This concise theology of love was constructed by The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood (Dean, The New Theology School) after a recent night of dialogue/conversation with Ohio Death Row philosopher, Keith LaMar. Of particular consequence, is Hood’s consistent interaction with Lamar’s slogan, “Love is the only freedom.”
This is the 3rd of 7 short chapters/ruminations.
3.
“Love is the only freedom.”
-Keith Lamar
“Love is either free or it is not love.”
-Jeff Hood
Reset.
Breathe.
Love reveals the truth that there is more than just all of these bad things happening all around us. Pain is but a reminder that there is something more. It’s a reminder of how deficient what is actually is.
Love is future.
Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes we fuck up. Sometimes we just can’t get it right. When such things happen we have difficulty seeing beyond what is. Love is the reminder that the future is there even if we cannot see it.
Love is the future we cannot see.
Love demands that we let go of what was. Many of us spend are whole lives holding on to things that have happened. When we go to bed, we are consumed with nightmares. When we wake up, we allow memories dictate how we are going to spend our days. When we exist through our waking hours, we allow ourselves to be haunted. Love is about loving yourself enough to work to let all of that shit go.
Love is a future beyond the present.
Like it or not, we’re all connected to each other. Your pain is my pain. Your failure are my failures. Your triumph my triumph. The reason such statements sound so scary is that we have sold a lie…we have been sold the lie that we are doing all of this on our own. You are never alone. We are one organism with my parts. We are only as successful as we are all successful.
Love is the belief in us.
We cannot connect with the whole without bringing our whole to the table. You can’t love someone until you love yourself. Our present is not our past. Our present is not our present. Our present is not our future. Love is so far beyond all of that. Love is about bringing all of the beauty of us to the table…even beyond all that we can conceive of in the present. Love is believing in the brilliance of us beyond what we can describe. Love is believing in the brilliance of us beyond what we can see.
Love is the belief in the brilliance of us.
We have to continually elevate our thinking to keep up with what love is doing. If we stop for a second, we will start missing things. We must open our mind and heart. We must travel further faster both inward and outward. There is so much we can know if we have the courage to keep up. Reality is always moving and so must we.
Love is the belief in the expanding of our consciousness.
Love is about our responses to reality.
One way or another we are going to respond.
Why not concentrate on making it good?
Why not concentrate on making it love?
Breathe out.
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