Without Love There Can be no Miracle
Many years ago I had an epiphany experience that changed my life forever. It was a miracle. The unspoken foundation of a miracle is the presence of pure love.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not God-given laws, but if you are lucky enough to be born in a country which allows every citizen the absolute right to enjoy these freedoms, then you are no doubt grateful that you were not born in a Godless communist nation like, say, North Korea.
You have the right to worship, the right to live life to its fullest, and to pursue your individual dreams.
If you follow the Ten Commandments, you are even more likely to achieve your goals.
And, if you allow pure love to dwell in your heart, nothing will ever stand in the way of your happiness. Why? Because the miracle of love is that, like a beacon guiding wayward ships in the night, it shows us the way to a more peaceful life, it encourages us to have faith in ourselves, and faith gives us hope, and hope gives us the courage to persevere.
It is in the nature of humans to try to find the perfect bricks-and-mortar expression of what it means to be successful in our democratic, upwardly striving society.
In my epiphany experience, I could feel the vigor and enthusiasm driven by the presence of pure love. Over the years I’ve often wondered if I would ever again experience the true power of a miracle driven by love. Would I be able to find the surge of love that lifted the weight of misery and despair away from my life in a way that made me feel such weightlessness that I could fly? I remember so vividly every beautiful moment of that experience.
In a free country, most communities have, throughout history, had some rules that touch on issues more specifically outlined in the Ten Commandments. There is good reason for this–the Ten Commandments promote a community that respects human dignity, protects life, and discourages greed. In other words, the basic tenets of the Ten Commandments is the promotion of love.
Imagine how much more prosperous North Korea would be if they adopted the Ten Commandments as the guiding principles for government rule. How much would it change the lives of ordinary North Korean citizens? My point is that the miracle of love is that it promotes prosperity.
One does not have to be religious to be able to experience love, but history tells us that the absence of Christianity in a country makes it more likely that its citizens will be denied individual liberties and upward social mobility.
Those who entertain visions of a great society where there is no religion have neglected to factor in the power of love itself. In North Korea, for example, there is no religion.
When the “Dear Leader” died recently, those citizens who did not sufficiently mourn, according to the interpretation of government leaders, were punished by imprisonment.
But North Korean government officials have a long history of constantly emphasizing the past “miracles” of their leaders. These were, of course, not true miracles because there was the absence of love. The devastating consequences of millions of starving North Korean citizens makes it clear that true love would inspire the leaders to take care of their own citizens.
I am not saying that the high praise of religion itself is a prerequisite for success. But the fluent architecture of a successful government, the dynamic quality that makes a village thrive, the spark that inspires its people to be strong, and the hope that gives its people the courage to dare to try is the presence of love itself.
By elevating love, society opens up its communities to opportunities not seen in closed societies like North Korea. We may not end up loving our political leaders as North Korean citizens are required to do, and there will be times when our souls struggle over the horrible things humans are capable of doing. But at the end of the day, good will always prevail over evil, because of the power of love itself.
Love is the intangible quality that summarizes and epitomizes centuries of advancement by humans. Love has been the most outstanding contribution to human happiness and prosperity since the beginning of time.
That, I think, says something true and interesting about how love can positively influence not only a country, but also a state, a village, a family, and an individual. And, love comes to us so effortlessly. We do not have to struggle to find it. We don’t have to memorize it. It doesn’t have to be organized or put in its proper place. Love is what happens when we open up our hearts, when we reject hate, and when we have faith. Fortunately, if we slow down and hunt for love we will find that it has always been right there, knocking on our doors.
