Mystic Love
Life is a series of doorways: it does make a difference those doorways through which we choose to walk! Freedom to think here... oppression over there... encouragement to explore the senses and pleasure through that door... sin and judgment through that one... the possibility of equality, justice, and peace here... disrespect, fear, and exploitation there... beauty, art, and wonder through this one... irreverence, greed, and power there... and then there are the doors that promise one opening and deliver another... and still others that are all muddled and confused and open to the chaos of both nothing and everything...
If life is a series of doorways, how does one choose those that will open upon the rooms in which one actually wants to live... and upon the paths one really wants to walk? Is there any way to know which way to go? Is there a certainty to any door of possibility?
There are, of course, an unlimited number of possible answers to these questions. You've no doubt already been advised of this and that: family, peer, and social expectations are all weighted heavily -- this way or that... Career and religion also carry with them a whole lot of -- this and that... And then there are all the secrets tucked away in your heart: imaginations, fantasies, desires, and dreams: perhaps mixed with a few unmentionable yearnings for both seductions and mystical intuitions to enflame the "normal" with the "extraordinary": and ready one for the leap from "this" to the possibility of "that"...
So, where are you right now? That is exactly where your possibilities begin: not in the past with anything and everything you have already thought, believed, and experienced. "Karma" is your attachments to each of those "zillions" of thoughts, beliefs, and experiences: and each of the self-judgments that have grown attached to you like barnacles on a ship at sea. "Karma" is the desire/need to endlessly repeat your life on re-run (because you don't think you are worth anything better -- let alone the very best)... but, ah, there is a door to a karma-free life and to the radiance of your possibilities unfolding as your daily life experience... To find, and then to enter, that particular door does have a few requirements... Are you still interested?
Okay! There is absolutely no better place to start than right in your mind -- so let's go there for a little housecleaning! Everyone has ideas -- thoughts -- and then thoughts that harden into opinions and then into beliefs: we naturally pick up the opinions and beliefs of those with whom we live -- each becoming a "reflector" for the other: young people especially enjoy the opportunity to question the opinions and beliefs of those around them -- but seldom does the questioning effect a sustained life-course "revolution": most people eventually "get along" by "going along": accepting the customs and traditions of a time and place: this acceptance and practice is what is commonly referred to as "culture". While there can indeed be very much of value in any given culture, there is no culture that is going to consciously facilitate your full development and liberation! So the required housecleaning is first of all the gentle gathering of your every thought, opinion, and belief for a dusting and unpacking: anything and everything that either can't or won't "live" freely "out of the box" can be tossed in your garbage bin (not saved for re-cycling): in the place of all of that "stuff" put this: "We have been created by Love, for Love, to become Love." (Simone Weil). No truer statement by a human being has ever been made! Do you see? Out goes accusation and judgment: out goes original sin and all the ghosts of power: out goes religion, economics, and politics -- anything and everything not facilitating everyone's liberation into justice and radiance. Out goes repression and oppression: out goes depression and despair: out goes doubt and cowardice. Out goes every justification for fear and hatred. In the place of this "culture of stuff", there is now only the stunning, liberating, conviction of your essential goodness, beauty, and possibility for endless "becoming" radiance and Love. Whew! How does this new "unbearable lightness of Being" fit you?
You have now chosen to walk through the old, usually overlooked, threshold of mystical awakening! Walk right on through! The mysticism of Love is really the only thing worth living for: this attribution of Divine qualities to every human being is as the difference between night and day: while the world sleeps, you have "crossed over" into the mystic-activist life. But now is not the time to stop! Love is a field that needs your active participatory cultivation: the latent condition of fertile soil needs the living seeds of faith, service, and the daily practice of beauty and justice. That you have awakened to a certain spiritual maturity is of importance -- but without care, even that too can rot! If Love is the cause and essence of everything in the Universe, and if it is in Love that we live, move, and have our being, than our active surrender to and adoration of that Love must now become the very Way in which we breathe! Love is a metaphysics that describes the meaning of existence; Love is an ethical imperative for action for liberation, solidarity, justice, and peace; and Love is a healing art that unifies the heart, mind, and actions of the awakening human being. As a student and practitioner of the mysticism of Love, you must understand and accept your responsibility for cultivating the possibilities for a progressive manifestation of the Love principle: a manifestation ignited by love-in-action...
