Defeat Evil - Love is Universal

I wanted to explore Love a bit more. I knew or believed that Love was universal, among all major religions and even non-religious people. So, I looked up a bunch of quotes I wanted to share with you to show you that pretty much no matter who you are or what you believe, love of others is a central theme of how you should live. Ok, except for Satanism. Seriously, this is what Satanism says: “You cannot love everyone; it is ridiculous to think you can.”  So, if you are a Satanist then maybe my blog posts aren't for you. But if you claim to NOT be a Satanist, then read on for some wonderful positive messages about loving all mankind, in no particular order...

Judaism: 

From theTalmud - "Whosoever does not persecute them that persecute him; whosoever takes an offence in silence; he who does good because of love; he who is cheerful under his sufferings -- these are the friends of God, and of them the Scripture says: 'They shall shine forth like the sun at noontide.'"

Leviticus 19:18 - Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.

Taoism: 

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. Lao Tzu

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Christianity: 

Mark 12: 30,31 -  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

John 13:34  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Islam:

Islam from Isra International:
Mutual love among people is a basic notion in Islam, based on human fraternity. The Prophet said, “None of you shall truly believe unless when he loves for his brother what he loves for himself”. That hadith associates fraternity with love: “Brother” here means a fellow human… Also, there is “charity” — unlimited loving-kindness toward all others. The Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed, “Oh Allah! I ask you for (the ability to do) good deeds… and love for the poor”.

“We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly. Let’s all practice having a lot more love for self and others… LOVE is a verb… it’s an action in constant motion…. we are either loving or unloving… love starts at home with our family.” – Hanan Bilal

Atheist/Secular:

“We are all given a gift of existence and of being sentient beings, and I think true happiness lies in love and compassion.” – Adam Pascal, musician and actor

 “Joy is human connection; the compassion put into every moment of humanitarian work; joy is using your time to bring peace, relief, or optimism to others. Joy gives without the expectation—or wish—of reciprocity or gratitude. . . . Joy immediately loves the individual in need and precedes any calculation of how much the giver can handle or whom the giver can help.”  – Erik Campano, emergency medicine

Buddhism: 

Silence the angry man with love. Silence the ill-natured man with kindness. Silence the miser with generosity. Silence the liar with truth. - Buddha

Love the whole world as a mother loves her only child. - Buddha

Wicca:

Bide the Wiccan laws we must in perfect love and perfect trust.

Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill: "and ye harm none, do what ye will."

Hinduism: 

The one who loves all intensely begins perceiving in all living beings a part of himself. He becomes a lover of all, a part and parcel of the Universal Joy. He flows with the stream of happiness, and is enriched by each soul. (Yajur Veda)

All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love’s sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live. Swami Vivekananda

Bahai:

Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the divers elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms. (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá)

When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love.  

Confucius:

 "Behave toward everyone as if receiving a great guest."

Sikh:

"Love me when I least deserve it, because that’s when I really need it." – Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji


God is love and love is God. As God cannot be confined, restricted or limited to any particular creed, cult, race, similarly Religion of love cannot be restricted or confined in geographical limits and boundaries.
~ Guru Nanak Dev Ji

Defeat Evil - Love Someone You Don't Like

Yet another mass shooting... this time Orlando, in my home state. And the rhetoric on my Facebook newsfeed is the same as every other time - regulate guns!! ban Muslims!! Obama sucks! And I find myself unable to get behind any of these things this time. Banning a whole group of people is unreasonable and hateful. Eliminating assault rifles seems like a great idea and may be a good step but I think to myself "People who want to kill will find a way to kill" - i.e. boxcutters and airplanes or fertilizer. After a few inspirational posts and at least one argument, I came to a realization - the only real way to stop the violence is to stop the underlying cause - evil.

Yeah, I know what some of you will say - evil? really? That's where she's going with this? Yeah - evil. For those of us who are religious, we recognize there is an actual evil in the world. For those who are not so into the metaphysical, I can boil evil down to a part of the brain that activates before aggressive behavior as this article points out - hey Science! And one day maybe scientists will even find a way to control this part of our brain but, until then, we need to fight and defeat evil however we can to stop these atrocities in our world. And that's what I want to write about. I'm thinking about blogging regularly about ways we can fight and defeat evil. Maybe this will just be one post. Maybe I'll get tired of it after a while but if I'm good, I'll keep it up and maybe help myself and others to make this a better world.


My first topic - love. Love is of course the one thing that has been said over millennia will defeat evil. But, is this too simplistic? Many would say yes but I think if we took love to its extreme, we would see a vast difference in our society.

Of course it's easy to love those we already care about: family, friends, even some coworkers and acquaintances. But, to defeat evil, we will need to go far beyond this. We will need to somehow, some way, love those we don't like. If everyone had a modicum of love for every single individual in the world, we would not kill each other or steal from each other or cheat each other, or...

Too idealistic? Probably but it's in the quest that victory over evil is attained. Too hard? Could be but Christians have been teaching this for 2000 years, Muslims since Muhammad, and Jews long before that so there must be something to it. Even the 60's Love children have been telling us for at least decades that "Love is all you need". So how do we do that? How do we actually love someone we don't even like or who hates us or wants to hurt us?

Love is an action word - it's not just a feeling. If you limit love to a feeling, it's only good for one person- you. But if you project that love outward through actions towards others then it benefits you and your target. So I say act in love toward someone you don't like, even if you're not feeling it. This is the hard part! At first it doesn't have to be something that person sees, if you're worried about backlash. Start with simply thinking nice thoughts about that person, identifying good things about them. If you're religious, say a prayer for them and especially about caring more about them.

Then, when you're ready, write something down, maybe a note you may or may not give to them, maybe just your thoughts about them - caring thoughts of course. Even if you don't do something yet that directly affects them, you will likely begin to feel a softening for them. This is the beginning of love. Sometimes it takes some time and practice but you will feel something positive for them. Ok, maybe start with an easier target if the first one you choose isn't working.

But, eventually you will see an opportunity to actually show something positive toward that person you don't like, a simple smile, a wave, a way to help them in some small way - it doesn't matter. But find something that starts to foster nicer feelings between the two of you. And then do what you can to help that to grow into a brotherly or sisterly love for that person.

Can we agree that if Omar Mateen had done this for the people in that night club (we already know he went there several times) he may have taken a different course? What if someone in that night club had done this for him - befriended him? What if each of us does this with one person at a time in our lives? Could we maybe make a difference in our life and theirs? I can't say we will prevent the next disaster with this alone but it's a start.

Love someone you don't like. And then Love someone else you don't like. This is how we start to knit ourselves together as a human race that cares about each other and fosters the one thing that can defeat evil - love!

Quotes about Love conquering Evil:

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

- Jesus Christ

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

"All you need is Love"

― John Lennon

“I hope that real love and truth are stronger in the end than any evil or misfortune in the world.”
― Charles Dickens

“Cruelty and wrong are not the greatest forces in the world. There is nothing eternal in them. Only love is eternal.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael

“The actual, expanded consciousness, reality of our planet is that all of life is LOVE; our very existence is LOVE. Everything that exists is just varying degrees of this LOVE; polar absolutes do not exist. Good versus evil is pure illusion. Even the most seemingly “negative” person with ill intent is still in the spectrum of love.”
― Alaric Hutchinson, Living Peace