Читать книгу Love Equals Power - Eileen McBride - Страница 3

Let’s assume, just as a starting point, that I’ve got this right and love actually is power. Before it is possible to explain what this means we first have to address what I mean by love. I will say at the outset, I am no expert in knowing what love is in its entirety. I have some interesting ideas that I would like to expound on, but I make no claim to know everything about love.

However, I feel I have some experience in what I think love is not. So that’s where I want to start. Then I will explain the nature of love, its relationship to Love, the difference between Love and love, and how an understanding of how these two aspects of the same notion lead to power on many levels – physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Before I go further, I would like to explain my terminology. The basic premise of this book is that everything in the Universe has its source in a Divinely Creative Power, which I will refer to using a number of synonymous terms, including Divine Love, Source, All That Is, That Which Is, or Divine Principle. I could also use the word God, but I am often loath to use such a culturally and historically value-laden word. Over the ages the word God has been, misleadingly, anthropomorphised and has come to signify some super human in the sky who suffers the same emotions and shortcomings of the rest of the human race, and is thus not only capable of extreme love and care, but also of equally extreme vengeance, cruelty and judgment. I would like to offer an alternative understanding of God.

Also needing explanation is my use of capitalisation which may seem rather random and obscure. Capitalisation of words is a way to signify the spiritual Absolute. Words that are not capitalised refer to their human or physical world equivalents. Everything that we understand to exist in the physical world originates in Spirit and is, in fact, spiritual. As internationally renowned speaker and writer Wayne Dyer likes to say, we are actually spiritual beings having a human experience, rather than the other way round. The evidence of our five senses does not support this fact, but I hope to explain to some degree why sense testimony is fundamentally misleading when trying to understand the metaphysics that underpin Life and, therefore, life.

The difficulty lies in the fact that life as we know it is essentially a paradox. It seems to be one thing but is, in fact, something else and that what it seems to be has no bearing on, and gives no true indication of, what it truly is. For example, while we all think we understand what love is, we have no real notion of its spiritual source, Love. The best way to view this dichotomy is to see everything in its spiritual origin as existing in the realm of the Absolute, with their physical and human counterparts only being real in the physical world, or, the realm of the relative.

Because I am here in physical form my understanding of the Absolute is limited. This is the fundamental nature of the physical world: everything in it is limited. But just as the essence of the wave is that of the ocean, we can gain some understanding of the Absolute by our experience in the relative.

It is important to note, however, that while the essence is the same, the ocean and the wave are not identical. And that is the relationship of humans to Source. The Divine is within us, and gives life to us, but that is not to say that we are the same as the Divine Source, or Creative Principle. We contain within us the Divine Spark that some would call God, and it is from this notion that we learn to see ourselves as worthy of All That God Is. But while this demonstrates the deep, inextricable connection between the Spiritual, they are not one in the same. The Spiritual came first and the physical is merely a temporary phase we have adopted to obtain a more perfect knowing of what Life Is.

We are Life, or God if you prefer, manifested. The Divine Principle of Life that gave life to us exists in us as essence and we can use this knowledge to interpret our experience in this world to understand more of the Spiritual Universe, because knowing what Life Is is why we are here. The trick is knowing what Life Is in a world of what it is not.

The first term that requires definition and explanation is the word love. Our language and culture have ascribed meanings that I do not intend to include in my definitions. There are many emotional states that come in the guise of love but, in truth, have nothing whatsoever to do with it. Some of these states are neediness, loneliness, control, sexual appetite, lack of self-worth, fear, financial or emotional security, self-aggrandisement, jealousy and quid pro quo.

We often cannot admit to ourselves, let alone others, the true motives behind our behaviour and interactions with others, but we all know if we call it love, we are in the bounds of acceptability and we do not have to explain or justify ourselves. But we make a mistake if we listen merely to the words people use. The best way to discern the presence of love is to examine our own feelings.

If love is indeed present we feel we are where we are meant to be, that we are spiritually home, and that we can cope with whatever happens. Love is a deep spiritual resource in us that enables us to find peace, truth, beauty and power regardless of the external conditions of our lives.

