“What Have You, If You Have Not Love? “

The nature of love is that it is indivisible. By that I mean, that the state of love when we are in it produces an intense experience of union, a sense of oneness that is experienced at all levels of our being. Physically, science tells us that people who are in love are less likely to fall ill; in a similar way, those who perform activities for the love of the Divine are often credited with having boundless energy.

Psychologically, we know that caring for another with a heart full of love surpasses just looking after ourselves. Why? Because there is a loosening that takes place within us, a loosening and a lightening that somehow refines our innermost being. When we cease to think of our selves alone, the citadel of self, so long protected, begins to dissolve and we open to a miracle. The “grip” of self lets go and we see in our opening hearts the ebb and flow of life between beings; the law of interdependent arising becomes a living reflection, no longer a dry observation of particle physics.

Paradoxically, when we focus on giving love, we find we are the greater recipients, for the love flow that comes to us comes from everywhere, certainly not just from the object of our love. When we are called upon to give up our loved ones, through death or separation or even betrayal, the depths of anguish can open us still further into love. Keeping the heart open and tender in these moments of life can result in our compassion being forged in the fires of hell, purifying our innermost nature into a place of honesty and humility in the august presence of Nature and the Divine.

– An Essay on Loving Kindness
by Catherine Jetsun Yeshe

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