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  It
does not matter who people love, only that they love.
This comes from my brother Ed. He was teaching an
adult literacy class in Brooklyn, N.Y. The class had read a book
about AIDs the week I sat in. Their discussion turned to homosexuality,
homophobia, ethics. After a heated, yet healthy debate, he expressed
his stance roughly quoted above.
Taking it a step further, one might come to…
Love everyone. Let them love as they are ready.
 We
can never decrease violence in the world by partaking in violence.
There are many sources inspiring this idea: Mahatma
Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Thich Nhat Hanh, Reinhold
Niebuhr, Albert Einstein and the concept of ahimsa (harmlessness)
from Patanjali’s Yoga
Sutras. The force of the idea applies equally to our own
interpersonal conflicts, to the death penalty, or to attacking
a foreign nation.
Taking this a step further…
Go beyond non-violence to an active, positive and
continuous intention towards compassion and service.
Each
citizen of a nation shares a responsibility for all of that nation’s
actions.
It’s easy for yogis to justify apolitical
views and behaviors. Perhaps, too easy. There are instances
when humanitarianism requires us to take action, let alone make
our voices heard. Particularly, for those of us who are members
of democratic nations, inaction can mean collusion. This is
true for economic as well as political and military injustices.
Again, sources of this thought are numerous: Gandhi (again),
Aristotle, Jean Jaques Rousseau and many others.
Going further…
Aspire toward loving kindness as the source of your
nation’s actions.
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 Truth
does not mean the absence of lies, nor even just an active effort
to tell the truth. It requires an ongoing effort to find and live
your inner truth.
How can we know if we are telling the truth if we
haved not turned inward to see it? This idea may be the seed for
the practice of meditation across cultures and time. Turning your
attention inward can be scarier than anything we see on Fear
Factor, and as courageous as any heroic act in battle.
In ancient yogic texts, from the Vedas
to the Bhagavad-Gita,
this is the key to awakening to our higher purpose.
Onward…
The truth is the sound heard in
silence.
 Love
everyone and tell the truth.
This is directly from Compassion
in Action by Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush (see Yoga
International, Issue 78, July 2004, pp.54-56). It sounds so
simple. To some it may sound trite, impossibly idealistic or even
weak. Try it, even for a day. Are you truly one of a universal
whole? Is love the force (at least one of the forces) which unites
this whole?
More… there isn’t any.
 Selfless
action requires a strong ego.
My teacher, Diane
Wilson, relayed this idea from one of her teachers, Audle
Allison. We need to know ourselves to engage in selfless service.
Otherwise, we lack direction. Coherence of self, and strength
of convictions will allow us to withstand our inevitable missteps
and provide us the resilience and wisdom needed to carry on.
Further…
Perfection, right action in right moment, necessitates
stepping out of our own way.
 Healing
flows as much from nourishing what is healthy as from attending
to what is in distress.
Thich Nhat Hanh relayed this sentiment in an interview
during an East-West Psychology conference. {I apologize, but I’ve
dug through libraries and on-line looking for the citation for
the article I read from that conference some fifteen years ago
to no avail.} His words were invaluable in my work in mental health
treatment with abused children and their families. Over and over,
I saw the results of growing what was already healthy —
watching confidence build to tackle the most difficult detritus
from past trauma. A much more western slant is B.F. Skinner’s
formula that four positive reinforcements for every one negative
redirection optimizes the possibilities for growth.
More…
Apply this to yourself before (and while) you apply
it to others.
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