A truly loving person does not try to change others. Love respects the other as they are and gives him, or her, the freedom to find their own truth in their own way. When we align our life with Love we understand that necessary adjustments occur externally so that we are all okay. Within us all resides the spiritual and emotional wisdom we need to align with Love.

Love is like a fountain that continues to flow, regardless of who is there to receive the water. Love is our essence, our reason for being. We are our true selves – that is, we are aligned with our true nature – when we love as perfectly as we can. Our quest is to be the fount for love.

Before we try to love others, however, we must first love ourselves. Part of this means we only stay in situations where we can live according to our own truth. But it first means that we only ever listen to our own inner voice and if that voice urges us to move out of a particular situation, then it is never love that keeps us in that space. That would be another emotion entirely.

It is difficult to speak in specifics on these topics. Each person must discern their own route in life; it is never valid or wise to allow others to dictate the path we should follow. Neither is it right for us to direct another in how to live their life. That is why we all have our own conscience, our own individual connection with Source or Spirit. Only we know what is right for us. None of us knows what is right for anybody else.

In practical terms, this may mean that in identical circumstances, one person might leave a situation or relationship, while another might stay. There are no hard and fast rules, no generalisations, no easy blueprints for how we are meant to live our lives.

The only hard and fast truth is that everything we ever need to know to live a meaningful and fulfilling life is within us. Love is the guard and guide that only ever speaks true wisdom and offers the wisest counsel. So the more we know about Love and its human counterpart, love, the more we know and understand about life and how each of us is meant to be living it.

If we truly love ourselves then we will never place ourselves in the way of harm, or expose ourselves to disrespectful, unkind, or unloving treatment. As I will explain in this text, we are the emanation and manifestation of the Divine and so we are worthy only of the best, in all aspects of life.

If we are living a life that is not peaceful, fulfilling and loving, then it is because we have not chosen it. To change our life circumstances we need to silence our fear and choose differently. We are always free to choose differently. That is the true power of Love. The Universe will always support and assist us in making the changes necessary to align our lives with our true nature as the manifestation of Love.

A truly loving person is not a namby-pamby doormat. When we love ourselves and know our own truth, we will always defend and protect ourselves from any attack or abuse, from whomever, or wherever, it comes. True self-love is not about sacrificing oneself or denying one’s joy or desire for the sake of any other group or individual. Each of us is the unique emanation and manifestation of the Universe and each of us is needed as we are, in our own truth. If we spend all our time and effort trying to live according to others’ expectations and moral codes, we become something less than our true selves.

Silencing or ignoring our truth leads us into sickness, disharmony in relationships, or mental and emotional turmoil. Subjugating our own desires to enable another to avoid their own fears is not love, because no person who is truly motivated by love would ever ask this of another.

Our aim in life is to find our own truth, to find what feels right for us and to live accordingly. We have been gifted the means to do this by Divine Love that will never desert us, and that always provides us with the power we need to transform our life from fear to love. Love is the wisdom we need to live the life we are meant to live; and that wisdom always comes from within.

We have all the power we need to construct the life we want. We all have whatever it is we need to feel peace, and even bliss. This is true power, that none can take away. We may give it away, especially when we don’t really understand how love works, but we can reclaim our power at any time.

What is this power? What does it look like and where does it come from? Within all of us resides an impetus and capacity that exists, regardless of the circumstances of our lives. It is the urge to derive meaning from our experiences and use it to create a more peaceful, satisfying and fulfilling life. This power cannot be quenched, destroyed nor exhausted because its source is found in the Divine.

The only thing that may seem to block the exercise of this power is our own unwillingness to harness and utilise it. Like the sunrays from the sun, power is available to all who stand in the light of Love. Unlike the sun’s rays, however, our power comes from within, not from any set of external circumstances. Therefore power exists, whatever else is happening. The only valid question is: how is it accessed?

The nature and origin of this power has been expounded on by Dr David R Hawkins in his book Power Vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behaviour . As indicated in the title, Dr Hawkins distinguishes power from its suppositional opposite: force. The two have no similarities, because one is spiritual and thereby immutable and eternal, whilst the other is limited and is always subject to power:

‘Force always moves against something, whereas power does not move against anything. Force is incomplete and therefore has to constantly be fed energy. Power is total and complete in itself and requires nothing outside itself. It makes no demands; it has no needs. Because force has an insatiable appetite, it constantly consumes. Power, in contrast, energizes, gives forth, supplies and supports. Power gives life and energy. Force takes these away’(1).