Eros
Plato wrote: "Every seeker after wisdom knows that... his soul is a helpless prisoner, chained hand and foot in the body, compelled to view reality not directly but only through its prison bars, and wallowing in utter ignorance." Attaching the mythical story of Adam and Eve to the new doctrine of Original Sin, and to the philosophical opinion of Plato, the Fathers of the Christian Church were not only afraid that their bodily desires would drag them all the way through the doors of hell, but this very sad union of thought would also cause catastrophic harm to countless numbers of human beings through every century since. This degradation of sex is the direct result of the philosophical divide of the human person into "body, soul, and spirit": as if we are each a warring party of multiple entities. Under this scenario, the body is the evil principle, the spirit the good principle, and the soul is struggling to choose between the two -- for all eternity! The dualism of "God" and "Satan", of "Light" and "Dark", and of "Good" and "Evil" survives as a Shadow coloring every aspect and dimension of our human lives and communities.
Against this dualism, is the liberating Oneness of "We have been created by Love, for Love, to become Love." We are not "souls" trapped in a body -- until death do us part. We are Love manifesting as human beings: we have a body, the embodiment of my self-consciousness: my "self" informs and permeates the body in a unity that is Divine in nature. By reason of our existence, every human being is a sexual being: identified through the differences of gender: and sexually infused throughout our entire being (not just in some parts). Sexual energy pervades the whole person: and is a blessing as gift in mutual surrender and adoration. The mutuality of gifting pleasure and delight is one aspect of human life: likewise, pain and disappointment are inevitable in life: meaning encompasses both suffering and bliss: kindness towards others is always the key to happiness, harmony, and every possibility of a radiant life. Eros, then, is not an end in life, but a means of mutual-exploration into the delights inherent in Love... the Mysticism of Love requires our mindful re-valuing of Eros from the realm of sin and dualism, to the fullness of the sacramentalized human being...
Agape
Why is there being instead of non-being? Isn't this the core question? In absolute terms neither the philosopher, the scientist, nor the religionist can answer this question. As with the re-valuing of Eros, the "Agape" or Universal Aspect of Love, must be considered if we are to propose our answer to this core question: it is important to note that Simone Weil did not write, "We were fabricated by Love..." Existence is not a fabrication: existence rises out of the "ground" of Love Consciousness in an endlessly creative act: Love asked of Itself, "What if?", and answered, "Why not?" The Eternal Delight of Imagination has created "Being": by, for, and to become Love.
In other words, "being" is good: if it were not, there would be no "being". We can Name the Ground of Being: "One Love". One Love is the Consciousness that wills existence into being. One Love is the Consciousness that in-fills all of existence with It's own essential nature and identity. One Love is the ontological core of existence: one cannot truly encounter Reality unless or until one identifies completely as One Love: in such a liberated person, there is nothing to differentiate between "self" and "other": because in Love, the being of one person is not different or separate from that of another, or from any other, because both the person and the entire Universe have issued from the very same Source. All that nurtures this awakened mystical attitude is agape: the door and path of love-in-action, and the "welcome home" hospitality of the Universe.
In agape, the self genuinely encounters the Universe as it is: an intimate bond between Source and Sourced: at-one with every existent thing, co-existing in a mutuality of Love. Time and Space are likewise Sourced in the One-in-whom-there-is-neither-difference-nor-distance (lover's rejoice!). Love is more truly every "me" than any "me" yet dares to imagine! If Love is the Source, Purpose, and Drive of Being, what must I "do" to fulfill my destiny? How does the person animated by an awakening into One Love, act in the world?
Agape, or love-in-action, is not oriented to "self": agape is the vivification of care, concern, and compassion: without the calculation of profit or attachment to particular outcomes. In some sense, agape requires that the lover become the loved in one identity. The generosity of mercy, forgiveness, and kindness have their economic and political parallels in justice, equality, and reverence. Justice is not something earned by socially acceptable behavior -- justice is always an absolute requirement of love-in-action -- for the One Love Source unites and sustains all by the identical will to Love Without Limits. Love identifies completely with every other. Love gives what already belongs to the other for liberation into every good possibility. To Love is to seek the full development and liberation of every other: in every circumstance!
Finally, agape is the practiced unity of Love within and without the boundaries of time. Every act of love -- every outpouring or emptying of "me" into or for "you" -- is everlasting: an eternal imprint of delight in the "mind" of the Love Consciousness: this is the reason for Being: to share in the increase of Love Without Limits! This is the immortality that has meaning: this is the Lover for the Beloved: every created body eventually ceases to exist: being, though, is eternal in identification with / in the One Love Consciousness. Eros and Agape together are the living room of the Universe: generously explored and served in the Mysticism and Practice of Love.
