Love: how to cultivate heart energy and get rid of the falsehoods.
The word love may be the most battered, abused and misused word in the English language. We have little trouble saying it, but more difficulty doing it, because so few of us truly feel it, or know the power of our words. Regardless of what scripture, guru, teacher or master tells you to love your neighbor, yourself, others; it is hard to achieve because that is someone elses truth, a recipe for love that worked for a particular individual. It is not your truth. You need to create your own recipe, walk your own path and reveal your own truth. If you have to strive, to attempt and struggle to live up to someone elses words and ideals; this is unnatural. Striving and struggling is going against what is, going against the flow. You need to listen.
Most of the time, when we speak of love, we lie- even to ourselves. Only when our awareness resides in the heart-above fear, sorrow and anger-can we really feel or demonstrate the piercing, compassionate, open-hearted, energy of love. I mean this literally,not just poetically or metaphorically. In learning to open the heart, we have to contend with our conscious self- separate and alone, a whirring computer that isn't by nature, particularly loving . Our ego knows love as physical contact- touch, cuddling, making love; it doesn't think or philosophize about love. Most of us , because of the obstructions we've explored, don't yet feel the love and energy of the greater realization, deeper feelings and connections of love. But once we see with the eyes of the heart, we can love others, and we can even love ourselves. Not the kind of love that says I can't love this person because of what they believe in, or their sexual orientation or color; thats all caused, man made limited judgment. It's not love, not even close.
Until then, however, when we say " I love you", we may mean " I feel a mixture of sexual attraction and admiration and awe" or "I fee; great affection and sentiment," or "I feel I need you, and you make me feel more complete."We feel one kind of love for our mates, another for our children, and yet another for our parents; all of these differ in kind or degree from the love we feel for our sisters, brothers, cousins,grandchildren, more distant relatives, friends, colleagues, and humanity are large. The feelings we identify as "love" can change over time with regard to the same person.
Look at old love letters, poems and you will most likely feel like laughing. Whatsoever you call love is a frenzy, a fever, a sort of chemical neurosis; it is not love. How can you love? Love happens only as a shadow to meditation. When you have become so alert, there arise a new quality- that is love. Right now what most call love is jealousy, competition, possessiveness,dependency, fear of being alone,anger or hatred. Maybe you are fed up with yourself, you cannot be with yourself, so you need somebody and you call it love. You cling to somebody, you dominate somebody, you try to manipulate somebody. It is politics, not love, it is ambition to dominate, not love. And naturally it leads you to hell, naturally it makes you more and more miserable.
What has your love done to you? Dreams and dreams and dreams. And dreams are only when you look at your love somewhere there in the future, then it is a dream. When you look back at the love that has happened, then it is a nightmare. All dreams prove nightmares. No, this is not love; otherwise the whole earth would have been happy. So many people loving, everybody is loving.. the mother is loving, the father as well, the friends, song, sister, brother, wife, husband, priest, politician; everybody is loving to everybody. But something else has been named love, and it is false. The container says love but look into the content; jealousy, possessiveness, anger, hatred, domination you will find in the mixture. Just as many people believe they are eating food, but when you actually care enough to look into the contents you will see it is mostly chemicals,genetic engineering and drugs.
So why expect something out of love, or expect the most out of something you don't care to look into yourself? When you go within yourself a totally new energy arises. You have so much energy that you would like to share it, then love is sharing. Then you don't need love, then you are no in need of somebody to love you. Love is simply the way. For the first time you have possessed your treasure of love and a new need arises to share it, to give it to whomsoever needs it. Share it and give it. Be free with it. When love is a need and you want somebody to love you, it is going to create misery. It's a beggars love, and beggars can't be happy always depending on others to feel complete. When love has been known- and that is possible only when you move inward and come to the innermost shrine of your being. When you have known the reservoir of love there, then a new need arises to share it, to give it to whoever needs it.
Love is a friendship that has caught fire. It appears as quiet understanding, trust, sharing, and forgiving. Love remains loyal through good and bad. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weakness. Love feels content with the present; it hopes for the future; it doesn't brood over the past. Love includes the day in, day out, chronicle of irritations, problems, and compromises;the small disappointments, big victories, and common goals. If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don't have it, no matter what else you have, it never feels enough.
Most of the time, when we speak of love, we lie- even to ourselves. Only when our awareness resides in the heart-above fear, sorrow and anger-can we really feel or demonstrate the piercing, compassionate, open-hearted, energy of love. I mean this literally,not just poetically or metaphorically. In learning to open the heart, we have to contend with our conscious self- separate and alone, a whirring computer that isn't by nature, particularly loving . Our ego knows love as physical contact- touch, cuddling, making love; it doesn't think or philosophize about love. Most of us , because of the obstructions we've explored, don't yet feel the love and energy of the greater realization, deeper feelings and connections of love. But once we see with the eyes of the heart, we can love others, and we can even love ourselves. Not the kind of love that says I can't love this person because of what they believe in, or their sexual orientation or color; thats all caused, man made limited judgment. It's not love, not even close.
Until then, however, when we say " I love you", we may mean " I feel a mixture of sexual attraction and admiration and awe" or "I fee; great affection and sentiment," or "I feel I need you, and you make me feel more complete."We feel one kind of love for our mates, another for our children, and yet another for our parents; all of these differ in kind or degree from the love we feel for our sisters, brothers, cousins,grandchildren, more distant relatives, friends, colleagues, and humanity are large. The feelings we identify as "love" can change over time with regard to the same person.
Look at old love letters, poems and you will most likely feel like laughing. Whatsoever you call love is a frenzy, a fever, a sort of chemical neurosis; it is not love. How can you love? Love happens only as a shadow to meditation. When you have become so alert, there arise a new quality- that is love. Right now what most call love is jealousy, competition, possessiveness,dependency,
What has your love done to you? Dreams and dreams and dreams. And dreams are only when you look at your love somewhere there in the future, then it is a dream. When you look back at the love that has happened, then it is a nightmare. All dreams prove nightmares. No, this is not love; otherwise the whole earth would have been happy. So many people loving, everybody is loving.. the mother is loving, the father as well, the friends, song, sister, brother, wife, husband, priest, politician; everybody is loving to everybody. But something else has been named love, and it is false. The container says love but look into the content; jealousy, possessiveness, anger, hatred, domination you will find in the mixture. Just as many people believe they are eating food, but when you actually care enough to look into the contents you will see it is mostly chemicals,genetic engineering and drugs.
So why expect something out of love, or expect the most out of something you don't care to look into yourself? When you go within yourself a totally new energy arises. You have so much energy that you would like to share it, then love is sharing. Then you don't need love, then you are no in need of somebody to love you. Love is simply the way. For the first time you have possessed your treasure of love and a new need arises to share it, to give it to whomsoever needs it. Share it and give it. Be free with it. When love is a need and you want somebody to love you, it is going to create misery. It's a beggars love, and beggars can't be happy always depending on others to feel complete. When love has been known- and that is possible only when you move inward and come to the innermost shrine of your being. When you have known the reservoir of love there, then a new need arises to share it, to give it to whoever needs it.
Love is a friendship that has caught fire. It appears as quiet understanding, trust, sharing, and forgiving. Love remains loyal through good and bad. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weakness. Love feels content with the present; it hopes for the future; it doesn't brood over the past. Love includes the day in, day out, chronicle of irritations, problems, and compromises;the small disappointments, big victories, and common goals. If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don't have it, no matter what else you have, it never feels enough.