In watching some coverage of the truth and reconciliation celebration in Ottawa, I noticed a speaker quoting this prayer. Not watching enough to get the context, I was still moved to build a case for interpersonal relationships around this theme.
Though a self-proclaimed heathen, I was raised in the catholic faith and thus exposed to scriptures very early in life. This prayer seemed to awaken some emotional feelings and I wondered about the application in real world scenarios. Conceptually, it seems to extend into many religious traditions as it infers a moral code we all aspire to.
If I want to be an Instrument of Peace, what must I shed? Easy, ego, but more specifically, the desire to win. Whether using sports or military metaphors, every aspect of our lives revolve around winning at something. In schools, the highest grades, in business that contract, in interpersonal relationships, the upper hand. That last one is hard to swallow but on reflection without tinted lenses, we may find our actions are not as pure as we would like to believe. I believe that if written by St. Francis, while playing Dr. Doolittle, he was reflecting on his personal behaviour prior to his “enlightenment”.
Hatred to Love, Injury to Pardon, Darkness to Light, Sadness to Joy are all wonderful sentiments that get those endorphins flowing, bringing about the warm and fuzzies. Many of the virtues, Love, Joy, Forgiveness etc. seem so fleeting, as they make me feel good while listening to a homily, but seem to vanish when taking pragmatic actions to life. Love thy neighbour is another of those wonderful sounding, high-minded concepts until we need to convert it to actions in daily life. Am I okay in avoiding the homeless pan-handler, pretending not to notice someone who makes me feel uncomfortable, or avoid a host of other situations that cause other secretions not as nice as the endorphins?
There are two parts that we should all ponder and act accordingly.
…Where there is Injury, Pardon…
… To be understood as to understand…
The first, Pardon, is a really big one as it permeates many systemic injustices and may be dealt with in a future article. Understanding though is the focus here. In our underlying desire to win, we rationalize our own biases, and ignore the need to listen AND to articulate a point of view more clearly. Instead of thinking the “idiot” just can’t get it, we may need to take a different tack in getting out point across and who knows, we might even change our stance on a subject. The listening part is also difficult. Shedding filters is one of the biggest challenges. The frameworks in our brains have been programmed by our environment since birth, with some positions strengthened by social media, or Fox, or MSNBC.
IF we have free will AND we have rationality from our prefrontal cortex, then we need to deploy that capability to question our own biases.
Understand?
