A Journey, Love & Abuse.

What started my mind whirring in the direction that resulted in this post being written?


Photograph courtesy JJLeeming abd.org.uk

Quite simply - a journey.

Driving home after a Saturday morning doing some work - it's a lovely sunny day.
Faced with the contrast of the motor cars on the road, the tarmac roads themselves - set against a backdrop of natural surroundings - fields, trees, grazing cows - all very pleasant and acceptable.
But somehow there seems a subconscious division between the natural and the man-made.


Photograph courtesy treehugger.com

Then the mind kicks in - it intercepts this perception, interrogates it as to its validity.

This vision of the world transforms into a historical perspective - what I see now is merely a glimpse, a snapshot of mankind's evolution.
Life and matter.
Mankind enjoying it's recreative ability - the way it can transform and manipulate matter to make human life more amenable.
But somewhere in this equation is a motivating force - an energy.
We could call it the life force.
Such a powerful force that has the will, the irrepressable urge to recreate & procreate, survive & thrive.


Photograph courtesy earthecho.com

I want to examine the word "love."
I feel at times it is grossly overused and abused.
What do we mean when we say "I love" something or somebody?

Let me offer this definition.
We mean that some deep part of us is moved to - identify with, attach itself to, desire the experience of, intimately associate with - the object of this love.
It can be used at a very casual level or a very profound level.
We use the same word for french fries, a TV programme or a significant partner in our lives.
We may even use it when describing a relationship with the Divine.
As such it is used as a verb.

How about as a noun - as in "making love?" Two (or more?) individuals accommodating their expression of a mutually shared - identification with, attachment to, desire for the experience of, intimate association with - each other.
How about as in the phrase "an act of selfless love?"
Implying an inner motivating force, the love, which compells one to perform a selfless act.

The common denominator in all the above is that "love" is always referring to something that seems to be universally understood, recognised and appreciated, valued and treasured - no matter how the word is applied, it is always in the context of the positive, an ideal, a pleasant experience or harmonious co-existence.
You may agree or disagree with my definitions, but I am certain you will not deny that love exists.

Back to the car journey.

I realise that although I am seeing the world in all its colour and glory - maybe I am blind.
Just as this very computer can only deal with binary information - my eyes can only deal with a certain spectrum of visible light.
That's what they were designed to do - and function extraordinarily well - but nevertheless, it is a highly selective form of "vision."
I cannot see television broadcasts without a TV set, I cannot see x-rays, the ultra or infra.
I have a paper bag over my head - I think my vision is all encompassing - but it isn't.
The same can be said for all my other senses.
I am perceiving a highly selective band of "reality" through my variety of receiving apparatus.
I am living in a world of experience, defined and limited by a human body.


Photograph courtesy boingboing.net

I am also living behind the filter of conceptualisation.
For example, as above I outlined various conceptualisations of the word "love" - do I choose to ignore the reality that love is a powerful motivating force in my life - it must have an origin - do I allow myself to get tangled up in the complicated, highly subjective issues of morality, of ethics - concerned more with the interpretation, definition and expression of this "love" in human conceptual terms - rather than explore its actuality?


Photograph courtesy enchantedmind.com

Love - as a force, an energy, a power?
A force that moves us so deeply, that is common to all life, recognised universally?
What if we had eyes of a slightly different design, that allowed us to see love?
What would it look like?

Would everything sparkle - be covered in a fiery incadescence - a fluid shimmering energy - full of eddies and swirls - dancing between, around, all amongst us - would we see it obedient to our will - would it transform as we interacted with each other?


Photograph courtesy dreamingheart.com

Quantum Physics is right now toying with the notions that perhaps gravity and mass, such primordial essences, are the attributes of certain specific sub-atomic particles. These theories have yet to be proven as science is stretching itself to design and build the experimental equipment required, such as the LHC at CERN (see other post 10, 09, 08 . . .)
Whereas science requires demonstrable, quantifiable proof
- most of us are content with personal experience to teach us - and we do not really need further acknowledgement to prove that love exists.
But maybe "love" is another sub atomic particle - existing in the Quantum world - at a level of infinite smallness.

