Love as the Foundation of Our Movements

Beyond politics,
beyond ideology, beyond analysis, beyond protest,
beyond differences in interpretation, beyond varying visions,
beyond conflicting accounts, beyond desires for justice,
beyond organizations, beyond factions and movements,
beyond personalities, beyond strategies, beyond tactics and targets, beyond lines around us, beyond manifestos and statements,
beyond all the language, all the words,
all the actions and the marches and the rallies,

beyond all this,

love is all that remains.. .

and without love, none of this matters.. love must be the foundation of everything and must go beyond everything.

Love must be the foundation of our movements.

Anger at our conditions can not be the primary foundation of our work, of our walk, the reason for our relationships with one another, the reason why we move, what guides us…

Neither can it be frustration with existing systems.

Or disappointment in the people set up to lead us.

It can not be a thirst for our own power.

It can not even be a hunger for fulfillment

because what will move us when we have been personally satisfied? what of others still empty?

It must be love. Not love for this society or even love for change, but love for one another, love for ourselves, love for God.

Love is the most radical act.

Love is the best thing we can do for one another and for ourselves. The love I am describing is supernatural.

The way we are called to love is beyond human attainment. We can only do it through God granting us the ability. While human love is based on conditions, God's love is based on His vision.

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Love is the most revolutionary act because nothing can transform like love can. God transformed the world through love when He sent a part of his very self to earth in the form of a human to teach us how to love through loving. This person is Jesus Christ.

(Thank you God for Your Love! It is what keeps me going!)

Here's the best statement out here on how important love is and what it really means to love!

If I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, but have not love, I am merely a resounding gong or a tinkling cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I grew up, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully know. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians Chapter 13, the Holy Bible.

And so love being all must be our all.

And we must give our all to love despite the difficulties, the bondage, the walls and boundaries between us, the hurts and the pain, the sadnesses, the betrayals, the failures and the fears.

What keeps us from loving? Is it fear? Is it the dangers? Is it the sometimes concrete risks to our lives? Yes, I believe these are all barriers to loving. Still, we we walk and work together in love so that we may create a world in which we can love without fear.

Escuela Popular Norteano and Incite! Boston put together a workshop called Loving Big.

This workshop addresses some of our challenges to loving without fear. It is designed for women of color who have experienced violence, especially violence from people in our families, neighborhoods or intimate networks. It is focused on healing and finding solutions to violence that come from ourselves and our communities. Let me know if you're interested in a copy of this workshop. It's wonderful and even has an accompanying mix CD/ list of songs you should play throughout the workshop.

What is it that Anu told me that a friend of hers wrote about love? I have to find out. It was quite amazing.