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I awoke on the morning of the election weighed down by anxiety.<\/p>\n
This season of national unrest overlaps with so many conflicts and challenges at all levels: personal, familial, communal. It\u2019s a difficult time for everyone. We\u2019re in a pandemic, largely isolated from one another, finances strained for many, tensions high. While we\u2019re all vulnerable to the contagion of disease and the economic fall-out left in its wake, we\u2019re also vulnerable to the contagions of blame and rivalry<\/a>, of escalating frustrations exploding into violence. Those on the underside of our nation\u2019s unbalanced power structures \u2013 people of color, religious minorities, the LGBTQIA community \u2013 are most vulnerable of all. Yet our security and well-being are interconnected, despite our nation being built on exploitation and the deception that for some to win, others must lose.<\/p>\n Divisions are deep, but our ability to move forward depends on cultivating trust and understanding. And that seems impossible while a pandemic of accusation, enmity, anger, and fear sweeps the nation.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]So I woke up on Election Day knowing that no matter who won, nothing would be over quickly. Not the pain, not the division, not the enmity. Now that the results are in, some uncertainty has cleared, but the divide remains severe, the work remains hard, and it\u2019s still difficult to know where to begin.<\/p>\n We have a long way to go toward healing, restorative justice, and peace. There are no easy fixes; our complex problems will take patience and creativity and cooperation to work through.<\/p>\n But though the way forward is shrouded in uncertainty, one truth shines clearly through the clouds of confusion: We must build an infrastructure of compassion to even begin the process of moving forward.<\/em> And while this task will be difficult, our ability to achieve it is built into the core of our humanity.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section el_class=”post-quote”][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566306295282{background-image: url(https:\/\/ravenfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/0c0caab3a0b06f49d1f4e4069f7acecc-e1562958862845.jpg?id=19638) !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none” el_class=”quote”]Divisions are deep, but our ability to move forward depends on cultivating trust and understanding.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”20906″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]I want to explore three guiding principles for building this infrastructure of compassion, principles that apply whether the conflicts we face are personal, political, or an inseparable blend of both. Whatever challenges lie ahead, these truths can propel us forward when we take them to heart:<\/p>\n I\u2019ll explore each of these principles in turn, that we may sweep the stumbling blocks from our path as we journey together on the road to recovery and restoration.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n In the midst of intense conflict, the truth that all humanity is created in and for Love is easy to deny. But if we affirm that God is Love and that we are made in the image of God, then we recognize that every person is meant to be a reflection of Love, an embodiment of compassion, kindness, and service.<\/p>\n We will spend the rest of our (eternal) lives unraveling the mystery of what it means to be made in, from, and for Love. But there are three crucial points to understand now.<\/p>\n First, our interconnection is not a leap of faith. Anthropology and neurology<\/a>, both intertwined in mimetic theory,<\/a> teach us that we are made to learn from each other, to share one another\u2019s desires, to imitate each other. Our connection can lead to rivalry and competition as we vie for the same goals, objects, and statuses. But it also leads to our need to be together and our desire for community.<\/p>\n If we know that we are made to be connected, it is easier to affirm that our connection is ultimately rooted in Love. \u201cGod is Love\u201d means that Love is the ultimate reality through which all things exist. As living images of Love, we are interconnected and interdependent. Our deepest connection is not competition but communion<\/em>. This is not just a platitude. Our connection in love is faith meets science, truth we can depend upon.<\/em><\/p>\n Next, we are called to love generously and unconditionally. We can push ourselves toward greater love, greater giving, greater patience for understanding, knowing that are secure in Love. So much of what we do is designed to belong, to maintain our place within a circle of friends or group or political party \u2013 sometimes afraid to go against an unspoken orthodoxy for fear of rejection. But once we recognize who we fully are within Love, the pressure to prove ourselves fades away. Love frees us to be who we are, and that\u2019s how we can do our part to transform the world.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Finally, if everyone else is also made from and for love, then we have no enemies.