Insight, knowledge, truth
without love is nothing--
it is not even truth,
for truth is God, and God is truth.
So truth without love is a lie; it is nothing.
Truth just for oneself
truth spoken in enmity and hate
is not truth but a lie,
for truth brings us into God's presence,
and God is love.
Truth
is either the clarity of love,
or it is nothing.
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Meditation and Prayer, ed. Peter Frick
Fascinating. It seems Bonhoeffer is stressing the importance of basing our conception of truth, not on objective and abstract terms, but on that from which it emanates: love. I really like the insight Bonhoeffer brings to this relationship of truth and love. He reminds us that it is love (equated with the bringing of the kingdom of God) that is the essence of truth. And that it cannot be the other way around nor could it be an equally reciprocated relationship between love and truth. Bonhoeffer suggests that love and truth are not merely two different sides of God, but that love is the paint with which we form our pictures of truth. Love is the form. Love is the medium taking an innumerable variety of natures as God proclaims Himself to us. Perhaps, if I may be so bold, we could take this further by suggesting that it is love, ultimately, that composes matter. Love is the very form of matter. And why not? It is within this context, this reality, that we are able to feel, share, express, and proclaim love. We are immersed in a thick material soup of love that is often characterized as reality. Love is not just the message. Love is the message and the very medium as well.
ReplyDeleteTo quote Martin Luther, "Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace." It seems that the relationship between peace and justice, is similar to that of truth and love where love is to truth as peace is to justice. So, as justice was made for the sake of peace, so too truth was made for the sake of love.