Knowing the joy of unconditional love
The most important thing that you will gain from cultivating
unconditional love will be freedom from hate and violence. When
these thoughts are removed, you discover the presence of joy and
peace. This is an automatic reaction to unconditional love, because
you are in harmony with the creative source.
One of the lessons that you will be unlearning as you gain access to
unconditional love is the mistaken belief that joy is of the ego and
misery is of the spirit. The truth lies in reversing this
supposition and getting to the source of spiritual joy.
Simplistically stated, experiencing joy, from the point of view of
the ego, is always getting what we want, and being spiritual is
associated with meditating, being generous, extending kindness to
others. The path to true joy and bliss in your life is affirming the
spirit and subordinating the ego.
Saying to yourself that the ego is an illusion provides you with a
powerful tool for manifesting. The ego identifies you as primarily a
physical body, separate from God, and in need of constant stroking to
massage your self-importance. When you simply say this is an
illusion and it doesn't really exist, those ideas are replaced with
unconditional love, and the joy that you experience is really the
denial of the false and an affirmation of the truth of your being.
You are absolutely free when you are not consumed with your
self-importance. You are free when you no longer need to be stroked,
coddled and approved of by everyone you meet. You are free when you
are no longer offended by the actions of others. Freedom allows you
to extend your inner self to the outer world, and that is love.
There is a great sense of joy in feeling free. Think of times when
you have felt the freest in your life. When the pressures to perform
are off. When you are walking in nature. When no one is badgering
you to meet deadlines. When you are in solitude and communing with
God. If you have made the connection to your inner life, these are
the most joyful times. When you are experiencing this kind of joyful
freedom, you feel inspired, and of course, this means that you are
"in spirit".
The most creative times of my own life are when I allow myself to be
free. This freedom produces a great joy within me that manifests as
new ideas to expand my work and be more purposeful, to be a better
writer, teacher, father and husband, to share this love that I feel
with all who care to know about it.
Joy, freedom and unconditional love are inseparable; they flow from
the experience of each other. To be joyful is to hold onto nothing
and to have no restrictions. This is also the feeling of freedom,
and it is a result of embracing the unconditional love of the divine
energy that is the center of your being.
Authentic joy is not merely the pleasure of the moment. These ego
pleasures are fleeting and transient. They demand more, just like a
drug, in an attempt to be fulfilled. But fulfillment is mostly an
illusion with fleeting pleasures. All of the pleasures of the body
are not evil, they are simply temporary.
This is not to say that one ought not to enjoy a massage, a delicious
meal, lovemaking and all of the pleasures of the body. But, that one
should know that true joy is not in the bodily pleasure. It is in
the mind, which is processing and allowing you to experience the
pleasure; the body is simply neutral, as are all things. It is the
mind that makes it real, not the reverse.
The body cannot make us real any more than it can heal the mind. Nor
does the body, in and of itself, give us joy. It is in the mind that
the healing of the body originates, and it is in the mind where joy
also originates. Your purpose is to align your mind with the
unconditional love that is the divine source of all material things,
including your body. That source is love. With that alignment comes
joy and power.
When one drop of water separates from the ocean it becomes a speck
that is, essentially, powerless and weak and unable to sustain
itself. But, when it aligns with its source, the ocean itself, it is
powerful beyond what is possible as an individual drop of ocean. So
it is with you. Alone, separated from your divine source, you are a
skin-encapsulated ego living the illusion that you are important and
powerful. But, realigned, you know the joy that comes from this
partnership. And what you are aligning with is pure, unconditional
love and acceptance of all that is. You abandon your fear of
anything.
Unconditional love as an absence of fear
All fears stem from the idea that we are alone and separated from the
one divine source that we give many names to, including God or Holy
Spirit. When you adopt a stance of unconditional love, you
automatically abandon fear. In the absence of fear and in the
presence of unconditional love you find the solution to the mystery
of manifestation. Once you truly know that you are not separate or
alone, fear is replaced by unconditional love and you have gained
access to the Holy Spirit.
The ego is where fears originate, with constant messages that you are
incomplete and need more, that you need to win to be better in
comparison to others. With its unceasing pressure, the ego keeps you
in a constant state of turmoil and anxiety. Here is where all fears
are birthed and nurtured within you.
To accept unconditional love as your premise for living, you will
have to tell the ego that there is no need to prove anything and that
all you want or hope for is already here. The ego, moreover, needs
to be taught that you are connected to a creative source that is far
more powerful than the ego.
You are able to detach from how it has to show up, and you can send
out the energy of unconditional love with your thoughts wherever you
go, trusting that it is all in order. No demands, no pressure. A
simple knowing accompanied by an unconditionally loving attitude.
With this kind of declaration, fear is removed from your life and is
replaced with love. Remember the biblical quote, "Perfect love
casteth out all fear."
Fear and love are unable to reside simultaneously within you. If you
are afraid, you have cast out love. If you are experiencing perfect
love, which is within your free will, then you have cast out fear.
The principle of unconditional love as a prerequisite to manifesting
your own destiny is a tough one to put into practice full-time. Yet
you can begin this process by working on it one step at a time,
beginning right now. Below are some suggestions for living and
radiating unconditional love.
Some ways of putting unconditional love into practice
… Keep uppermost in mind that love transforms. Every single act of
love releases blocked energy in your body. Unconditional love heals
the body and the mind. Keep reminding yourself of this truth until
it becomes your reality. Love is a frequency that you can choose to
tune into, just as you tune into a frequency on the radio.
