The folk trio, Peter, Paul, and Mary, sang “Because All Men Are Brothers,” a song written by Tom Glazer to the tune of a Bach chorale. Here are two lines from the song:

Let every voice be thunder, let every heart beat strong.
Until all tyrants perish, our work shall not be done.

Today, tyrants still walk the earth. Some rule nations. Some are petty tyrants who rule households or small groups of people. But whether their fiefdoms are large or small, tyrants antagonize others and step over the rightful boundaries between people.

What makes someone a tyrant? And what is the remedy to their tyranny?

The most obvious attribute of a tyrant is their attempt to control others. To say someone is controlling is no compliment. And to call someone a control freak is highly disparaging. But control itself is not really the issue. A good parent brings emotional control to a child and sets physical boundaries that keep them safe. A good teacher runs an orderly classroom.

Order and control can be oppressive. The only thing worse is no order or control. Any organization needs controls to keep it intact and operational. The natural control factors in the physical body keep delicate balances and orderly flow throughout. Order and control are essential for any group of people to be creative together.

It’s not just the fact that someone brings order to the people around them that makes them a tyrant. We see a person as tyrannical when the control they bring is somehow foreign to the people to whom they bring it. It is imposed in a way that seems unnatural.

What really distinguishes a tyrant is not that they bring order and control to others. It is that they have lost touch with the intrinsic order that establishes and guides the human experience if we let it. Being out of touch like that, a person becomes tyrannical not only with other people but with themselves.

Out of touch with the order of the innate wisdom available to us, the human psyche assumes it must create its own order and control. And the more out of touch a person becomes, the harder the psyche works to establish its own order.

Whether you witness that condition in another person or yourself, the remedy is the same—a softening of the heart, an openness to the inner source of Universal Love, and an opening to the ordering power of that Love.

We have far more authority and choice when it comes to our own experience than with others. We can tell ourselves that no matter how it may appear, the universe cares for us. It has a place for us. It has a way forward that is uniquely ours. We just have to open to it and take our next step. And then keep walking in the way that Love has established for us.

When we do, we begin to bring the ordering power of Love into the world. We are living it. We know it. We exude it. This has the possibility of affecting other people. It has the potential to change the world.

It can seem easy to identify other people as tyrants. And sometimes we have to wake up to what is going on in that regard and do something about it. But the far larger matter is to do something about ourselves. When we do, we bring the antidote to tyranny. That is much more effective than fighting tyranny, which is like fighting darkness. Until you turn the light on, you are not going to have much success. The defeat of one tyrant opens the door to the next.

Until all tyrants perish our work shall not be done.

But how? As long as the ordering power of Universal Love is missing, tyrants will fill the vacuum. That is true within the individual. And it is true in the world.

So…

Let every voice be thunder, let every heart beat strong.

Let our voices be full of the ordering power of Love, like thunder. Let our hearts pump with that power. The more that happens in our world, the less opportunity there is for tyrants to impose their cruelty—the less their falsehoods sway the hearts and minds of people.

This is what I desire for myself. I long to live in a world with people who do this. How ‘bout you?

Despite any tyrants that may be about, let’s do this together—Because all men and all women are brothers and sisters within the family of Universal Love.