Sharing a Few Thoughts on the most Powerful Force in the World

Article Title: Sharing a Few Thoughts on the most Powerful Force in the World
Submitted by: Craig Lock
Category (key words): Love, Power of Love, Quotations on Love, Hope, Dreams, Peace, Inspirational Quotes, Inspiration, Empowerment
Craig's new blog with thoughts and extracts from various writings is at newbooksbycraiglock.wordpress.com
Craig's blog with thoughts and extracts from various writings is at
http://en.search.wordpress.com/?q=%22craig+lock%22 + www.craiglock.wordpress.com

Other Articles by the submitter are available at: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565
and http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981
(Personal growth, self help, writing, internet marketing, 'spiritual writings' (how 'airey-fairey'), words of inspiration and money management (how boring now, craig!).
Publishing Guidelines:

These writings (as with all my writing) may be freely published, electronically or in print. Enjoy (hopefully)...

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SHARING A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE IN THE WORLD

"Change can only happen when you change the hearts and minds of those who oppose you."

- exiled Chinese Muslim leader Rebiya Kadeer

"Conquering others requires force. Conquering oneself requires strength."

- Lao Tzu; Tao Te Ching

"Love is a force more powerful than bullets."

"Love is the only force that can erase the difference between people or bridge the chasms of bitterness. In a changing world, it is a constant. It is the security of the home. It is a beacon of hope in a world of distress."

- Wayne R. Bills, MA

"When the power of love overcomes (or conquers) the love of power, man and the world will at long last know peace."

- adapted slightly from American musician, Jimi Hendrix

"LOVE goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning and his spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or not he is actually present, whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance."

- WW II concentration camp survivor, Viktor E. Frankl (in his compelling book 'Man's Search for Meaning')

Here are some great words of inspiration on love from the Bible...

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

- Corinthians 13 (NIV) Great inspiring words of wisdom

I love the following quote which guides and inspires me daily, so am sharing...

"The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed."

- J. Krishnamurti (thanks, mom)

"Those who stand up for justice will always be on the right side of history."

- Martin Luther King, Jr

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." -

Martin Luther King, Jr

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

- Dr Martin Luther King, Jr (1929-1968, American Black Leader, Nobel Prize Winner in 1964)

"Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate. Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that...

Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

- powerful and inspiring words from Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

"When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men seek to perpetrate an unjust 'status quo', good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice." - Coretta Scott KIng from 'The Words of Martin Luther King' (London Collins Found, 1985 - Pg 51)

I am reminded of something Dr Martin Luther King, Jnr said not long before he was assassinated:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible; but in the end, they always fall. Think of it, ALWAYS."

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

- Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

"There is only one thing that has power completely, and that is love. Because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power. Only strive for power, if it is not at the cost of other people. Power corrupts. You first have to be pure and righteous, before one can attain power. I believe that love is a greater force than power."

- Alan Paton, great South African humanitarian and author of the classic 'Cry the Beloved Country" Great inspiring words of wisdom!

"The greatness of a nation consists not so much in the number of it's people or the extent of it's territory as in the extent and justice of it's compassion."

- Inscription at the Horse Memorial in Port Elizabeth, South Africa for horses killed in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).

You can't change the past; but you can plan your future. We, each one of us, can and must do what we CAN do: to challenge our nation to change from what it is... to what it could one day become.

"There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer. There is no disease that enough love will not heal. No door that enough love will not open. No gulf that enough love will not bridge. No wall that enough love will not throw down. And no sin that enough love will not redeem. It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble. How hopeless the outlook. How muddled the tangle. How great the mistake. A sufficient realisation of love will dissolve it all. And if you could love enough, you would be the happiest and most powerful person in the world."

- Emmett Fox

I see only one hope for our very troubled world, and that is when all peoples, black, brown and white desiring neither power, money nor especially a sense of self importance, come together to work hard for it with the creative spirit, that is in every one of us. With economic growth and the creation of jobs, people feel secure with a sense of well-being...and are happy. When people act in a spirit of goodness, concern for humanity and especially utmost integrity, desiring only the good of their countries and so the world, the world be a far more prosperous and peaceful place - a world perhaps one sunny day at peace with itself.

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light... and where there is sadness, joy. I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."

- St Francis of Assisi (thanks for passing on your generous spirit to the world, which lives on, dearest mom)

Let YOUR spirit shine through embracing the light of love.

Many small steps by many people will eventually reach their destination... their destiny.

Shared by craig ("incorrigible encourager and people-builder")

"Be the very best person you can be with "loads of" FUN. Become the person you are CAPABLE of being ... and ALL the person God, Our Creator intended and CALLED us to become."

"When the world is filled with love, people's hearts are overflowing with hope."

- "little old" me

"Let us build bridges rather than barriers, openness rather than walls. Rather than borders, let us look at distant horizons together in a spirit of acceptance, helpfulness, co-operation, peace, kindness and especially love.

"Uplifting, encouraging and empowering people through the power of words and thought energy. Change YOUR world and you help change THE world... for the better."

THESE THOUGHTS MAY BE FREELY PUBLISHED (electronically, or in print)

"Faith is the pillar of strength that allows man to achieve the impossible, reach the unattainable and solve the unfathomable."

"Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire."

- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Instead of the limits of borders (of countries and of our minds) let us and our leaders expand our sense of possibility... and together let's look at building bridges to distant horizons, far and great. Lord, help us all lift our eyes a little higher."

- craig