3-40. To the ego, love is a demand, one that if left unanswered brings pain. To God, Love is pure Appreciation for your infinite Perfection. Only one of these definitions can be True.
The ego is not particularly adept at defining love in any meaningful sense, as the ego’s version of love is a demand that must be met, not a feeling of appreciation and gratitude that is universal in scope. This version of love is most often seen in romantic entanglements, ones in which love is required and requested rather than seen and recognized as a force unto itself. To the ego, love is an an expression of adoration that can be easily rescinded. And so from this lackluster definition, one so fraught with misperception that it has little utility at all, do we see the cruel barrier reefs upon which so many intimate relationships flounder and eventually capsize, for to demand from another that which is truly an entity and experience wholly unto itself is to ask of another what they cannot give. Love is not a bargain to be struck - an interexchange of support granted in a conditional format, one that requires the upkeep of certain conditions and the consistent, if nay on incessant repetition of reassurance that appears necessary to maintain the status quo of a relationship that finds its primary basis within the upkeep of illusions rather than being founded in the steadfastness of certainty and appreciation. This is not to imply that saying “I love you” is without value, for such an utterance can be a gentle gift when it is presented without a desire for reflection or repetition by the object of your affections. Of course, within the phraseology of “object of your affections” we see another circumloquotious presentation of the misnomers of the ego - e.g., that an object can be the direction towards which affections can be offered. What is it that is contained within this commonplace but invalid expression? Simply a misalignment of Truth transformed from its eternal and universal aspect into the truth of temporariness and, at its final conclusion, extreme strife. Arguments, disappointments and cessations of relationships often occur without the direct anticipation of one or more of their participants simply because they are founded on a principle of mutual reinforcement of inwardly-directed doubt. Yet it is not the responsibility of any other Child of God to offer to you that which you refuse to give to yourself. In Truth, they cannot even perform such a function even if it were able to hold value for you at all, for that is not the Way of Unity with your own heart. That which you seek out in others - the affection, reassurance, companionship and mutually beneficial support are but reflections of what you are unwilling to provide to yourself first. They are complimentary to your own power but not constructive of it. This is a strange and deeply foreign concept for many, for there is a myth of completion within a relationship that runs straight through one of the most vicious illusions of the ego - that you are, in any manner at all, incomplete in and of yourself. And so, when this illusion is accepted wholeheartedly, you seek out in others the love and support that you either refuse to give to yourself, or that you believe yourself to be fully unworthy of receiving. And perhaps for a short while, they do appear to provide this consistency of appreciation to you, in a manner that you may not have experienced before, and you are ebullient with joy as you are raised up and fulfilled in a manner that you previously believed to be fundamentally inaccessible to you. But was it? Was that the Truth of God, or was that yet another of the vast illusions of the ego, accepted because it was not seen and repeated down through countless generations as an example of the necessity of a romantic companion as an overarching goal, one that will allow you and they to “live happily ever after” or whatever other sanctimonious and saccharine platitude you wish to employ to justify your quest for a completion in the arms of another that you could not have possibly have achieved wholly on your own? These questions are not presented to cause pain but rather to free you from illusion, for to depend fully on another to give you that which you, as of yet, refuse to give to yourself will always result in a faltering frailty that will break you, eventually. Indeed have so many believed their hearts to be broken, and they have suffered mightily as a result, but what was it that actually was fractured and then disintegrated when within the momentous moment of the final undoing of that particular infatuation or powerful connection, all that was became severed and apparently lost forever? Was it you yourself that broke, or was it another illusion of dependency that was rent asunder and cast aside? You can elect for yourself which of these two perspectives you wish to use to regard that which has occurred, but there can be only one that is correct. Love that has requirements is not at all reflective of the Love of God, and so it is but an ego-based determinant, a requirement of recognition and reflection that is conditional, not universal. That is not Love, that is love and while it is useful, its utility is contained within its ability to show you that it was always incomplete and unnecessary. Lessons learned need not be repeated. This simple statement contains so much liberation that it is often misunderstood, at least at first. If you learned what it was that you were asked to transcend completely, you will not have any need for another example of what was presented, for your energetic signature will have modified so significantly that there will be no further alignment with that particular set of instruction. And so, events and situations that are in alignment with lessons that are fully transcended will simply no longer arise, for it will be time for you to learn of newer and greater teachings. Love knows no demands. Love knows no strife, no pain and no necessity of reciprocation. All that is of Love is appreciation, not requirement. Romantic love as it is generally experienced at this moment within the great journey of all of life is one that is beset with tragedy and misperception, for it is believed, within this world of form, that love can be lost. That is not the Nature of Love. A love than can be destroyed is not love at all - that is attachment, in essence an enmeshment of two hearts that are unrequited by their own awareness rather than being unfulfilled by each other. Such a binding can cause pain when it is torn apart, for each participant has been seeking out in another that which they refuse to give themselves, and so when such offerings are rescinded, there appears to exist a void which cannot be filled in the absence of their elected companion. Yet never was the Truth as this. All that you ask for from another you are fully capable of providing for yourself. Love is not pain, Love is Joy and all that is not Joy is not an accurate reflection of the Truth of God. In this manner, when all that is not appreciation for the existence of another is removed from your mind, you will no longer feel any sense of dependency on their presence or longing during their absence, for you will be fully entwined with the Joy of their existence alone, and that will be more than enough to satisfy all desire that you might ever have. God is as this - God does not want, for God is able to See all of the Children of God just as they are, regardless of their own misperceptions. As such, God does not feel pain when some of the Children of God stray from the Truth, for they are not altered by their explorations of the darkness that they themselves have condemned themselves to - they are merely subsisting in a state of error, one that can be corrected at any time, just as soon as they are willing to accept that they are already Perfect, just as they were Created. This Perfection of Creation is inalterable and unexchangable with the madness of the ego. It cannot be lost, but it most certainly can be forgotten. Attempt to believe that it might be possible that you could be perfect, for that is a lovely state of mind from which to begin to explore all that arises in your mind that is not in alignment with the Truth of your heart. Much will likely show up that will demand to be heard, but simply because a lie speaks to you, you are under no obligation to accept its profusely uttered exclamations. That they are so insistent is a very important indication of their inherent falsity, for Truth never demands. The Truth of Love has no need of proof, for it is content to be as it is. It awaits your acceptance - it does not demand your allegiance. Love is not love. There is only one Unitary Love that extents throughout all of time and well past its limits, joining eternity with infinity in a perfect structure that is exactly as it should be. Only one definition can transform love into Love. It is the description that is devoid of pain, for Love abides no consternation or condemnation at all. What it is that you wish to use to define what love is, to you, will become the foundation upon which all that you are to create will rest. Choose well and choose wisely, Child of God, for a structure based upon an illusion will always collapse. A construction founded upon Truth will always rise ever higher, carrying you with it until the heavens themselves open and welcome you Home to God and to Truth, forever.