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Writings mktdaf

Writings: Dr. Martin Luther King’s thoughts, on love..eros & philia & agape

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

As luck would have it (and all monks know they are lucky – why else would we win so often, with each roll of the dice?), I grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, in the Southeastern United States in the time of Dr. King. Those marches & changes & speeches & rallies & protests all happened in my hometown.

The changes they brought ’round have been a key part of why I believe anything is possible, anything good can prevail.

Did then. Does now.

I’ve always loved it that the word “agape” (uh • GAH• pay) is spelled the same as the way we look when we see something amazing, and we stand with our mouths agape (uh • GAPE). It’s an accidental overlap that semantics can, at times, provide, because I believe when that kind of love is rolling over & around you, and through you, it can leave you openmouthed with amazement.

Here’s how Dr. King ties all that together:

Agape Love
By Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Greek language uses three words for love.

It talks about eros. Eros is a sort of aesthetic love. It has come to us to be a sort of romantic love and it stands with all of its beauty. But when we speak of loving those who oppose us we’re not talking about eros.

The Greek language talks about philia and this is a sort of reciprocal love between personal friends. This is a vital, valuable love. But when we talk of loving those who oppose you and those who seek to defeat you we are not talking about eros or philia.

The Greek language comes out with another word and it is agape. Agape is understanding, creative, redemptive good will for all men.

Biblical theologians would say it is the love of God working in the minds of men. It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. And when you come to love on this level you begin to love men not because they are likeable, not because they do things that attract us, but because God loves them and here we love the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does.

It is the type of love that stands at the centre of the movement that we are trying to carry on in the Southland—agape.

(source: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/the-power-of-non-violence/)
(also: http://www.ramdass.org/featured-teacher-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/)

Writings mktdaf

Writings: Time for a tv timeout

It simply ain't so.
It simply ain’t so.

Over the past month or so, one of the stories that keeps playing in my head is this:

The “news” keeps us from knowing what’s going on.

You know it’s true: We have friends to feed in parts of the world, and in parts of the towns we live in (wherever we live!) who need to eat & don’t have enough, but we’ll do that after the Olympics is over. Maybe.

We have people around us who need a hug. Who need a raincoat. Who need counseling to sort out those angry flashes in their head.

People who need a voice.

When you look them in the eye, you know it’s time to share. You can feel it. When you look at the television, you can feel that, too, but its job is to quiet  your anger & shift where you focus, away.

In hockey games & in American football, there is a planned timeout halfway through the period that is simply a tv timeout, so they can run ads. Nobody’s tired & the coaches don’t NEED the timeout, and sometimes it even messes up your team’s momentum.

Maybe we can reverse that. Take a timeout from the television & its pretend news, and take a look around at the real news. With people we can actually touch & feel & hear & see, in living colour.

Way cooler.

Love you –
Brother Ian

Poetry of Music mktdaf

Music: Sarah McLachlan, with St. Francis’ ‘Let Me Be an Instrument of Thy Peace’

Sarah
Sarah

Guess this is a special one – learned the prayer during my first year teaching, at a Roman Catholic high school in New Orleans, and it’s been part of my daily practice ever since. That makes it even more cool that Sarah makes the beautiful words & beautiful spirit sound so beautiful.

Thanks, Sarah, for giving.

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

 -often attributed to Brother Francesco

St. Francis
St. Francis

Thought for the day…


"There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person."
-- Mister Rogers

About Brother Ian

brother ian in actionOver the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.

In the spirit of noting that organized crime, organized baseball, organized labour, and organized religion tend to engender controversy & occasional discord, I promise to be neither organized or critical of those who are.

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