Why love?

Others are not illusions if we comprehend the other to be pure consciousness and spirit.  If, on the other hand, we insist that others are a construct of our perceptions, prejudices, evaluations, judgments, fears, uncertainty, and projections of personal insecurities, then the other is an illusion.  Most people choose not to bother with anyone as they are convinced the former is true, and the latter is virtually unknown. 

The fact that others are not illusions suggests then a necessity insofar as our relationship with God is concerned.  The life of a Christian, as Jesus modeled, is to love one another.  Jesus invites me to see the other as God sees any human being apart from me – as my brother and sister.  Therefore, the life of a Christian is determined by the degree to which love is practiced and demonstrated.  Jesus goes as far as to say that this is precisely how others can see that I am a disciple of his.  So, to not bother doing anything for anyone would be contradictory to the notion of the Christian life.  It would also be an affront to the anthropology the Gospels invite us to embrace regarding human beings.  More specifically, they are to be loved, prayed for, clothed, feed, given provisions, visited, defended, and forgiven – whether they are friends or enemies. 

Christ, in my estimation, is not and was not an illusion.  Most people, even those who want nothing to do with the Church and after COVID 19, George Floyd, and this Presidency, may want even less to do with it, are quite fond of Jesus.  Most people admire Jesus and believe him to have been an extraordinary man, even if there is no suggestion of divinity of holiness.  Jesus is not an illusion.  It may be that the testimony of Jesus' life is as many as his representatives fail to do on earth as it is in heaven.

The key to addressing this matter is to begin to embrace being bothered to do something for others.  As we grow in the comprehension of who that other is, and who is mandating that we do not feel bothered, instead blessed to be a hand and a source of relief for someone else, then we will no longer be elusive to the eyes of the world.  Perhaps their eyes will first trick them into believing what they witness to be an illusion.  But over time, they will also see that it is not.  They will see something that they may not have previously seen and realize that our vision - as Christians - transcends the narrow limits of human sight.