Out in the Mountains * 5? _.r '-.v.«:-:+: In terms of evolution love is a brand new idea. When molecule first embraced molecule in the primordial soup, there was no love. (Throughout millions of years, the Life Force evolved upwards towards more biological complexity and more sensitive consciousness, moving through thousands of life forms: plants, worms, fish, crusta- ceans, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds.) It was not until the more recent develop- ment in mammals that anything like love began to be apparent, although it was pre- figured dimly in the behavior of birds toward their young. Love came on the evolutionary scene as the infant sucked nourishment from the body of the mother, giving pleasure to both of them. As human consciousness evolved, feeding her baby became more than a mother’s instinctual response. An emotion developed, powerful enough to inspire the human mother to defend her young with her life, to stop at nothing to show that love. All humanity experiences hungers for food, sex, shelter, but the hunger for love dominates human behavior. Lacking love, people will attempt to numb the pain by mutilating their consciousness with alco- hol, drugs, overwork, or any other activity, to the point of depletion of their powers and exhaustion of their valid desires. Humankind, like all other primates, is not made up of solitary individuals. Each is the member of a group or tribe, by and f,By.subScrIbt , " ’ lyurite _the"sizable'c'o‘st' _ot"assémbI I addition to subscription existence.Check$_s_hould.be_m dep yfl ' ' ’ ’ ‘Out.|ntheMOUfl1§'DS’;. sent, along with thisbfolrm v_r.o54o2._ . throug which it survives. Therefore it is _, , . _ _.,.,...yoyv9uara:ntéé" your mailbox tn‘adtsc”r'éet.plaIn nve_l _ i _, . . b and distri our nature to love more than one person. The infant’s loving is complete in its emo- tional attachment to its mother. But soon it will love the social group around it, family and schoolmates. With maturity comes love of large groups of people with whom one finds affinity, then place, nation, Planet Earth--loving has no horizon, no limita- tions, and because it doesn’t we must love everything and everybody in one way or another, or experience a kind of free-float- ing discontent--the malaise of our society. What is love? Is it like electricity that we cannot describe? We can only tell what it does. We know this: The power to love can evolve only within ourselves. Evolu- tion is not a thing of the past; its processes never stop. We can experience love at dif- ferent levels: respect, acceptance, mercy, compassion, pity, sympathy, empathy, friendship, devotion, dedication, agape, eros, the exclusive passion of lover--there are as many characteristics and qualities of love as there are persons and things to love. But how to express it? As “The Sound of Music” taught us, “A bell isn’t a bell until you ring it, and love isn’tlove until you give it away.” Love is justice. Justice is love. I ex- press love to all persons and things by being just to all persons and things. Above ro- mantic love, sexual love and parental love, the highest level of loving is justice, be- cause lack of justice belies all other expres- sions of love. Withoutmutual justice within IM .. 'I‘in§.,— Adfiressv. . la; —9§r($.1., | lfglllsgtpéggig One‘-‘y EV ~1=e3toD1c,A:s .. -Pggggl-Rs-.. "'BUTTDN5~ CARD5. ONES oi bumper: 3TlCKeP6" 4vr-fiwpr; [fig-abog /=.o¢;af_ju;t,u 10 relationships, there is no love. I am human, therefore my nature re- quires that I love. Because I am part of the evolutionary process and because I have the same atomic energy in my body, I am connected with all of nature. Because my survival depends on all other successful interactions within nature, I am obligated to love my habitat. I will love Planet Earth, respecting every grain of soil, every droplet of water. I will be just to every living organism and count myself superior to none. I will treat all people in such a way that they cannot doubt my good will towards them. At the same time I will require justice from all because I know their happiness consists in loving all that is, including me. It is by loving that all of us enlarge the capacity of our spirits to receive more love. As a primate, I need a tribe; as a Les- bian I need a Lesbian community. Love for Lesbians will create that bond. Butl cannot love others until I love myself. And for self- respect, for self-esteem, I must make my outside match my inside; I will not dis- semble. Mutual tolerance, acceptance and compassion among us can erode those walls that are continuing to be built by the thousands of Lesbians who assume it is easier to pass. Those who work at controlling have convinced us that everything comes from them. Not true. We all create the world we live in. If justice/love is not there, it's because we haven’t put it in our world. As a Lesbian, member of an oppressed minor- ity, Irealize we can build our Lesbian world so strong that homophobic assailants lose their power to oppress. By being just with all Lesbians and requiring justice from all 3 Lesbians, we can change the world. You think justice/love won’twork? But have we tried it yet? Copyright 1989 by Christine Burton Support Group for Battered Lesbians by Carla Women Helping Battered Women (WHBM)is starting a support group for battered lesbians in December. Call WHBM, 658-1996, and ask for Lori for more information. This group is for the safety of battered lesbians and batterers are not welcome to attend. R