This Thing Called Love

It’s February – the month of LOVE. This week, as I have contemplated what I will speak about this coming Sunday, I thought, well of course I’ll speak about love. It is the day before Valentine’s Day after all, the one day designated each year to celebrate love. Yet, I often struggle with how to talk about love. What is this think called ‘love’?

Attempting to define or describe love is like trying to define God. It cannot truly be done. Poets, mystics, and avatars throughout the ages have attempted to describe Love in words, but they are simply doing their best to depict a personal experience of Love.

Charles Fillmore, the cofounder of Unity, said, “We may talk about the wisdom of God, but the love of God must be felt in the heart. It cannot be described, and one who has not felt it can have no concept of it from the descriptions of others.”¹ Even though I do not claim to possess the words to adequately define or describe ‘Love’ I will share my current understanding of it.

Love, in its purest essence is God/Life/Divine Mind/Source/One in motion. It is the energy that underlies and connects all creation. Charles Fillmore also said, “Love is the uniting, joining force (energy) of Divine Mind.”² In the book of Genesis we read the authors depiction of the creation story, which is one attempt to understand the great mystery of how life began. The story says that in the beginning was God, and God moved upon the void and all things were created. I think of God’s movement as Love.

Further, in the Gospel of John we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…And, the Word became flesh.” (John 1) I assert that the Word was made flesh through the expression of Love and that the word made flesh is Divine Love.

Each of us is Love in our essential nature. It is our purest delight to stand in the presence of the God of our Being, to worship at the throne of Love, and be filled with the conscious awareness of Love. Then, we are to arise and go out into the world and Be Love.

Instead, we have created a false God, an idol. We have created a God of our own image, and we worship at its throne. This God is the amalgamation of our beliefs, opinions, preferences, religion, physical body, money, possessions and history. This God has a name. Its name is “Me.”

We spend so much of our time and energy worshipping at the throne of the idolized image of “me” that we have little or no time left for the true God of our being. It is any wonder that the first of the Ten Commandments is “You shall have no God before the one true God” and the second is, “You shall not create any idols.”

This idol worship separates us from the awareness of the Love that we are. Let me be clear, there is nothing that can separate us from the Love of God (Romans 8:38). However, in our minds, in our humanity, we believe that we are separate from God, from our fellows and from all creation. In this separation, we are not consciously aware of Love. The illusion of separation results in fear. When “Me” becomes our God, we fear. Fear creates pain and suffering.

Fear stimulated by idol worship is the root cause of all the pain and suffering in the world. When that pain and suffering is left unexamined and unaided it escalates and often erupts in acts of hatred and violence. We witnessed it all around us in explicit and implicit acts of violence.

Worshiping the idol called “Me” is also evident in fanatics of all religions who are unwilling or unable to question long-held beliefs, and who are reluctant to hear and attempt to understand another’s perspective. They fear the loss of the sense of the safety and power their dogmas supposedly provide. This fear plays out in acts of violence against those who hold differing beliefs and those whose actions do not comply with their religious edicts. These violent acts may be as stringent as genocide, or as subtle as name-calling or refusal of service.

We can also witness idol worship demonstrated more subtly in the power struggles within our own government and in corporate greed that pollutes the Earth and our environment and enslaves workers in developing countries. They are all acts of violence resulting from the fear stimulated from worshiping the idol of “Me” which manifests in the beliefs in “my power,” “my money,” or “my prestige” and the anxiety stimulated by the thought of losing them.

So, how do we awaken to the transforming power of Love?

Our transformation is three-fold; it involves spirit, mind and body. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). We are given the spirit of Love, but through idol worship, our awareness of that truth is often clouded. It requires our self-discipline to turn away from the idol of “Me” and instead worship at the altar of Love within.

We must practice daily meditation in which we withdraw our focus from the things of the world that often entice and entrance us and surrender in the silence to the Spirit of Love within. In meditation, we focus in the heart and allow the energy of Love to radiate from that center until our entire countenance is filled with Love. As we practice meditation our true Spirit of Love is remembered; we are delivered from fear and our awareness is transformed.

Mentally, we must engage the practice of denials to cleanse the mental body of thought energy that is based in fear. Using denials, we refuse to give any energy or power to fear thoughts and invite the power of Love to clear them away. Following denials, we continually affirm the truth of Love.  Charles Fillmore offers the following affirmation to condition the mind with truth:

“I am the abode of love. I am filled and thrilled with the mighty magnetic forces that love uses in doing its work. I am powerful and active to do only good, and I see only goodness and purity everywhere.”¹

Additionally, it is important to read spiritually inspired books, poems and treatises on the power of Divine Love. In addition to books by Charles Fillmore, and other Unity authors, I recommend On Love by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. As Paul said, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

Lastly, but certainly no less important, the transformation must take place on the physical plane as well, meaning through our actions. I suggest doing at least one thing each week that stimulates some level of fear when you contemplate doing it. If considering it elicits fear, you can rest assured that some form of idol worship is at play. For example, if you are inspired to reach out to an old friend you haven’t seen in years, and the thought stimulates fear for you, chances are very good that there is some aspect of the “Me” idol that is ostensibly being threatened. It may be the fear of being rejected. If so, I encourage you to hold yourself with empathy and compassion and allow the fear to be present. Do not attempt to resist it or deny it. Softly breathe into the heart. Invite the power of Love to fill your heart and radiate outward. Feel yourself totally embraced in Love. Allow Love to transmute the fear. Then, in faith, step out and do the thing you were inspired to do.

This is especially true when the fear is related to sharing our unique gifts and talents, connecting with others through acts of love and compassion, and sharing loving expressions of mercy and justice. We can trust and know that our actions are inspired by the Love that we are. Each time we allow ourselves to face the fear, allow Love to transmute it, and act from inspiration, we strengthen our faith and awaken more completely to the transforming power of Love.

Love is the power that transforms us. Love is the power that transforms the world. As we awaken to the conscious awareness of love, our hearts and minds are renewed, and our lives are transformed. When we are transformed, our lives become active expressions of Love and the world is transformed.

This is my prayer, “May humanity awaken to the transforming power of Love, and may I lead the way.”

 

¹ Talks on Truth, The Development of Divine Love
² Metaphysical Bible Dictionary