John Lewis and Love

I’ve been “sitting” with civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis this week, reading and listening to his words, holding them in contemplation, testing out the ideas he expressed.  What has most stood out to me have been his thoughts on love.

John Lewis noted that culturally we have a hard time saying the word “love” or saying “I love you” unless we mean it romantically.  He regretted this cultural tendency to see love as emotional or weak.  He spoke of love as being powerful and strong. 

John Lewis also noted the power of loving even those who are hardest for us to love, those who have wronged us or others.  As he says, “Years ago that person was an innocent child, an innocent little baby.  What happened?  Was it the environment?  Did someone teach that person to hate, to abuse others?  You don’t give up, you never give up on anyone."
  
John Lewis talked of all the role-playing they did “before there was any talk of a sit-in”, because acting and reacting with love and without violence takes training.  “You have to be taught the way of peace, of love and of nonviolence.”  In other words, love takes practice.  Lots of practice.  

Lastly, he talked of having faith in the power of love.  "You have to have this sense of faith that what you’re moving toward is already done, the power to believe that you can visualize that sense of community, that sense of family, that sense of one house, and you live as if you’re already in that one community, one family, one house.  If you can have faith that it is there, for you it is already."

With all of this in mind and heart, I have doubled down on Loving Kindness practice, knowing that it’s a practice, that it takes time, that it’s something to work on and work at; seeing and feeling the importance of extending wishes for well-being to those who are easy to love, to those who are less easy to love, and especially to those whom it feels near-impossible to love.  And I’m visualizing that we are all living in one community, in one family, in one house.

To quote from the letter John Lewis left for all of us upon his passing, “Walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of ever-lasting love be your guide.”

Hoping that you will join us this week for our first Zoom session (Tuesday 6:50 PM) and for our 12 other conference call meditation sessions.

May all beings feel the power of love,
Your CMP Family

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Photo by Marion S. Tirkosko