A New Beginning
by Arleen Lorrance
Following my ordeal with a perforated bowel, a hospital stay, months
on antibiotics to heal a scepsis infection, and eventually colon
surgery/repair on August 6, 2025, new life has dawned not only for me
but for The Love Principles! I have lived long enough to see a
resurgence of the principles, a recognition of their value and
importance, and a picking up of the baton by others to disseminate them
far and wide. It is indeed a new beginning.
During my colon bout, I have been told I was informed that my
condition was very serious. So serious that I could have died. I was
surprised to discover that I never took that information in. I knew I
was ill, but my entire focus was on healing the body and recovering. In
retrospect it is sobering to know how much trouble I was in.
I am exceedingly grateful for my recovery and thrilled with what is
now happening in relation to The Love Principles.
First, there was an inquiry from the Unity Church of Tustin, CA. One
of the ministers had given a talk in which he included “Be the Change.”
He noted that it was attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, but he questioned
that origin and discovered through his research that a school teacher
from Brooklyn, N.Y. (yours truly) had originated the now famous and
ubiquitous phrase.
The Rev. Shara Moscinska became intrigued and decided to focus a
10-week Spirit Group study of each of The Love Principles. She invited
me to speak at Unity at the beginning of September to kick off their
program. Following the talk, Mariamne and I conducted a wonderful
workshop focused on the Love Principles. The entire event was thrilling
and the book, The Love Principles, sold out in no time. Since
then, Unity has ordered even more books as the study groups got into
full swing.
Here is the poster (it was in full color) they used to advertise the
10-week event:
 
As we prepared for our time in Tustin, we received a letter from The
Rev. Jan Brown, the Founder and Executive Director of SpiritWorks
Foundation Center for the Soul in Williamsburg, Virginia. She is an
ordained Deacon in the Episcopal Church and currently serves as the
Archdeacon of the Diocese of Southern Virginia.
Finding “Be the Change”
While preparing an inspirational talk, Jan decided she wanted to
quote some new people. She came upon “Be the Change” and, as did the
minister from Tustin, Jan decided the famous quote could not have come
from Gandhi. She dug deeper, found that others had researched the
origin, and affirmed for herself that it was Arleen Lorrance who had
originated the phrase. She reached out to me and asked if she could
paraphrase The Love Principles for use in her work with teens and their
parents who were fighting drug addiction.
I wrote back and told Jan that the principles were to be used as
given (on that ray of light back in 1970) because their power was in the
wording and in living them. I said she could present them as they were
and then adapt them for her particular use as she elaborated.
This simple communication has blossomed into a full and productive
relationship between Teleos Institute and SpiritWorks Foundation. I sent
Jan one of the two remaining copies of the book The Love Project.
She was thrilled to have it and began a weekly chapter reading aloud
with her full staff.
Jan wrote, “Once we finish, we will move on to The Love
Principles. We very much want to use them as the guiding principles
for SpiritWorks and St. Monica’s, which we started more than 10 years
ago and is our worshipping community. We call our members ‘seekers,’
which I noticed is the same term used in The Love Project.”
Jan wants to “…develop a way to use The Love Principles as a ‘Rule
of Life’ for my family, for the staff and others at SpiritWorks, and as
part of the community of St. Monica’s:
“We are allowing this to emerge and trust the process as it
unfolds. One of our younger members is developing a poster to put The
Love Principles by Arleen Lorrance up for people to see when they come
into the Center.
“You have inspired a movement that is taking off in me and those
around me. I am changed and those around me are getting to experience it
as well. The hope is that they will embrace the principles, and we will
do more.
“The Youth Summit I facilitated recently is another opportunity. These
children and youth remind me of those you worked with at Jefferson High
School and write about in your book. They came up with a theme of
‘Addiction is Real: And So Am I.’ They finished it with ‘My Story
Matters. My Voice Matters. I Matter.’”
New Love Projects Emerge
Jan and her staff have been inspired to do their own Love Projects.
They will start with a Cookbook Cooking Project focusing on food
security. They will print 300 copies of their cookbook and include Love
Principles interspersed with the recipes, focusing on personal as well
as nutritional nourishment, and inviting participants to cook meals
together.
Jan is an energetic powerhouse who is committed to the people she
serves and to bringing love into the world. At almost 87, I am delighted
to have Jan carry our work of 54-years forward in a new and bold way.
She reminds me of myself when I was in my early 30’s! What joy.
Jan is very enthusiastic about the principles and has invited the
two of us to come to Williamsburg, VA on January 24/25, 2026, to kick
off their Love Project. Again, I will give a talk and the two of us will
conduct a workshop.
Jan scheduled us for that particular weekend because it coincides
with Virginia Love Signs. Jan told us, “Virginia is for Lovers is the
statewide brand and we have more than 350 LOVE signs in VA. Connecting
with them can enhance and elevate the work of the Love Principles. I
just thought it could be amazing to have it in place when you are here.”
SpiritWorks will have their own LOVE sign for that special weekend
when we come to make a presentation.
“We will get to pair it with your work and the launch of what we
are doing. We have met with the city of Williamsburg and have been able
to secure a larger and more prominent space for your workshop; it is
called The Williamsburg Community Building and is a gorgeous space. The
pairing of the two and moving it into a more public space will allow
more people to participate.”
Jan wrote to us saying “I believe that you deserve all this
attention. What you have done and contributed to the world is
transformative and truly remarkable. I believe that everyone needs to
know you and your work. However I can help facilitate it, I will do. I
am all in!!! And so are my staff.” They are full into having
their graphic artist work on designs and on getting advertising into
play.
