The Power of Love
People do shitty things all the time. They behave appallingly, are vindictive as well as self-destructive. There is no use trying to whitewash over this, the marks are too deeply ingrained. The question is what to do about it? Fortunately, an answer was given to us by a teacher of ancient mysteries, initiate of the great priests of Egypt and student of the wise Vedic masters, Jesus Christ. He said
“Forgive them, they know not what they do.”
Can we live up to such an ideal? Probably not, but what matters is that we try.
Love is based on a recognition of inner value. If we dislike or reject what we are then we do not love ourselves. And if we do not love ourselves we cannot hope to love others. We must strive to discover what we are, fix the bits that we can, accept the bits that we cannot, and find a way to love ourselves. This love of self enables us to love others, which in turn enables us to be loved. All of this sends ripples outwards into the wider community, the nation and the world at large.
Sadly, the world today is not infused with love, but riven by hate. People have forgotten the words of another biblical wise man, Ezekiel, who suggested that we should love the sinner and hate the sin; instead they want to go all in on hating the sinner too. Yet those who do this reveal only one thing, that the person they really hate is themselves.
Hate is not the opposite of love; it is the absence of love. It is a negative force that grows and expands whenever love is forgotten. Hate is a force which takes you nowhere but downwards. It twists and distorts and leeches into every area of life. Its antidote is love; genuine I-want-nothing-from-you-I-just-love-you type love. Though I am talking about love for people, this can equally well be expressed as love for animals, or for things that you create, or for a sunset, or a forest scene. The point is that it cannot be transactional, or conditional. You might not get any love back, or you may not get it in the way you want – but it does not matter! Nor can it be based solely on their (or its) appearance, or your mood. If the love is genuine, it will be present in the midst of conflict and difficulty.
Of course, it’s all easy to say, and much more difficult to do. But that does not make it any less true. The Rider Waite Smith Tarot Card VI, the Lovers, shows us the way. Two individuals, stripped of all pretension and deceit, indicate the way through a gate toward a mountain. Ascent up the mountain – as readers of Soul Strong Volume One will know – represents the purification of the Soul. The Lovers tell us that the gateway to this is Love. Not power. Or money. Or brains. Or looks. Or age. Or beliefs. Or values. Just Love. I hope you will be able to seek and find some of this magic ingredient over the coming months.
Merry Christmas and a Happy 2023!
