Loving Stories – Video 1: This is a series of short stories and tools the help us build a loving family, community, society and world.
“Prisoner of Love” is based on research you can see in Scientific American’s, “Scientists Probe Human Nature — and Discover We Are Good, After All“
Please send feedback and your stories to Partners@LovingStories.com.
Welcome to Building a Loving World Stories
Our goal: a healthy humanity being.
Just like a healthy human being is many diverse parts working together in harmony, so too, the healthy humanity being is the many diverse parts of humanity working together in harmony. That’s our goal.
And knowing there’s a loving light shining at the core of everybody is the foundation of fulfilling that goal. But is it true? What about the exceptions? Over the next couple of videos, we’ll try to answer these questions with some stories, and see where that takes us. Story number 1:
Once I was visiting someone in jail. It was just like in the movies… tables in the middle of a big hall, lots of people, and at some point, a guard comes along and asks, “Is everything ok?” Very polite and nice. I answered “Yes, thank you…” but as he was turning to leave us, I suddenly felt an urge to ask something. “Actually, is it ok to ask a question?” He said, “Yes, how can I help you?” I answered, “Well, I was just wondering, looking around, there quite a lot of prisoners. What sort of percentage would you say are really evil?” He spent quite a while thinking about the question, and then he answered, to quote: “I’ve been working here for 17 years, and I can say that I haven’t met one prisoner who I would call evil. For whatever reason, they’re just very good at making mistakes. Look around: see how they’re all getting along with their families. That’s who they really are. That’s what they really want, but they get caught up in mistakes.”
That was an unexpected answer. And it triggers a lot more questions! Does everyone have loving light? What about terrorists? In this series, we’ll be presenting more stories to help answer these questions in depth.
Meanwhile, one fair lesson we can learn is that the vast majority of people we’re in contact with do have a loving light within. Based on that, here’s an exercise I recommend doing straight after the video:
- Image someone frustrating or even angering you. It could be somebody you know or a stranger, for example, someone working in a shop or an institution.
- Our job is to solve the problem, positively, constructively, for all sides, to build a loving world. To do so we need to rid ourselves of any frustration and anger that was maybe triggered in our hearts. How? Take a short while to focus on the loving light you know is at the core of the other person, even though they’re great, as we are, in making mistakes.
- Keep focusing on that loving light until you feel good about that person. As William Penn taught in 1862, “They have a right to censure, that have a heart to help.” Imagine responding only when you feel good in your heart for the other person.
In summary:
- Image someone frustrating or even angering you.
- Imagine focusing on the loving light you know that is at the core of that other person.
- Imagine responding only when you feel good in your heart for that other person.
See you for the next story – building a loving world. Now enjoy doing the exercise we just discussed. I think I’ll do it for occasional tense discussions I may have with my wife.
Thank you.
