Journal of Sacred Work

Some of our most beautiful secrets are unknown even to us.
-Erie Chapman

   When we think of the secrets within us, we may imagine that all of them are dark. But our hearts hold secrets we have yet to discover that are bright and beautiful. We need to listen to the voice of these secrets to enable them to find a home outside of us as gifts to this world. We need to be present to the lovely secrets that sit quietly within us.
   Every so often someone will say to me: "People are either kind or not so you can’t teach people to love." Is this really true? Are people either lovers or haters? Almost everyone I know is somewhere in between. Most people can be kind to those they know and love and have an almost equal capability to be mean towards those they feel are threatening…

    I’ve seen this in emergency departments. Once, I watched a clerk in the
middle of a harsh exchange with a patient. Suddenly, a friendly
fellow-worker appeared. In a flash, the clerk’s scowl flipped to a smile,
"Hi Judy, how are you doing?"
   This chameleon capability of ours is
cause for hope when reflecting on loving care. We hold many secret
powers within us. These secrets, when revealed, can bring some
wonderful surprises.
   We know, for example, that the same clerk that smiled at her friend could turn that beautiful, powerful smile on the patient in front of her. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said with typical wisdom, eloquence, and insight, "The only way to turn an enemy into a friend is with love."
   I’ve been trying to follow my own advice recently in connection with a long time competitor who shows every sign of hating me. I know that he has spoken unkindly about me to others and that he has even sought to block my presence in the organization he runs. When he does these things, what should I do? As a trained trial lawyer, I am tempted to use the weapons of argument, threat and attack. But of what value are these tools as expressions of love?
   Contrary to popular belief, it is possible for lawyers to use their gifts of argument in loving ways – for example, to help the poor and to strive for justice. Yet, in this case, the issue is primarily one of ego between this man and me. The best answer is live love, not fear or anger.
   So I have set upon a path of unilateral acts of kindness. I have asked him for forgiveness for any wrong I’ve done and I’ve offered gifts. Thus far, this has generated no change in his response. But perhaps the goal is not to change him but to release a secret power from within me – the power to forgive without expectation of anything in return. I can tell you that, frankly, I feel better responding to him with love than I would trying to plot ways to undercut him. Is this a secret power that lies within you as well?

   The Ukrainian poet Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966 – click on painting to enlarge) offers us twelve beautiful lines that, if we allow them to enter our hearts, may lift us above the petty and the mundane. Through her words, we may transcend trouble for a moment and reflect on the many beautiful secrets that lie within each of us.

A land not mind, still
forever memorable,
the waters of its ocean
chill and fresh.

Sunset in the ethereal waves:
I cannot tell if the day
is ending, or the world, or if
the secret of secrets is inside me again.

   Perhaps the secret of secrets is always within us always. Perhaps it is time for us, as caregivers, to speak some small part of our secret abibility to love as we go about the world seeking to be carriers of God’s light.

-Erie Chapman

*The painting shown at the beginning of this piece is Whispering Secrets and is by Joe Moorman
The poem by Anna Akhmatova was translated by Jane Kenyon and appears in the book News of the Universe, by Robert Bly. The painting of Akhmatova is in the Wellsley collection but I was unable to identify the artist.