November letter 2025

There is rain, there is fog, there is sunshine some hours a day, and with sunshine temperature paradoxically falls below zero centigrade. This is November in Norway!

We picked the remaining mushrooms from one of our favourite spots in the forests nearby. They were like small icicles that we could just brake off and hand over to our baskets. Contact with the nature around us brings us in closer contact with the nature within us: There might be tears, there might be mists, there might be sunshine, warming sunshine! When we are seen and loved exactly the way we are, this sunshine is increased. We are affirmed; we belong! One of the strongest affirmations we can receive is that of being intimately loved and desired. This gift of mutuality is unfortunately not accessible for all our fellow humans. Sometimes this is on very personal levels, while other times there are beliefs and attitudes that sustain the disaffirmation of others. Strangelely enough, some of the most energetic disaffirmers claim their allegiance to Christianity or other religions.

Much can be said about Christianity, but the sentence “love thy neighbour as thyself” is heavily reflected not only in Christianity, but in all religions that inspire what in its uttermost sense is a love for all humans, not just the ones living on the same street as us or attending the same sacred spaces.

A wise theologist said that when believers pay more attention to support a leader than to live by love for their devotion to whatever God they claim to believe in, they are serving mammon, a Biblic term for what alienates us from God.

I see this as fundamental for life, for mutuality, love, care, empathy and all this world need to heal the growing wounds we have inflicted. Those of us who are thus inclined, can claim our allegiance to God, Allah, Jesus or Mohammed. Those of us outside this realm of belief can claim our allegiance to love, wisdom and care for all.

When we get close to our own nature. Not least when we engage in sexuality, we can sense this beautiful experience of mutuality and connectedness. That sense is one precious gift of love and sexuality. An experience we can bring with us into all we do. It makes it easier to love our neighbour, easier to love our selves.

Those who have made themselves enemies of diversity, enemies of sexuality, gain increasing momentum in the Western world.

In 1965 Jackie DeShannon sang: What the world needs now is love sweet love, with the lyrics by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach.

This was in times of the Vietnam war.

Now other wars are fought, some by bombs, missiles and drones, others again by accusations and different claims of some humans’ supremacy over others, claims of right ways to be, and claims to the right to reject any neighbour that do not support mammonite purposes.

This wartime’s rain of violence, this fogging of human talents, this lack of warmth, hurts all of us. All human wars are civil wars because it is our humanity that is at stake and hence against our nature. November reflects Natures ways of change and rechange. Humans could take change further.

We must fight for everyone’s right. Fight from deep from height together tight to prevent more from succumbing into the dark of night.
 

Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad

President EFS