16/06/2010

WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is not an emotion, although it sometimes manifests in that way.
Love is not a human trait, although sometimes we like to think so.
Love has nothing to do with relationship, except when two people are completely open to each other - and then those two don't have to be 'in a relationship'.


There are many words for love. My favorite is consciousness. But love has been called by many other names: God; Jesus; Spirit; Great Spirit; Yahweh; Nature; Universe; Reality; Tao...
The great Taoist Lao Tzu, in the opening of the Tao Te Ching says:
"The Tao that can be spoken of is not the real Tao."


Because Tao, or God, or Love, is absolute - and words are relative. How can you describe with relative words something that is absolute? It's impossible... but we try, because words are one way in which Love expresses itself through us...
All that is, is love. Love is the creative power behind all of our experience - it is our essence, our nature, our being.


When we let go of all our ideas, beliefs, and attachments... all that we think we are... then what remains is our true self: love.
Love is consciousness. It exists in every part of your body, and your body is not contained by your skin. That is only your physical body. The physical body is very gross manifestation of love. With training, when you learn to feel more subtly - beyond the dense, gross material world, beyond the physical - you find that an energetic body surrounds and inter-penetrates the physical. And that energetic body is just another layer of consciousness...In the bible it is written that God created man in his own image. It means that we are divine. Jesus said:
"I and my Father are one." He also said: "All these things and greater you shall do too."
Jesus was a man who realized the divinity within himself - that is the meaning of 'Self Realization'. He came to the experience of oneness, and realized that there is nothing outside of the Self.
"I am the way, the truth, and the light".
I'm not religious - although some could be forgiven for thinking so. I am simply a man who has found that within, surrounding, and beyond all my human experience, there is a light shining which can never be extinguished. It illuminates every aspect of my life, my awareness, and I cannot separate myself from it. I AM THAT.

4 comments:

Peter said...

I love your wise words. Great!
The essence of god is love. Love is an awareness, an attitude, a context for understanding life.
"Lovingness is a way of relating to the world. It is a generosity of attitude that expresses itself in seemingly small but powerful ways. It is a wish to bring happiness to others, to brighten their day and lighten their load. […]
Once one becomes willing to give love, the discovery quickly follows that one is surrounded by love and merely didn’t know how to access it. Love is actually present everywhere and its presence only needs to be realized."

Namasté
Peter

Unknown said...

Thanks Peter,
I believe that love IS life. I don't think they can really be separated.
Life is reality. Reality is consciousness. Consciousness is love.
Everything else is just a result of our intellect.
With love,
Ben

Kobra said...

Spiritual fluff aside, there are two definitions of love I subscribe to.

The first is the biological one. The cold, rational, one that deals with pheromones and the propagation of genetic information.

The second one is "the recognition of one's highest values in another."

Unknown said...

yeah, the thing is Kobra, your biological, chemical processes are finite. They will come and go. In love, out of love. No continuity.

The 'other' in whom you 'recognise your own highest values' (sounds pretty self-centered idea of love if you ask me) will never reflect your values fully. So you are saying that love is something very limited only.
Is that really what you think?!

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