THE COUNSELOR'S CORNER: The courage to love: Leaving power behind

By Fred Cavaiani

These are unsettling times. The decree of President Trump has jolted many people. People can be detained for their religion until they are properly vetted to see if they have terrorist ties but if you are Christian you apparently do not have to be vetted. Both premises are erroneous. It is not a religion that produces terrorism. It is the interpretation of religion.

When life is lived in fear we can see enemies everywhere. When life is lived in love we can see goodness everywhere. It is in the act of loving one another that can expose more clearly those who need to live their lives based on an authoritative God or government or political institution. People who look for enemies and live in fear need a punishing God and a punishing government. This can 'help' a person to feel superficially safe. The problem with this approach is that in an age of nuclear power I must become nuclear stronger than my 'enemy.' I need to have bigger bombs than you have. Now we can both have so many weapons that at the touch of a finger we can destroy each other.

When religion becomes aligned with political power it is easy to justify anything. When the practice of Christianity becomes aligned with the politics of power it is easy to justify war and the killing of others through whatever sort of weapons are available. When the practice of Islam becomes identified with political power the same thing happens. Allah can be used as a justification to kill your enemies.

In the 12th and 13th centuries Popes would justify crusades again Muslims. Christians killed Muslims in the name of God to free the 'Holy Land' and protect Europe. Muslims killed Christians in the name of Allah for the very same purpose. Yet, none of this was the accurate practice of Christianity or the accurate practice of Islam. Both religions started out with a peaceful loving God. Yet the interpretation of this peaceful loving God becomes warped and minimized by human beings.

Christianity began by an itinerant preacher who only practiced Love and was willing to die for this fundamental principle: the Love of God and the Love of people. In the practice of this fundamental principle of Love men and women rose to a higher form of life, both now and forever. It is a simple message. If you read the Koran you will find the same principles of loving all especially your enemy. Both religions emphasize the practice of Love and the practice of free choice and not forcing anyone to believe. Both emphasize being loving and kind to those who disagree and have different viewpoints. But in both these great religions the followers started misinterpreting things and reading into the Bible and the Koran justifications for not showing love and justifications for forcing conversions and looking at people of other faiths or lack of faith as bad and evil. This is the part of our human nature that starts making God vindictive, punishing and abusive toward those who do not follow the prescribed religion.

Punishment and condemnation were not part of Christ and they were not part of the early practice of Islam.

When political power and religion become connected religion becomes diluted into a justification for violence. And this is based on the fear of giving up one's life for love. It is also based on the weak belief in the afterlife and in the power of love in this life. The world became changed first through the preaching and practice of Love by an itinerant preacher, Jesus Christ, who believed that we reached God through Love. It was also preached and practiced by the prophet Mohammed. Most religious reforms started to return to this original practice of love for God and love for everyone. But they quickly returned to a rationalization of the importance and power of love and went back to Power and Control of people.

Whenever a religion uses its tenets to justify war, destruction and punishment it has already joined forces with the political power and culture of the present time. There will always be prophets who will ask us to return to peace and love but they so often will be silenced through imprisonment, killings, or just rationalizing away their message. The founder of Christianity was murdered. Many peaceful Islam leaders have been murdered. Mahatma Gandhi promoted peace and he was killed. Martin Luther King Jr. promoted peace in the midst of violence. He was killed. John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy inspired us to look for goodness of hope. They were killed. Prophets of Love and compassion are either killed or avoided. Promoters of protection from danger by being ready to attack enemies with weapons of destruction will always be with us. In some ways they seem to be always needed. But this is not what changes the world into a better planet.

What changes this world is your immersion into a loving and profound experience of God. What changes the world is your ability to love others no matter how others may treat you. What changes the world is your willingness to look for goodness everywhere and treat everyone with love and compassion and kind actions. What changes the world is your willingness to die for bringing more love into the world. To reach this point we all need to immerse ourselves into a God of Love through prayer and meditation. We need to practice the genuine principles of love and understanding. We need to believe in a loving God or Higher Power that is always subtly and clearly preached in the original tenets of most positive movements in life. Most religions originally started out this way. Even most political movements started out with the basic principles of love and equality and a belief in a loving Power and Strength for all. But when it comes down to practicing these basic principles we quickly depart from love to violence, from compassion to rationalizations, from prayerful silence to negative obsessions of finding the enemy and punishing them. How has this worked out for the human race in the last 3000 years? Real change comes through courageous loving and courageous reflection and receptivity to an eternal loving God who is always there to connect with us in the depths of our personality and being. So simple and yet so hard to believe. Death and avoiding pain is not to be feared. It is to be embraced. It is here where we find inner peace and make loving and compassionate changes. Whatever happens we will be internally connected to the Source of Life and the Source of Love. This gives us strength to keep loving and change the world by our compassion and genuine receptivity to a Love that knows no limits. However long we are here or however short we are here, we will have made a difference in helping to make this world a better place.

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Fred Cavaiani is a licensed marriage & family therapist and psychotherapist with a private practice in Troy. He is the founder of Marriage Growth Center, a consultant for the Detroit Medical Center, and Henry Ford Medical Center. He conducts numerous programs for groups throughout Southeastern Michigan. He is also on staff at Capuchin Retreat Center in Washington, MI. His column in the Legal News runs every other Tuesday. He can be reached at 248-362-3340. His e-mail address is: Fredcavi@yahoo.com and his website is fredthecounselor.com

Published: Tue, Jan 31, 2017