sea,
Redo.
So many mouths are constantly crying 'me first'
Like cartoon seagulls - me me me me -
Without hands to rebuild the losses of love.
Shut up.
Wars, crimes, lies, fosso verses green, you vs me,
Us and Them and Spy vs Spy - it all burns,
None will matter in next lives or lack of,
Love up.
Love out.
Love around.
Just a bit, day by day.
L - Let chips fall where they may and move forward.
O - Open your mind and others' hearts with a word.
V - Violate no one and nothing knowingly.
E - Energize. Build love back.
(c) 2008 Patty Inglish
At the End of War
Love for Some Individuals is Both a Command and a Choice
Love can be a verb and it is sometimes best when this is so.
The Command is old, as one originating in the Old Testament in Leviticus 19:18. The Command is also new, as Christ gave a new aspect of it in John 13:34-35, loving our neighbor (everyone else) as we love ourselves.
In the Christian church, love is ideally expressed via self-sacrifice and servant-hood, according to (John 15:13), to enemies as well as friends. (Matthew 5:43-48), and not for secondary gain or a tax write-off.
Love could be the unifying force if people could do it a little every day, or at least most days.
I think many religions and philosophies agree that we cannot grow spiritually while we hate others: Entropy - the unavailability of energy to do work.
If we dislike someone are we bad? No. I don't think we can like everyone. But we need not pick fights with them or diminish them.
John's words speak to an attitude to cultivate, one out of which we can treat everyone equally as we treat ourselves and we should treat ourselves well.
This type of "building up" love is not a feeling, but a choice. We can choose to be concerned with other's well-being and to treat them respectfully, no matter how we feel about them.
If they are beyond our capacity for doing so, we can learn to disengage, and this also is love.
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
The translator of this valued book, Dr Joscelyn Godwin, accomplisehd a translationinto English that many otherwriters found too difficult because of the age of the language. Hypnerotomachia was writte in 1499 during the Renaissance by Francesco Colonna of the famous Colonna Family. The story tells the tale of Francesco and he tries to win the love of Polia. Love is sometimes itself not free from strife.
The typesetting of the original book was a work of art and modern publishers have come sloe to duplicating that. Its descriptions of architecture and art and memorable and some readers term it a book to dream by.
Examples of Modern Strife
Saudi envoy warns of civil strife in Lebanon
New Strife in Darfur Leaves Many Seeking Refuge
America -- NSA Whistleblower: "I do not expect to see home again."
What can we do to end world strife? Until we can do so, we can eliminate strife from our daily lives as best we can, and appreciate one another and to communicate better.