Heal the World

Jim and I were talking about the rut we’re in the other night. During the conversation he asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. My answer was… “I want to heal the world”. After some jokes (a reference to Pinky and the Brain) and some well played, righteous indignation on my part we talked seriously about my statement.

Heal the world? Who in their right mind would presume such a task could be undertaken? Read the news for 15 minutes, read history… look around you. Evil, greed, suffering, and pain abound. How can anyone say their goal is to heal the world?

While writing about discovering your life purpose a few months ago I realized we all have the same purpose. We are here to love. We are here to remember our essence, the spirit at the core of creation. We are here to heal the world. The particular task we undertake may be different but at the heart of it our purpose is the same.

"Who am I?" we ask. "Look at my limitations." We, as fragments of creation, doubt our ability to affect the whole. We believe in our smallness.

“Your playing small does not serve the world.” Marianne Williamson wrote.

In a journal entry recently I admonished myself ~ “what you accept for yourself you accept for humanity”.

So what does healing the world look like? I’ve come to believe division is like a gash in the flesh. Giving power to what divides us is deepening that wound in humanity and prevents healing. The trend is to focus on differences, to paint those not like us with a negative brush.

Darkness is the absence of light. Fear and hate is the absence of love. We are called to heal the world. The light that removes the illusion of darkness is the love that removes the illusion of division.

Matthew 5: 14-15
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house.”

On Memorial Day we are reminded of those that paid a terrible price for the wounds of division in humanity. If we expand our focus to include the effects of war on the whole of creation the suffering we pause to remember would be magnified immeasurably.

A song written by Kerry Livgren for the band Kansas called Icarus II is about a dogfight, planes in battle. Excerpt from the lyrics…

And my enemies wait in the dark sky
Do they fear the same fear,
Do they dream like us
Do they long for the day when it's over
And they're safe

Now we're cruising above the horizon
Never knowing if we will return
In a moment we'll rain down destruction
And we'll justify all that we burn

“All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.” ~François Fénelon

That is a very powerful truth. It is an uneasy truth because it won’t allow us to forget that at the core of all creation is the essence of the Creator.

I believe there are universal truths woven through religions. Those are…
Love the divine source - God
Love your fellow beings (because God is within all of creation)
Live with honor (living in covenant with all of creation)

We are all called to heal the world.

Do we rid the world of darkness by thinking our light is small? Do we foster peace without being peace? Do we heal the wounds in humanity by gouging deeper the gash of division? Can you ever serve the divine at the core of your being with anything less than love?