All we need

For Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955), a French Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist, love is “the very physical structure of the Universe.” [2] That is a very daring statement, especially for a scientist to make. Yet for Teilhard, gravity, atomic bonding, orbits, cycles, photosynthesis, ecosystems, force fields, electromagnetic fields, sexuality, human friendship, animal instinct, and evolution all reveal an energy that is attracting all things and beings to one another, in a movement toward ever greater complexity and diversity—and yet ironically also toward unification at ever deeper levels. This energy is quite simply love under many different forms. (You can use another word if it works better for you.)

Love, the attraction of all things toward all things, is a universal language and underlying energy that keeps showing itself despite our best efforts to resist it. It is so simple that it is hard to teach, yet we all know love when we see it… We all know positive flow when we see it, and we all recognize resistance and coldness when we feel it. All the rest are mere labels.

When we are truly “in love,” we move out of our small, individual selves to unite with another, whether in companionship, friendship, marriage, or any other trustful relationship…  To move beyond our small-minded uniformity, we have to extend ourselves outward, which our egos always find a threat, because it means giving up our separation, superiority, and control.

                                                                        Richard Rohr, 6/4/19 Blog

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Only Love can save us

Anthropomorphize love if you want to

Turn it into God (which is theologically sound)

Put flesh on it in the person of Jesus

Or not

But in a world spinning out of control

Fragmenting at an alarming rate

With wars and rumors of wars

Ever resurgent racism and fascism

In world with border walls

And arms deals

And mass shootings

In a world where the greedy abuse the earth for profit

Only love can save us

The problem is, of course ego

That part of ourselves that would make us the center of the universe

That part of us that cannot see past its own self interests

Sure, we all know what it looks like when one’s soul

Has an extreme case of ego

It looks like narcissism

It looks like the sociopath who simply does not care about others

Who simply cannot see others

Only his or her self

But we all have egos

And we all get into trouble here

We are all willing, at some level, to sacrifice the other for the self

Perhaps I can only speak for myself

But it is certainly true of me

There are those moments when I limit love

When I am not generous

When I exclude

Because I am tired

Because I am fearful

Because I want to be comfortable

Because

There is only one thing that keeps me from being a jerk

(or more of a jerk than I am)

Only one thing that keeps us all from simply brutalizing each other

Bullying

Name calling

Lying

Suppressing

Oppressing

Minimizing

Only one thing moves us beyond

Separation, superiority, and control

And that is Love (Sacred, God)

That is the way of Love (as taught by Jesus, and others)

That is the indwelling love (the Spirit)

“All you need is love

All you need is love

All you need is love, love

Love is all you need”  (Beatles)