I have enjoyed and tried to genuinely listen to the rather rich and eloquent reflections shared on xanga about love... about God's love vs the ego's love. As I have said before, I think the more who enter into a conversation or discussion, the closer we come to the truth. My own reflection kept coming back to a single thought - that we are immersed in what will always be to us a mystery. GOD is GOD and I/we are not. A spiritual director back in my seminary days once told me spiritual maturity comes when I can truly be at peace with the questions I may never answer.
In its purest, most genuine form, I think love ceases to be a noun and becomes a verb. Love is not an entity we possess for it simply does not exist until it is given. I think we start to get it all wrong when we reflect upon love as a "thing" and begin to do what the ego does best - quantify it. Do I have it? Am I loved? How do I best love? By the time ego takes over, I may start to feel sorry for myself because I don't have enough of it or may wonder where I might find it or how I can get more of it. Perhaps I might pity that some don't have as much of it as I think they should. By this point we have lost touch with it altogether.
That we say GOD is love and speak of GOD's love as gift is recognition of love for what it really is... GOD giving GOD, self giving in its totality. It is GOD's infinite and eternal self expression. Thus love does not come into being until I, like GOD, have given it away... completely and continuously. You cannot capture it in a picture, prose or a lyric and say, "Here it is... See it?" Make no mistake about it - even though I cannot "see" love doesn't mean it is intangible.
Now if I accept that everything reflects GOD's self-gift, i.e. "love", then I must also recognize the fundamental oneness that unites my existence with GOD and with all creation. Thus when any one person hurts or suffers, all hurt and suffer. Because I am most authentically who I am when I give myself away, I am spiritually obligated to be mindful of opportunities I may have to address or alleviate the hurt and suffering in the world. I am also spiritually obligated not to take from the world beyond my need (hence the name of my xanga and my personal spiritual goal to leave a "gentle footprint"). I am not talking here about ego needs, which define the drive for power, prestige and possessions. You see, I believe strongly that there is plenty in this world to adequately sustain us all as well as all who will follow after us... if we do not take beyond our spiritual need.
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