you have to decide

Love has never been a popular movement. And no one's ever wanted, really, to be free. The world is held together, really it is held together, by the love and the passion of a very few people. Otherwise, of course, you can despair. Walk down the street of any city, any afternoon, and look around you. What you've got to remember is what you're looking at is also you. Everyone you're looking at is also you. You could be that person. You could be that monster, you could be that cop. And you have to decide, in yourself, not to be.

—James Baldwin

My mentor Simone Seol recently shared this quote from the African American writer and Civil Rights leader James Baldwin.

Love has never been a popular movement.

Think about this for a minute.

You know the great spiritual teachers of ancient times…the Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, Socrates?

We know their names and try to follow their teachings.

But in terms of the popular masses, how many people actually joined together with these teachers when they were living?

And after their deaths, how many people truly lived by their examples?

Think for a moment about world history: the wars, the conquering, the suffering inflicted on some people by other people.

Can you say that love has truly been a massive popular movement?

As much as I wish it were so, global history and the current state of things indicate otherwise.

If humans truly desired to be free, we’d live in a world where oppression, violence, enslavement and hatred were rare, if not impossible altogether.

Because people who are truly free wouldn’t enslave or oppress. People who are truly free wouldn’t hurt or hate.

And yet, there is love in the world, right?

There are people who desire freedom, love and peace, and know that none of these can flourish if we’re oppressing each other.

There are people who devote their lives to freedom, people whose goal is for everyone has enough, people who work to extend human rights to all humans.

I wish I could say that I’ve always cared more about love than anything else. I wish I could say that I’ve been one of the few holding the world together.

But the truth is, I’ve had my head in the sand as much as the next person.

I own that.

And for the record, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting stuff, going after goals, and achieving things in life.

However, I haven’t always understood that some of the freedoms and advantages that I take for granted don’t extend equally to everyone.

I haven’t always been aware of a history that reserved privilege and wealth and basic rights for some people and left others out to dry.

And because I wasn’t aware, and also because…to be honest…my needs were mostly met, I didn’t speak out. I was complacent.

I love how James Baldwin writes,

Everyone you’re looking at is also you.

I am always capable of being pretty much any member of society. And just as a society has in it forces for good and forces for evil, I have all of that complexity in me, too.

Within me, I have parts that oppress myself, deny my own freedom, and withhold love from myself and others.

I am a microcosm of all that I observe in the macrocosm.

We are all microcosms.

None of us is above the lowest expressions, and none of us is below the highest expressions.

So…understanding that it’s a choice, how will I choose?

How will you choose?

I’m betting that no one reading this will choose to hurt others.

But will we choose to be complacent? Will we unconsciously support the suffering of others because we didn’t speak up?

Or will we choose something else altogether…the less popular movement of love?

Will we decide to be one of the few who hold the world together?

It’s your life.

And it’s my life.

We get to decide.

We have to decide.

Join my Community group here. Or click here to schedule a free 30-minute connection call to chat about what’s up for you. And for more juicy life stuff, check out my podcast, coming home (to yourself). As always, may your week be filled with self-love and rich insights. With love, Amy ♡♡♡