Love Without Limits
Love, without loving, is the domain of the theologian, politician, and executioner! In the mystical practice of Love, however, there is another Way... Love does not, in its essence, recognize the boundaries of skin, belief, or border. Love, in its very nature, is universal: it is not love if it does not seek first the full development and liberation of every other -- before the celebration of remembrance in any faith community! Eros motivates the lover to the mutuality of desire and delight -- in pleasure. Agape motivates the lover to the solidarity of communion with every person, being, and the entire creation. Love without limits is the mystical realm of the Lover and the Beloved -- identifying each other as One Love -- breathing, serving, uplifting, and liberating every other in the inter-play of Inter-Being.
Do not yield to the propagandist's line of limits! The boundaries of your skin do not recognize the boundaries of your heart: your heart was made to mirror the boundlessness of One Love! Do not yield to the indoctrinations of the "bought and sold"! The mysticism of Love does not recognize the boundaries of "right belief", nor does it recognize the boundaries of culture, geography, or politics: all the ways of restrictions and limitations, and of judgments and of domination. Every discrimination, prejudice, or segregation disappears in the practice of love without limits. Everything that narrows the expansion of love without limits is a denial of the Energy of Love that would unleash every heart into a full exploration of what it means to be both human and divine. Love without limits is the mystical and political imperative to create for others that which one desires for oneself: Do you want peace? Build peace. Do you want justice? Be just in all of your dealings. Do you want equality? Practice respect and kindness toward everyone. Do you want a future of well-being for your children? Then make sure that every child has the very same opportunity. Don't talk about all the love in your heart: if that "love" does not show itself in action: and if that action is not collectively summoned into policies that implement movement towards the common good of everyone.
Love without limits directly confronts the sadism of hate, hostility, and violence with the "truth-force" of forgiveness, mercy, and an activated compassion. If there were no opportunities to actually practice love without limits, then the mysticism of Love would be, instead, the mechanics of Love. Love without limits is the "metamotivation" (Maslow) of the mystic-activist directly confronting the foibles of the human condition as well as the social injustices that breed disharmony and destruction. Our true self is only actualized in Love without limits: a hard, but necessary, realization. To love is to surrender to Love: to love is to approach life upon one's knees in constant adoration: to love is to sacrifice for the good of every other: to love is to accept the misfortunes, sufferings, and burdens of every other as one's own to carry: to love is to accept responsibility for every other and to vigorously assist in the opportunities to fully develop and to seek their liberation.
Finally, to love without limits is to allow Love to envelop one's entire being in the embrace of Love: to become so enraptured is to become the truly communal creature of the Original Thought who imagined only Beauty and Goodness as the unity of every being and the entire Universe. This is the one ancient law written upon every heart -- the cause of our every sorrow -- and the hope of every smile and tear... When we were each born, we were each incomplete: our completion lies in the reclamation of our birthright: unity with every other: Oneness with / in our Source: One Love... without limits...
The Contemplation of Love
"My occupation: love. It's all I do." These simple words by St. John of the Cross necessarily remind the Lover that, in fact, loving is our goal. "Your eyes in mine aglow... printed their living image in my own", John continues, as if to acknowledge the splendor that accompanies this divine surrender. The Beauty of One Love does not abide in the unreality of "right thinking", but rather in the liberation of mystical experience. There is a vast field of consciousness within every human heart: as the mystic's mind "descends" into the heart, the Holy One "speaks" by way of embrace: not as an object coming from outside us, but as an all-encompassing permeation of Love that is more truly "me" than "whoever I was before". This mystical "knowing" moves us completely beyond the Cartesian duality of subject and object: the Holy One, the Divine Consciousness, is within us, all around us, and is likewise within everyone and everything. The merging of the transcendent with the immanent is the work of grace within the contemplative prayer of the mystic.
The Hebrew Scriptures are resplendent with profound insights into the "real Reality" and to the path of contemplation: "The Lord fashioned the human of dust from the earth. Then breathing into the human's nostrils the breath of life, the human became a living being" (Genesis 2:7). This creation story is also the outline for the "re-birth" of the human into the fullness of our true identity. Every breath is the Divine Breath willing our very being: contemplative prayer is a following of the breath into remembrance of our divine nature: "We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love!" The contemplation of Love is the silent hunger within every heart for "home", for meaning, for purpose, and for the revelation of Beauty. Mystic prayer is listening to Love breathing within us...
