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THE DEATH OF BENAZIR BHUTTO AND THE POWER OF LOVE
With respect to love, what is not given away, cannot be destroyed.
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Though a cloud of darkness may cover the earth and thick darkness cover recent tragic events in Pakistan surrounding the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the power of light remains in the power of love. For where love holds firm in the presence of darkness, darkness is defeated. With respect to love, what is not given away, cannot be destroyed.
One may say many things about the former Prime Minister, and these have been repeated often on newscasts in mainstream media, but raised high among the others are her willingness to give all in service to the principle of democracy and her belief in a more open future for her people. This belief in an ideal is based on love. It is based on the soul's commitment, dedication, nurturance, and caring for an idea of the possible that the soul feels must be brought into existence. Whether it be in the form of artistic creation or in the development of a new society or social structure, the bringing forth of the new, based on its value to humanity, is an act of love for which many have striven and many have paid dearly.
It is true that there are also misguided principles for which men and women fight and die - misguided principles that claim to be of the light that do not serve the welfare of all but only of a few. Often, it is difficult to determine which principles serve the light and which do not. However, one of the major tests of principle is its inclusivity. If an ideal strives to benefit one group at the expense of another, it is in that measure lacking in light. If an ideal pursued involves harm to life of any kind, it is in that measure lacking in light. That is why ultimately, ahimsa, or 'harmlessness', the principle espoused by Mahatma Gandhi, must be the test of love when applied on the scale of political or social life – the realm of action. Action must be 'harmless' to life in order to be purely of the light.
In the fray of today's political currents in most nations, this principle is difficult to realize, given the current state of consciousness. It is difficult to find the purity, within or without, to practice non-violence in thought, word, and deed. And yet it is what human beings must strive for if society is to become more just and loving. And it is what each heart must strive for if the life of the soul is to be expressed more fully on the physical plane, allowing heaven and earth to be brought closer together.
This purity of spirit is hard to find today, but we must seek it, for it will lead us away from the many precipices that humanity faces, toward greater freedom and opportunity. And its converse, 'impurity of spirit', or a self-seeking in which it is claimed that the 'end justifies the means', must be rejected at all costs if we are to succeed in establishing a more peaceful earth.
Benazir Bhutto may have held within herself a mixture of other qualities that surrounded the high idealism that was also hers, for these were also part of her humanity. Nevertheless, her death needs to remind us of our own commitment to the ideals we hold in the face of all opposition, in the face of all darkness, in the face of all that would destroy or undermine the principle of love.
May the death of the former Prime Minister bring with it not violence, not despair at the power of darkness to create chaos and destruction, but the power of love to remain in the presence of these forces. Where love is not given away, it cannot be destroyed.
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