The Empowerment of Love
I stood frozen, looking up at the diamonds in the sky. I sensed the aliens standing on either side of me.
“Where is your planet?” I asked. “What’s it called? Estrala?”
“Due east,” Iman said pointing a long finger into dawn. “It’s the bright one. Some call it the Morning Star.”
I fixed my gaze on the brightest star near the horizon. The yet-to-rise sun painted the background with a pinkish tint. It was then that I noticed a snowflake alight on the tip of my nose. Looking up, it seemed like all of the stars in the sky were coming down to kiss the earth. In a matter of moments, the ground was blanketed with snow. Oddly enough, I still felt remarkable warm.
“That’s because this is not merely the snow of winter,” Yewell said, having read my thoughts. “Consider this the precipitous effect of your endeavor.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve heard of the Butterfly Effect, correct?” he said.
“Yeah, like when a butterfly flaps its wings on one side of the world and it causes a tornado on the other side.”
“That’s how it’s commonly defined,” said Iman. “However, that image refers to the effect each of your actions has. Every service you perform, every word you communicate, even every though you think has a profound reverberation throughout the rest of the world, helping to shape the service, words, and thoughts of everyone else. These flakes of snow, these tiny crystals of water frozen in time, represent the effects of your endeavor thus far.”
I looked up again and marveled at the millions of falling snowflakes, in awe of the beauty of it all.
“I have that much of an impact?” I asked.
“Each of you does, yet few are aware of it,” said Yewell. “This realization is what Jung referred to as the archetype of Spirit. It is discovering that you are a spiritual being having a human experience. Consider all of those flakes as souls that you have touched with your very being. After all, a human soul is merely a facet of the universal Spirit which connects us all. Once you identify with that Spirit, you realize the power of your thoughts, words, and deeds, and the responsibility to choose them consciously.”
“This,” Iman continued, “is what Gale referred to as Dedication. It is acknowledging the direct impact you have on the world around you and striving to use that impact to empower others in their own endeavors.”
“But how does my behavior empower others?” I said.
“Because you’ve already left a path for them to follow,” said Yewell. “That is the basis of leadership. You started your endeavor with Pathfinding, followed it up with Modeling, continued with Aligning, and now fulfill the role with Empowering.”
“Empowering comes from the emotional and social aspect of your character,” Iman continued. “It is about relationships and the love you share. Your relationship with Spirit and the relationships with the rest of the world that emanate from it. Empowering others to follow their own paths and achieve their own goals is one of the greatest acts of Love that you can perform.”
Iman extended his hand and nodded toward the torch still burning in mine. I handed it to him, and he placed it flame down into the snow, which melted around it and formed a stream that ran in front of me and due east, toward the Morning Star.
“This will give you a better example of what we mean.”
He nodded toward the stream, and I leaned over to look. At first, I saw my own reflection, but it soon began to morph into faces that were familiar to me. My family, my friends, people that I know have been impacted by my life were reflected back to me in the running water. Though I saw them each for only an instant, the shimmering visions showed me that they were all following their passions and performing what they considered to be their purpose in life.
As the water continued to ripple past, the faces changed, an endless burble of people that were finding their own power to create the lives they knew they were meant to live. Then the faces became less familiar, but still known, as the souls that drifted down in the snowflakes appeared to me, giving me a brief, glimmering vision of the effect my life had created.
I noticed something taking shape beneath the water. I reached in and pulled out a shimmering golden chalice, bejeweled with heart shaped rubies all around. I stared at it in awe.
“Is this…?” I gulped. “Is this… the Holy Grail?”
“This,” Yewell said, “is your cup. This is how you quench the thirst of the world, by giving of the love that you have through the service you provide. That is the most holy thing you have to offer.”
