Love versus Fear

Today's post is a reflection on our current living situation in the U.S. We live in the most affluent country that the world has ever known. Our standard of living is higher than anytime in the history of humankind. Yet, many (if not most) live out of a mindset of scarcity. We hoard - buying or building ever bigger houses, buying storage to keep all the "stuff" we buy that we can't fit into our larger houses, and then we purchase a "security system" to safeguard all our stuff (and possibly ourselves - though that threat for most is not realistic).

We are like the body when it develops insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) - the body starves due to the inability to produce insulin which can move sugar into our cells to produce energy needed to live. Without insulin, no matter how much sugar is in the body, the body starves to death. So it is with us when we live out of fear (psychological IDDM) rather than love (psychological insulin). Fear makes us not appreciate the bounty that we have, and thus we are unable to utilize that bounty to do great things (or even good things) and our spirit starves to death. With the death of our spirit, we produce ever greater iniquity (inequality and injustice).

All of the Abrahamic religious traditions talk clearly about the love of money being at the root of our human donwnfall. When money becomes an idol, it demands ever more of us - our time, our thoughts, our actions and eventually our children and their children, etc, to pay the debts we have accumulated. Our children's children might attempt to exist on a planet almost devoid of any life other than human and "farmed" or "zooed" animals. Our continued rape of the planet for our own greed and gratification will lead to this unless we learn again how to love.

We need a love infusion - just like that person with IDDM needs insulin. We need it multiple times each day for the rest of our lives. The good news is, we don't need to go to a Pharmacy to get love infusions, but we do need to regularly attend a faith community and to get involved in loving G-d and our neighbors (read: all other humans) as ourselves. We will then find that we live out of abundance and not scarcity.

So, find a way to get your love infusion today and everyday. It is one great way to improve your health, wellness and wholeness and to change the way you live in the world.

Peace,
Dan