<\/em><\/p>\n This is hard, especially in tumultuous times when pain is heavy, fears well-founded, dangers real. This is not\u00a0<\/em>to put the onus on vulnerable people to put themselves in harm\u2019s way for the sake of peacemaking. That kind of risk for love\u2019s sake is particularly a responsibility for those who are privileged enough to be less vulnerable as we seek to transform privilege into equity and justice.<\/p>\n But it is meant to be a source of hope. Those who act from fear, hatred, or the misguided belief that they can only gain when others lose \u2013 are not living into their fullest selves.<\/p>\n If Love is at their core, they can change.<\/p>\n If Love is at our core, we can change whenever we act out of our worst instincts too.<\/p>\n No matter how deeply entrenched enmity or dehumanizing beliefs may be, they are aberrations that cannot last forever.<\/p>\n When we remember that Love is who we are and what connects us, then we learn not only to speak but to listen to the truth in Love. Contours of conversation become shaped not by trying to prove ourselves right, but by seeking understanding.<\/a> Only by seeing our common roots in Love can we even begin to come together across divides of enmity.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1566393555121{background-color: #f6ebdf !important;}” el_class=”optin”][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”none”][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n The second principle for building an infrastructure of compassion is to recognize the function of an enemy\u2026 but then to fill that function with something better.<\/p>\n Because again, if we are all made and interconnected in Love, then at our core, we have no enemies.<\/p>\n But when we don\u2019t ground ourselves in Love, the easiest way to know who we are is to define ourselves against an enemy.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n So often we feel a sense of belonging by sharing anger or disgust with some against others. As relational beings, we long for others to join in our anger, or the anger of our loved ones draws us magnetically into their rivalries. Scapegoating \u2013 drawing identity and belonging by coalescing around an enemy (innocence or guilt is beside the point) \u2013 is a universal phenomenon.<\/p>\n And in times of crisis, when people are hurting or afraid, naming and standing against an enemy provides a sense of catharsis and protection if not a solution to the problem. Joining in rage with others helps us feel like we’re in a fight together. In fact, love and enmity go hand-in-hand. When love is not all-encompassing, it is demonstrated in part by fierce protection against perceived enemies.<\/p>\n The truth is that pain and dangers are real, but entrenching ourselves in enmity compounds them. Our enemies \u2013 if we must use the language of enmity at all \u2013 are not humans but the forces that drain humanity: greed, fear, pride, accusation itself. \u201cFor our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against \u2026 the cosmic powers of this present darkness…\u201d<\/a> St. Paul tells us. And these powers are not only around but within every one of us. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn writes, \u201cThe line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 Recognizing that we all get caught up in the scapegoating process is essential to repenting and ultimately ending cycles of scapegoating altogether.<\/p>\n What if we could unite not around a common enemy, but around a common struggle? What if we recognized that to hurt another is to hurt ourselves, not only because violence escalates, but because Love binds us together? What if we shifted from accusation to accountability, insisting on the best within ourselves and others rather than only seeing the worst?<\/p>\n This does not mean overlooking the most pernicious forms of scapegoating: racism<\/a>, homophobia<\/a>, bigotry. But it does mean recognizing that the people caught up in these systems are capable of better and holding space for healing. The most important thing about holding that space is that it leaves room for us to recognize and repent when we get caught up in those systems too.<\/p>\n If we recognize that we will always need to guard against destructive tendencies within humanity and especially within ourselves, then we can protect each other not by lashing out against others but by looking after one-another. By recognizing that we are indeed meant to be our brother and sister\u2019s keeper, we can come together not in hatred against another, but in love for each other. Enmity is a false solution to the troubles we face; real solutions require bold compassion to recognize and meet each other\u2019s needs and bold empathy to realize how our own needs are intimately intertwined with those of others.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Finally, to build an infrastructure of compassion, it helps to keep the reason for our work ever ahead of us. Goals fall by the wayside when we don\u2019t keep the joyful vision of their achievement in sight.<\/p>\n\n
Love Is Who We Are<\/h3>\n
A Common Struggle > A Common Enemy<\/h3>\n
From Rivalry to Beloved Community<\/h3>\n