as I quite often come back to a value…
the value of love…
but what is the value of love?
we humans, we are naturally engaged in our own mind…
we are solipsist, narcissistic by nature…
love is one means for us to go outside of ourselves…
by loving another, we actually note that there is someone
outside of ourselves…
for example, IQ45 is completely unable to acknowledge any one
outside of himself… for he is the center of his universe and there
is only bit players within that universe for him…
he cannot love… for if he could love, he would see that there is
another to love… but he cannot even acknowledge that there are
other human beings……. other possibilities to love…
by love, we can acknowledge that there are other people…
and that is the value of love…
now some may say, but I love America!.. I acknowledge that
there are others in America…but those who make love of country
as their central claim quite often limit that love to certain people…
America, love it or leave it…
but that is not the unconditional love I am speaking about…
if you can only love another conditionally, then you don’t love…
and those who make love of country central, will dismiss and deny those
who love differently…
I want to America to become the shining beacon of justice in the world…
but that love is denied because it is a different love then those
who say, America, love it or leave it……
what aspect of America that we are suppose to love as others love it?
In other words, if we are to accept the message America, love it or leave it,
what part are we to love unconditionally?
for I see those who proclaim love of country as central, loving
conditionally………
as I have been married for over 20 years, I love my wife… but
there are things that she does that, well frankly annoy me…
but I don’t love her conditionally… I love her, the good, the bad and
all the rest of her, unconditionally…I love her…and that is more then I
can say for those who proclaim America, love it or leave it… because the love
of my wife is without conditions… there is no love it or leave it… it is simply,
love it…
now some may say, love of wife is different then love of country……
is it? how?
The goal I set for myself is to become the best Kropotkin I can be…
and my goal for America is no different… I want America to become
the best America it can possibly be… and the route I choose for both
follows the same path… to begin by knowing thyself… to see myself
without any prior rose color glasses… to see myself as I am…
and I do the same for America… I try to see America as it is,
not as I want it to be or what I have been told it is… or even
as I need it to be… but as it is…just as I want to see me
as I am…for I cannot understand myself without being able to see
myself as I am…
the evolution of Kropotkin comes with the acknowledgment, the understanding
that Kropotkin is human… and like all other humans, I make mistakes,
sometimes I fail people, even those who I love the most…
I can be very short tempered and sometimes, I am engaged in a world
of my own…in other words, I can be very solipsistic… sometimes, I
can’t see a world beyond my own thoughts… I am engaged with what
I am thinking about and I forget that there is a world beyond my own
thoughts…Kropotkin failings as it were…
I am at peace with who I am but that doesn’t mean I don’t attempt
to engage with becoming a better human being… I can improve myself
and still be at peace with who I am…
I accept who I am unconditionally, but love has shown me that there is a world
beyond of my own unconditional acceptance of myself… I can accept my wife
unconditionally… now, I must learn to accept other people unconditionally…
just as they are… and someday, if I am lucky, I will learn to accept
all people, unconditionally… thus my love grows from one, me, to a second person,
my wife, to a third and fourth, until I learn to love all, unconditionally…
it is a battle between my natural inclination, solipsism, and my engagement with being
human…fully human…and understanding that there is a entire world of human beings
beyond me…and should I ever get to that stage, I must make the next journey which
is an engagement with the understanding that beyond human beings lies animals,
tree’s, birds, grass… that I am one with all life…I may never reach that stage
of engagement, but it is a goal worthy of a lifetime of engagement…
my value as a human being does not need me to have wealth or greatness
or military value or having material goods, but my value as a human being
simply comes from being able to increase my love from one to all…
that is what it means to become human… learning to love others, all others
as I love myself…it is a tall task I have set before me, a task I am sure to fail
at… but even if failure is a certainty, I must try to achieve the impossible…
for we find ourselves in trying to reach the impossible, not in achieving the
responsible, achievable goals…
recall my favorite myth…Daedalus and Icarus…
and I root for Icarus to succeed… to attempt to accomplish the
impossible even if failure is guaranteed… is a goal worthy of
attempting…
Kropotkin