The heart is the "mystic location" for this meeting of the Divine with the human. The heart is certainly an organ in the body with an essential physical function: but the heart is also the "place" where all dualism ceases, and as awakening occurs, the means to expand one's awareness and identity in an ever-increasing consciousness as Person: manifesting the Divine. So the contemplation of love is not an "action", but the simple state of our being: a consciousness awakened in the illumination of the Divine Consciousness: ecstasy becomes both being and sacred action, each nourishing the other, in the living mystery of a "mutual adoration". The mystic "lets" the Breath of Love breathe in and through her / his breath, always seeking to become ever-more human as the Divine Spirit in-fills, or divinizes, the person according to the image and likeness of the Divine: surrender and adoration are the two keys essential for the opening of the mystic door.
The contemplation of Love is the loving awareness of the Divine Presence within the heart of every person and also penetrating all of matter through and through. Rumi, the great Sufi poet, wrote:
I called through your door,
"The mystics are gathering
in the streets. Come out!"
"Leave me alone.
I'm sick."
"I don't care if you're dead!
Jesus is here, and he wants
to resurrect somebody!"
This mystic "resurrection" is the unleashing of the energy of the Divine Consciousness: the universe is charged with the Beloved Friend's presence: for those who surrender to the contemplation of Love, every breath is a return to the Paradise of our original condition: "We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love." Paradise is also the Divine Union of the masculine and the feminine -- a unity that transcends the old patriarchy and the dominator paradigm -- and reveals the essential unity of all life and unveils the new, the real Reality, of the solidarity paradigm. It is now time to remember the Beauty of the feminine face of the Holy One: the sensual ecstasy of the Mother is desperately needed by a world and the systems of power that worship greed and domination: everywhere one looks there are the manifestations of violence, exploitation, and oppression. Only the Love of the Mother, the Divine Amma, can liberate us into the Possibilities that are our birthright!
Our need is urgent! The Divine Amma is willing a total Planetary transformation. A conscious evolution into adoration, service, reverence, justice, and the everyday practice of beauty is the steady re-creation of the world into the Divine Intention of Limitless Love: a mirror of the Mother's eternal love. By calling upon the Mother, all the powers of creation re-awaken in the heart of the mystic and are placed at the feet of the Mother in Service and Adoration: in every life, everywhere. In the Paradise of Love, there is no longer a division between the sacred and the secular: altar and bed, marketplace and home, are each and all vehicles of the Mother's rEvolution: body and soul, heart and mind, masculine and feminine: All One through the Mother: and uncontrollable by any worldly dogma or power! The mystic's task -- whether Taoist, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Shaman, Pagan -- with Mother Amma's passion, is to assist in this transformation. So call upon the Mother: Amma with your incoming and your outgoing breath: breathe Her breath of Divine Love in your breath: consecrate your family, your work, your passions, your dreams, your intentions, and your actions with the One Love Blessing: practice beauty, build justice, kindness, equality, harmlessness, and peace: become what your heart totally desires: You were created by Love, for Love, to become Love... Let this prayer of remembrance, the contemplation of Love, be your every breath...
Life is a series of doorways... It does make a difference those doorways through which we choose to walk...
A Brief Glimpse -- Past the Threshold of the Mystic Door --
into the Universal Wisdom Teachings:
The Eternal Feminine draws us heavenward. -- Goethe
Woman is the radiance of God. -- Rumi
The contemplation of Allah in woman is the highest form of contemplation possible: as the Divine Reality is inaccessible in respect of the Essence, and there is contemplation only in substance, the contemplation of God in women is the most intense and the most perfect; and the union which is the most intense (in the sensible order, which serves as support for this contemplation) is the conjugal act. -- Ibn 'Arrabi
True divinity is female... -- Ibn 'Arrabi
All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. -- Juliana of Norwich
Our Savior is our true Mother in whom we are endlessly born and out of whom we shall never come. -- Juliana of Norwich
Between God and the soul there is no between. -- Juliana of Norwich
The soul is a breath of living spirit, that with excellent sensitivity, permeates the entire body to give it life. -- St. Hildegard of Bingen
The earth which sustains humanity must not be injured, it must not be destroyed.
-- St. Hildegard of Bingen
The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity. -- St. Hildegard of Bingen
Jesus, are you not my Mother? -- Marguerite of Oingt
The Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all. -- Karl Rahner, S. J.
