The word “Love” is in quotations throughout this work because the kind of love I speak of has no opposites. It is every-thing and it is no-thing at the same time.
“Love” is what stands between dark and light, bad and good, life and death. It is also what is beyond dark and light, bad and good, life and death. “Love” is always here and now. It cannot be found somewhere in the future or somewhere outside of you; “Love” is not a destination nor a time-bound realization.
Intellectually, it is easier to understand and describe fear because it is the realm of mind and body, whereas “Love” is the heart’s domain.
Know your heart and you will know “Love.”
I’ve always wanted to understand the connection between fear and “Love.” They have been part of my life, or so I thought, just as everyone thinks they have experienced them. Yet, exploring the dynamics of the kinds of love I had experienced, I discovered that fear had been very much connected to it.
My basic understanding through experiences that were under-examined was that “Love” was good and “fear” was bad.
It was easier to be good and to say, “I love you,” when I was afraid of being bad or not being accepted.
I wished to live in a state of “Love,” but I was unaware that my way of loving was another way of being afraid.
This kind of love couldn’t be real. This kind of love was fear in disguise.
Not surprisingly, this also happened the other way around – people around me were doing the same thing.
It was a dance to the music of fear playing in our own heads.
I now have a much better idea of what love is and where my fears hide.
My concepts for love, fear, and hate are:
- “LOVE” is all there is—as in, what our bodies, minds, and “souls” long for or wish to return to. Love is the force that brings us back to Being.
- FEAR is the absence of “Love” awareness—the illusion that drives deluded/unhealthy actions and petrified states. When “Love” awareness is present, there is understanding and compassion for the body and its survival mechanism.
- HATE, as well as all other forms of negative responses, is the presence of fear.
All concepts created by the mind for what you, me, love, fear, and life itself are, are exactly that: concepts. But these concepts matter for a human experience that manifests health, joy, peace, and—yes—lots of love!
I have not yet met anyone who has conceptualized love in a non-loving way.
My concepts for awareness, true self, and consciousness are:
- AWARENESS sees all things simply as they are. No opposites. No distinctions. No judgment. Awareness is a presence that can’t be described. We can be aware that we are conscious, but not conscious that we are aware.
- THE TRUE SELF, (also called the soul, the spirit, or the higher self) can distinguish thoughts, behaviors, and actions driven by “Love” and those driven by fear.
- CONSCIOUSNESS is that which chooses to act upon thoughts driven by “Love” rather than by fear. This is interesting.
Why are some of us able to make these choices, or make choosing to act upon “Love” a practice? Is it connected to our psychological patterns derived from past experiences? How “past” are these past experiences? Are they passed on to us from our ancestors, our current lifetime experiences, or past lives?
My desire to understand “Love” and fear is connected to the experience of “becoming aware,” which keeps bringing me back to this present moment. The more I rest in the now, the more I learn to accept and be grateful, and the more JOY I discover within myself.
Awareness, true self, and consciousness are just sophisticated ideas/concepts available to be used by the mind in an attempt to understand itself. When all concepts disappear, what remains is Being—the experience of experiencing.
Most of us can find joy in this very moment through important concepts such as acceptance and gratitude. This shows how relevant concepts and ideas are and how they can be used as methods for understanding who we are.
If together we can understand “Love” and fear the same way, the experience of “being” could easily turn into spiritual fun!
Becoming “Love” aware collectively translates into acceptance and gratitude for one another and, as a consequence, our joy multiplies.
If I am entertaining the mind’s powerful ability to create, I see no harm in giving wings to the idea of becoming “Love” aware and doing so with “others.”
This idea matters as far as our current human condition is concerned.
The experience of becoming “Love” aware together, and the shared joy created from it, is a gift to our well-being, to our workplace, our communities, cities, countries, and the whole world.
The more “Love” awareness is actualized, the more joy becomes the currency of life.
*** From Valeria’s new book: From Fear to “Love.”