I awoke this morning in New Zealand, after a fun night celebrating the 14th of July, 2016. It was terrible waking up and learning through social media that dozens of people had died in Nice, South of France, killed by a monster after the fireworks for our national holiday. I do not understand. I do not want to understand, once again, the horror that so commonly repeats itself.
I am not writing to talk about politics, even if I have a thousand thoughts running through my mind. Even if I would like to talk about politics. Even if I would really like to speak about what is happening around the World today. These conflicts we do not understand because they are not explained to us rationally because there is a huge amount of facts, international relations, diplomatic secrets, conspiracies, monetary transactions, massacres, etc. which we know absolutely nothing about. I wish the media outlets would stop filling our heads with all these shocking images and essentially spreading hate using scare tactics. I would like us to be able to speak intelligently about our world and what has been happening, not for a few years or decades, but centuries. I felt like crying in history class when I was in high school, today I want to cry watching the news reports on TV. What I want is that instead of crying in front of our computers and TV screens, we could come together to talk, learn and try to shed some light into this dark world we find ourselves living.
But before we can talk about politics, culture, or history we must reach a certain stage of empathy based intelligence to be able to find any solution or any hope in this human disaster story. We have a big step to make.
Intelligence, knowledge, and reason can only come by a vector. This vector is, paradoxically, emotional. We learn what we want to learn, of course. So if we want to learn about the World, to understand what is happening, to watch our neighbor with intelligence and discernment, we have to feel it first. We have to want it and to harness positive emotions about our World, and this positive emotion is what we call love.
I do not believe in any God today, but I believe in an immense force that governs us and may lead us to a glorious and wonderful world in an ideal future that we are unfortunately not about to achieve any time soon. This force is the ability we have to love. Can we learn to love? Can we control our love? Can we improve our way of loving? Your answer might be no,love just happens when it happens. But my answer is yes. And this is the first lesson we should learn before being forced to pursue knowledge for personal gain. We should first learn to love, learn to observe , learn to listen, learn to appreciate and learn to give thanks for what we have.
Knowledge without love does exist and it is powerful today. You see it on Wall Street, you see it in Dubai and you can’t escape it. It is all around us every where. In the banks, the media and in general success. Knowledge without love creates motivations that destroy us. Like the craving of power, the desire for success, for money, for domination, the narcissistic pleasure of being the best. Knowledge without love creates schools where you have to be the first, where they make you believe that this is all that matters in your life. But eventually we all die one day , perhaps from a gun shot and then it won’t matter if you are stronger or with more money than others. Knowledge without love is useless and can be used to manipulate and deceive, dragged far away from the truth. And this is what is happening every day now, in France and all around the World…
Our world is sick, suffering and ready to die because human beings are pushing love away instead of embracing it. It has always been like that through the ages.When the British came to destroy the Maori people. When the Spanish sailed west to destroy the South-American civilizations. When the Africans found themselves on slave markets and when the Indians were put in the reserves. There has always been a type of people dedicated to destroying other peoples belief systems ,to impose a single model of life, a religion, and dictating knowledge by a form of supreme narcissism away from any reason, in a terrifying and annihilating madness.
But things could change if we were taught to love rather than to govern, to give rather than to take, to listen rather than to tell, to watch rather than to make judgement, to try to learn rather than to compare. To be able to receive what is given to us with happiness, like a smile, a compliment, some hospitality, any way of sharing… Rather than to take what fills our desire for power and narcissistic satisfaction regardless of others. To be able to offer without expecting anything back, to be able to take the time to be present for your fellow man and the earth you share.
If we knew how to love a little more, with this kind of love, then the word racism would not exist. We would be attracted by what is different rather than by what is similar. Why are we attracted to something that looks like us? Because we are attracted to ourselves, by some reassuring mirror that reflects on us again. But we lock ourselves in a restricted personality limited by our lack of imagination. If you are interested in anything that is different from you, then you build a new mirror, larger, brighter, and finally full of knowledge and reason. The only thing that will save our world (yes I dare to believe there is one) is nothing but pure love. The only answer is to look all around us, to fill our senses with the World’s beauty, to dance with others to the same rhythm, to share the food grown in the same garden. The only way forward is to take care of others because we all have the same value. The only solution is to love our planet and stop destroying it but also celebrate it because it is our only home and has no wall or border. The only positive step forward is to look at each person around us like a mirror. The only reason is to stop seeing what is different, to stop seeing what can be scary or reassuring but to see what is beautiful, touching, sensitive and what can fill our hearts with happiness.
Because why do we live if not to be happy, and how can we be happy if not by loving the World and the beings who inhabit it?
There is no other planet we could escape to when this one dies and there is no clock we can turn back to erase our mistakes and start again. There is only here and now. Tomorrow might not exist.
So the answer that will save the world? Its called love, beauty and happiness. It is all around us and if each of us uses it as an everyday motivation, then maybe one day this reason will be called PEACE.
With all my love.
Sophie
PS: There is no picture, color, or video in this article, because my heart is empty now, thinking of all the dead people and their friends and families. I need a day of silence but tomorrow colors will come back into my day again. Also, I am so tired of all these images that prevent us from speaking with words, because language is a wonderful tool to pass on this knowledge and love, and I prefer you to have your own personal images today. I do not want to impose mine.
Thank you so much Ben for your precious help in this translation, for putting your heart next to mine in these lines of peace and love…
