{"id":136,"date":"2020-03-30T18:30:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T18:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/?p=136"},"modified":"2020-03-30T18:30:33","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T18:30:33","slug":"love-is-the-greatest-force-in-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/?p=136","title":{"rendered":"Love is the greatest force in the universe |"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Peter\nDonohue, Times Writers Group<\/strong>Published\n5:00 p.m. CT Feb. 17, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONNECT<\/strong>TWEET<\/strong><\/a>LINKEDIN<\/strong><\/a>COMMENTEMAILMORE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently ran across this incredible quote: \u201cLove is the\ngreatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral\ncosmos. He who loves is a participant in the being of God.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I immediately thought of \u201cLiving Buddha, Living\nChrist,” one of my favorite books by Thich Nhat Hanh. If not\nauthored by him then perhaps Thomas Merton. Much to my surprise I\ndiscovered the author was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should not have been surprised, but I all too often think\nof Dr. King as a civil rights activist, one whose life was dedicated to\npeaceful civil disobedience, a Gandhi-like warrior of equal rights and a voice\nfor the downtrodden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fail to place in perspective that all those external acts of\nDr. King were rooted in a deep spiritual conviction and an essential belief in\nJesus Christ. This quote from Dr. King was only recently discovered, a\nhandwritten note on an obscure piece of paper. Authenticated it sold at\nauction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there any doubt in the accuracy of this\nquote? No. For it is the identical message of Jesus Christ delivered\nin a slightly different way. This message that both men left us places\nlove as the dominant commandment, the all-important force. Jesus brought\nthe new commandment, love of God and neighbor as opposed to a list of don\u2019ts or\nthou shall nots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both men lived an example of what to do; not what not to do\n\u2013 the benchmark of the Old Testament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parish I belong to held a concert in mid-February to honor\nDr. King during Black History month. The concert was titled \u201cAre we there\nyet?\u201d The obvious answer is a resounding NO, especially as white supremacy has\nreared its ugly head and crimes and angry words of violence are commonplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago, I would have said that we had made great\nprogress since King\u2019s death in \u201868. Now I have to say with great sadness;\nI don\u2019t think so. Are we there yet? No, and it truly seems like we are\nlosing ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fluctuate between thinking the racial animus, expressed in\nviolent outbursts at demonstrations and evidenced in acts of violence, was here\nall along but had become politically incorrect; unacceptable and fearing that\nit has been fueled again as the perceived cause of economic disparity and loss\nof social status as our society becomes more diverse. I don\u2019t know if we\nwill ever know the answer to my uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do know that those who are currently acting out have been\nencouraged and fueled by a foreign propaganda campaign meant to sow discord in\nour country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A different discord was present at the time of Dr. King\u2019s death.\nA discord that was just as destructive, divisive and deadly. The fight for\nracial equality was being led by Dr. King and others. The seeds of a\nsecond divisive issue were sowed as people began to question our involvement in\nthe Vietnam War. Both issues that surfaced in violent conflict were\nhomegrown issues rightly brought to the forefront by our own social\ncircumstance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The immorality of our involvement in the Vietnam War was most\nvividly demonstrated by the self-immolation of Buddhist monks in Vietnam. I\nonly recently discovered that the monks viewed this as an act of compassion, an\nact of peace, not an act of violence. It was a dramatic way to be heard\nthat the Vietnamese wanted peace not war; that the war was being fueled by\nothers at their expense and fought on their homeland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thich Nhat Hahn wrote Dr. King in 1965 that \u201csome of us in\nVietnam had immolated ourselves in protest against the war. I explained\nthat it was not an act of suicide, or of despair; it was an act of love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. King and Thich Nhat Hahn were both members of the Fellowship\nof Reconciliation, an organization devoted to finding peaceful solutions to\nproblems.A year before Dr. King\u2019s death he joined Thich Nhat Hahn\nin demanding an end to the war in Vietnam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war in Vietnam ended and there has been peace there for many\nyears. It seemed like we made strides in equality for all in our country\nuntil recent years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it important to go back to those words of Dr. King,\n\u201cLove is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the\nmoral cosmos. He who loves is a participant in the being of God.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the opinion of Peter Donohue, who has\nbeen involved in the arts in Central Minnesota for more than 35 years. His\ncolumn is published the third Tuesday of the month.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peter Donohue, Times Writers GroupPublished 5:00 p.m. CT Feb. 17, 2020 CONNECTTWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE I recently ran across this incredible quote: \u201cLove is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos. He who loves is a participant in the being of God.\u201d  I immediately thought of \u201cLiving Buddha, Living Christ,” one of my favorite … Continue reading Love is the greatest force in the universe |<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions\/137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartlandspiritinc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}