It doesn't really require an emormous stretch of the imagination to formulate an equation, beyond any conceptualisation, dealing with the actuality of love as a power, a force, an energy - suffused with pure potential, pure will, pure consciousness.
Adequate will to manifest itself from a pure state into the creation of a universe.

God=Love or Love=God

Love also supplies the reason for creation - if one were needed.
Creative activities & indulgencies sometimes bring a breath of that force, that power, that love - a stirring in the heart of absolute joy and wonder.
A love so vast, so powerful that we cannot imagine - implying such a recreational liberty that our conceptual world cannot contain its understanding.
Love provides an adventure for itself - a journey - an evolution.
Why?
For no reason other than because it can - and for the joy of the experience.
What other reason can such an infinite power have?


Now remember, we are discussing a real power here - a real force - not the result of a human thought process, but the very cause of it - and the potential for everything else.
It is beyond obligation, beyond honour, beyond guilt, beyond aspirations, beyond hope or dreams - it is our very nature.

We could call such a power God - referring to Him, Her or It - would it matter?
We could even dispense with the upper case letters.
Would it matter?

Such a God, with such an infinite power - would not be at all perturbed by what we thought, by what we did - after all - we all have a contract with the laws of the universe - and there is no escape clause.
Such a God certainly would not be concerned with how we portrayed Him - because such an infinite power can be portrayed in an infinite amount of ways - all equally suited.
Would such a God require us to worship him?
No.

Any such discussion is really nonsense.
Any discussion or perception of god, because of the confines of language and because of the way we think - automatically creates a subject/object division - a separation - which cannot be true.
It is simply a convenient way of approaching the subject for our everyday awareness.
But often it becomes a convenient excuse - if we fail to realise that Divine intervention is in our own hands.

Atheist or believer - they are only labels and do nothing to alter the reality.


Photograph courtesy fp.enter.net

Religions of a devotional nature are admirably suited to acheiving enlightenment in a way that is so comfortably human - dealing as they do with the primal force of love as it manifests in human relationships - or a relationship with a deity.

Humility is the recognition of something so totally beyond our comprehension, our logical capability to understand - beyond the familiar spheres in which we operate as human beings.
Nevertheless - this Divinity is something in which we have an intimate share.

Humility levels the ground - it doesn't detract or weaken.
In fact - with its recognition of the truth - humility restores, amplifies and provides enormous strength - and allows for a space in our hearts and lives to become filled with even more of that infinite love.
A space created automatically when all the junk collected by the ego is thrown out of the attic.
It permits true understanding - which is, after all, standing-under.

Our only obligation, if we choose, is to our true selves, to realise this in our lives, to see it and live it as the true reality - and what a liberating and joyful prospect that is.
How severe a discipline is it anyway - to become what we already are?
Can we conceive of a discpline that is pure joy?
Can we emerge from the shadows of fear?
Can we reach that true liberty?

None of this can possibly do anything to detract from the awesome nature of the universe, of life - the miraculous reality of existence.
It does nothing to lessen the majestic power of creation.
Nor should it prevent us from feeling blessed with such abundance and giving thanks.

What it does is simply include us as a part of the equation.
In ignorance or enlightenment - whatever, whenever, wherever - it is all a part of that equation - that journey.

It is the journey itself that is the reality - and we are all fellow travellers - right now.

Some religions refer to it as a journey through Maya - or illusion - a journey from darkness and ignorance to enlightenment and understanding - and the final recognition, love re-knowing of itself - shining brightly, undeniably, within its own cunning disguise.
The disguise - is you and me - but so is the essence, the motivating force, the love.
Illusion carries no stigma, as it is an essential part of the plan - necessary rather than negative.
We are the seed, the tree and the fruit - the beginning, the middle and the end of this journey - this evolution.
Love is our inner guide, our constant reminder - our map.

A satellite navigation system to blow your mind.


Photograph courtesy wmich.edu