Forgive them for they know not what they do
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Forgive them for they know not what they do
How can the best intentions in the world lead to a less than ideal outcome?
Why is it that with so many generous, loving and giving people in the world, the world is not a better place?
Yes, there are greedy types, angry types, bullying, brutish, thuggish types who seem to get off on the manipulation and exploitation of whatever they see fit to achieve their own ends. But this is not the majority; if it were, the world we live in would be a much darker place . . .
Even in the actual dark ages, there was not a majority of ‘bad’ people, but rather a certain way of thinking (a consciousness) that gripped society. There was a power grab by religious institutions that led the ‘good’ people to become scared to speak out for fear of torture and death, not just of them but their families.
Here we are just over 1000 years later and we still see people tortured, subjugated or killed in a quest for power. There is corruption and unethical behaviour across all manner of industries; there is violence in our homes and people are scared to speak out.
Of course, we have many charities, not-for-profits, local community groups where people volunteer their time across a range of sectors, yet we do not seem to shift the dial on some of these very real issues.
Our brilliant solution delivers a result in one area, but then a different issue simply emerges. For example, we legislated for car immobilisers to reduce car theft but then the rate of home invasions goes up, or we focus on reducing alcohol abuse in some communities and the amount of people using meth and ice goes up.
Maybe the question is not ‘why are our best efforts not enough?’ Maybe the deeper question is, ‘Could our best efforts, unintentionally, be part of the problem?’
Imagine baking a cake for someone and not knowing the flour was laced with arsenic. It was only a small amount, so you can’t really taste it and the cake still looks and tastes amazing. However, the poison is still there and is consumed regardless of our good intentions.
When we look at life energetically, our best efforts may look like cake but may well be poisonous.
The concept of Love is often talked about, written about, sung about. It is a very real feeling that cannot be reduced to a set of chemical reactions across synapses. Every human knows this feeling or more importantly knows what it is like NOT to feel this for themselves and others.
Love is a quality that cares only about equality. It is a light that has harmony, unity and truth at its core. Its lowest point of expression is decency and respect.
Love cannot be love if it drops below these expressions. Yet, love is also an ever deepening appreciation and adoration for ourselves and others. It is an appreciation that is not based on looks, talents or abilities but on knowing that we each carry a needed and unique expression of the same essence. I am me and we are we – the two are not mutually exclusive.
Love can’t do or be anything but love. It is not grounded or founded in any specific act or deed towards others but must start with self-love . . . love is part of who we are and thus can only come from within. What is in the watering can is what waters the garden.
Yet, we see love turned into a heap of romantic and even religious ideals that obscure its real meaning and role in our lives. We get sold movies, gifts, holidays centred around this false idea and then we end up acting out of a false sense of love.
Is this not a cake baked with poison, however intentional or unintentional we are about this?
Love is foundational to all that is real and decent in society. This means that ANYTHING done without that one quality would be poison in some way. If what we are doing is not loving, in the true sense of the word, then it might follow that what we are doing, unintentionally, is loveless.
Could it be that no matter how nice we try and be, no matter how good we try to make life, no matter how better we feel after doing something, if love is not the seed, if love is not the start, it cannot be the end.
Flour tainted with poison cannot deliver anything but a cake filled with poison, no matter how well intentioned.
Could this concept be behind that famous biblical quote:
"Forgive them for they know not what they do"
Luke 23:34
Could it be that, because we don’t explore life on its energetic level we do not discern if what we are doing is truly loving or not. We ask is it good, is it right, will it make things better . . . but we don’t ask BEFORE we start, ‘am I being loving towards myself right now?’ . . . because that is the quality that we will then bring forward into our decision making and behaviours.
As mentioned, love is first something we connect to within ourselves . . . then when ‘my cup runneth over’, that same love is available for others. Self-love is how we fill the bucket called love within, yet how many of us do not even take this simple step. How can our action, deed, words, have love in them until we have inlaid that first foundation?
Some say intention is everything, but before intention is the crucial discernment of our energetic quality – love or not love.
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