Sometimes it’s a little hard to get up and write about inspirational music when the world is facing such trouble.  The man-made stuff like war is bad enough, but it’s the so-called “natural disasters” that really spook us all.

It seems now that every year brings its earthquakes in Japan and Haiti, its hurricanes in New Orleans, its tsunamis in Sumatra and now Japan, its volcanic eruptions, tornados, and on and on.

“Why do these things happen?” we ask.  Why do seemingly innocent people have their lives pulled out from under them year after year?  When does it end?  Are we helpless and hopeless to stop this, to at least control this?

And why are these disasters called “natural”?  I can think of nothing more unnatural.  What’s natural in our lives should be peace, prosperity, safety and grace.

We write just about every week now on the power of our thinking.  We now see our material world around us more and more as illusion created, or more precisely, imagined by the minds of our mortality.

I cannot believe in a punishing God.  I cannot put these disasters in His or Its responsibility when I understand that God is essentially goodness.  I cannot believe in a God that deals out equal amounts of good and evil.  I believe in a God of pure goodness – not even knowing of the concept of evil.  God is goodness.  God is love.

So I cannot logically place the blame in that direction.

But we clearly are being punished.  Especially when innocent people die and are left homeless and see their lives turn to such tragedy.

Our lives are shaped by our thinking.  As I live and breathe I see the truth of this more and more every day.  We are a product of thought and what transpires on a moment to moment level in life is all a result of thought.

So are we responsible for these disasters?  It seems likely.  I know not where else to put the blame.  I’m not pointing to you personally as being responsible for all this, but I think at this moment that we’re all a part of it somehow.

I think it comes down to world thought — the accumulation of the world’s negativity.  I’d like to absolve myself from that, but I really can’t.  Until I can live my every waking moment in total control of my thought, living a pure spiritual and positive existence, I have to admit to being a part of the illusion.

But I’m not going to sit around feeling bad about this.  I’m not the guilty sort.  Guilt, being nothing but a cop out, seems to me to be a gigantic waste of time.  Better to get going and do something about all this.

Fear, greed, hatred, racism, jealousy — all run rampant in the world today.  All these sins are the result of humans thinking.  Where does all that thought go?  It goes into the tangle of our mortal lives corrupting our world and throwing life off its axis.  We, as life forms, have to take responsibility for this – not with guilt, but with a will to heal.

So what can we do to counter world negative thought?  World positive thought.  It sounds simple, but let’s remember that the best solutions are always the simplest of solutions.  We who can, must counterbalance our world with positive thought.

It’s why we pray.  Prayer is the counterbalance of disaster.  Does it work?  You bet it does.  It’s what keeps us safe and sound.  It’s what protects us moment to moment.  It’s what keeps the safe from falling on our heads.  It’s what turns natural disaster into natural grace.

It is our absolute responsibility.  So let us pray.

The other is love.

Ten days before the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan I was inspired to write this song.  Why it came out the way it did, I’ll never know.  Why I picked the metaphors I picked seem prescient at this moment, but hardly intuitive.  I believe I was just picking up on the usual images of world thought to tell my story, to illuminate my reasoning.

But here too is the answer.

Love Is The Reason For Living

Music and Lyrics by Peter Link

We dwell in the arena
Of immense conflicting forces
Our lives are swayed by counsel
From a million diff’rent sources
As we near each troubled crossroad
With a rising tide of fear
And wonder what becomes of us
When the tidal waves appear

We cannot help but turn to God
To summon His defense
To stir instead the floodtides of love
His sustenance
His deliverance

And so we strip away the falsehood
From the truth of who we are
And commit our lives
To innocence once again

Love is the answer
Love is every answer
Love is God forgiving
Love is the reason for living
Yes love is the reason
For living

We long to stand the summit
In the pinnacles of spirit
Where death no longer finds us
No, and we no longer fear it
And the light of life surrounds us
With its infinite embrace
And love pervades our consciousness
And evokes its change of base

Love is the answer
Love is every answer
Love is God life-giving
Love is the reason for living
Yes love is the reason
For living