Love is the key to understanding who we are.

I do not like to prescribed to the notion of beliefs because beliefs lock you into a pattern of dogma which is the foundation of our religions.  Dogma does not require you to understand through experience, it only requires you to follow the pattern of someone else's experience.  There is nothing that inhibits the evolution of our mind like beliefs.   What I prescribe to is understanding based on experience.   As my experience evolves, so does my understanding.

Meditation has been a useful tool for clarifying my understanding.   The greatest clarity comes when the mind is silenced.  Our wonderful logical tool (our brain) must be silenced or ignored in order for our true self to be recognized.   What I have experienced is that the seat of the soul is within the heart. The essence of who and what we are is pure love.  Conscious love.  There is nothing else.

Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven is within.   It is not out there somewhere.  One of the great ironies of humanity is that we are the God that we so desperately seek.   Each of us have a spark of the divine consciousness within us and the only way to find it is to look within.

Love is the key to understanding who we are.  Once we understand who we are, why we are here begins to be revealed.

The courage to love

“Love is the most difficult and dangerous form of courage. Courage is the most desperate, admirable and noble kind of love.”   ― Delmore Schwartz, Last and Lost Poems

This quote has many facets. You could contemplate this quote for a year and still not exhaust it's endless supply of understanding.

When you love someone, they become a mirror that allows you to see your reflection.  That is,  if you can allow your ego to step aside and take a clear look at what the other person is reflecting.  In the tranquil still waters of unconditional love, you can see clearly who you are.   Sometimes,  the reflection is not something you want to see but if you are seeking to truly understand yourself, you will see what you need to see. Allowing someone else reflect back to you something within yourself that does not resonate with, who you want to be, requires a lot of courage. The first inclination of your ego is to flare up and fight back or to feel hurt. But if you truly love yourself and want to become the best version of who you are, you will take control of the ego and look squarely into the mirror that is being held up for you. Having just had this experience, I can assure you that it requires a lot of courage. Loving yourself becomes the difficult and dangerous form of courage spoken by Delmore Schwartz.

Finding the courage to face yourself in the mirrors of life, requires a desperate and noble kind of love. There is no more desperate or noble kind of love than unconditional love. Desperation often drives people to escape being controlled by their own ego which is necessary if you want to embrace unconditional love. There is nothing more noble than to love unconditionally. You certainly cannot embrace unconditional love without courage.

Loving yourself will give you the courage to look into the mirror and courage will allow you to see the reflection of love.