… The polarity of love is fear. Fear is a current of energy that
literally runs through your body and is produced when you feel cut
off from the source of unconditional love. Every time you experience
fear, ask yourself, "What is going on that I have substituted fear
for love in this moment?" This kind of self-talk will bring you back
to an awareness that fear is running through you because you have
lost your alignment with love.
In this moment of insight, send the fear energy out of your body by
embracing unconditional love. In those moments of fear, your anxiety
about failing, not receiving approval, your appearance, your grades
or whatever can be traced to the absence of unconditional love. Go
to your source when you are experiencing fear and you will find fears
dissipating almost instantly.
… Remember that love is experienced in your thoughts and in your acts
of oneness. The more you consider yourself connected to the divine
source, the more you will act in loving ways to all others.
… Acquire a private, non-publicized and regular habit of meditating.
With every breath you take, feel yourself taking in unconditional
love. With every exhalation, expel thoughts of fear. This personal
exercise can be your lifeline to unconditional love and to the world
of manifesting.
When you go outside for a walk, use your breath to bring in the
essence of love and feel it flowing throughout your body. Simply use
your breath as a means of inhaling love from the divine source, and
exhaling fear in the next breath. You will feel yourself relaxing
and knowing more joy and freedom.
… Pick one day to practice this exercise with a partner of your
choice. Make a decision to think, act and radiate nothing by
unconditional love for the entire twenty-four-hour period, including
your dreams. Every moment of this mutually agreed upon day will be
infused with only love.
This means that the moment a moralizing or judgmental thought enters,
you immediately shift it out of your inner field and replace it with
one of unconditional love. If this works for you for one day, see if
you can extend it for another day or two. The longer you can stay
with this exercise, the more dramatic the changes.
Yu will begin to notice synchronistic events showing up and you will
feel as if God is taking special care of you. You will notice an
increase in energy; an interesting shift in your dreams as they
become more intense and spiritual; you will observe yourself
attracting things that previously seemed to stay away; you will most
assuredly note an increase in joy, bliss and a growth in your
relationships as well.
… Make a decision to turn over your most difficult challenges in the
area of unconditional love to God. Simply turn them over with a
request such as, "I have been unable to bring love into my life in
these areas, and I am asking for your diving guidance in
accomplishing this. I still think angry and hateful thoughts toward
these people, and I am asking you to show me the way to unconditional
love."
By acknowledging that you feel powerless, you admit that your
conditioning and life experiences have not given you the tools to
radiate love in these places. But you are also acknowledging that
you know there is a higher energy and you ask that higher force to
guide you. By turning it over, you place your complete trust in the
God force and admit that you cannot break the ego's stronghold.
… Know the connection between manifesting your heart's desire and
unconditional love. Unconditional love is the energy of the
universe, it is what God is, and, therefore, what you are as well.
Without your connection to this love, you lose your connection to the
creative processes.
You cannot attract to yourself that which you are already connected
to if you have short-circuited the connection. The presence of
unconditional love is in all things that you wish to attract as well
as in you. Keep it honestly, and you keep your ability to "know that
ye are a god." Lose it, and you will lose your godliness. It is
that simple.
Remind yourself of this when you ask why your desires aren't showing
up in your life. The answer will invariably have something to do with
an absence of unconditional love someplace in your inner world.
… You do no need to fool yourself with unconditional love. If you do
not love the personality of another, be open and honest about it, but
you can still love the essence, the truth of everyone on this planet
and beyond. See the unfolding in everyone, even if their behavior
conflicts with what you know to be divine and holy. Know that their
egos have gotten a stranglehold on them and twisted their divine
essence right out of their behavior, but still send love to the
essence that is behind that action.
The more you are able to see past the personality and the individual
behavior, the more you will be a beacon of light for the entire
planet. It is through a change in consciousness that our world is
going to be transformed, and that new consciousness is one in which
love is going to triumph over the passions of the ego. Send out love
past the appearance with which you are in disagreement and it may
shift right before your eyes.
… Make your word law! Keep this harmony within yourself and you will
experience love in virtually all settings. If you say it, live up to
it lovingly. This gives you a sense of inner balance that is missing
in those who live with self-repudiation and guilt. The more you
practice "My word is law. I must keep it," the more balanced your
life becomes.
The universe runs on balance, and the energy that keeps it in balance
is love. By declaring yourself as a person who keeps his word, you
align yourself with the loving essence of the world.
I have witnessed unconditional love in action in the story of Kaye
O'Bara, who has been caring for her comatose daughter for
twenty-seven years. On an hourly basis-I (along with my wife
Marcelene) told her story in a short inspirational book titles A
Promise Is a Promise and I urge you to familiarize yourself with this
truly astonishing saga of unconditional love in action-you will feel
the inspiration as you read this remarkable story and you will know
that you will be helping them out as well, since all royalties go
directly to these two divine souls.
This concludes the sixth principle for manifesting. Unconditional
love is the cornerstone of your mental picturing. You refuse to
allow any contrary, ego-driven thought to enter the inner kingdom of
love.
If you activate this principle you will have revealed a truth that
eludes most people. It is with unconditional love that you find your
true connection to the divine energy that is in all things. It is a
choice you can make. You were given the choice to express your free
will. It is your gift from God.
When you express love, you align with that same love that was granted
to you with the gift of your free will. When you express anger,
hatred, envy and violence, you have allied yourself with the ego, and
have prevented yourself from truly being a co-creator of your life
with the divine source of energy that we call God.