The world will be saved by Beauty. -- Dostoevsky
The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me. My eye and God's eye is one eye, and one sight, and one knowledge, and one love. -- Meister Eckhart
If life is a series of doorways, how does one choose those that will open upon the rooms in which one actually wants to live... and upon the paths one really wants to walk? Is there any way to know which way to go? Is there a certainty to any door of possibility?
There are, of course, an unlimited number of possible answers to these questions. You've no doubt already been advised of this and that: family, peer, and social expectations are all weighted heavily -- this way or that... Career and religion also carry with them a whole lot of -- this and that... And then there are all the secrets tucked away in your heart: imaginations, fantasies, desires, and dreams: perhaps mixed with a few unmentionable yearnings for both seductions and mystical intuitions to enflame the "normal" with the "extraordinary": and ready one for the leap from "this" to the possibility of "that"...
So, where are you right now? That is exactly where your possibilities begin: not in the past with anything and everything you have already thought, believed, and experienced. "Karma" is your attachments to each of those "zillions" of thoughts, beliefs, and experiences: and each of the self-judgments that have grown attached to you like barnacles on a ship at sea. "Karma" is the desire/need to endlessly repeat your life on re-run (because you don't think you are worth anything better -- let alone the very best)... but, ah, there is a door to a karma-free life and to the radiance of your possibilities unfolding as your daily life experience... To find, and then to enter, that particular door does have a few requirements... Are you still interested?
Okay! There is absolutely no better place to start than right in your mind -- so let's go there for a little housecleaning! Everyone has ideas -- thoughts -- and then thoughts that harden into opinions and then into beliefs: we naturally pick up the opinions and beliefs of those with whom we live -- each becoming a "reflector" for the other: young people especially enjoy the opportunity to question the opinions and beliefs of those around them -- but seldom does the questioning effect a sustained life-course "revolution": most people eventually "get along" by "going along": accepting the customs and traditions of a time and place: this acceptance and practice is what is commonly referred to as "culture". While there can indeed be very much of value in any given culture, there is no culture that is going to consciously facilitate your full development and liberation! So the required housecleaning is first of all the gentle gathering of your every thought, opinion, and belief for a dusting and unpacking: anything and everything that either can't or won't "live" freely "out of the box" can be tossed in your garbage bin (not saved for re-cycling): in the place of all of that "stuff" put this: "We have been created by Love, for Love, to become Love." (Simone Weil). No truer statement by a human being has ever been made! Do you see? Out goes accusation and judgment: out goes original sin and all the ghosts of power: out goes religion, economics, and politics -- anything and everything not facilitating everyone's liberation into justice and radiance. Out goes repression and oppression: out goes depression and despair: out goes doubt and cowardice. Out goes every justification for fear and hatred. In the place of this "culture of stuff", there is now only the stunning, liberating, conviction of your essential goodness, beauty, and possibility for endless "becoming" radiance and Love. Whew! How does this new "unbearable lightness of Being" fit you?
You have now chosen to walk through the old, usually overlooked, threshold of mystical awakening! Walk right on through! The mysticism of Love is really the only thing worth living for: this attribution of Divine qualities to every human being is as the difference between night and day: while the world sleeps, you have "crossed over" into the mystic-activist life. But now is not the time to stop! Love is a field that needs your active participatory cultivation: the latent condition of fertile soil needs the living seeds of faith, service, and the daily practice of beauty and justice. That you have awakened to a certain spiritual maturity is of importance -- but without care, even that too can rot! If Love is the cause and essence of everything in the Universe, and if it is in Love that we live, move, and have our being, than our active surrender to and adoration of that Love must now become the very Way in which we breathe! Love is a metaphysics that describes the meaning of existence; Love is an ethical imperative for action for liberation, solidarity, justice, and peace; and Love is a healing art that unifies the heart, mind, and actions of the awakening human being. As a student and practitioner of the mysticism of Love, you must understand and accept your responsibility for cultivating the possibilities for a progressive manifestation of the Love principle: a manifestation ignited by love-in-action...
