Wisdom and Light For Dark Times

After yet another horrifying mass shooting again today, may we comfort each other in our grief. May we remember what truly matters. May we grow even more passionate about not returning hate with hate and instead even more committed to growing our hearts stronger and wiser. There is an enormous need for us as human beings to cultivate wisdom, compassion, and strong-tender-heartedness both as individuals and collectively... I sit here and weep... These are such painful times to be conscious. Let us all reach out and hold one another in our hearts and prayers and through the fierce compassionate actions that are so incredibly needed today — and in whatever ways we each can — to work towards a more peaceful and awakened world. Let us remember that we are all connected, all related, all family and that peace begins within our own hearts. And when we struggle to remember these deeper truths, let us turn to the courageous visionaries and activists, to the wisdom-keepers and truth-tellers, to poets and artists, and to loving spiritual teachers who stand unwavering in their embodiment of and commitment to loving and breathing into being the world our hearts know is possible. Bless us all — Molly

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, 
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. 
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar, 
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. 
Through violence you may murder the hater, 
but you do not murder hate. 
In fact, violence merely increases hate. 
So it goes. 
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, 
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. 
Darkness cannot drive out darkness: 
only light can do that. 
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
 

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.