To Love Is to Step Outside of Fear

To love is to step outside of fear.  So often, fear of “the other” holds us back, fear of being “on the hook” if we open ourselves to others, fear of all of the harsh demands of love: the obligation to care, to forgive, to hope, to believe.  We’re all so afraid of each other!  Fear is death to love.  To meet the obligations of family, community, and society with love is the only way forward.  What we need is a radical carrying of each other’s burdens; relationships based on mutual respect; openness, self-sacrifice, a true sobornost, to use the beautiful Russian Orthodox expression.  Someone has recently contacted me privately and told me respectfully that he finds certain things I have written here “inappropriate.”  He went on to say that he feared that my “weird” opinions might “influence” him, since he had great appreciation for, and agreement with, many of the things I have said.  He also made it clear that he would prefer I answer him “publicly.”

     This is the only answer I can give.  I got mixed up in this whole blogging thing when a trusted writing colleague suggested that I create a place where editors and others could find links to my work.  It was not something I was totally comfortable with, but I certainly enjoyed reading the musings of a few other bloggers and didn’t see much harm in it.  It became a place to express certain feelings, ideas, memories, opinions, and a place to honor people and dates important to me.  Anyone who knows me will not be surprised that there is controversial material here, but it is offered with the best of intentions.  I do not pretend to be a teacher, or an authority of any kind.  Again, those who know me can assure you how absurd a role that would be for me, how completely unsuited I am for it by temperament, lack of education, shyness, etc.  What I have written here is given freely, but no one is under the obligation to accept it.  This is not the type of venue that is conducive to dialogue (deep dialogue, although I do appreciate the occasional comment), and perhaps that is part of the problem.  But even if this is not a forum for adequate dialogue, don’t be afraid of or upset by my words.  I’m really quite harmless, and more than willing to accept that not everything I say deserves equal weight.  Even when dialogue of words is lacking, there can be a cor ad cor loquitur, a dialogue of hearts.   In the end, I truly believe that there is always more that unites than divides us; more in all of us to love than to fear.