This feature is coordinated by The Post-Standard/Syracuse.com and InterFaith Works of CNY. Follow this theme and author posted Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
As I write this, supporters of President-elect Joe Biden are celebrating in the streets, and Pres. Donald Trump’s supporters are tweeting democracy is dead. Biden is speaking of healing, and Trump is saying it isn’t over. I say this because I need to set a context. Who knows what the nation will be like the day this piece sees print and begins a life online? Chaos? Order? From day to day, we cannot say. But, I take on this task knowing that right now we need a compass that cuts through all moments in time, all states, all faiths and political views, all situations— whether safe, dangerous, joyous or confusing.
Of course, that compass is love— compassion and empathy. Perhaps we can all agree on that. But why then, when we act or speak in the name of love, does it come out differently? It seems like even love has sides. We love. You hate, so we win. No, WE love. YOU hate, and so it goes.
It’s easy to fall into that dynamic, forgetting that love is the letting go of what we see as the separation between us. And, as much as we wish to hold on to that separation until the last moment, love is the letting go of it. Love comes from a place of no superiority or inferiority. Love is transformational only when we extend it to those with whom we disagree, those we do not understand, those who drive us nuts and make us miserable because at the end of the day, the disagreement, the misunderstanding, even misery was just about needing love, compassion and empathy.
Love is simple and difficult. We know how simple because we simply want to be loved. We know it’s difficult because we hold back, as if it is going to run out. But we don’t need to be stingy with love. Love is endless, so let us love the very people who make us miserable and see what happens.
JoAnn Cooke is the Buddhist Chaplain for Syracuse University and represents the Zen Center of Syracuse on the InterFaith Works Round Table of Faith Leaders.
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November 15, 2020 at 07:14PM
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CNY Inspirations: Love is our compass - syracuse.com
"love" - Google News
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