Love's Eternal Kaleidoscope

By Rev. LeRoy E. Zemke
Pastor, Temple of the Living God

He who prays searches not only his own heart, but plunges deep into the heart of the whole world.
Thomas Merton

We may make an oratory of the heart wherein to retire from time to time to converse with God.
Brother Lawrence

Saints and sinners, theologians and thespians, troubadours and taxi drivers all tell us about the experience of Love. Each speaks of it in his/her own language, the language of metaphor, poetry, prose and song. Yet all who would seek to know the kiln of love's firing, must submit to its course in its unfolding within the very heart of their lives. Kahlil Gibran, the Persian poet, speaks of love in a most penetrating manner in his famous book, "The Prophet":

"For even as love crowns you so shall he
crucify you. Even as he is for your growth,
so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and
caresses your tenderest branches that quiver
in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and
shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto
himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread for
God's sacred feast."

In my Reflections, I speak of Love as the power of life that connects us…or that sense of Life Force that enables us to feel the connection to Spirit beyond our mortal nature. It's the deepest sense we have of feeling alive. To feel aliveness means that we must be aware of life in and around us, in other human beings, but also in each of the layered kingdoms - mineral, plant, animal (human) and the subtle planes that surround us.

The question becomes, how do we individually dance the dance of Awakening to Love's Presence?

The sacred writings of the classical scriptures, the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Koran, and a host of other sacred texts reference Love's Presence and our awakening to it in steps or stages.

Awareness of the ego nature: The discovery of our essential humanity; i.e., the ego's needs for security, sexuality, survival (self preservation) and of course, food. These aspects define our basic fundamental needs to live.

Discovery of relationship to the world through interaction with it. We discover how we relate to the earth, plants, minerals, animals and, of course, to other humans, especially our families, siblings, partners, spouses and children. For many, these discoveries, involving how we interact with all these aspects and avenues of our lives, are the "inner work" of our lifetime.

Awakening to our spiritual nature emerges when the basic needs of life are addressed and we look for meaning in life. We seek to uncover a larger purpose for our existence, our needs for family are met, our material desires are satisfied. Here we seek answers to life's perplexing questions: Why did I come to earth? What causes deformity, disease and all manner of inequalities in life among all races and nations upon the earth?

When we die, do we (the personality) survive in a new or different body? Do we reincarnate? If so, why? If we think we do not reincarnate, why not? Why can't one couple have children even though they seek almost every known approach to do so while others are blessed with children with seeming ease and grace?

The answers that emerge for us bring us to the realm of the spiritual and it is here that we begin to discover our connectedness that goes beyond the form, the body alone.

Love's Awakening: The awakening (stirring) of love's presence initially emerges and/or occurs in a bond that happens between two human beings, such as our parents, or members of our immediate family. It can be an emotional bond (friendship). It can be an erotic romantic (sexual) bond. It can be mental (intellectual). And it can be combined in an almost endless variety of internal and external combinations. Once this bond or recognition occurs, we begin the journey that takes us across our lives…into communities, groups, institutions, churches, countries, nations and ultimately, in its most essentially or expanded sense, across the planet.

The difficulty of Discernment in Love's Awakening Presence. When we have a physical, sensual, emotional relationship with another person, it is extraordinarily complex in its layering and its expression. Hence the multiple and interwoven problems that appear when two people seek to solve their conflicts, harmonize their confusions about what interpersonal experiences may mean or not mean.

As these complex dynamics get sorted out and the veils or plethora of wishes, wants, likes and dislikes disappear, we discover what remains behind the "Smoke Screen" of feelings, hopes, dreams, or pains, woundings and projections, etc. We drop these veils, or better yet, they fall away from us.

We actually enter a domain where we can see another person through eyes not blinded by desire or illusion (grand or otherwise), but by what is essentially there. We see something of the inner being, its more pure state, and "tap" that which is of the holy, sacred or what might be called "The Divine Spark".

As that recognition occurs, Love's Presence emerges, in tiny waves. The sense of physicality remains, but our deeper awareness or perception of the clearer or true nature of our being and that of another shakes us. We are quickened outside our usual normal mental/emotional considerations and concerns and find a spiritual brother/sister with whom we sense an inner bond that allows us to be more present, more available to the forces that are part of our deep, deep innermost self. Here we feel we can be seen by another individual and that it is safe, nurturing and holy. It is this place that permits us to allow (give permission to) that arena of ourselves that is most yearned for in all of our larger, more spiritually meaningful relationships.

Obviously, there are profound questions to consider upon this path. A major work, "A Path with Heart" a book by Jack Kornfield offers a helpful and insightful guide through the many perils and promises of this profound spiritual awakening. I would invite those who might seek an in-depth exploration of this theme to consider this work.

I close with more of Kahlil Gibran's poem on love from "The Prophet":

When you love you should not say,
"God is in my heart," but rather, "I am
in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course
of love, for love, if it finds you worthy,
directs your course.