A Labyrinthine Journey: Soon Coming in 3-D

Over at Lenwood cc I found this quote by Daniel Berrigan:

The opposite of love is not hatred, it is indifference.

You need to go over there and read the larger quote. I would absolutely agree that one of the opposites of love is indifference. Love is a choice to give one’s own self to another and that cannot be done half-hearted or part-footedly (I know it isn’t a word, but it is fun to try to say) Berrigan has the passion of an activist and has faced his own share of apathetic believers and I have found myself in that camp regularly.

But love calls us out.

It calls us out of that barrier and into the field of vulnerability.

That is why I usually preach about fear being another opposite of love. Fear might be a deeper root of that indifference. Fear is definitely a major factor in people’s reluctance to commit and to share and to give. It is so much easier to grab and hoard and be miserly with affection and passion.

But there is nothing miserly about love whether it is true love for one’s husband or wife, or compassion for family and neighbor, or devotion to God. You cannot love with only part of you. You cannot love only part-time. You cannot love on your own terms. You have to go entirely into love. That is the challenge. That is the adventure. That is the hope.

And only when you give yourself fully in love will you find your true self.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2005 at 8:33 pm and is filed under life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.