Lately, for whatever reason, I’ve been inundating myself with videos about people describing their near death experiences (NDE). While holding a candle of critical thinking (or skepticism) towards it, I am taken in by the sheer amount of love and empathy they share when describing it.

While the details always vary, one thing consistently stands out:

An overwhelming sense of peace and love, beyond we can ever feel in our physical bodies.

Even more specific, the number one word that pops up in their experiences is love. Always love.

And I think… wouldn’t it be nice if we could strip away our anger and run the world on love?

Not the nonsensical persuasion of love you find at Burning Man (that kind of love we can artificially induce by drugging our water supply), but a genuine, real love for all of creation. One that allows us to be patient, kind and challenging (basically, Paul’s letter to the Corinthians).

The kind of love that wouldn’t have us feeling road rage every time we got behind the wheel.

A love that would allow us to vehemently disagree with each other, while still allowing us to stay friends.

A love that would make rules of society that show love to each other, even when that love needs to be tough.

Understandably, this is ultra-idealistic and would require all of us to work through our inner demons in order to let them go. It would also require us to look upon those people we absolutely hate, wish horrible things upon and see them differently.

But, if we have to let it go when we die anyway, why not start right now?

We may never get to where we need to be, but the world would be far better served by a person who lived their life with love and got one more person to do the same.