As I go to my "seminar" (i.e. hide in my parent's room consolidating all my notes from previous seminars while my brother and Quinn watch all the kids for two days), I overheard something I had to jot down:
Avot and Kelraiser were doing some cute dialog back and forth, when I heard Avot say: "Love your enemies! Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you! When you love your enemies, they are no longer your enemies!" Made me think....and I like that :)! While I know there are people who will continue to harbor hatred and meanness despite my feelings, the feelings of enmity I may have towards them will dissolve in the power of love, and I will not be poisoned or burdened with that enmity.
Reminds me of Ghandi, and so many other great thinkers we have studied over the past couple years. For instance, it reminds me of a story from Buddha, where a young man came up to him, cursing and ridiculing him, telling him he was no sort of holy man, that he was a fake, and the young man couldn't stand him. Buddha replied something like, "If you go and buy a present and give it to someone, and they refuse the gift, to whom does the present belong?" Taken aback, the young man said, after some thought, "He who purchased the gift in the first place."
"So it is with your anger. I refuse it take it, so the anger becomes yours and I am not burdened with it," replied the Buddha.
Wow. Love it!
Just came across a great quote to go with it from Elder Quentin R. Cook: "The Savior taught us to love even our enemies. The vast majority of our members heed this counsel. Yet there are some who feel that venting their personal anger or deeply held opinions is more important than conducting themselves as Jesus Christ lived and taught. I invite each of us individually to recognize that how we disagree is a real measure of who we are and whether we truly follow the Savior. It is appropriate to disagree, but it is not appropriate to be disagreeable...If we show love and respect even in adverse circumstances, we become more Christlike." (Ensign, May 2010, p. 83)
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