UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
What is unconditional love?
Most of us have been taught that unconditional love is feeling an emotional love for everyone. It is a concept that says regardless of whether or not we like an individual, we must feel love for them. Because we have accepted this and believed that unconditional love is an emotional experience, we feel guilt and failure when we discover that we are unable to feel emotional love for everyone.
It is impossible to experience an emotional sense of love for everyone, especially for those whose actions reflect an un-evolved state of consciousness. We hear stories of people on the news, or witness them in daily living who are happily engaged in hurting and making other people’s lives miserable, and we say to ourselves; “I simply cannot love this person or these people”. That is… until we begin to understand what unconditional love really is.
The third dimension is governed by energies of duality and separation. Lifetime after lifetime we have lived lives that held experiences of both good and evil and felt separation from other people, God, and other life forms. Because of this, we learned to form judgements about everyone and everything, criticizing and feeling separate from anyone who did not agree with our personal concepts of right and wrong. We found and still find it impossible to even like certain people let alone love them, which can be a personal dilemma for spiritual seekers.
Concepts regarding love are passed from generation to generation, and reflect whatever cultural and religious beliefs of that particular time period. There are some who prefer an authority figure to tell them what to believe. Others either through laziness or ignorance, simply believe whatever concepts of love they see on TV, in movies, magazines, or songs which more often than not present sexual attraction as being love. Many simply accept and never question whatever beliefs their parents, friends, or church hold. Rigid and false concepts of love spew forth daily from authority figures, each claiming to have all the correct knowledge.
Before an individual realizes that he can seek within himself for answers, he usually just accepts what he is told allowing many false beliefs to become his state of consciousness and manifest outwardly through experiences.
The individual who is spiritually ready to evolve their understanding of love but instead chooses to simply accept popular concepts about love, often finds himself in some sort of life changing experience (often not pleasant) that will force him to ask himself; “What exactly is love? Where did I go wrong? What is my responsibility with regard to love, and how do I get there?”
The belief that love is just an emotion reflects it through eyes of sex and/or romance. This romantic sense of love is continually promoted through books, TV shows, film, and news as stories about people who must find the “right one” in order to live happily ever after. The belief that one’s happiness and sense of completeness lies in finding and being with the “right one” has caused many to go to extremes in order to meet the “right one” and then sink into depression when it doesn’t happen, wondering; “What is wrong with me?” We may watch a romantic movie and be tempted to believe; “If only I had that, I would be happy.” and for those who believe this, life will often become a lifelong and often indiscriminate quest to find the perfect partner. Is this what love is? How many times have you actually witnessed “Happily ever after”?
This is not to say that there is no romance for those spiritually evolved, or that meeting the right companion for you is illusion, but when you live in a higher sense of relationship these things come as gifts of spirit, outer manifestations of their realization of completeness. Real relationships begin with the attraction of like energy, rather than an attraction to looks, status, wealth, or etc. Relationships that flow out of a person’s realization of their wholeness because of ONEness feel right because “all the strings are tied” without the neediness, addiction, jealousy, and game playing that accompanies most three dimensional relationships. Relationships that exist on a higher level have romance and emotion, but also an acceptance and appreciation for each other based on who they are rather than for who they can be molded into.
Society promotes familial love as being an emotion often to the point of usurping common sense. “Blood is thicker than water” has been used to excuse many things through the belief that family is the most important consideration with regard to all actions and choices. Often when a person decides to go against some family tradition or belief, they will be ostracized or made to feel guilty by other family members.
We have all felt love for an animal, teacher, location or home, a material object, some activity of work or play, and especially for the big one–MONEY. These are only a few examples of the hundreds of things man has placed under the heading of love. But is this really love, or simply an energetic alignment and sense of comfort we experience when we make these things a part of our life? All desire for someone or something outside of ourselves is in reality the Soul’s desire for return to the state of wholeness and completeness already present but not known about that is the reality.
Love is the interconnectedness of all life forms within the ONE OMNIPRESENTCONSCIOUSNESS. Unconditional love is the living of this realization.
When the interconnectedness of all within the ONE is interpreted by mind that draws from a unevolved state of consciousness imbued only with beliefs of duality and separation, it cab manifest outwardly as rape, abuse, war etc. However, Divine Consciousness and the connectedness of all within it can never changed or be affected by the falsehood that a person may choose to integrate into their consciousness. Outer manifestations reflect personal and global consciousness. God knows nothing about unenlightened man is dreaming.
“There is no unexpressed consciousness” – Joel S. Goldsmith.
Unconditional love is living the experiences of each moment from a consciousness of Oneness. Individuals are frequently unaware that they are living out from a more evolved state of consciousness, they simply have an innate belief that all life is sacred and worthy of respect. It is simply who the person is. The reality is that his state of consciousness is the result of living and learning from the experiences of many lifetimes. This is what the term; “Old Soul” refers to.
We see it in those who recognize and acknowledge the beauty and gifts of every living thing regardless of the “package” it comes in. These evolved Souls have a sense of joy and humor regarding any and all facets of life and feel at home wherever they are because they never feel themselves to be separate from those around them. They hold no agenda that others must adhere to in order to be worthy of their love. They do not allow themselves to be used by others and are not afraid to speak up or say something another may need to hear. Their words always carry respect for others even when harsh words are called for. Unconditional Love never means being someone’s door mat which often results from living old and conditioned concepts about love that exclude self from love.
Unconditional love appreciates and is open to learning new ways of understanding the world through every individual he meets regardless of what worldly label the person may carry. Unconditional love is compassionate, but does not enter into sympathy (alignment)with the lower resonating energy another may carry. Unconditional love seeks to lift the person, not wallow in heaviness with them. Unconditional love recognizes needs, not wants, and takes appropriate action if guided. Unconditional love allows choice and never tries to “guilt” another into accepting their beliefs .
Unconditional Love is simply an attained state of consciousness that recognizes consciously or unconsciously that in spite of any and all appearances every individual at his core is Divine. He lives his life saying, being, or doing what is appropriate regardless of whether or not the other person knows the truth about themselves or is even interested .
Evolving to a consciousness of unconditional love is a process that doesn’t occur overnight or from reading a book. One cannot just decide to be there and it happens. A serious spiritual student can begin by jotting down or remembering each time emotions of judgement and criticism present and ask; “When does it happen? What triggers it? “What am I believing that is making me feel this way?” Developing an awareness of one’s habits and programing is the first step toward releasing it. Intention is a vital tool. State to your Higher Self; “I choose to release all that holds me in bondage to concepts of love because I choose to move into the higher awareness of Oneness”. Use whatever words best reflect your intention.
As the spiritual student practices unconditional love the best he can with every experience and observes others who live out from unconditional love, he gradually integrates it into his consciousness where it then functions automatically. Life becomes more joyful. No more pressure to “save” others. Unconditional love occasionally means allowing another to fall flat on their face once the difference between needs and wants is realized. No more judging and criticizing. No more living as an enabler in the false belief that enabling is love. No more trying to live up to someone else’s concepts in order to be loved.
Unconditional Love simply means living out from a realized consciousness of ONENESS.
6/7/12