I Love Therefore I Am!

Koozma J. Tarasoff, 2018.

I read this poem at an Open Mic session Sept. 28, 2018 during Peace Arts Night at the First Unitarian Congregation in Ottawa as part of the 12th Annual Ottawa Peace Festival. It was inspired by Henry Beissel during a conversation about the Ottawa Peace Festival 2018 as we pondered whether our intervention made any difference on the journey for a peaceful world. Henry suggested that we need to change the paradigm of René Descartes First Principle to 'I love therefore I am.' Later Henry told me that this idea appeared earlier in one of his poems. It is a line in the fourth elegy ("Where Shall the Birds fly") of Seasons of Blood:
...till
neurons fired in the flesh
its one saving grace: love –
and survival became a ceremony
not a victory: I love therefore I am human.

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I Love Therefore I Am!
The Evolution of Homo Sapiens

In evolutionary history
we know that continuity and change are constant.
Darwin discovered this on his research ship Beagle.

We also know that during the Scientific Revolution of the 17th Century
René Descartes proclaimed the First Principle of Certainty, saying
‘I think therefore I am.’
Meaning—‘I am, I exist’.

As well, we know that wisdom people for centuries
have sought to create a world without wars.
We’ve seen futile attempts by politicians of all stripes
proclaim ‘this war is the end of all wars’.

Yet violence and wars — corporate murder —
continue to cause havoc with
the use of weapons of mass destruction, regime change,
and all kinds of human indignities. Countless victims suffer.

Today we need a new discussion on human development —
a discussion that would lead to humane behaviour,
such as envisaged by the late Glenn D. Paige of Hawaii
on the nonkilling society — the responsibility not to kill and the right not to be killed.

We need to talk about something simple, yet profound —
the power of love comes to mind
as penned in the 1800s by Tolstoy, author of War and Peace.
We need to discover the merits
of the Inner Spirit
and apply it to our Charter of Love and Compassion for the living.

Friends, my fellow homo sapiens,
it’s time to build a new world order
that will save us from the scourge of wars and
give a supportive structure to us, to our children and to future generations.
It is time to upgrade Descartes’ maxim to a new authentic identity:
I LOVE THEREFORE I AM!

The Inner Spirit of love opens the way
to a new world of common humanity.
So let’s embrace the new charter of life:
‘I love therefore I am’!

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Posted on the Transcend Media website.