Eros
Plato wrote: "Every seeker after wisdom knows that... his soul is a helpless prisoner, chained hand and foot in the body, compelled to view reality not directly but only through its prison bars, and wallowing in utter ignorance." Attaching the mythical story of Adam and Eve to the new doctrine of Original Sin, and to the philosophical opinion of Plato, the Fathers of the Christian Church were not only afraid that their bodily desires would drag them all the way through the doors of hell, but this very sad union of thought would also cause catastrophic harm to countless numbers of human beings through every century since. This degradation of sex is the direct result of the philosophical divide of the human person into "body, soul, and spirit": as if we are each a warring party of multiple entities. Under this scenario, the body is the evil principle, the spirit the good principle, and the soul is struggling to choose between the two -- for all eternity! The dualism of "God" and "Satan", of "Light" and "Dark", and of "Good" and "Evil" survives as a Shadow coloring every aspect and dimension of our human lives and communities.
Against this dualism, is the liberating Oneness of "We have been created by Love, for Love, to become Love." We are not "souls" trapped in a body -- until death do us part. We are Love manifesting as human beings: we have a body, the embodiment of my self-consciousness: my "self" informs and permeates the body in a unity that is Divine in nature. By reason of our existence, every human being is a sexual being: identified through the differences of gender: and sexually infused throughout our entire being (not just in some parts). Sexual energy pervades the whole person: and is a blessing as gift in mutual surrender and adoration. The mutuality of gifting pleasure and delight is one aspect of human life: likewise, pain and disappointment are inevitable in life: meaning encompasses both suffering and bliss: kindness towards others is always the key to happiness, harmony, and every possibility of a radiant life. Eros, then, is not an end in life, but a means of mutual-exploration into the delights inherent in Love... the Mysticism of Love requires our mindful re-valuing of Eros from the realm of sin and dualism, to the fullness of the sacramentalized human being...
Agape
Why is there being instead of non-being? Isn't this the core question? In absolute terms neither the philosopher, the scientist, nor the religionist can answer this question. As with the re-valuing of Eros, the "Agape" or Universal Aspect of Love, must be considered if we are to propose our answer to this core question: it is important to note that Simone Weil did not write, "We were fabricated by Love..." Existence is not a fabrication: existence rises out of the "ground" of Love Consciousness in an endlessly creative act: Love asked of Itself, "What if?", and answered, "Why not?" The Eternal Delight of Imagination has created "Being": by, for, and to become Love.
In other words, "being" is good: if it were not, there would be no "being". We can Name the Ground of Being: "One Love". One Love is the Consciousness that wills existence into being. One Love is the Consciousness that in-fills all of existence with It's own essential nature and identity. One Love is the ontological core of existence: one cannot truly encounter Reality unless or until one identifies completely as One Love: in such a liberated person, there is nothing to differentiate between "self" and "other": because in Love, the being of one person is not different or separate from that of another, or from any other, because both the person and the entire Universe have issued from the very same Source. All that nurtures this awakened mystical attitude is agape: the door and path of love-in-action, and the "welcome home" hospitality of the Universe.
In agape, the self genuinely encounters the Universe as it is: an intimate bond between Source and Sourced: at-one with every existent thing, co-existing in a mutuality of Love. Time and Space are likewise Sourced in the One-in-whom-there-is-neither-difference-nor-distance (lover's rejoice!). Love is more truly every "me" than any "me" yet dares to imagine! If Love is the Source, Purpose, and Drive of Being, what must I "do" to fulfill my destiny? How does the person animated by an awakening into One Love, act in the world?
Agape, or love-in-action, is not oriented to "self": agape is the vivification of care, concern, and compassion: without the calculation of profit or attachment to particular outcomes. In some sense, agape requires that the lover become the loved in one identity. The generosity of mercy, forgiveness, and kindness have their economic and political parallels in justice, equality, and reverence. Justice is not something earned by socially acceptable behavior -- justice is always an absolute requirement of love-in-action -- for the One Love Source unites and sustains all by the identical will to Love Without Limits. Love identifies completely with every other. Love gives what already belongs to the other for liberation into every good possibility. To Love is to seek the full development and liberation of every other: in every circumstance!
Finally, agape is the practiced unity of Love within and without the boundaries of time. Every act of love -- every outpouring or emptying of "me" into or for "you" -- is everlasting: an eternal imprint of delight in the "mind" of the Love Consciousness: this is the reason for Being: to share in the increase of Love Without Limits! This is the immortality that has meaning: this is the Lover for the Beloved: every created body eventually ceases to exist: being, though, is eternal in identification with / in the One Love Consciousness. Eros and Agape together are the living room of the Universe: generously explored and served in the Mysticism and Practice of Love.
