Journal of Sacred Work

Caregivers have superpowers! Radical Loving Care illuminates the divine truth that caregiving is not just a job. It is Sacred Work.

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Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

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Day 4 – Love: What’s In It For You?

January 4, 2008

Love appears when our ego disappears.

Why would I want to engage in an activity that involves the disappearance of my ego? After all, isn’t my ego who I am? These are soul-shaking questions. The most encouraging answers come not so much from the famous as they do from the millions of anonymous caregivers who commit quiet acts of kindness every day.
Still, it’s taken me a long time to learn that most people will refuse to engage their hearts with anything or anyone unless they (the ego) can figure out how they will benefit personally. For example, I know how to live out of fear in a tyrant-controlled workplace. I obey the tyrant or I will suffer pain. But what is the benefit to me of living Love – especially if I am living in a negative environment?…

It’s not enough, for most, to choose Love because it’s the right thing to do. Duty is not a very encouraging motivator. But what if my life would truly be better if I chose Love? What if my engagement with God-Love really brought me a richer and more joyful life?
There is no doubt in my mind that Love brings joy. But there it is also certain that Love’s energy lives behind a set of barriers that can feel very difficult to surmount. What if Love means personal inconvenience to me? What if Love requires that my ego surrender power and credit?
Caregiver Lorilee Amlie, in a comment to the Journal, illustrated the challenge of how high we sometimes set our goals: "The idea of living up to Mother Teresa as an example is daunting…" She’s right. Who among us can live that level of passionate dedication? But Lorilee offers wisdom in the rest of her comment: "If I can live Love and share Love in a greater degree than I do now, I will consider myself lucky."
And this is really the answer, isn’t it? Our goal in living Love is not to become saints, but to live closer to God.

The practices that lead us into Love’s gorgeous garden are reflected in the lives of virtually every positive example of an accomplished life. For example, all the great classical composers, starting with Bach (left -1685-1750) ascribe their success to their alignment with God. "Where there is devotional music, God is always at hand…" he wrote.
In the book Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers, Patrick Kavanaugh quotes Beethoven as saying, "His name ought not to be Bach [Bach is the German word for brook], but ocean, because of his infinite and inexhaustible wealth of combinations and harmonies."*
Beethoven appears to have been almost literally correct. Bach astonishing output of musical composition fills forty-six volumes! Does this mean he was writing all the time? Clearly not. He performed on the organ constantly, held several other responsibilities and fathered twenty children!
And Bach wasn’t seeking fame, He died in obscurity. His last composition: "Before Thy Throne I Come."
What’s in it for you and me to live Love, not fear? The answer appears to be joy and success. So what is it that stops us from engaging this life of Love?

*If you would like to hear the sound of God-Love, coming through in Bach’s work, click on the link, below, then click on Bach’s picture located there. You will hear a rendition of the indescribably beautiful, "Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring."

http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/4660/MidiBach.htm

-Erie Chapman

Posted in Meditations

9 responses to “Day 4 – Love: What’s In It For You?”

Edwin Loftin

January 4, 2008

“What’s in it for you and me to live Love, not fear? The answer appears to be joy and success. So what is it that stops us from engaging this life of Love?”
Erie, As I catch up on the Journal in this bright New year I am enjoying listening to Bach. What a wonderful filling of the senses and creation of Living Love.
To answer your question my answer comes in the positive – How do we engage this love? Answer is simple—“One”
One act, one time, one person, one give, one hug, one handshake, one sensless act of kindness.
As we all know we must start with a step, one step. Remember the song in Rudolph “One foot in front of the other”. Is not Living Love, not fear that straightforward. Imagine, just imagine, if everyone who reads the journal completes One……
Living Love will be and is contageous.

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Erie Chapman

January 4, 2008

Edwin – What a lovely response! It’s easy to see why you are such a successful Chief Nursing Officer.

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Karen York

January 4, 2008

I love this reflection and am encouraged by the “one”. Comparing myself to Bach or Beethoven, my life’s work would not measure up. I cannot fill volumes with music or stories or poetry. I can, however, turn the uncertain face of my daughter into a smile by my hug and simple words, “I believe in you”. I can soothe the heart of a coworker by a kind word and a generous ear. Maybe at the end of my life, that’s what will be remembered of me – and I couldn’t ask for anything more.

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Erie Chapman

January 4, 2008

Thank you for your inspiring comment, Karen.

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Catherine Self

January 4, 2008

An additional perspective on why, as caregivers, some of us may be limited in our ability to live Love is the idea of acedia – sickness of the soul. Cassian, a desert teacher from the monastic tradition of the 1800’s, says “it is not the mind or body, but the soul that is weary of doing good, of doing anything.” According to this writer, acedia is like depression but not as dark. Life begins to center on the belief that fruit cannot be borne, so why make the effort or even try.
John Cassian called those who felt the weight of acedia to rededicate themselves to work in every sense. “Work with your hands and be present to the work. Return to the spiritual practices. Create a rhythm for work and quiet reflection. It is not enough to do the right thing, even if we are engaged in charitable works. A genuine seeker must do the right things for the right reasons.”
Similar to St. John’s ‘dark night of the soul,’ acedia offers the opportunity to look into motivations – do we do what we do for the right reasons? Do we work for success or for fruitfulness? Nouwen has written of the difference, suggesting success is the result of strength, control, and respectability. The successful person, suggests Nouwen, brings energy to creativity, but then must control its development, and make it available to others. Success is rewarding and often brings fame.
Love calls us instead, I believe, to fruitfulness which comes out of vulnerability. Nouwen describes the fruit of a child conceived in vulnerability, community as the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy that is emerges from touching one another’s wounds.
What may be stopping us is soul fatigue. The words and vulnerabilities shared in this forum, among caregivers seeking to live Love everyday, are a balm for soul fatigue, and offer to me the opportunity to engage in the rhythm of both work and quiet reflection. And for that my soul is grateful.

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Erie Chapman

January 4, 2008

This is a terrific reflection, Cathy, so good it would work as an independent essay!

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liz Wessel

January 4, 2008

I believe when we Love we are in our natural state of grace; we remember who we are and what we are meant for, Loving one another. “There but for the grace of God, go I.” Thanks for this beautiful sharing of wisdom today.

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Erie Chapman

January 4, 2008

The idea of Love putting us in a natural state of grace is terrific, Liz. Thank you.

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Diana Gallaher

January 4, 2008

This meditation and the responses are all so rich. I have many thoughts, but as I sit here trying to write a response, what most bubbles to the surface is gratitude for this community and dialogue. love, Diana

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