When I need a powerful shot of inspiration I can turn to the words and life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s important to remember that Dr. King wasn’t a politician. He wasn’t a professor or a businessman. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a minister and he lived his life in the way and the teaching of his teacher, Jesus. Like his teacher before him he learned how to love through loving.
We all know the power of love, but how many of us are committed to loving as our daily practice of nonviolence? How many of us love as our mode of being in the world? If we’re not committed to love, what then are we committed to?
Dr. King spoke often about loving the enemy. I’m grateful every day for the direct benefits I enjoy because Dr. King loved those who appeared to be his enemy. Dr. King taught me that there will always come a time when my enemy, the one who has hurt me needs my help. Maybe they’ll need my prayers, a good job recommendation, some money, a kind word. The day will surely come when I have the opportunity to defeat my enemy, to embarrass, hurt or expose them. This is when I absolutely must find the love in my heart. This is when I most need to be inspired by those who went before me.
Dr. King didn’t teach about the oneness of all life the way that Earnest Holmes taught about it in the Science of Mind. But he lived it and understood it. Dr. King knew that any act of hatred was an act of self hatred. He knew that any act of violence against another would only lay himself low. And so he offered the other cheek. He offered himself in a new way. He met every act against him with love – not with tolerance, not with submission, but with a powerful force of love. A love we still feel today.
Like my teacher before me and his teacher before him, I am committed to loving. Join me and we walk together. Join me and we walk in the new heaven as one.