Below is Whisper #30 from my latest book, 48 WHISPERS, which is a collection of photographs and personal meditations created across a decade of travel to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the surrounding northern plains.
I have a valued friend by the name of Gabrielli LaChiara. She is a healer who recovered from a potentially terminal cancer and now helps others do the same. Among her teachings is a simple yet transformative progres- sion of thought with the capacity to heal all the wounds of the world:
Love is the cure.
You are love. Therefore you are the cure.
Love is hate’s opposing force. It is unifying, empowering, life-giving, and conta- gious. Hate cannot occupy a space filled with love. Hate requires the absence of love. You cannot hate something that you love. Love is the cure. But where does love come from? What is its place of origin? Where is the house within which it resides?
The answers to these questions are known to every person on Earth. Love comes from within and it comes from us all. Love can be created in an instant and channeled toward anyone. Its capacity is infinite, and no opposing power can prevent it from forming. You are love. Love is a choice you make over and over again. If everyone chose love, our world would change today. Love is the cure.
So how does love first form? It starts with the love of self. But what of our blemishes, missteps, and flaws, you ask? It turns out they are the purpose of love. Love transcends perfection and thus love heals. It’s true what Gabrielli says:
Love is the cure.
You are love. Therefore you are the cure.
