Tekowa on the Power of Love

THE POWER OF LOVE

The other day in Marita’s class we watched a film called “I AM.” The film is all about how compassion and cooperation is human nature and our attitude of extreme competition and “survival of the fittest” is more of a social construction. The film also discussed the effect of positive energy, community, and love… Firstly I suggest you go watch that film ASAP (It’s amazing!) and secondly, I would like to share my reaction/ response to the video:

I LOVE this film! This is the second time I've seen it and it really doesn’t get old. I thought it was really interesting that they were showing proof of things that Eastern religions have been saying for thousands of years. Personally, I follow the Buddhist and Taoist religions and a lot of the things that said in the video really are things taught in Buddhism and Taoism. I really believe in the powers of love and positivity, and the interconnectedness of all life... so much so that it is the reason behind one of my tattoos. I think that it's sad that we are living in a society that teaches us the importance of competition more so than cooperation and that we can only prosper off of someone else's failure or loss. I agree wholeheartedly that that kind of think is a mental illness which is what I believe they said in the film (they used a Native American term for it). 

I thought it was interesting that they discussed how we talk about and treat the economy like a living, breathing thing. The economy is just an idea... isn’t it absurd that nations can rise and fall based on this IDEA of economy? It reminded me of this quote "Money is just paper but it affects people like poetry." It also made me think about the social construction of race. Again, we have these things that rule our lives and cause so much distress... but they are things that WE have created.

I did not realize that Darwin mentioned survival of the fittest twice but love over 90 times... It's funny because the idea that Darwin was all about the survival of the fittest is where the concept of "Social Darwinism" came from... a concept that I find a little disgusting

I liked that they said we are not as strong or as fast or even as fierce as other animals but what we DO have on our side is our capacity for compassion and cooperation. I don’t think that is shared, taught, or realized as much as it should be. Our strength is compassion and cooperation even though our society often says otherwise.

I’m going to end with a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh:   "It is possible to live twenty-four hours a day in a state of love. Every movement, every glance, every thought, and every word can be infused with love."

Spread love!!