I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post from the community. Read on for Abbey Wisdom Council member Felicia Murrell’s reflection on the path of love.

Loving is the ability to see the Beloved in everyone around us.  

—RAM DASS, Vedanta (Hindu)

There are all kinds of ways of being in the world. For me, that way is Love. More succinctly, it means that I aspire to walk the path of Love in such a way that the truth of who I know myself to be is in harmony with the way I live and move and have my being. To be present to the holy, that which is sacred within me, and there in the presence of myself and that which is divine, to allow Love to mirror Love’s goodness, and then to mirror that which is good to the world. 

How does one decide what is “good”? How does one attune to the vibrational resonance of goodness in the world to see the Beloved in everyone?

Cosmologists teach that all life is connected. Connected to all that has been, all that is now, and all that is to come. If I fail to foster connection within by not recognizing the Beloved in myself, it will be impossible to facilitate or sustain connection in the world. 

To begin from kinship says I am because we are, and all exist in the Circle of Life as we are, together. Here in the circle, I do not have to prove my worth or earn my dignity. All are born belonging to Love. Love is the Source of creation’s existence. But what of kinship that asks something of me? 

How am I to be with those who make harmful, self-destructive choices? Choices that aren’t life giving or flourishing. Those who berate others, creating conditions of suffering and pain. Those who incite So. Much. Fear. How does Love invite me into the practice of kinship with those whose choices are rooted in oppression and denial of others right to exist?

The truth is I do not know the answer to my musings. I do not know the way to go, how to hold the humanity of all as beloved. I, too, am stumbling through. Yet, I know the way is the way of Love. 

I dare not speak of Love without taking a “long loving look at the real”[1] and telling the truth about my present reality. This is an age that feels rife with destruction. It’s painful to bear witness to many of the goings-on of today. I often remind my heart: humus forms in the soil when living matter decays.[2] As much as I’d like tidy explanations and clean lines, I can’t seem to find them in living (unless I create illusory ones of separation and division).

AND… even that feels like an invitation. To not match the energy of hellish torment with the same level of vitriol or vengeance. To see what is while remaining unequivocally not okay with conditions as they are AND not rushing in to fix, rescue, or save in the way that panic invites, where I attempt to wrest control and force order. 

Can I be present to chaos as my teacher? 

Make no mistake about it, to watch the world I know and love self-destruct is one of the most horrifying experiences of my human existence. And fear of ultimate demise can send me headlong into control, co-dependency, manipulation, threats, force…whatever it takes to set the world on the course I think will save it. How do I direct my way of being to hold sacred another’s freedom and their right to choose, even as I grieve their choices? Tall ask, I know.

And thus, my heart returns to Love. 

Love is how I want to respond to the groanings of the earth. That somehow, without overstepping my boundaries, the rhythm and energy of my life might be an invitation to awaken within another that same sense of calling to freedom, to union. To participate with the Divine in their own wholehearted flourishing. To remember that Love is home, and home is the place  to most feel safe, held, and connected. Home is where I come to know my own beloved-ness.

May we turn our hearts toward all that is sacred and honor it with truth and respect.
May we catch a glimpse of how this moment is inviting our light.
May we show up in the world as spectacular displays of beauty, truth and goodness who radiate Love’s glory.
When we stumble upon the broken, rocky places, remind us of our goodness.
When life’s torment overwhelms, remind us of safe communal spaces where we can be held by the tender gaze of one another.
May we come home to ourselves in the safety of one another.
Àṣẹ

[1] William McNamara as quoted by Walter J. Burghardt, “Contemplation: A Long, Loving Look at the Real,” in An Ignatian Spirituality Reader, ed. George W. Traub (Chicago: Loyola Press, 2008), 91.

[2] Accessed 10/29/2025. https://education.nationalgeographic....

Felicia Murrell is a spiritual director and the author of AND: The Restorative Power of Love In An Either/Or World. With over 20 years of church leadership experience, her writing has been featured multiple times in the Center for Action and Contemplation’s Daily Meditations and their biannual journal ONEING. As a contemplative thought leader, Felicia has spoken at the Black Contemplative Prayer Summit and other widely recognized organizations. She believes Love is the source of our authentic power and that a love ethos can be embodied as a way of being in the world. For Felicia, the Way of Love (agape) is to consciously participate with the Divine in how we live, move and have our being. Mom to 4 adult children, she makes her home in Woodbury, Minnesota (USA) with her husband, Doug. FeliciaMurrell.com

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