"We have just enough religion to make us hate,
but not enough to make us Love one another.""

Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)

When I learned that Laura George's second book would be an anthology about Love, I was delighted. When she asked me to help edit the manuscript, I was flattered. When I saw the list of authors, I was amazed.

Some I knew from teaching history: Julia Ward Howe, Sojourner Truth, Chief Red Jacket, Mahatma Gandhi. Others I knew from teaching literature: Rumi, Kabir, Madeleine L'Engle, Maya Angelou, Maxine Hong Kingston. Many were contemporary leaders in a wide variety of fields: Aung San Suu Kyi, David Suzuki, Alex Grey, Bill McKibben, P.M.H. Atwater, Falco. There were also spiritual teachers from varying viewpoints: Saint Teresa of Avila, Prabhat Sarkar, Brian McLaren, Desmond Tutu.

Great poetry and prose, sprinkled with well-chosen art, each item like a gem with Laura's narrative as its setting. What a privilege to work with such words!

I learned new words, too, in many tongues. Each chapter focuses on a different type of Love, uniquely expressed by a word or phrase in a different language, inspiring in me a sense of universal purpose. This work demanded great care.

We ruthlessly sought the right word, not the almost right word (the difference between "lightning and the lightning bug," as described by Mark Twain). To the best of our ability, we did not tolerate the typos that inevitably occur when works are written by one person, copyedited by another, and then typeset in their final format by a third.

Few pages of the proof escaped my scrutiny without a correction, or at least a question that had to be answered ... until one work, almost at the end. I realized only after I had finished reading it that I had not made a single mark on any of its nine pages. Desmond Tutu's "God Has a Dream," which Laura had adapted from a longer work, appeared to be perfect. I was moved to e-mail her: "I think you and Desmond channeled this one directly from God!"

Producing this book was indeed a "labor" of Love. Join us in celebrating its birth. Buy it, read it, spread the word about it, and pray in your own way for its success. Its message of Love offers the only hope we have.

A contributing author to The Love

Circumstances are ripening for major changes in our world, but they're bringing with them chaos and conflict over the direction for our future. The world ahead can be a more peaceful and harmonious place, with far less struggle and sacrifice. But it will not come by resisting the energies of change bombarding our world, for resistance brings distortion and manifests greater struggle between the extremes.

To create this new reality, first we must begin to act in ways conducive to its manifestation. It is therefore crucial to not put energy into the escalating battles between those who cling to an outdated status quo and others who push to change it. That means avoiding the urge to take sides and jump into the fray, for when we do, our participation intensifies the polarity and creates even more reasons to fight – and obstacles to overcome on our way to the New World.

This doesn't mean rolling over and playing dead to the abuses and oppression, nor to stop adding our contributions to a better tomorrow. But it does require us to develop a sensitivity to the tug of the energies within us, and how our own inner conditions are distorting the unfoldment of the changes they bring.

If the New World is to manifest as we hope it will, we must focus on the core context of that which we seek … an atmosphere, an environment of Love.

This core recognition is the key step in integrating the extremes within us and our society, for it will empower us to let go of aspects of our personalities that are not compatible with our newly awakening selves or the utopian world we envision. Only by focusing on Love can we start to build the new foundations, systems, and infrastructure needed to support this New World.

Another good place to start is a meditation on how to disentangle ourselves from duality and begin to see ourselves and our world more as contributing expressions of a whole rather than separate or competing entities that stand or fall on their own.

But this cannot happen simply by remaining the way we are. We must seek a new balance between individual and group consciousness that fosters the expansion of all while honoring the individual variations and emphasis needed by each soul on its evolutionary path. Once again, unconditional Love emerges as the key.

Such an elevated consciousness comes at a price, however. For with it comes greater responsibility, not only for how we conduct our own lives, but also for how we construct our relationships with others and take our place in the world. The opportunity for expressing compassion is increasingly being thrust into our awareness. No longer are we comfortable ignoring the struggles of others or pursuing our own desires to the detriment of others. We wish our spiritual path to serve ourselves as well as others.

