In debates over evolution, science, and the nature of human beings one question usually comes up: What makes human being s unique from other species? Some have argued that human language making ability is unique, but that gets complicated by the various ways that gorillas and porpoises communicate among other species. Some argue that it is the human being's ability to adapt to their environment by building environments rather than achieving balance with an environment that already exists. The construction of symbols, the development of culture, the design and use of tools, understanding the world as an object to be examined, etc. All of these are used as characteristics of what is uniquely human. Most of them are interestingly not a matter of unique difference as much as the degree to which humans are able to live into and create realities with these characteristics far more so than other species.
The one aspect that rarely comes into the picture is the need for love. As species exhibit greater intelligence no matter by what measure, the need for community and love increases. Sponges in coral reefs only need what the environment gives them. Yet as we travel up the chain of intelligence the need for community, for social connectedness, increases. It is a strange paradox that those creatures that have the most faculties to survive alone are also those that have the greatest need for social connectedness. Monkeys and dogs, and yes even cats, would perish without some form of social connectedness. In fact the ability to be socially connected is one crucial variable in determining whether or not a person has a psychological problem.
If we all can agree then that human beings are the most intelligent of all species on the planet, the one species that has the power to completely destroy itself and the world, then it is also human beings that are the most in need of social connectedness to be happy and healthy. This also means that human beings are the most vulnerable to lose their sense of self through the events of life that create social dislocation and separation. Without social connectedness all of the other faculties that make humans unique fall like a house of cards. Our sense of social connectedness makes us fragile and vulnerable to attack. There is no doubt why complete isolation in "the hole" in prisons is an horrific threat for even the worst criminals.
When Jesus tells us to love our neighbor, he is getting at the core of what it means to be human – the inherent neeed to be loved by another. Love is the deepest form of human connectedness. Love is a social function of what it means to be human. It is so deep that it is not we who define love in our relationships, but it is the love that binds our relationships together that forms us and gives us life. Loving our neighbor is not just an ethical mandate. It is to name the core of our being. It is to identify that for which human beings are born: to love, and be loved by another. It is as Paul says, that without love we are literally nothing. Without love we are not as human as we can be.
Love is what makes us the image of God. It is not the flesh, nor the power of our brains, it is the need for love that can be fully expressed only in our human communities. It is love that defines us. If God is love, then God working in that which defines the core of our humanity is what makes us truly human. For the Triune God is a community bonded inextricably through love. The same love that binds the three persons of God into one is the same love that binds us together. This is our religion. It is not doctrine, but love that binds us together. If we are not bound together by love, we are no longer in the image of what God intended and less human that we were created to be.
May we bind ourselves in love one day at a time even if the addiction to selfish disconnectedness continues to have power over us. Love your neighbor today for today is all we have right now.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Drew Tatusko, Drew Tatusko. Drew Tatusko said: more of a sermon than a blog post – we were born to be loved: http://bit.ly/3kS1CW #outlawpreachers #emergent [...]
There's nothing wrong with a mid-week sermon! Especially about love.
I was really struck by this idea: "[Love] is so deep that it is not we who define love in our relationships, but it is the love that binds our relationships together that forms us and gives us life." That's so true—love's power is evident in our inability to control or manipulate it according to our intellect.
And the thought of what's left of us when love is gone? That's also a powerful image and powerful force in our world. That love-void is at the center of everything I don't get about humanity and the world.
good stuff man, good stuff
There's nothing wrong with a mid-week sermon! Especially about love.
I was really struck by this idea: "[Love] is so deep that it is not we who define love in our relationships, but it is the love that binds our relationships together that forms us and gives us life." That's so true—love's power is evident in our inability to control or manipulate it according to our intellect.
And the thought of what's left of us when love is gone? That's also a powerful image and powerful force in our world. That love-void is at the center of everything I don't get about humanity and the world.
good stuff man, good stuff