Love and Compassion VS Ego and Fear

by Eileen Fleming

When the recent cyber attack against Gilad Atzmon began, I could only sigh and a sigh is a silent prayer.

Then I said aloud, “Jesus have mercy on us all” as I recalled what Ken O’Keefe said regarding WHY we activists have not been able to end the military occupation of Palestine;

Because of the failure of activists to “Check the ego at the door” and then I thought of my friend Richard Forer who wrote the book: BREAKTHROUGH: Transforming Fear into Compassion- A New Perspective on the Israel-Palestine Conflict

Ego is simply defined as the “I” or self of any person; and a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.

Philosophers define Ego as the enduring and conscious element that knows experience while Scholasticism understands Ego as the complete person comprising both body and soul.
I understand that, “There are only two feelings. Love and Fear. There are only two activities. Love and Fear. There are only two motives, two procedures, two frameworks, two results. Love and Fear. Love and Fear. Love and Fear.”-Michael Leunig

I know that the best anyone can do is follow their conscience, speak the truth they know and que sera sera/what will be will be.

During my first of seven trips to the Holy Land in 2005, I made a verbal vow from my heart to a little boy in Bethlehem that the rest of my life will be dedicated to do all I can to help END the Occupation of his Homeland.

I have traveled to Israel and Occupied Palestine seven times on my dime, written three books and hundreds of articles seeking to fulfill my vow and I am fueled by my faith in the Nonviolent Jesus, who I relate to as Teacher, Brother and Friend who has blessed me with a heart filled with Compassion for all.

Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy explained:

I use Nonviolence rather than nonviolence. The capital letter is meant to convey that what I am speaking about is rooted in the being of God and is not just a humanly derived ethical position or political tactic.

My own preference, which grammatically is not always possible, is Nonviolent Love, Nonviolent being the definer of the Love that is Divine, Agape. “God is agape” (1Jn 4:7-8).

God, to employ a formal theological term, is infinitely simple. The Father and I are one (Jn 10:30). He or she who sees me sees the Father (Jn14: 9-11).

Everything, without a smidgen of exception, that one sees in the Son is in the Father—and Nonviolent Love of friends and enemies is what one unequivocally sees in the Son, who is the visible image of the invisible God (Col1:15).

Jesus is Nonviolent Love incarnated because God is Nonviolent Love.

But, the word nonviolence as it presently exists in living languages is almost contentless. It is open to indefinite interpretations, many times contradictory ones.

For the Christian, Nonviolent Love of all is rooted in the definitive image of God given in history, namely, the person of Jesus, God incarnate (Jn 1:1-5,14).

For the Christian, or at least Catholics and Orthodox, the term Nonviolence is first and foremost a Christological and Trinitarian term. It is in the imitation of Christ-God,”Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34), that the word Nonviolence enters into the ethical domain.

This means that in the Christian context all reference to the word nonviolence, its implications and its applications, have to conform to the truth of God and God’s Will and Way as communicated through, with and in the Nonviolent Jesus of the Gospels, the incarnate Word (Logos) of God in history.

Jesus for the Christian is the ultimate and definitive Communicator and Communication of God and God’s Will to humanity.

The word nonviolence can be used independent of being defined, evaluated and validated by the Jesus of the Gospels, but then it is not Gospel Nonviolence, although it may be by some other definition and understanding nonviolence.

Gospel Nonviolent Love of friends and enemies is about God. It is equally about human beings struggling in their freedom to truthfully conform their lives (thoughts, words and deeds) to the Imago Dei in whose image and likeness they have been created from the beginning (Gn 1:27). And where does one find the true image of the true God to which he or she should conform?

In Jesus.

And why struggle to live in that image?

Because that is what the human being truly is, because therein, and only therein, is the power that conquers evil, and because therein, and only therein, is life, the fullness of life (Jn 10:10), temporal and eternal.

Hence as an aid to clarification of thought, I use Nonviolent Love of friends and enemies and Nonviolence instead of nonviolent love and nonviolence. Said in other other words, Nonviolent Love of all: it is God’s Life, it is God’s Truth, it is God’s Way, now and always and forever and ever. How do we know? Jesus tells us so! www.centerforchristiannonviolence.org

Ken O’Keefe was the first person I know of to write: TJP=Truth, Justice, Peace.

I add Compassion must lead when speaking Truth that seeks Justice as The Way to Peace and

COMPASSION is Manifestation of The Divine

Eileen Fleming

Eileen Fleming founded WeAreWideAwake.org. She produced videos “30 Minutes with Vanunu” and “13 Minutes with Vanunu”.  She has authored many books including; A USS Liberty Remembrance of 50 years USA Government Cover-Up of Israel’s 8 June 1967 Attack on USA Spy-Ship, Wabi Sabi Body ETERNAL SPIRIT, and Heroes, Muses and the Saga of Mordechai Vanunu. Click here to see her latest books. Visit Eileen’s YouTube Channel