MenoSundays; Life Lived Lovingly

One of the things which keeps us in a state of Love (of the capital kind), is 'presence'; being in the moment. As mentioned here before, Mindfulness (the movement) has become the next big shift in the West, after 'meditation', with adaptation of ancient Eastern understanding.

By being present, one becomes more observant also. There is an alertness which, if one is not well-prepared, or is in any way scared of dealing with the moment (and many are), can be rather challenging. However, it is presence of mind which ensures that we cope at the best of our abilities, react appropriately when required and act for the best at any given prompt. It also enables us to remain detached.

Being present means that we can be always the observer, in fact. This means that we can begin to shed our fear. This is because being ever-present guards against surprise. It assists anticipation and ability to pre-empt.

Fear is the great enemy of Love. Some are sitting reading this now and saying 'no, it is hate which is the enemy'... but with reflection it can be found that hate itself is but a symptom - of Fear. Hate does not 'just happen'. No single person is born with hate as their primary motive. Love is the base condition of the Human Critter. Fear arises when that Love condition is under threat. Everything which is undertaken in life is but an act with a view to retaining that Love we all crave. Unless we are fortunate and have guides and carers who ensure we make positive, meaningful acts which will truly bring Love into our lives, we will fall to the baser, more animalistic, actions which seek to grab, steal, beg, borrow all weakened forms of Love. When all else fails, we resort to loathing, prejudice, criticism, and yes, hatred. All the negative emotions arise from the fear condition.

Be clear. Love is a condition of being. Fear is a condition of being. They are not emotions. From them arise emotions. If our inner balance is towards Love, we will have compassion, empathy, charity, hope, openness, tolerance; we will be cheerful, welcoming, caring and so on. If our inner balance is towards Fear, we will have doubt, anxiety, selfishness, suspicion, close-mindedness; we'll be quick to anger, be spiteful, critical, defensive, secretive, carry hate and so on.

Unlike emotions, the conditions can co-exist. In emotions, if we are happy, we cannot be sad at the same time; if we are angry we cannot be forgiving. However, we can carry Love and Fear within us at the same time. They are the inner 'scales' which determine our survival. Fear is useful to have as a condition when one is truly in danger. It is hard-wired into us from our times before the development of advanced states of mind and the rise of the intellect. It is not that useful to us now, in our heady days of 'being human'. We now have the advanced level of existence tool known as 'choice'. As hard as it can be at times, the simple fact is we have the choice to live in Love or in Fear. Life is essentially about finding out how to exercise that choice.

If we find that are having the emotions which are predominantly sourced from our Fear condition, we can, if we choose, make alterations to move into the condition of Love. It requires of us a determination to no longer live in Fear.

...this theme will be continued next week...