Whether relating to myself or to others, the central question remains: How do I truly show love--how to be genuinely helpful rather than hurtful? The question is not whether to love--something I knew by age 5 rightly brought a "yes" answer; but the big question that remains for a lifetime is how best to love myself and others? There is a bias in love to grant extensive latitude and abundant resources, but a moment's reflection shows that excess can in fact be detrimental. That is, misguided generosity can be the worst of all behaviors done in the name of love. The persistent lesson presented to master is that from personal relations to how I vote on public issues requires prior active creative extrapolation of actual/eventual consequences. Only then can it be determined if the action is hurtful or helpful--whether it is, indeed, a loving act. Needless to say, this is a continuing challenge never to be completed as the complexity from which flow unintended consequences is dynamic and obdurate.
Print Page