The oppressed, the put-upon, the dejected–all sink into an existence where the oppressor counts on never being challenged because the ones who are afflicted would do anything to be something other than the down-trodden.

Those who grow in such power cannot conceive that very many would ever break the chains of servitude.  This is the great disempowerment: for the oppressed to become as the oppressors.

Freedom from repeating the tyranny of such institutional patterns comes through the loving struggle for open communication.

“Thinking is a dialogue with circumstances.”

Jose Ortega y Gasset, “Notes on Thinking”

“Dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and for people. The naming of the world, which is an act of creation and re-creation, is not possible if it is not infused with love.”

Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“Let us move now from the practical how to the theoretical why: Why should we love our enemies? The first reason is fairly obvious. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. So when Jesus says “love your enemies,” he is setting forth a profound and ultimately inescapable admonition. Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies-or else? The chain reaction of evil-Hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars-must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

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