The poet Rumi said, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” Once again we are led to our own ‘up front and personal’ self-inquiry. We all desire to love and be loved, to understand and be understood and to cross the threshold of fulfillment of our deepest hungers and longings for love to blossom throughout our lives.
The mystics, gurus, philosophers and teachers have repeatedly offered life’s primary lesson. Discover who and what you essentially are, and you discover Everlasting Love! Universal Truth remains unchangeable. When you discover your true nature, you discover your Self…the immanent and transcendant Unseen, working behind and beneath the scenes to produce everything that turns up visibly throughout our world. Love is the irressistible force that desires expression of Itself by means of all of creation. Ernest Holmes, the founder of Science of Mind desribed love as the “outpouring of Spirit.”
We seek for love, we devise many schemes and plans to pull love into our lives and we suffer the pangs of disappointment and deep grief, when love once found, is lost. This truly is softened immeasurably when we engage with metaphysical explorations and spiritual practices. Every faith tradition contains the recommendation to seek first the greatest love of all which abides within the real Self all are…then to let this love be expressed throughout our lives… through our creative endeavors, through the care and nurturing we provide our children, the joy of sharing a love-life with a significant other, and the kindness and compassion we joyfully free to spill over to all humanity. Isn’t that what charitable causes are all about? Giving of ourselves in ways that make life a bit better for an unknown but related member of our Divine planetary family? Isn’t this the guiding principle behind selfless service and volunteerism?
My invitation to myself and others this month, as always, is to take Rumi’s beautiful words to my soul, by honestly discovering the ways in which I withold love from myself and others, how I greedily cling to love, falsely perceiving it to be a lifetime guarantee someone will never leave me. I examine the whys and ways I have falsely identified myself by the roles I play, and the personal characteristics I describe as unlovable. I see Spirit not as a merely esoteric, pleasant phantasy, but as a greater Reality of who I truly Am… a completely identifiable Essence of Being, I can call Spirit, Divine, Mind or God. God in us, as us, is us folks, and…you gotta love it!
AWARENESS CONTEMPLATION:Sit quietly in a relaxed, consciously centered fashion with your eyes gently closed. Let your attention drift away from what the day holds, what needs doing, freeing any and all preoccupations, musculature tension, cares and concerns to waft off into nothingness. Take a few deep breaths and enjoy the sacred journey away from the outer, to the inner realms of Self, where all is calm and peaceful, while at the same time vibrantly alive. Follow your breath as it enters and then leaves your body. Silently repeat a short, spiritual mantra of your choosing…perhaps OM or Shalom or God Is (on the inhale) I Am (on the exhale). Feel the soft and gentle sense of “Okness” which immerses and surrounds you. Recognize that this is L-O-V-E!
Bask in it, float upon it, and know this is Pure Awareness…this is God recognizing and becoming more conscious of Itself by means of you. Surf the sweetness and the silence and enjoy the Ever-Presence of this Divine Love…It is always and eternally right where you are. God Is, I Am…All Are, I Am!
AFFIRMATIVE PRAYER:I quiet my mind, relax my body and still my emotions. I find myself drifting inward toward a silent invitation from the sacred…”Look unto me…” This is my deeper and truer Self of pure, changeless love calling me home. I accept the call as that which I fundamentally Am…Perfect Self, Perfect Life, Perfect Love forever in generous expression of Itself through and by means of me. I feel a real sense of joy, peace, harmony and reassurance that all is right with me, all is right with the world, for right where I Am, God Is. Gratefully I accept and rejoice that this is so and so it is!
* REMINDER: To explore more ideas on this topic, as they personally relate to your life, e-mail me at: revsue@verizon.net.
Abundant and loving blessings during this and all seasons!
Dr. Sue