 |
 |
David, You said, in part: "Love can be felt, but its not a feeling. Love is demonstrated, and is learned best by self sacrifice." I agreed with every word of your share, except the word "sacrifice." The man who told the fish story described love as "action," which he in turn defined as "doing things for God's kids for free and for fun." If self sacrifice is intended to mean becoming oblivious to self in service, OK, but most of us understand that word to connote something unpleasant, but moral or noble. In short, for me it has always been associated with "should" and guilt, two words that are foreign to my notion of what love is and does. You quoted your instructor as saying, "Love is not a feeling, its a choice" "An unselfish choice motivated by willing the Highest, and best for another." This, in my view, is part of the "experience" of love, which combines "choice" and "action," both of which are the inevitable result when we let go of guilt and find a place of OKness with self, God and others. Janet was saying, I believe, that our natural heritage is love because we were created as love by Love. Our journey here is to transcend the ego's focus on guilt and fear and return to that natural heritage. This may seem overly thought centered to one who emphasized action, but before I could perform even one unselfish act in a state of mind motivated by willing the Highest, and the best for another, I had to clean my personal mental house, let go of self guilt and with it your guilt, and only then was I able to take the tiniest steps with the motivation you describe. Love Chuck