Loving Humanity

Much has been made in the news of the man who hacked a New York psychologist to death with a meat cleaver. The focus has been on his being schizophrenic thus reinforcing society’s general fear of the mentally ill – the media makes him out to be a madman, but they also emphasize that he will probably be allowed to plea “not guilty by reason of insanity” as if that allows him to “get away with” murder.

I have a friend who works with those that the rest of society would rather sleep comfortably in their beds pretending that such people don’t exist. She recently told me that if she didn’t love humanity she would not be able to do her job. This caused me to pause and consider what it might mean to love humanity.

Kahlil Gibran tells us, “ Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; for love is sufficient unto love.” (The Prophet)

It would seem to me that in spite of 2,000 years of Christianity – a set of beliefs that teaches us that we quite simply, need to love one another – we treat love as something to be possessed, and a means by which we posses others. We put a price on love, we weigh it down with expectations, we destroy it with assumptions, we torment our minds with obsessions – what a way to treat something that can only exist without conditions.

That schizophrenic man will most probably be locked away in a State mental hospital for the rest of his life, and society will breathe a collective sigh of relief - but will anyone pray for his sanity, for him to have a peaceful night free from his torment? He is someone’s son, someone’s brother, he might even be someone’s father – can we as a society, love him unconditionally?

When did we forget that we can still love the man without condoning the behavior, or did we forget it in the instant the words were uttered? Society is not even interested in those who have compassion for the least among us; society only cares that we hide tormented minds away, out of site, so that humanity can continue to lives in it’s selfish delusion that “we” are “OK”.

“Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world………the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of all of you……….the righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked……….and you who would understand justice, how shall you unless you look upon all deeds in the fullness of light? …….The corner-stone of the temple is not higher than the lowest stone in its foundation”. (Kahlil Gibran “The Prophet”)