Reflections
Love as a Force for Societal Justice
It is never late for us to consider love as a force for societal wellbeing. Love can be as effective as is political and diplomatic forces for bringing about justice and peace.
Is it the absence of ‘love’ that ‘hate’ is widespread? Do you think about what’s happening around at the global stage? Do they worry you? Do you ever feel or think that it is the lack of ‘love’ for the other? A lack of recognition for the existence of the others?
I would like you, dear reader, to imagine us in a conversation where we are discussing human survival (and thrival) in the current context and reality of the world. What do you think will our answers be to this question:
What is more important than love for human survival?
What is more important than love in life?
This was a conversation I recently had with my mother. We both were thinking very hard in order to find something that is more important than love. We could not!
What follows this question then is, what is love? How can we define it?
Much of the research attention nowadays is paid to romantic love. However, there are other types of love that deserve research attention too. For example;
- Philia love or friendship. As in Philadelphia, meaning ‘brotherly love’. The great American city in Pennsylvania.
- Storge or familial love
- Agape love which is universal love
- Ludus love is playful or uncommitted love such as dancing or flirting.
- Pragma love, a practical love founded on reason or duty
- Philautia is self-love. And of course, there is
- Eros which is romantic, sexual, or passionate love. (Reference)
The love we are discussing here is probably ‘agape love’. An unconditional universal love. It is love for strangers, nature, God, and/or the cosmos. It relates to charity, altruism, and the welfare of others. Agape love is sometimes described as the “highest form” of love. (Source)
Most of us love for the return that it provides us with. Either emotional return or otherwise. We love for healing and fulfillment, but what if what we loved did not give us those? what if we decided to love for the healing and fulfillment of others?
The return in an ‘agape love’ however, is not what satisfies the person for what he/she gets for him/her self, but what satisfies others is what satisfies the person.
Anne Firth Murray defines this type of love as “a coin, with one side being “compassion” and the other “loving kindness.” “Compassion” is the desire to prevent pain, while “loving kindness” is the desire to promote happiness.”
A coin with no sides is no coin. A love acted with no desire for preventing pain and promoting happiness is no love.
This requires a balance to be struck within oneself. A balance between the satisfaction of the self and of others. In other words, doing justice. If you could imagine your self (an existent present being) as a kingdom, you would easily understand society. As you pertain to its accumulation.
One who is able to keep a balance (doing justice) between his/her selfish satisfaction and the satisfaction of others while enacting love is one who contributes to the societal justices too.
Cornel West says that “Justice is what love looks like in public.”
Such a profound statement!
That love is a precondition for justice. That love can be a powerful force to bringing about justice. That unjust love is not doing justice to love. That one’s love for justice should not allow for the use of un-loving means for acquiring justice.
That is the balance of justice between selfish love and selfless love. Loving for the other what you love for yourself.
Going back to my conversation with my mother. We then discussed ‘what ifs’. Talking about human being’s daily work and acts we were thinking:
What if the ‘desire for preventing pain and promoting happiness’ was the basic principle for our social lives, our businesses, and our relationships?
What if it was an imperative policy for world politics?
What if we decided to turn the horrible daily news off of our discussions?
What if family members no longer ate alone?
What if we, me and you (and you dear reader), right now, decided to always have a good opinion of one another? And always find some excuse for one another?
What if…?, what if…? and it went on and on.
These ‘what ifs’ suppose an obligation of each of us to take personal responsibility for one another.
This reminds me of a Leo Tolstoy story mentioned in Frank Andrews’s The Art and Practice of Loving. Leo Tolstoy wrote of a king who realized that if he just knew the answer to three questions, he could never fail in any endeavor: “When is the best time to do each thing?” “Who are the most important people to work with?” and “What is the most important thing to do?”
To cut the story short, the king eventually meets a hermit who gives him all the answers he needs: the best time to do each thing is now, the most important person is whoever we’re with, and the most important thing we can do is love.
In my opinion, people need to be empowered to talk about, think about, and share ideas about love, compassion, and kindness. We need to understand these traits make people strong, not weak. This is especially true if we want to heal the society at large. Love can be an even more powerful force for societal change. We just need to realize it.
The Dalai Lama reiterates this by saying that “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
The Prophet of Islam Mohammad (PBUH) in addressing his followers said: I swear “You will not enter Paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another. Shall I inform you about something which if you do it, you will love one another? Spread the peace among each other.”
With that, I send peace, love, and warm hugs to you, dear reader. Wherever and whoever you may be.
Here is a piece I wrote the Kingdom of Body that relates to this post.
