The Power of Love

I try very hard to be thoughtful in what I choose to share on LinkedIn- I have a deep confidence that everyone in the world has two basic needs, the first is to matter and the second is to believe in and be part of something that matters.

With confidence in that truth, and with an understanding that this view of the world is a choice, I care very much that I do not dismiss others who have a different view of the world- or those who dismiss my perspective as too idealistic or too naive. For all I know, they may be right. 

But today I want to write about a deeper truth that this pandemic and lockdown has made more clear to me. I think it might offend people. That is not my intent, and I will apologize to those in advance if they find these ideas offensive in anyway.

It is likely that this moment in history is the first one that has brought a collective anxiety that comes with wondering if you will be alive next week or next month. Never before has the entire world, every single person on the globe, woken up wondering if this invisible virus is going to somehow find us, and potentially bring life to a sudden stop. Yes, there are those at greater risk and those at low risk, but no one has zero risk. 

It is against this landscape that a deeper truth seems to be making itself clear. And, yes, people do need to matter and to be part of something bigger than themselves that matters. That is true. Yet, I use to treat that as the goal- the goal being to ensure everyone understands they matter and to encourage them and challenge them to seek out a collective effort that is doing something that matters. Now I see why that cannot be the goal. 

The true goal is to face every challenge, every uncertainty, every heartache, every fear, every horrific and horrible event and to choose love. 

This is the essence of faith- and right now, at this point in history, this choice is very real and very practical on a daily basis. 

I was raised Catholic and I can thankfully say I am someone whose exposure to the Catholic tradition was overwhelmingly positive. There is a reason for that- I was fortunate to have parents and a family priest who focused on the integration of faith into my life in a very real and authentic way. 

I am still Catholic, and yet as with most religions, too often the essence of faith, being able to embrace the most challenging of times and choose love, is lost as religious people argue over the superiority of their own perspective or the inferiority of someone else’s perspective or faith practice.

To be honest, and I think this where I might offend, I really don’t think God gives two shits about which faith tradition you follow. I think what God (or whatever you want to call this force in the world that is rooting and pulling for us to embrace the challenges of our life and choose love) really desires is for us to find a faith tradition that enables us to develop a deep enough faith that we can wake up, knowing we or someone we love, could die from this virus or experience a myriad of painful events, and we can choose love. We can chose genuine concern and acts of generosity for others regardless of their faith tradition, country of origin, sexual orientation or even if they are a Red Sox fan. 

I think of a student I had in my Doctoral program from Jordan who, ironically, was named Mohammad. I worked with Mohammad throughout his doctoral journey and was impressed with his intellect, his commitment to family, and his desire to return to Jordan and make a difference with his new doctoral degree in leadership. 

One day, about a year after Mohammad returned to Jordan he called and asked to talk to me for an extended period of time. So, one Sunday he called from Jordan and thanked me for helping him and to let me know he was happy to be working on a meaningful new venture in Jordan. 

He then shifted and asked me about my faith tradition and I shared my beliefs. He then shared his journey as a Muslim and shared with me why he found this faith practice so meaningful and helpful to him as a person who wanted to leave the world better than he found it. It became clear to me that Mohammad was concerned for me, that my current status as a non- Muslim might lead to me dying and being separated from those whose afterlife would be rewarding.

We had a wonderful conversation and in the end all I could say is, “Mohammad, I am touched you would care about me so much that you were worried about my soul halfway across the world”. And I added one other thing- I said, “I love you and if your faith tradition provides you with what you need to choose love, even when it is hardest, and even when it is in the face of those who are different than you, then I respect it and am thankful you found it. For me, my faith tradition provides that- this does not make it better or superior, it simply is the best faith tradition I have found to allow me to engage others with love”. Mohammad agreed that we would both continue to pray for each other and be supportive of each other as we share the desire to choose love and to offer genuine and authentic support for all others. We both agreed that what we had in common far outweighed what made us different. 

This pandemic will pressure all people to choose how they define friend, how they understand their obligation to help others. So far, I am encouraged by so many of the stories of the healthcare workers who are risking their lives, of people helping strangers, and of people coming together to find ways to help those who are truly in need. We see Countries helping each other, and yet, we also see seeds of the us vs. them that can quickly diminish our ability to choose love.

As a Catholic, and a Christian there is a succinct and powerful challenge we are faced with, a simple instruction that Jesus provides when asked which is the greatest commandment. Jesus replies, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself". When we combine this with 1 John Chapter 4 Verse 8 which states "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love", we come to a powerful understanding. We can understand the greatest commandment this way: You shall love LOVE with all your heart and with all your mind and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I have little doubt that in just about every other faith tradition there is a focus on generosity, charity, helping others who are less fortunate and, in some way, an encouragement to choose love. The more important thing is, alongside our faith tradition, is real life. We are able to experience times when we do not choose love. When fear overcomes us and we choose hate, or indifference and neglect. And, through the lens of this pandemic, it seems clearer than ever that we are all connected. If an invisible virus can sweep through the world and shut down the world in 2 months, I can only imagine what the invisible force of love could do if we unleashed it with the same fury.