In fact, the choice of whether to Love or not is in many ways illusory. This is the time of our collective Ascension, a time of change that is impacting us all, whether we are aware of it or not. Such paradigm shifting energy is quite rare. Eventually, the evolutionary undercurrent of Love will move all of us beyond polarity.

* * * * *

A lawyer by profession and spiritual teacher by avocation, John Dennison is a voice for the inner voice that offers us a path of peace, perspective, and contribution to a better tomorrow. His book, Whispers in the Silence: Living by the Light of Your Soul, shows how. For more information on John's work or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit: www.JohnDennison.com

The Invitation

By Oriah

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for Love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
 
I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
"Yes."

It doesn't interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

By Oriah from her book The Invitation © 1999
Published by HarperOne, San Francisco. All rights reserved.
Presented with permission of the author: www.Oriah.org

Another contributing author to The Love

Henry Reed divides his time between being a goat rancher and an independent scholar of psychology, involved in writing, teaching, consulting, research, and counseling. His specialty is cultivating the creative spirit in others, working from both humanistic and transpersonal viewpoints. His watercolor paintings have been shown at the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, and he now leads people on home-based dream quests and paints watercolor mandalas for them as a channel of prayer support.

Henry received his Ph.D. from U.C.L.A. and was Assistant Professor of Psychology at Princeton University and Professor of Transpersonal Studies at Atlantic University. He is Senior Fellow at the Edgar Cayce Institute of Intuitive Studies, where he regularly provides training, consultation, and research. He also is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a private practice in Mouth of Wilson, VA.

Henry is the founder of Creative Spirit Studios, which is a collaborative of lightworkers. Their virtual headquarters is at www.CreativeSpirit.net. His most recent projects include creating a national "Intuitive Heart Discovery Group," and the development of the webzine Intuitive-Connections Network, located at www.Intuitive-Connections.net.

Another contributing author to The Love

The latest book from the Oracle Institute Press, The Love: Of the Fifth Spiritual Paradigm, clearly illustrates that humans are able to feel and write about their love for all facets of life. Just looking at the chapter titles, we see included: love of earth, animals, family, community, romance, learning, the arts, self, freedom, unconditional love and love of God. The authors who write of their thoughts and experiences in The Love beautifully describe the breadth and depth of love they feel for so many aspects of life.

I think that the reason we humans are able to describe and exhibit love in all areas of life is because WE ARE LOVE. It is not just that we can muster love at times as an aberration of our essence. Rather, the capacity of humans to love all of life is possible simply because love is our basic nature. Love is not a fleeting moment of our Being. It IS our Being. Love is awareness of Oneness, and each of us IS that awareness … even if we don't always show that awareness to the world.

Several years ago I wrote the song We Are Love to try to express our basic nature. I recently recorded a new version of the song which I have gifted to everyone I know. You may listen to it, download it, and share it at the below link:

We Are Love

I look to see a different world, not the world of fear
I give thanks for everyone, for all are gifts to me
We teach each other truth of being, that all of us are free
Having never left our home, we're still as meant to be
We've been given everything, thank God for everything

(Chorus)

We are love, we are grace, we are life, we are as God said
There is no gain in seeing you, as less or more than me
To judge you as right or wrong, keeps me from the way of love
We have not changed, we're Holy still, God knows us as we are
We've never been apart, we know this in our hearts

Download:  http://www.mediafire.com/?whimmaw2tuv

Aint' I a Woman

By Sojourner Truth
Narrated by Laura George

I want to say a few words about this matter. I am a [sic] woman's rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that?

I have heard much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if a woman have a pint, and a man a quart – why can't she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much – for we can't take more than our pint'll hold.

The poor men seems to be all in confusion, and don't know what to do. Why children, if you have woman's rights, give it to her and you will feel better. You will have your own rights, and they won't be so much trouble.

I can't read, but I can hear. I have heard the Bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin. Well, if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again. The lady has spoken about Jesus, how he never spurned woman from him, and she was right. When Lazarus died, Mary and Martha came to him with faith and Love and besought him to raise their brother. And Jesus wept and Lazarus came forth. And how came Jesus into the world? Through God who created him and the woman who bore him. Man, where was your part?

