Teach Me How to Love So I Can Heal

Quiet settled over the group as Chrissie and her friends considered their own fears, and lives. Speaking in a low voice, I said, “It’s impossible to kill anything. All you can do is deprive the spirit of a physical experience.”

“If that’s true, Malcolm,” someone asked, “why are you so against hunting, fishing, and shooting?”

“Because it is unnecessary and creates fear and loss. Love

knows nothing of destruction—Love is creative.”

“Creative?” Chrissie asked, sounding confused.

“To hurt another person, Chrissie, or to kill someone, you first have to destroy that part of the Love you are that would prevent you from killing.”

“Explain that!”

“If a man goes out and shoots a bird, he first has to destroy something within himself, to be free to kill. That something is Love. Any form of hurt will spiritually cause more harm for the spirit of the offender than it ever will for the victim.”

“This thought will make a lot of people feel worried when they hear it,” someone in the group replied.

“Yes, I know, but it’s a spiritual truth. Any person who does harm to another or to an animal must first destroy their own Love, to be free to cause harm. There are no exceptions to this law of Love.”

“There are always exceptions,” Chrissie said emphatically.

“No. You cannot say you did it for God. Anyone who does harm to another has first destroyed the Love in self that binds us to God. It’s impossible to destroy another’s Love. You might destroy their physical shell, but another’s Love is beyond the reach of earthly humans. The greatest risk to our Love comes from ourselves.”

“Just how far does this go?” asked a man in the group,

showing signs of concern.

“All the way,” I replied. “If you want to say something hurtful, if you want to cause harm to another person without actually killing, you still have to destroy the Love in you to be free to hurt.”