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Lesson #11: Love
I want to talk with you about love…The Beatles said….all you need is love…Leo Buscaglia taught the first university class on love…… Dr. Gerald Jampolsky said “Love is letting go of fear.”…… You can find the most famous definition of love in Corinthians 13:4-8 :
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Everybody makes jokes about love…….
So I ‘d like to simplify the subject for you .
Love really is all there is!
It really is true that all you need is love. I actually think that there really is just one power in all the universe…and that power is love….love does make the world go round.
So you might say what about hate, anger, and fear….those are forces that oppose love. I don’t think so…..hate, anger and fear are the absence of love.
And this is where the idea becomes something practical…..
How do you feel right now? Just think about it….surrounded by family and friends, you feel safe, protected, at peace….these are all evidence of love …now think about other times, or events, or circumstances when you felt the same.
It is an indescribable feeling. You feel like everything is OK…it’s really great…..that is love.
How do you create more love in your life?
So how do you manage your life so there are more times feeling love than the times feeling anger or fear? That really is the question….
- FIRST….recognize as I said at the beginning…LOVE is all there is…there is no other power.
2. CREATE……rituals, events, customs…first between just you and your partner and then with your children, and then with your extended family and friends. These events don’t need to be fancy, large or expensive. For example, how would your life as a couple be changed if every day you awakened and said to each other, “I know the power of love lives in you today, making you strong enough to face any challenge.” How would that make your day? Create family photo albums / videos; play games together; make your family life your sanctuary, filled with love.
3. CULTIVATE love….in other words, find ways to uplift others…it begins with just a smile, but learn to be sensitive to others; learn to pay compliments, and when someone is genuinely hurting or in despair, see if you can develop the strength to reach out and uplift them, by reminding them with these words…”in you there is a power, a divine strength that is here to strengthen and lift you up out of this situation.” Think about it.
4. REMEMBER….when you feel fear or anger, that is the absence of love….call upon each other…and call upon the divine presence within, for help at these times…..your job as a spouse is to always remind the other. “You are filled with the divine presence that has nothing else to do but take care of you and lift you up over every human circumstance.”
Love is all there is. Feel it tonight. Feel it tomorrow…and then cultivate it every single day. Love is all you need.
But for some of us, love can still be confusing. Especially here in the USA, love gets mixed with lust and sex and very few seem to understand how it functions. Charles Fillmore, founder of Unity, provides the answers right here.
“Love, in Divine Mind, is the idea of universal unity. In expression, it is the power that joins and binds together the universe and everything in it. Love is a harmonizing, constructive power……
“Love is that mighty power, that divine quality of God that is expressing through all mankind, and cannot be suppressed by any outside force. I now firmly declare that it is expressing through me, and that no environment or external condition can hinder it. Any unloving condition of the world is no bar to my exercise of love; in fact, it is an incentive…..
“I am not afraid to pour out my love on all the so-called evil of the world. I deny the appearance of evil, and affirm the omnipotence of love and goodness.”
–Charles Fillmore, KEEP A TRUE LENT
He connects love with the divine, and he very clearly claims that love is “harmonizing and constructive.” So wherever you see destruction or friction or argument or chaos, the answer is love. And if you are not sure what that means, then just reach into your heart and ask yourself, “how do I feel.” If you feel fear, agitation, or stress, you are not in a state of love. Separate yourself from the situation briefly and allow the divine presence to fill you with love once again. Many of us do this by meditating daily. My spiritual teacher used to say, “Meditate every day. In that way, you are all prayed up in advance when the shit hits the fan.”
Fillmore continues by talking about “expression.” And this point is most important. If God is Love, then God comes into our world through each of us. The responsibility to love, to make things better, lies with each of us. You might make a list……“acts of love.” And if that title seems too intimidating, then just call it “nice things to do.” A few things on that list might be:
- smile and make eye contact
- give a compliment
- allow another driver into traffic
- hold open a door
- touch with love (careful with this one)
- hug (and this one too)
Don’t be concerned with how long your list is. Just take the top three from my list and start doing those. In every interaction you have….the cashier, the bank teller, the bus driver…..look that person in the eye, smile, and say thank you with sincerity. When you start doing this, you will find that these encounters get just a little longer. And that is great!
The main thing is that you acknowledge this other human being and give love through your smile. That is what Fillmore means by “expression.”
YOU get to be LOVE in the world.
Some would say, through the expression of love, you ARE God in the world.
And that is a powerful thing.
Peace, Bill
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