Agape for enemies

Enemies were the focus for the group agape meditation at a Denver church. This 5th step in agape prayer was part of 5 sessions for the evening Lent study.

Before we could start the meditation, a couple of the participants started a discussion about the dangerous, violent world we must survive in. One of them had been in Kosovo during the time of the mass killings. He was concerned about how people could protect themselves against such enemies if we were supposed to be holding enemies in agape.

I asked, “What’s the alternative? Do we just keep practicing the old pattern of violence that has caused such destruction for thousands of years, or can we catch a vision of ourselves called to work out a more creative approach? Do we truly believe that Jesus was calling his followers to a new way to live?” I was finally able to steer us into meditation time by pointing out that the purpose of agape meditation was to respond to our calling to pray for a new way to live.

So we began meditating with the usual concentration on our breathing to release tensions and distractions in order to calm ourselves; then we let our awareness move deeper and deeper into the center of our being. From our heart-center we prayed to gain a spiritual sense of the flow of agape.

And slowly we relaxed completely into a profound realization of agape. As we slowly sensed agape flowing, permeating our being, we let agape bring an awareness of what it is to fulfill our well-being and have a deep sense of joy. And slowly we allowed ourselves to awaken to divine Presence as agape opened each of us up spiritually. We let agape draw us into the intimacy of divine Presence.

They had been invited to hold in agape prayer a person who they found a little difficult (maybe a person who in some way is irritating). They began forming an understanding of what spiritual well-being is for that person’s life. Then we took a few minutes to let that sense of well-being develop. (This forced us to realize that agape does not involve our emotions, so we needed to release the emotional attachment connected with the person in this step so that such emotion no longer interferes in this moment of agape awareness.) We thought that person’s name 3 times, then formed a visual image of that person, and prayerfully held that person with our attention. We prayed for agape to work in that person’s life, and we imagined that person standing in front of us.

That meditation forced us to recognize that the person wants to find happiness as all people want to be happy, and think about what it means in personal detail for agape to work in that person’s life to open their heart-sense to greater experience of true happiness. And slowly we faced the difference between the way we felt toward that person and the way we felt about the friend from Step 4. Agape helped us release the emotions that get in the way when we relate to the person who irritates us.

That meditation helped us move on to a more difficult person: an enemy of our nation. In the same way as before, we prayerfully held such a person with our attention as we let that person’s awareness form and also opened up to agape flowing into that moment. We prayed for agape to work in that enemy’s life, and so we were forced to recognize that such a person wants to find happiness as all people want to be happy.

After we let our attention slowly come back to our normal state of wakefulness, we followed up the meditation by again discussing overcoming violence. As most of the great spiritual giants throughout history have suggested: we need to develop a different awareness and approach to our relationship with what is around us.