Saturday, June 12, 2010

Daily Reminder #16


Love is a powerful force. I was listening to an interview earlier with Rene Redzepi, a Danish chef whose restaurant has been voted the best in the world... which is a pretty incredible thing. He talked about how he first got interested in cooking and how for him it's about giving something to people. My nephew, who is a chef, speaks of his love of cooking in much the same way.

I remember years ago going on a retreat to an Episcopal center somewhere. The nuns who ran the place were not happy and you could taste it in the food. It was some of the most pardon the expression God-awful food I've ever eaten. I got the rest of the group to try an experiment and we all sent them love. I don't actually know how many of the others joined in. I know that I sent them love.... and the next day the food had changed to a degree that was nothing short of miraculous. It was GOOD. And the nuns seemed happier too.

My favorite movie (well one of my favorites) is Babette's Feast. It's a Danish film about a master chef who feels the French Revolution and winds up in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in Denmark, working for two sisters, who carry on the ministry of their late father. (much more to the story but....) Babette comes to them and they take her in and let her work for them. They don't know her true identity but after many years of working for them she wins the French lottery. She asks them as a favor, that they let her prepare a feast for them and their church. She heads off to France and comes back with all sorts of strange ingredients that they have never seen and they become frightened that the meal is somehow a sin. They don't want to hurt Babette's feeling so they vow not to taste or experience the meal. But Babette's cooking is made of love and it transforms the lives of all who share it....

I love doing "love" experiments. Not long after my parents died, when I was still functioning and had a little money from my father's estate, I took my nieces to Aruba. The plane coming back was running late. Passengers were cranky. There was a person on crutches who didn't want to sit on the aisle just because he had crutches and middle-aged stewardess was doing her best to get people seated. For whatever reason, everyone seemed to detest her. I decided to send her loving energy. I didn't say anything or do anything overt, I just sent kind thoughts. Well when she came around with beverages, she positively gushed over me. My nieces noticed it and I told them what I was doing. People do feel what we send to them. I'm not saying that it works in every case. I poured love into my brother for years and it just ran out through the hole in his heart, but most people feel the energy we send their way.

That's what reiki is really. Love. And people feel it. Animals recognize love. Flowers and plants do too, I think. You can feel love in music - when a singer comes from the heart, it feels different. Even speaking voices reflect the love or lack thereof of the speaker. Great poetry and literature carry love in the music of their words which is why they touch us so deeply.

Which reminds me for no reason at all... that I got an email a few days back about putting a net of love around the Gulf. My philosophy with these things, is it can't hurt and it might help. Maybe we should all experiment with sending love to British Petroleum too. I don't think people function at their best with universal malice directed their way. They have really screwed up and they have handled the follow up pretty badly, not least of all in my view, because they didn't just say that nobody ever had to deal with a problem this deep and they weren't sure what to do. I think we'd have been a lot less pissed if they'd just said that than doing all those spinning pirouettes that are so clearly untrue.

Truth (capital "T" truth, not - that's an ugly dress truth) has power too. I think Truth and Love are bound together often. Being Truthful with people - is an act of love. (I know there are lots of potential caveats and pit falls here, but I'm going to stand by the statement anyway.)

And on that shaky stand, I'm going to end tonight's reminder... with Love. Sorry I'm so rambly... ramblier (is that a word?) than usual. But at least I'm rambling with love...




Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • food
  • love
  • movies
  • Tara Grace & Angel
  • my computer
  • words


2 comments:

who said...

Yeah, everybody is upset with BP and it's pretty safe to say that people want to see them bleed. But first wishes and thoughts hopes and prayers that they succeed with their cleanup is what the ocean and it's creatures need.

It's easy to inadvertently send so much negative it is actually a desire to see them fail with the clean up again. When I heard they were using the cheapest of a specific remedy chemical instead of paying more for the most effective. I found myself wanting to see that move backfire which is horrible.

it we're are upset with BP it is most likely because of the damage done to the ocean. Which is exactly why if you absolutely have to hate, wait til things are under control with clean up.

I am glad you mentioned this topic. If we have to hate, it should be done with the knowledge that it will also eventually hurt something we love somewhere further down the chain

Argent said...

This post and Dirt's comments above really chime in with some things I've been thinking about lately. Forgiveness is one aspect of the love we can deliver to people. Forgiveness does not mean that the 'sinner' gets off scot-free for what they've done, but for our own mental health, we need to reliquish all the bitterness and spite towards that person (or BP, or whatever). Hate doesn't get the job done, hate won't clean up the oil, let it go.