The theme for me
lately has been love. It is the theme of the season, too. Whether you are a
Christian celebrating the birth of The Messiah, a Jew celebrating the sacrifice
of the Maccabees and the miracle in the temple, or a Pagan celebrating the
return of the sun and the renewal of life, the underlying theme is love. (I
can't speak to all the other festivals celebrated this time of the year, but I
suspect that love under lies most celebrations.)
For me Christmas is exemplified by love-the love of God-and no, I cannot explain God except to say that God is a Great Mystery-for humanity. And the teaching of Jesus that we should all love each other as He has loved us. And whether Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Pagan or Atheist that principle-love for one another-is hard to argue against.
But what exactly is love? For me, I must agree with all the wise people who have said that the essence of love is seeing the Thou in the Other. Another way of saying this is to see that everyone around you is connected to you in some inexplicable and mysterious way and to behave accordingly. That is the lesson that Scrooge learned in Charles Dicken's story. It is what all the great teachers have taught.
While the song writers and poets have said, perhaps simplistically, that love is the answer that simply stated idea is true at its core. It is impossible to hate or be indifferent when you see from the depths of your own self that the rest of humanity is indeed deeply connected to you and what happens to them is happening to you. You know that to hate someone is to hate your own self. That to be indifferent to their plight is to be indifferent to you.
That revelation is what creates the real miracle of love. Because the old saying that love requires sacrifice is true, too. The sacrifice required is the ego-the idea we have of ourselves as separate and discrete beings trapped in a skin whose consciousness exists somewhere behind our eyes.
This sacrifice comes in many forms as it manifests in our lives. But it always involves giving of ourselves-and the reward is connection. Through the sacrifice of the ego we come into communion with others and become part of a greater whole. We become truly a part of humanity and truly in communion with God. Because when we put away separateness we are finally getting the point-and to 'sin' literally means to miss the point. And the point is this-all true religion and philosophy teaches that it is through love that we transcend ourselves. That in communion with God and Man all our personal and social and political problems are resolved. We cannot do harm where we truly love and act out of that purity of love.
The hard part is getting there and staying there. We all need to work at that-even the sages and saints must work at it. But as the song said, "That's the story of, that's the glory of love."
A person could say a lot more on this topic and perhaps on another day this person will. But for today this is enough out of me.
Feel free to share your perceptions of love below and keep on being the loving blessings you are in this crazy, mixed up world we all share. You are doing more good than you know.
Aloha and mahalo from Colorado.
For me Christmas is exemplified by love-the love of God-and no, I cannot explain God except to say that God is a Great Mystery-for humanity. And the teaching of Jesus that we should all love each other as He has loved us. And whether Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Pagan or Atheist that principle-love for one another-is hard to argue against.
But what exactly is love? For me, I must agree with all the wise people who have said that the essence of love is seeing the Thou in the Other. Another way of saying this is to see that everyone around you is connected to you in some inexplicable and mysterious way and to behave accordingly. That is the lesson that Scrooge learned in Charles Dicken's story. It is what all the great teachers have taught.
While the song writers and poets have said, perhaps simplistically, that love is the answer that simply stated idea is true at its core. It is impossible to hate or be indifferent when you see from the depths of your own self that the rest of humanity is indeed deeply connected to you and what happens to them is happening to you. You know that to hate someone is to hate your own self. That to be indifferent to their plight is to be indifferent to you.
That revelation is what creates the real miracle of love. Because the old saying that love requires sacrifice is true, too. The sacrifice required is the ego-the idea we have of ourselves as separate and discrete beings trapped in a skin whose consciousness exists somewhere behind our eyes.
This sacrifice comes in many forms as it manifests in our lives. But it always involves giving of ourselves-and the reward is connection. Through the sacrifice of the ego we come into communion with others and become part of a greater whole. We become truly a part of humanity and truly in communion with God. Because when we put away separateness we are finally getting the point-and to 'sin' literally means to miss the point. And the point is this-all true religion and philosophy teaches that it is through love that we transcend ourselves. That in communion with God and Man all our personal and social and political problems are resolved. We cannot do harm where we truly love and act out of that purity of love.
The hard part is getting there and staying there. We all need to work at that-even the sages and saints must work at it. But as the song said, "That's the story of, that's the glory of love."
A person could say a lot more on this topic and perhaps on another day this person will. But for today this is enough out of me.
Feel free to share your perceptions of love below and keep on being the loving blessings you are in this crazy, mixed up world we all share. You are doing more good than you know.
Aloha and mahalo from Colorado.