Love Without Limits
Love, without loving, is the domain of the theologian, politician, and executioner! In the mystical practice of Love, however, there is another Way... Love does not, in its essence, recognize the boundaries of skin, belief, or border. Love, in its very nature, is universal: it is not love if it does not seek first the full development and liberation of every other -- before the celebration of remembrance in any faith community! Eros motivates the lover to the mutuality of desire and delight -- in pleasure. Agape motivates the lover to the solidarity of communion with every person, being, and the entire creation. Love without limits is the mystical realm of the Lover and the Beloved -- identifying each other as One Love -- breathing, serving, uplifting, and liberating every other in the inter-play of Inter-Being.
Do not yield to the propagandist's line of limits! The boundaries of your skin do not recognize the boundaries of your heart: your heart was made to mirror the boundlessness of One Love! Do not yield to the indoctrinations of the "bought and sold"! The mysticism of Love does not recognize the boundaries of "right belief", nor does it recognize the boundaries of culture, geography, or politics: all the ways of restrictions and limitations, and of judgments and of domination. Every discrimination, prejudice, or segregation disappears in the practice of love without limits. Everything that narrows the expansion of love without limits is a denial of the Energy of Love that would unleash every heart into a full exploration of what it means to be both human and divine. Love without limits is the mystical and political imperative to create for others that which one desires for oneself: Do you want peace? Build peace. Do you want justice? Be just in all of your dealings. Do you want equality? Practice respect and kindness toward everyone. Do you want a future of well-being for your children? Then make sure that every child has the very same opportunity. Don't talk about all the love in your heart: if that "love" does not show itself in action: and if that action is not collectively summoned into policies that implement movement towards the common good of everyone.
Love without limits directly confronts the sadism of hate, hostility, and violence with the "truth-force" of forgiveness, mercy, and an activated compassion. If there were no opportunities to actually practice love without limits, then the mysticism of Love would be, instead, the mechanics of Love. Love without limits is the "metamotivation" (Maslow) of the mystic-activist directly confronting the foibles of the human condition as well as the social injustices that breed disharmony and destruction. Our true self is only actualized in Love without limits: a hard, but necessary, realization. To love is to surrender to Love: to love is to approach life upon one's knees in constant adoration: to love is to sacrifice for the good of every other: to love is to accept the misfortunes, sufferings, and burdens of every other as one's own to carry: to love is to accept responsibility for every other and to vigorously assist in the opportunities to fully develop and to seek their liberation.
Finally, to love without limits is to allow Love to envelop one's entire being in the embrace of Love: to become so enraptured is to become the truly communal creature of the Original Thought who imagined only Beauty and Goodness as the unity of every being and the entire Universe. This is the one ancient law written upon every heart -- the cause of our every sorrow -- and the hope of every smile and tear... When we were each born, we were each incomplete: our completion lies in the reclamation of our birthright: unity with every other: Oneness with / in our Source: One Love... without limits...
The Contemplation of Love
"My occupation: love. It's all I do." These simple words by St. John of the Cross necessarily remind the Lover that, in fact, loving is our goal. "Your eyes in mine aglow... printed their living image in my own", John continues, as if to acknowledge the splendor that accompanies this divine surrender. The Beauty of One Love does not abide in the unreality of "right thinking", but rather in the liberation of mystical experience. There is a vast field of consciousness within every human heart: as the mystic's mind "descends" into the heart, the Holy One "speaks" by way of embrace: not as an object coming from outside us, but as an all-encompassing permeation of Love that is more truly "me" than "whoever I was before". This mystical "knowing" moves us completely beyond the Cartesian duality of subject and object: the Holy One, the Divine Consciousness, is within us, all around us, and is likewise within everyone and everything. The merging of the transcendent with the immanent is the work of grace within the contemplative prayer of the mystic.
The Hebrew Scriptures are resplendent with profound insights into the "real Reality" and to the path of contemplation: "The Lord fashioned the human of dust from the earth. Then breathing into the human's nostrils the breath of life, the human became a living being" (Genesis 2:7). This creation story is also the outline for the "re-birth" of the human into the fullness of our true identity. Every breath is the Divine Breath willing our very being: contemplative prayer is a following of the breath into remembrance of our divine nature: "We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love!" The contemplation of Love is the silent hunger within every heart for "home", for meaning, for purpose, and for the revelation of Beauty. Mystic prayer is listening to Love breathing within us...
