Return to Sender

by Rev. Dieter Randolph

Whenever there is a catastrophe, big or small, you can count on sweet, kind, well-intentioned people to send their love. Social media is full of “I am sending you love” posts. I am touched and inspired by the spirit of that desire. But I want us to stop doing it. Please. It doesn’t actually make sense, and may in fact be doing more harm than good.

We are in the same infinite ballroom. The same band is playing, the same song fills our ears. How will you send me music? Why not just dance with me?

Too much? Let me try again. If there is only one presence and power, how can one person send more of that oneness to another? It’s not possible. It’s like one fish sending water to another.

More than that, if my perception mediates my experience, what happens if I act as though there is more good in some places than there is in others? If I believe that there is a finite amount of love, and that it floats around like some kind of cosmic oil slick, what happens to my ability to experience it?

There’s something else, too. If I act and speak as though I have access to more love, or God, or good, or Truth than you do, what am I really saying? If I believe that I have the power to intervene on your behalf, to be some kind of benevolent intermediary between you and your good, what kind of expectation am I placing on our relationship? There just may be some unintended ego in there somewhere, and we both end up being limited. What if our relationship was a partnership instead of a hierarchy?

I don’t think that any of this is deliberate. When people say that they are sending love, they are expressing kindness and a sincere desire to help. That’s beautiful. But life is not the result of our conscious action alone. Instead, we get what we expect, what we believe in, what the general trend of our perceptions and intentions combine to allow. So let’s not talk or think in terms of limited, finite, place-bound love. Let’s open the floodgates.

Our experience of the Infinite is one hundred percent mediated by our perception of it. That’s how powerful we are. That’s part of what it means to be a child of God.

The upshot here is that if you want to fix your life, just fix your expectations. Everything else will take care of itself. Find ways to believe, with head, heart, and hands, that we all live together in a universe of infinite, omnipresent love, and the room left over for fear, disease, or lack will diminish.

 So please: let’s not send people love any more. Let’s just love them. It’s easier.