True Love...is not for Sissies!
It is not an easy thing for we humans to hold our vision of life through eyes of love. As human beings, we are prone to go into less aware states of mind. When our interests are threatened, we go into physiological fight or flight and then the blood flow to our prefrontal cortex redirects significantly to our muscles and vital organs area. This redirection of blood flow causes our awareness to slip into an effectively more primitive or limited state, because the normal, healthy operation of the prefrontal cortex allows greater perspective and reasoning capability. Thus, when this happens we become less aware of options, choices and more focused on simple, limited choices...fight, defend, argue, or run away! We drop into such states more than we realize and when we do so, ideas like compassion, empathy, patience, tolerance,and acceptance do not seem very reasonable or rational! This phenomena also explains the great mystery of drunken behavior, "How could you be so stupid, so insensitive, so callous, so cruel?" For a time under the influence of an intoxicating or distorting substance, our more advanced thinking capabilities are not fully functional.
It is not just intoxication or flight or flight that limits our awareness. This can also occur from holding onto and expressing very rigid, inflexible thinking, beliefs, and opinions. You can see the folly of this by paying attention to our seemingly endless partisan political battles. This is essentially one extreme, rigid, set of beliefs in polar opposition to the other. Conservative vs. Liberal, Left vs. Right, Republican vs, Democrat etc. It is a healthy thing for people to have different views and then engage in discourse with each other. But when you are trying solve a very complex problem, such as how to turn around struggling economy, or what to do about the poor, or how to create a better health care system, you greatly limit options, choices, and possible solutions by trying to have a single philosophical system apply to every issue. No wonder nothing really ever gets done!
True Love is a state of awareness that is created by an open mind fully present, and not hindered by limited judgment, analysis, and interpretation. It is a clear state of realizing what is - the essence of enlightenment. And it is not seen through any limited, rigid, or primitive human perspective. We certainly all turn into Neanderthals, or Donkeys, or Lizards, and sometimes even Vegetables at times! When we do so the awareness of True Love, the essential as it is, is not available to us. This happens far to often and it is why it is so hard for us to keep this vision. But, the good news is that we can find it. How? By learning to open our minds, and thus our hearts. We learn to restrain our egos, let down our defenses, soften and relax our rigid, fear-laden views and then... Yes! We are vulnerable. Yes! We could be hurt. Yes! This is a very difficult thing for most of us to do. This is why True Love is not for sissies, for the weak of heart or mind. It takes tremendous courage to stand up for Love amidst all the forces of fear, ego, rigidity and ignorance that are threatened by it. But what we get in return for our great risk is a new and far more wonderful perspective and power. We can see Life as it is, and then the truly important becomes more easily recognizable and from that vision we feel a different compulsion... we feel the warm and wonderful desire to honor, nurture, cherish, protect, sustain, and be with what is truly most important in this life. We also receive an amazing, resilient power and capability to face life as it is without falling apart or violently self-destructing. This is as good as it gets, there is nothing better. "It is only from the heart that one sees rightly." (Antoine de Saint-Exupery - The Little Prince)
It is not just intoxication or flight or flight that limits our awareness. This can also occur from holding onto and expressing very rigid, inflexible thinking, beliefs, and opinions. You can see the folly of this by paying attention to our seemingly endless partisan political battles. This is essentially one extreme, rigid, set of beliefs in polar opposition to the other. Conservative vs. Liberal, Left vs. Right, Republican vs, Democrat etc. It is a healthy thing for people to have different views and then engage in discourse with each other. But when you are trying solve a very complex problem, such as how to turn around struggling economy, or what to do about the poor, or how to create a better health care system, you greatly limit options, choices, and possible solutions by trying to have a single philosophical system apply to every issue. No wonder nothing really ever gets done!
True Love is a state of awareness that is created by an open mind fully present, and not hindered by limited judgment, analysis, and interpretation. It is a clear state of realizing what is - the essence of enlightenment. And it is not seen through any limited, rigid, or primitive human perspective. We certainly all turn into Neanderthals, or Donkeys, or Lizards, and sometimes even Vegetables at times! When we do so the awareness of True Love, the essential as it is, is not available to us. This happens far to often and it is why it is so hard for us to keep this vision. But, the good news is that we can find it. How? By learning to open our minds, and thus our hearts. We learn to restrain our egos, let down our defenses, soften and relax our rigid, fear-laden views and then... Yes! We are vulnerable. Yes! We could be hurt. Yes! This is a very difficult thing for most of us to do. This is why True Love is not for sissies, for the weak of heart or mind. It takes tremendous courage to stand up for Love amidst all the forces of fear, ego, rigidity and ignorance that are threatened by it. But what we get in return for our great risk is a new and far more wonderful perspective and power. We can see Life as it is, and then the truly important becomes more easily recognizable and from that vision we feel a different compulsion... we feel the warm and wonderful desire to honor, nurture, cherish, protect, sustain, and be with what is truly most important in this life. We also receive an amazing, resilient power and capability to face life as it is without falling apart or violently self-destructing. This is as good as it gets, there is nothing better. "It is only from the heart that one sees rightly." (Antoine de Saint-Exupery - The Little Prince)
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