Humans have the option to live through local simple food and enjoy a paradisaical natural world of genius, generosity and peace, and yet that is not enough for us, we are too clever for our own good mostly.
As we try to embrace our rational mind, we miss the conclusion that Plato set: truth, goodness, beauty; we don’t want these things, at least not on the surface, we have forgotten who we are, and our efforts fall into the pits of greed and violence.
We have the Sun, we have the Moon, we have wind and trees and animals – they speak the mysteries to us daily, and what are we doing with our time? Lost in our own human bubbles, we are outcasts to the garden, and we feel it; frantically we run from one distraction to another, until we break down with sickness or exhaustion, and fall back at death into the Great Love. There is nothing more to our disconnected lives. We must reintegrate with Nature beyond our limited minds.
The month of May
May, you are the heart of the garden
when the rains return to nourish us
and sweetness flowers from fireside evenings
over warm drinks and mirthful conversation.
The clouds part to reveal the infinite
jewelled crisp sky. The moon dances
a smile to full circle, and then returns
to hold the golden glow of our fireside Sun.
Once more in the heart of the hearth
the ripening soul rejoins our ever-magical Earth.
Vivid is the storm’s greater dream
There is an ancient art, that is deep
and just and clear, and the way to it
is no way at all.
And from thence
flow all the universes in simple and humble
accord.
The clarity of belonging is a deep rooted
dawning.
The muse speaks through both ears
and only the children
of the universe
are revealed
to have eyes
in all directions of space and of time.
Be the ancient tumult calmed to storm’s
stillness.
Vivid the trail of the forest to the tree to the seed.
Callous the dream of the world
besides this, yet their unity
is a magic
few can fathom.
Waking up is not possible from the ego.
Three kinds of love
There are said to be three kinds of Love, depending on how you look at it. (If anyone knows the source of this please let me know, it’s not my idea but I will try to flesh it out as best as I recall)
Three Kinds of Love:
The first is ‘love in the womb’ – the person is dependant upon love, receives it, needs it, like a foetus in the womb. Such a person, if they can receive such love from another, becomes nourished and grows over time. The challenge is that they may never wish to let go of their need for receiving love, their dependence upon another to love them. The person here is usually unaware of the needs of their lover and simply wishes to be loved. It is very much about oneself only. This love is like the Earth, biological, receptive, and natural.
Growing from this, one accrues the second kind of love: ‘love as twins’. This is a partnership agreement of mutual give and take; love here is an exchange where each person agrees to fulfil the needs of the other in exchange for their love. “I will fulfil your needs and wants while you fulfil my needs/wants.” It is a mutual agreement. Through this kind of love, people may learn that love is not just about receiving, but also giving, yet it is limited to a specific other; it is bound by the parameters of the ego. It is an agreement or exchange based on requirements in each other. The challenge here is to work within the parameters of the other to meet one’s own needs through co-existence. This love is like the moon, a reflection of moods, feelings, and sharing upon each other.
The third kind of love is ‘absolute love’. This is the highly ideal and highly romantic and/or mystical form of love. It is perhaps ultimately unreachable, but is aspired for and spoken about by mystics, saints, and other such folk. It has its roots not wholly in this world. Absolute love is unconditional love; it does not need any particular person or object to love or to be fulfilled in love; it is completely independent of others and will love regardless of the response of another. The joy of this love is the love itself and its overflow into the world. It is love regardless of who or what a person is, does, looks like, thinks – without any conditions, even if they be the greatest tyrant of evil, one’s torturer or a slave master; this love is equal to these people in quantity as to an innocent infant. It is completely giving of love without asking for anything in return, and it is love through wisdom. For such love to be sustained, a person must be well and truly connected with the essence of their own being and the sacred centre of existence (i.e. soul and God/Goddess) and be fully developed in character and noble conduct. The challenge of such love is patience and sustaining the way of the heart. Since human beings are still learning and growing as souls, there is a sorrow that comes with this love that sees them floundering when a way of greater inner freedom for others is known and wished for them. The soul may not be ready for such. This love is like the Sun; endlessly giving of light and warmth.
We learn and we grow through all experiences of love, whether received, shared, or given, and there is no ranking of better or worse here – all is significant on the journey to the centre of the heart. Understanding this long long journey and oneself, one can become more conscious about their own relationship with love, and those they are connected to through this.
To fully awaken the third stage of love requires knowing well the second stage, and to fully awaken the second stage requires knowing the first stage. (Note: I don’t really like this stage idea as a progression to something greater like a ladder, but more like phases of soul growth in an endless spiral of learning, as a return to the greater truth of love.)
Peace.
Is the Ocean only so deep?
Love is an ocean and it will swallow all you hold dear;
The illusion of ‘I’ and ‘you’, are these aquatic creatures?
Wisdom is the sky, full of stars that rise, swivel, and then set;
see how the waves of love, however huge, never overwhelm the sky.
Creativity is the earth, the fruits of sky and ocean;
This is the land beneath our feet, within our reach of hands and speech
and this is where the play of life unfolds.
We humans live on Earth, though we are capable of travelling otherwise,
it is earth upon which we centre ourselves, if we are to fully experience
our gifted lives.
Love is like salt water, unless evaporated into sky; and still it brings little result until to earth it falls from high, and then the green plants gives rise, to life’s balance, which furthers life.
Roadless, the forest
Give me the road, till that dissolves
into the forest will I shine. The Sun
in her magic revolves as the mirror
of our hearts; renewed through spirit;
renewed under the Moon are we.
And time follows cycles outside of our
squares; and our squares are sacred
when we know both ways of the world.
When we can kiss the stars and let them be
the world will sing beneath our feet.
Perfect Love
Without time, without space, there is the infinite source of perfect love. And we fear this, whilst seeking it also.
What a contradiction we humans are: we want a certain thing that will give us something we don’t want with it, or we are not prepared to not want something that will harm us, or we wish to avoid something that will do us good. Our manoeuvres are endless, our prize always the same; we attempt in our views to return to the Infinite perfect love, and slowly through confusion, our sempiternal journey brings us ever nearer to home.
Everything else is changeable, temporary, an illusion. Our illusions are measured by their proximity to Love; the shadows they cast become our image of love, while Love itself remains as it was. We dance with our fear of perfect love, and play among those shadows.
If we step towards Love too quickly, when not ready, it hurts; not because of Love, but because we mistook ourselves and others for the shadow of Love, when in reality, we are Love. We fear to see ourselves in this truth.
It is inevitable, we return because Love is all that is. It is inevitable and we heal in time through experiences until we are comfortable enough to settle in Love’s reality; a reality that is not all-pleasure, but a state capable of reconciling, of healing, all pain.
It is natural to fear Love, and that is our confusion as souls in journey. For to love Love is not really Love; it is a pretending to love. A safe distance. Love itself is complete accord beyond duality.
It is enough to simply be what is. All unrest apart from this is a fear of this still silence of endless self-luminous being. All action, all speech, all, is a mere motion from Love; and if we can recognise this, there is nothing to fear.
All great mystics have shown this through their living example in various ways, and at every moment (some more distinct than others), we are given a choice to further exercise our existence in Love – this is a priceless gift if we wish to freely take it.
And when this gift is met with another who also wishes to exercise this choice, then that is perfect love made manifest in this world.