The power to live a meaningful and fulfilling life comes from Love. Love is the source of all power. It is to the spiritual Universe what gravity is to the physical world. It is the power that moves all things whilst remaining immovable. It is the invisible, metaphysical structure of the entire Universe, which physics merely symbolises. The more we understand Love and live according to its precepts, the more power we can harness to live according to our desire.

Love exists because in reality only Oneness, and therefore unity, exists. We are all One with the spiritual Universe, and the Universe is powered by Love, thus the only true power that exists is Love. Conversely the hallmark of force is division and fear, the suppositional opposites of love.

When we choose to think about it, we all know that this paradox exists at the core of our being. We are all aware of two voices in our heads. One, our conscience, or spiritual intuition which accurately reflects the Voice for Spirit, and the other, the voice of ego which would keep us rooted in the ultimately futile world of powerlessness, unworthiness, and limitation.

When we know we are the emanation of the Divine, we see that the power and peace of the Omnipotent All are innately and inherently ours, and all we have to do is claim that power, and the peace it engenders. If we are the manifestation of Divine Love then, logically, we must be eminently lovable and loving. We must know that we are worthy of only the greatest love and peace and stand firm in our right and responsibility to act, and be treated in return, with love.

Human life seems far from this way of living, but that is only because most people do not understand their divine heritage. They mostly see themselves as weak and imperfect mortals who struggle to attract the attention of an unpredictable and fickle God ‘out there’ who might just save them, but only if ‘He’ feels like it. Or they are so disillusioned by the traditional notions of the Divine that they have abandoned all efforts to connect with their Source, even believing that there is no Divine Principle of Life, that it is all just myth and trickery.

I am not here to convince you of anything. The only truth you will ever be able to accept is that which you have experienced. Experience is the means of transforming knowledge into knowing, and knowing is never a matter of mere belief.

What I hope to do is present an alternative interpretation of existence based on the indestructible connection between us and the Divine. I will try to explain and show that the Divine is within us, and that everything we want to know and be is within us. All that is required of us is to learn to identify the Voice for the Divine, to learn to filter out the voice of the ego, and to follow the dictates of our own heart, for it is in our heart, our deepest self, where true knowing resides.

When we understand our innate worth as the emanation of the Divine, we can begin to see that everything we dislike about our human selves is merely our own projection, which can be changed at any time, just by changing our thoughts.

Whilst it is easy to say, changing and controlling thought requires dedication and persistence. The ego voice is a mighty opponent because it is our test, whereby we learn to see that all is not as it seems. This sham we call human life operates within a greater matrix of Life that is not subject to the limitations of physics, chemistry and biology, but is governed by the Omnipotent and Omniscient laws of Eternal Life, where there is no sickness, decay, limitation or death.

This provides a whole new approach to life. We understand our indestructible connection with the Divine. We know we are the emanation of the Divine and are worthy and deserving of love. We acknowledge that if we experience lovelessness, it must have first arisen in our own thoughts. And that is why love is power. We have the power to change everything we do not like about ourselves or our lives.

This is my experience. This is not just some theory that comes from intellect alone. It is how I have lived my whole life, a life that certainly has not been without its difficulties or disappointments. But that is the point. Each and every one of those heartbreaking moments has been a catalyst for change – change of my thought, and thus my projection and my experience. These moments forced me to seek an alternative view of what constitutes life. Every sad, frustrating, irritating and infuriating moment has been ultimately alchemised, through love, into the power and freedom to be whoever and whatever I choose to be.

Now I pass it on to all of you who are searching and seeking a more loving, more peaceful, and more powerful way to live life. I ask that you do not take my word for it. Take the ideas that appeal to you, and leave the rest. Take those that you like and put them into practise and, if they work for you, make them your own. Integrate them into your way of life and allow them to transform your experience. Your experience is the only key to Truth.