Come Home to Love

The word "love", in English, has many meanings. When I was a child, I "loved" my mother, chocolate ice cream, to play with my friends, the color red... etc.. As a young person I "loved" science fiction, an actor in a TV show, the cute boy in class, my dog, horses, someone's hair... the list went on, of course. As a young adult, I "loved" my current boyfriend, going to parties with my friends, helping other young people out...and so on and so forth. As a mature adult, my "ideas" about what the word "love" means has developed, matured. I have suffered the meaning of the word, and have transformed much of that suffering into a deeper understanding of the higher aspects of "love". I have also learned, that the word is so loosely used, in general speaking, that it is actually inadequate, to communicate the particular emotional state I wish to express.  In "talking" about  "love" (which can actually, only be felt), then, I must, for the sake of honest communication, give an exact description, to the sense, in which, I am using the word.

The Greeks have four words for love, "storge", which is a kind of natural affection between ourselves and our close associates, familial love, we can even feel this type of love for our pets. Then there is " philia", which is brotherly love, a deep and abiding friendship, where one wants the best for the other and tries to do that for them. "Eros" is romantic, passion for another, with sexual overtones, it is a very strong desire to merge, with the other, it can easily become connected, over time, with a desire to own or possess the other, if  this happens it usually turns into something negative. The last Greek word for "love" is "agape". Agape is a kind of unconditional love, one that cannot change, it is an enduring love, the love we have for all humanity, our love for the Universal creator, the love we have for our own higher self,  that is, our own little bit of BEING, and ultimately it is a kind of unconditional "love" for all bits of BEING everywhere, as all BEING arises from the same source, and so far as we our selves partake of BEING, we are that BEING, and so is all BEING ad-infinitum. Agape is the love of "God", yet to experience this love, one must find, and awaken "the God BEING", dwelling in one's own heart.

For me, this last form of love, "agape", is the form of love I have learned to call "home". I don't find my way to this home in my heart, that often. It is not easy to remain there when I do, the mind produces, so much that distracts me away from that place, automatic programming, opinions, judgment about everything and anything. To be there, I must be "here", in the present, it takes work, it requires conscious effort, to operate from this moment, to bring my BEING into this state of "love". It requires a certain kind of special energy to maintain my attention here.And  I cannot sustain my attention, here, for too long, I experience this state in flashes, yet even the briefest moment, brings the wisdom and understanding of my connectedness. I am connected to you, and you are connected to me, we are connected to all BEING. Like you, I am one of the myriad creatures, one speck of all the forms of BEING has taken, experiencing, advancing, with you, creating this reality, which is home. 

 

Thanks for this reflection..... I feel a present moment connection to the energy your written words are expressing.  The Agape state is the nourishment of   Beingness.  May we all evolve towards it moment by moment.  I too only experience it in brief flashes of awareness. 

 Paashi, Thank-you for your efforts to be "present", each effort elevates the level of Being of the whole of humanity.

 You are here too!  Thank you!

 Yes aj, I am now, you reminded me, so HERE I am, in the moment.  BEING, reminded TO BE, is so valuable, and forgetting TO BE is so easy, like "falling off a log", as 'they' say here in the USA.  One method I find quite helpful in this process of penetrating the present, after I receive a reminder such as your post, which has the effect of causing me to realize I have been sleep walking (so to speak), is to quickly make the effort that it takes to "find" myself and to RETURN to the present, instead of feeling bad about having been "asleep" as I often used to do, wasting, thereby, the opportunity TO BE.  I keep making these small invisible efforts TO BE, when ever I remember to do so, for my own spiritual development, and also to participate in the elevation of ALL BEING, love for the whole of humanity, and the other forms that BEING has chosen to actualize, is the motivation, which propels the BEING residing between the "temple walls", of this body form, into the ever changing moment. In this experience I am so glad to meet you HERE. Together we, along with all the others making similar efforts, are the "leaven", our efforts TO BE are what raises the whole. From our efforts TO BE, all hope springs forth, our gratitude for the efforts of other(s) gives birth, in our own spirit, to higher forms of love. Thank-you for BEING, no matter, when ever or where ever or whom ever YOU ARE.