Light of the world, shine on me. Love is the answer.

[Zyada]

I’m reading this amazing book, and I found this passage to be enlightening:

Some societies are quite good at teaching kids to expressionally show love and others are not. In his excellent analysis of love-based cultures and hate based cultures, Dr. Rubin Fine … found some cultural groups so good at expressing love that virtually no cases of murder, arson, severe physical assault or sex crime exist. The Hutterites of the Rocky Mountain have had no such crimes since 1875. The Ifaluk of Micronesia, the Tasaday of the Philippines, and the Mountain Arapesh of New Guinea all are cultures with high incidence of love expression and come close to being violence- and crime-free. Many of the illnesses, both physical and emotional, thought to be related to a lack of love are virtually nonexistent in these cultures. Conversely in the hate based cultures the frequent and easy expressions of love are inhibited or restricted to rare situations. In such cultures the systematic, violent killing of women, children, the weak, and infirm has received cultural support, or at best indifference. Nazi Germany, both the Tauade and the Dobu of New Guinea, and the Jivaro of Ecuador all have extolled antilove behaviours as virtues. In doing so they rendered and experienced great violence, slaughter, and crime. The also exhibited high incidence of stress illness.

Recovering Love by Dr. J. Richard Cookerly

This was written before 9/11. Just how much affection can you show in a burka? Maybe the best way to end war is to show and teach loving behavior.

[Why_A_Duck]

And when you feel afraid - Love one another
And when you’ve lost your way - Love one another
And when you’re down and out - Love one another
And when your hopes run out - Love. We got to love. We got to love one another …

Yes, it’s a thought-provoking paragraph. But did you really have to implant that England Dan and John Ford Coley song in my head?

[jlzania]

My only familiarity with the **Mountain Arapesh ** was a study of three cultures in New Guinea by Mead. What I really found curious was their method of channeling aggression. Overly aggressive individuals were encouraged to become shamans which gave them a way to channel hostility for the good of the group. Of course, if I recall correctly [sub]and it’s been say 25 years since I read the book[/sub], they were hemmed in by extremely hostile neighbors.