The heart is the "mystic location" for this meeting of the Divine with the human. The heart is certainly an organ in the body with an essential physical function: but the heart is also the "place" where all dualism ceases, and as awakening occurs, the means to expand one's awareness and identity in an ever-increasing consciousness as Person: manifesting the Divine. So the contemplation of love is not an "action", but the simple state of our being: a consciousness awakened in the illumination of the Divine Consciousness: ecstasy becomes both being and sacred action, each nourishing the other, in the living mystery of a "mutual adoration". The mystic "lets" the Breath of Love breathe in and through her / his breath, always seeking to become ever-more human as the Divine Spirit in-fills, or divinizes, the person according to the image and likeness of the Divine: surrender and adoration are the two keys essential for the opening of the mystic door.
The contemplation of Love is the loving awareness of the Divine Presence within the heart of every person and also penetrating all of matter through and through. Rumi, the great Sufi poet, wrote:
I called through your door,
"The mystics are gathering
in the streets. Come out!"
"Leave me alone.
I'm sick."
"I don't care if you're dead!
Jesus is here, and he wants
to resurrect somebody!"
This mystic "resurrection" is the unleashing of the energy of the Divine Consciousness: the universe is charged with the Beloved Friend's presence: for those who surrender to the contemplation of Love, every breath is a return to the Paradise of our original condition: "We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love." Paradise is also the Divine Union of the masculine and the feminine -- a unity that transcends the old patriarchy and the dominator paradigm -- and reveals the essential unity of all life and unveils the new, the real Reality, of the solidarity paradigm. It is now time to remember the Beauty of the feminine face of the Holy One: the sensual ecstasy of the Mother is desperately needed by a world and the systems of power that worship greed and domination: everywhere one looks there are the manifestations of violence, exploitation, and oppression. Only the Love of the Mother, the Divine Amma, can liberate us into the Possibilities that are our birthright!
Our need is urgent! The Divine Amma is willing a total Planetary transformation. A conscious evolution into adoration, service, reverence, justice, and the everyday practice of beauty is the steady re-creation of the world into the Divine Intention of Limitless Love: a mirror of the Mother's eternal love. By calling upon the Mother, all the powers of creation re-awaken in the heart of the mystic and are placed at the feet of the Mother in Service and Adoration: in every life, everywhere. In the Paradise of Love, there is no longer a division between the sacred and the secular: altar and bed, marketplace and home, are each and all vehicles of the Mother's rEvolution: body and soul, heart and mind, masculine and feminine: All One through the Mother: and uncontrollable by any worldly dogma or power! The mystic's task -- whether Taoist, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Shaman, Pagan -- with Mother Amma's passion, is to assist in this transformation. So call upon the Mother: Amma with your incoming and your outgoing breath: breathe Her breath of Divine Love in your breath: consecrate your family, your work, your passions, your dreams, your intentions, and your actions with the One Love Blessing: practice beauty, build justice, kindness, equality, harmlessness, and peace: become what your heart totally desires: You were created by Love, for Love, to become Love... Let this prayer of remembrance, the contemplation of Love, be your every breath...
Life is a series of doorways... It does make a difference those doorways through which we choose to walk...
A Brief Glimpse -- Past the Threshold of the Mystic Door --
into the Universal Wisdom Teachings:
The Eternal Feminine draws us heavenward. -- Goethe
Woman is the radiance of God. -- Rumi
The contemplation of Allah in woman is the highest form of contemplation possible: as the Divine Reality is inaccessible in respect of the Essence, and there is contemplation only in substance, the contemplation of God in women is the most intense and the most perfect; and the union which is the most intense (in the sensible order, which serves as support for this contemplation) is the conjugal act. -- Ibn 'Arrabi
True divinity is female... -- Ibn 'Arrabi
All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. -- Juliana of Norwich
Our Savior is our true Mother in whom we are endlessly born and out of whom we shall never come. -- Juliana of Norwich
Between God and the soul there is no between. -- Juliana of Norwich
The soul is a breath of living spirit, that with excellent sensitivity, permeates the entire body to give it life. -- St. Hildegard of Bingen
The earth which sustains humanity must not be injured, it must not be destroyed.
-- St. Hildegard of Bingen
The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity. -- St. Hildegard of Bingen
Jesus, are you not my Mother? -- Marguerite of Oingt
The Christian of the future will be a mystic or will not exist at all. -- Karl Rahner, S. J.
The world will be saved by Beauty. -- Dostoevsky
The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me. My eye and God's eye is one eye, and one sight, and one knowledge, and one love. -- Meister Eckhart