Martin Luther King’s Primary Objective in His “Letter from the Birmingham City Jail”: Peace and Brotherhood

This month of February I have taken a closer look at Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from the Birmingham City Jail.” I have read this many times in the past, and I wanted to share some of my thoughts, some of the things that moved me about Dr. King’s work that reveals Heart-energy.
I have not posted all of the shorter articles as blog posts, but I am going to combine with some slight editing the last three I posted today on Instagram, FaceBook, and Twitter. All the quotes are from an actual photocopy of the original 21-page letter. I love looking at that, and if you have a chance, take a peek:
http://okra.stanford.edu/transcription/document_images/undecided/630416-019.pdf.
__________________________________________________________________
Martin Luther King’s Primary Objective in His “Letter from the Birmingham City Jail”: Peace and Brotherhood
Near the end of his letter, Dr. King continues to sincerely answer the troubling accusations and observations of the letter that the white clergymen wrote, the ones addressed at the beginning. This response required intensive, sensitive thought because, more than anything, he loves others. However, he sheds light on the facts and exposes Ego-energy, energy resulting in hatred.
Some of the last rays of the light of this letter fall on those “keeping ‘order’ and preventing violence,’” the police force. Those officers of the law — a stacked, racist, bigoted, hateful set of laws — were brutal, truly exercising police brutality. That, he will not praise, only show the facts in love.
He points out what oppressed people often experience: when the eyes of the public or media are on unfair, brutal, egocentric authorities, they appear to be in control, put on a show. Dr. King’s main point here is that brutality is never justified in handling others because “it is worn to use immoral means to attain moral ends…they have used the moral means of [apparent] nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of flagrant racial injustice.” Any authority who hides behind unjust laws and carries them out, especially with brutality or inhumanity, should not be allowed to hold their positions.
At the end of this paragraph on page 19, Dr. King quotes T. S. Eliot: “…there is no greater treason than to do the right deed for the wrong reason.” I take that sentiment into the depths of my being. Neither I nor authorities — presidents, cops, legislators, ICE, border patrol, educators — have the right to violate the basic laws of nature, of that which makes up who each human being is at our core.
Treating souls with degradation and inhumanity always marks Ego-energy. Heart loves and finds a way to deal in truth and care for fellow souls.
As Dr. King nears the close of this masterpiece, he takes care to reveal those who did Heart-work, masterpieces themselves. Who were they?
The “real heroes…James Merediths, courageously and with a majestic sense of purpose, facing jeering and hostile mobs…old, oppressed, battered Negro women…who rose up with a sense of dignity…young high school and college students, young ministers…and a host of their elders courageously and non-violently sitting-in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience sake.”
No money, no power connections, no degrees required. They only lived their Heart-truth. We all can do this in whatever our created purpose is. When we live our core Self in love and light, we know significance, fulfillment, and personal peace. And quite often, we change the world, at least our little piece of it and find ourselves involved in things much larger than us. That’s the way discovering Self and creating and living Purpose works.
Dr. King recognizes this: “One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters they were in reality standing up for the best in the American dream…carrying our whole nation back to…the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.” I would say that living a Heart-truth by sitting down at a lunch counter and finding a connection with the founding documents of this nation is, indeed, something larger than ourselves.
Heart-truth sometimes needs to be lived in oppressive situations and is sometimes, because of that, more powerful. Referring to the length of the letter, he says, “I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk” instead of a jail cell. Our Heart within finds a way when we open ourselves to it. Nothing else could have carried those who engaged in nonviolent protests onward and upward.
When we are unmoved by responses of Ego-energy from within or without, Heart leads us to find a way to express love and light — as a pastor, a police officer, a politician, a teacher, a mechanic, an artist, a writer, a dancer, a jeweler, a clerk, a salesperson, or any of thousands upon thousands of endeavors empowered by Heart.
Then, Dr. King lays out his accountability. If the white clergymen he addresses find offense, he asks forgiveness of them, his fellow creatures. However, his largest accountability is to his own Heart, his own God: “If I have said anything…that is an understatement of the truth and is indicative of my having a patience that makes me patient with anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.” Brotherhood — that’s a greater concept than integration, and Dr. King ends by acknowledging such.
In the final paragraph, he illustrates this unequivocally to those he considers to be his brothers, no matter how they feel about him or their color: “I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader, but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother.”
Brotherhood — a mutuality bound not in gender, Sisterhood being just as integral — is the goal, the hope. This is that which I call the Fellowship of the Heart. Those sold to Ego are in the majority, and they are not to be judged — exposed, yes, but not judged. Those who don’t answer Heart within them will not know the blessing of this fellowship, and perhaps that is the ultimate judgment.
Dr. King ends with an estimation of the value of this: “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted…and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all of their scintillating beauty.” This transcends skin tones, cultures, and social expressions; it doesn’t negate them, just transcends so that we may appreciate one another.
The legal structure had to be corrected. The spiritual structure, as evidenced over the course of the last several years, especially, remains fractured. The only answering action to this is to discover Self, create Purpose, and live it in love and light. Then, no matter if it’s sitting at counters, marching through shopping malls, or sincerely living any Heart-truth, we protest inhumanity, hatred, and reveal our desire to experience the fulness of this creation.
“Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood / Martin Luther King, Jr.” Yes, peace and fellowship, my friend. Thank you for inviting me to the table of your fellowship.