SpiritWorks has entered into a licensing agreement with me so that
Teleos Institute will benefit from the new thrust of promoting The Love
Principles. They have big plans for distribution and for making the
principles available in different forms.
Remaining True to Self
Back in 1971, after making a presentation of the principles to a
conference given by The National Center for the Exploration of Human
Potential, I was encouraged by their director to put the principles on
t-shirts and cups and other paraphernalia in a promotional campaign. I
was told “You will be famous and make a lot of money.” I immediately
said “No.” The principles were not for sale and not to be used for
financial gain. They were principles by which to live and they were to
be used for soul growth.
I was aware at the time that I had spent my early years from age 12
to 30 wanting to become a Broadway star and be famous. Then I had a
breakthrough to Cosmic Consciousness and the desire for fame became a
joke in comparison to the Lighted/Elevated state in which I was living.
The offer to become famous through The Love Principles did not fit at
all with who I had become and what was newly important to me.
A part of me is amazed at the irony. For many years I invested in
theatre, and I was talented! I was truly a gifted actor. But I never
caught the break I needed. I remember the famous line Marlon Brando
delivered in the film “On the Waterfront:” I could have been a
contender. I was a contender, but the Universe had different
plans for my life. I have no regrets.
The Principles Are Needed Now
The Love Principles are being reborn in this time because they are
vitally needed in the face of disunity and division. They are
resurfacing without our doing anything special to make this happen. It
is as if the angels have harnessed them for reissuing, to prepare the
way for what is coming, as I have written in A Transformation of
Humanity.
In the recent past, I have worked to reclaim “Be the Change” from
its wrongful attribution to Gandhi. I had called upon Arun Gandhi, the
grandson of the Mahatma, to make the correction through his
organization. He was at first affronted by my request and wrote to me
what I could have been taken as a nasty communication. But I reached
back to him with love, and he wrote again saying he would make the
correction. What followed was strange indeed. He and his group claimed
that Arun had introduced “Be the Change” in the 1990’s and that it went
viral because of him. I was shocked by the falsehood and then began
investing energy in making the correction.
Arun has since died, but he could not have sustained his claim since
the principle has been around since November 1970.
It was important to me to set the record straight, not because I wanted
or needed the credit, but because we are living in an age of lies and
fake news. I am dismayed by the falsehoods and the arrogance with which
they are disseminated. It was important to me to take a stand where I
could and where it was needed.
Not only is this clarification happening with Unity and with
SpiritWorks, but on April 28, 2026, Benoit Denizet-Lewis' new book
“You’ve Changed: The Promise and Price of Self-Transformation,” will be coming out which
makes clear the origin of “Be the Change.”
Benoit interviewed me multiple times and has dedicated much of
chapter 8 in his book to The Love Principles.
What I have observed through this adventure with “Be the Change” is
that truth will always win out over falsehood. It may take a while, in
this case 55 years, but in the end, truth survives and pushes its way to
the forefront. I am glad to have lived long enough to see this happen.
A RESURGENCE
The time has come to give The Love Principles the new life they
deserve and as Jan said, I am all in. In February I will present the
principles a talk at McDowell Village, a sister Retirement Facility
(thanks to arrangements made by Penelope Denton, a member of our Love
Family and a resident there.) My focus will be on “If we are still here,
there is more for us to do and be.”
I am going to embark on a campaign to send the YouTube presentation
to other Unity Churches in Arizona and California, and then across the
country. Perhaps they too would like to bring The Love Principles to
their constituents. I may not see the Transformation of Humanity in my
lifetime, but I can focus on using the principles to continue to
transform myself so that I can Be the Change that is coming even
before the world itself changes.
I have committed myself to making myself a blessing to everyone I
meet, to being an expression of unconditional love. Every moment of
every day is an opportunity.
We attended a concert by the Scottsdale Symphonic orchestra on a
Sunday afternoon in November. Several rows ahead of me, as the music
played, a young girl of about ten put her head on her mother’s shoulder.
They had the same color reddish/auburn hair and the mother put her head
on her daughter’s and her arm around her shoulder. I drank in the
precious moments of love being shared between the two.
When the concert ended, I rushed up to the mother, daughter and
grandfather. I told the mother I had witnessed their moment of
tenderness. I said, “My mother never knew how to express love, the love
I always sought and wanted. But, I said, watching the gesture between
the two of you, I took in the love I didn’t have as a child and was
nourished. I continued, “The love you give to your daughter and what
she gives to you, is not just for the two of you but for the world where
that love is lacking.”
The mother burst into grateful tears. The daughter was wide-eyed. It
was the grandfather who said, “Thank you, for saying that.” It was
one of those moments of blessing. I will never forget it. I suspect they
won’t either.
I had another such experience in Safeway when I provided a man with
the opportunity to help me. I couldn’t reach the container of milk I
needed. I asked if he might get it for me. He wasn’t very tall, but
since I am 4’10” just about anyone is taller than I. The man responded
by almost leaping in the air. He became thoroughly animated. He said
loudly, “Oh! Thank you. Almost no one ever asks me for help.” He rushed
over to the refrigerated shelf, stood on his tiptoes, and retrieved the
milk. He handed it to me with pleasure scrawled across his face. He
thanked me again as I thanked him.
Another blessing. When we provide others with the opportunity to
give, we give to them simultaneously.
My commitment to be a blessing to everyone I meet keeps me busy with
acts of love throughout every day.
I am still here and there is more for me to do and be.
|