Answers

So much of our life we are looking for answers, which there are very few if any that can be known. We are in a world of perceived polarities and differences. We are told that our neighbors are different, that they are threatening and menacing. Political polarities, religious polarities, and ideological polarities, the gamut is thorough and complete. We’re told to be scared, to not trust, to believe evil is rampant. We are told that our god is better than their god. We are told their politics are taking our rights and freedoms away. We are told ours is better then theirs. It’s implied that if you only had this or that you would be complete. We all desire to be different yet desperately want to be the same. We feel alone and misunderstood and desperately search for others like us to support our identities. We stand fearful without answers to life’s questions and subscribe to faith, faith in good, faith in god, faith in an after life, faith in answers to life’s hardships. We pray to god asking, pleading, for strength and wisdom. We recite mantras to support our deepest desires and hopes; we meditate to try to remove the emotional clutter and to secure the moment. We look to others, holy people, wise people, and leaders for guidance when times are difficult and praise them when life is good and question them when it is not. We look for patterns and synchronicities that support our structures and search for signs suggesting our path to be true. We explore new ideologies and theologies in an attempt to find relief from what pains us, and when we do, we profess it as the way. We believe our ideology to be special and different and the answer to the problems we see, but somehow the ideology is still misunderstood by others. Why?

What’s this all about?

Fear.

Fear controls and repels, fear divides and represses.

There is one answer within this world of perceived injustices.

Love.

There is nothing to be done politically; there is no religion or institution that will bring us together. Ideology is delusionality. The answer is to love the person next to you. The answer is to hold the door open. The answer is to let someone else go first. The answer is selfless action. The answer is to give because it feels good. The answer is to tell people they are beautiful. The answer is to give hugs. The answer is to look into people’s eyes and listen with your heart. The answer is to shine from within.

How do we fix a seemingly broken world? Love unconditionally, completely, and thoroughly. Don’t believe for a moment that the person that sits across the table or on the other side of the world from you has any hopes different than yours. We all desire peace. We all desire respect. We all desire a better world for our children.

This thing we desire, happens from the bottom up. It happens at the soul level. Our leaders cannot deliver this. Our religious institutions cannot deliver this. This happens one person at a time, one moment at a time. It happens with sincere acts of selfless love, which are undeniably exquisite and contagious.

Your neighbor and fellow man want to be loved, more desperately than you may possibly imagine. Be that love, be that peace, be that beacon of light. Lead through love. Simple unselfish love…

Tim Trudeau 