Love Powerfully

Mighty in Contradiction: Love Powerfully
--by Patty De Llosa (Oct 25, 2010), http://www.ijourney.org/

"As we see more deeply into our inner drives and defenses, we discover that the choices we are faced with aren’t all black and white. Life teaches us that our decisions aren't necessarily based on "this" or "that." We come to understand the truth of “both/and."

The assumption that things are either good or bad, true or false, that I’m either happy or miserable, lovable or hateful, has been replaced by astonishing new facts: I both want to be good but my efforts can have bad effects; there’s falsehood mixed in with my truth; I want and don’t want whatever is my current desire; and I can both love and hate another person at the same time.

What about the two primary human drives, love and power? I used to think the opposite of love was hate. But life experience tells me that's not true. Hate is so tinged with other emotions, including love! No. In my understanding the opposite of love is power. Love accepts and embraces. Power refuses and crushes opposition. Love is kind and knows how to forgive. Power is competitive and takes others into account only when it stands in the Winner's Circle.

What's most disturbing is that both of these feelings can exist in me at the same time. Power seeks dominion. It’s about winning, owning, controlling, running the show; while love is about caring, taking in the message, finding what’s needed, seeing what wishes to appear and helping it to flower.

Yet, if I'm honest, both live in me. That means there can be a drive for power behind the caring, helpful person, the one who wants to please, as well as in the take-charge kind of guy. We are lovers in love with love but also in love with power.

Perhaps Martin Buber said it best:

"We cannot avoid using power,
Cannot escape the compulsion
To afflict the world.
So let us, cautious in diction
And mighty in contradiction,
Love powerfully."
--Patty De Llosa

Love this.  A wonderful reading for today...

Things I am thankful for today:

1.  The hubby having a day off.
2.  Coffee in the morning.
3.  Getting all the outdoor Christmas lights up!
4.  Shhh...  A radio station already playing Christmas music...
5.  A hike at Afton State Park.
6.  Our picnic snack - jalapeno jelly with cream cheese and crackers.  Mmmm...
7.  Our dog stopping at every bench along the way - waiting to see if I needed a rest.
8.  I think we may FINALLY be getting a new flower on our orchid!
9.  The smell of "cinnamon brooms" at Trader Joe's.  (Our cashier said it smelled like the inside of a red hot candy!  Ha ha ha.)
10.  Contentment.