All you need is Love (Page 2): I have lived and worked in Vietnam, Iran (twice), Indonesia, and Singapore. I did not live where all the expats lived, but where the local population...

ab7rn Loc: Portland, Oregon

I have lived and worked in Vietnam, Iran (twice), Indonesia, and Singapore. I did not live where all the expats lived, but where the local population lived. I found that people are very much alike everywhere regardless of nationality, religion or ethnicity. The troubles are caused by the radicals and extremists.

Aaronphoto

wbgrice wrote:

i want to love my enemies and let them go.
i want to release the people who have hurt me. i want to be surrounded by love. i want to stop holding something towards someone else that is so out of date and long gone. it does nothing for that person. it only hurts you.
i want to be surrounded by love. i choose this today. i choose this again tomorrow :)

"LOVE THINE SELF" for all other is but a figment fo your imagination! (Move over Confucius)

sinatraman Loc: Vero Beach Florida, Earth,alpha quaudrant

In the words of that great British musical group the Ruttels "ALL YOU NEED IS CASH!

Tarzan Loc: Brazil

ab7rn wrote:

I have lived and worked in Vietnam, Iran (twice), Indonesia, and Singapore. I did not live where all the expats lived, but where the local population lived. I found that people are very much alike everywhere regardless of nationality, religion or ethnicity. The troubles are caused by the radicals and extremists.

I've been around quite a bit, and agree entirely with you. Would add sociopaths to the radical/extremist group.

raymondh Loc: Walker, MI

:D

phila Loc: Live is Newberry, SC

Right on! Very well said. We gotta keep trying, there ARE good people out there. Seems to me a bunch of them are right here.
Phil

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

Like they say, when seconds count the cops are only minutes away!

johnr9999 Loc: Carlton, OR

marcomarks wrote:

wbgrice wrote:

i want to love my enemies and let them go.
i want to release the people who have hurt me. i want to be surrounded by love. i want to stop holding something towards someone else that is so out of date and long gone. it does nothing for that person. it only hurts you.
i want to be surrounded by love. i choose this today. i choose this again tomorrow :)

This is a religious philosophy from India that started thousands of years ago, long before Christianity, which would work great if everybody else had that motto too. Being surrounded by love is wonderful. That's why we create loving family units of parents and children and choose God (by whatever name) as the center of our relationships.

But you're completely surrounded daily by hate, greed, lust, evil influences, insanity, drug induced mental disease, sociopathic behavior, and immorality as a short list to start with - and it's necessary to cope with it and taking loving action toward others when possible. Being "in" the evil world but not "part" of it.

If you can love and release a grudge against somebody who point-blank killed your kindergartener, or murdered your family with a shotgun in front of you while you were incapacitated, you're a better human than me. Yes a grudge of that nature hurts me, and the pain of the memories hurts me, but the grudge also provides an emotional outlet to vent frustration that the past can't be reversed. Then again there are totally stupid grudges that are so trivial they shouldn't have been held in the first place.

I personally meet love with love and meet true evil with resistance that varies from ignoring it to shielding myself and my loved ones from it. It's a necessity of life. Otherwise evil will take advantage of innocent love every time.

IMHO, this life is a span of time to keep emitting love to others and hope for a similar response in return but learn from interactions with those who don't. If you can't get a favorable response to your loving expression you move on to the next and keep trying to build yourself a "love network." Unfortunately it will be a small network for most.

quote=wbgrice i want to love my enemies and let t... (show quote)

Marco, you're wrong about the age of Christianity. It is a logical extension of Judaism which is considerably more ancient than the Oriental religions dating from anywhere to about 2400 BC to a great deal further if you are a follower of those beliefs. The New Testament is a great deal more detailed on the futility of hate and revenge and is not informed by Oriental religions, except perhaps by the Greek beliefs which had no affect on Christianity except for being the language in which it was transcribed.