But the women are coming up, blessed be God, and a few of the men are coming up with them. But man is in a tight place: the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him. He is surely between a hawk and a buzzard.

* * * * *

This speech was given by Sojourner Truth (1797 – 1883) in May 1851 at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. It was recorded by Marcus Robinson, who attended the meeting and worked with Truth. Robinson published this version of the speech in the Anti-Slavery Bugle on June 21, 1851, just one month after Truth spoke.

However, the above rendition is not the same as the legendary "Ain't I a Woman?"  speech recorded by suffragette Frances Gage and recited in most history books. Gage was the organizer of the convention and embellished Truth's speech by, among other things, adding a crude Southern dialect, even though Truth spoke with a Dutch accent (she didn't learn English until she was ten years old). Gage's speech also has Truth lamenting her thirteen children who were sold into slavery; however, Truth had five children.

Gage's erroneous version of the speech first appeared in the New York Independent on April 23, 1863 (twelve years after Truth spoke). And in 1881, Gage published her version again in The History of Woman Suffrage, which she co-authored with Susan B. Anthony. Here is a small sample of the more famous, but false, oratory:

Wall, chilern, whar dar is so much racket dar must be somethin' out o' kilter. I tink dat 'twixt de niggers of de Souf and de womin at de Nork, all talkin' 'bout rights, de white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all dis here talkin 'bout?

Truth's real name was Isabella Bomefree. She and her youngest daughter, Sophia, escaped their owner in 1826, just one year before slavery was abolished in their home state of New York. In 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth because she said God had given her a mission: to travel the land speaking the truth.

In 1864, while the Civil War still raged, Truth met with President Abraham Lincoln to discuss her life's work: abolition, women's rights, prison reform, and the end of capital punishment. Once, Truth was threatened with imprisonment herself, to which she reportedly declared that if put in jail, she would "make this nation rock like a cradle."

Sojourner Truth attained a level of self-awareness and self-confidence that is truly amazing, especially considering the limitations of her era due to her skin color and her gender. She is a testament to the soul's innate, fierce drive toward self-determination and self-expression. Let us follow Truth's example and learn Love of self – a state of acceptance and being to which we all may aspire. And like Truth, may each of us find our life mission.

1. You view this video on "The Religion of Love"
2. You attend Laura's first book talk for The Love on February 7, 2010, at the 26^th Anniversary Chrysalis Celebration: Details Here
3. You attend the Virginia Festival of the Book on Saturday, March 20, 2010, and join us at the Oracle program at 2:00 entitled: Spiritual Evolution: Is Orthodox Religion Helping or Hurting?
4. You watch this Movie on the unique Love that women provide and share with the world
5. You buy a copy of The Love: Of the Fifth Spiritual Paradigm … and help spread the word: Love.

at Atlas Books

at Amazon

*Hover below for more Authors or click Here for full list
	Wendell Berry and Bill McKibben	on Love of Earth
	Madeleine L'Engle and Susan McElroy	on Love of Animals
	Barbara Hand Clow and David Suzuki	on Love of Family
	Maya Angelou and Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar	on Love of Community
	Sharon Olds and Oriah Mountain Dreamer	on Romantic Love
	Mahatma Gandhi and Chris Mercogliano	on Love of Learning
	Alex Grey and Patrick Bernard	on Love of the Arts
	Stephen Dunn and Henry Reed	on Love of Self
	Aung San Suu Kyi and Andrew Cohen	on Love of Freedom
	Brian McLaren and Barbro Karlen	on Unconditional Love
	Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rumi	on Love of God

As Laurel explains, "We must learn to love our brothers and sisters on the Earth Plane before we may join with God in the Ethereal Plane. It is that simple." The Love will be released for Valentine’s Day and will make a perfect gift.

Thank you for your ongoing interest in The Oracle Institute. We hope you enjoy this newsletter and will join us at our upcoming events. As a 501(c)(3) educational charity, we are always looking for talent, expertise, and resources that can help us promote Truth, Love, and Light. So if you would like to help or make a donation, please contact us: www.TheOracleInstitute.org

Copyright 2010 The Oracle Institute