I thought I would share something that I hold to be very sacred. Many of you who know me in real life, know I walk a shamanic path alongside Zen Buddhism. It is okay if you do not agree. I have no need to convert anyone. Frankly I do not care what others believe or don’t, so long as they do not force their beliefs on anyone else.
This morning, during meditation, I had a burst of deep understanding that transcends words. While it might sound trite and or glib, the revelation was stunning in its depth and meaning to me personally.
I realized that the one thing that we can do in each and every circumstance, whether well, or sick, doing chores, shopping, driving, bathing, is to deliberately send love without judgment.
And guess what? No one can stop us from sending love. They can lessen our desire to do so, if we allow it, but otherwise, no one has the ability to stop us from loving- except us.
They can hate us. They can hurt us. But no one, not one single being on this planet, can prevent anyone from sending love if we have the courage, will, and faith to do so.
Of course, this is easily forgotten when we are in the middle of it. Yet while others can make it challenging, even almost impossible on the surface, the power to give and receive love resides only within us.
We can send love to a room when we sit in a chair. We can send love to the water when we wash a dish or bowl. We can send love to the trees, the earth, the clouds, the insects, the people we are close to, love, the people we like, even the people we dislike.
We can love without condition. Without requirement or attachment, or even the need to judge/approve/disapprove anyone or anything.
In fact, that, I believe, is the exact purpose of our lives here.
On the Other Side, our real home, love is the only medium and truth. Here, in this illusion of separation, we go through difficult and painful things and to rise above them and learn to love through this earthy shell.
The measure of how well we do that has nothing to do with how much we amass, how we dress, how we look or even, in one sense, what we do.
Our whole purpose, I believe, is to rise above fear, hate, and an endless stream of emotions and circumstances to find new ways of expressing, receiving, and giving love.
What is natural there is very, very difficult here. While in this dream, we struggle. When we awaken to our true nature again, there is no hurt or harm.
In the same way that we wake from a nightmare to find that we are whole and well, death simply dissolves the illusion of separation and pain.
Love does not mean we are door-mats, punching bags, or that we never disagree or stand up. In fact, love often requires standing up because enabling harm to ourselves or others is not love. That is the opposite of love.
The main thing, as I understand it, is the intention behind our actions. Love occurs when we seek the good of another, just as we would seek the good of ourselves.
That does not include allowing ourselves or others to be abused. Sometimes, love can mean walking away (yet without hate or bitterness) from someone too. It can also mean protecting the rights or wellbeing of others quite loudly and forcefully.
The underlying motivation gives our choices their true meaning. The sponsoring thought/motivation that moves us to act is not only just important as what we do, it is, in fact therefore more important than anything we do or say.
Even if it does not appear that way from a human standpoint. Even loving a blade of grass or a mouse, a butterfly is an act of great importance.
Sincerely loving a firefly or a leaf is just as beautiful and meaningful in many ways, as any other loving act. And it all matters. It matters when we love or receive love, because again, that is why we are here.
I think this is our proving ground, the test to see how we can express love and care through every action and breath, word or thought. Just my viewpoint and experience. May all beings be at peace. ~ Victoria Cayce
May All Beings be at Peace 