2003-07-01. Love
SE Idaho #61
Topic: Love
Group: SE Idaho TeaM
Teacher: Daniel
TR: Bob S.
Opening
Prayer: (Bob S.) While your mind is on God, hear these words of comfort.
Michael: My children seek not the ways of the world for they are temporary. Rather open (your) eyes to the world beyond your sight, the world you can only imagine in your mind. Through the book and this group, your mind is open. Keep that attitude, for it is the way God seeks his children to be. Father, I pray these young ones, in their ignorance and sincerity, will find within themselves that which lifts them up to Your ways, to the ways of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. Amen.
Daniel(Bill ): Greetings dear friends, I am Daniel, well known to you: your teacher, your companion, your very proud older brother and your guide along these sometimes bumpy paths of mortal living where the branches, which occur, tempt you to lose your bearings.
It is my privilege and joy to once again be here with you. I will immediately recognize our two visitors, daughters of God and sisters of all of us. Your lights shine brightly. Your soul energies are as lights to those of us who see you in this place this evening. You are only a small portion of the personalities in attendance tonight. If you had spiritual vision you would see that there is, as it were, an amphitheater which surround this room, where the seats are jammed packed with visitors, student visitors, your faithful guardian Seraphim, your teachers; administrators of this spiritual realm, are in attendance as well. You are exactly as St. Paul described, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. We all witness this occasion.
Lesson
Love, Creativity
My topic tonight is a return to the most fundamental reality. It is once again another lesson, discussion, of the meaning and purpose of LOVE. As you are acutely aware, the word love is a multi-dimensional word, with meanings which vary according to the context of its use. The English language is not as sophisticated as some other languages on this planet that have different words for different aspects of love. I will review just for a moment, with you, three of the meanings of the word love, which are not my major concerns this evening, although they are important realities in your lives. There is the love which denotes affection, strong liking. You say: I love chocolate and I eat it at every opportunity. You say: I love my automobile and I love to show it off to my friends. You say: I just loved that movie and the performance of the actors and so forth. Strong affection! That which pleases you!
There is the love of another person for their kinship connection. You love each other as brothers and sisters because you are blood related. You love your parents and parents love their children because they are of the same flesh and blood.
And then there is the love of passion, of strong romantic and sexual attraction, the love of the Hollywood movie, the love at first sight, which when you think about it, has to be basically a reflex reaction before you actually know another person. This is the love which drives the reproduction of the species. It is all a part of the intention of the Life Carriers, to do this intense bonding you often refer to in the concept of two halves coming together into a whole which is complete. This is the love of the sexual and romantic attraction.
In all three aspects of love: strong liking, strong affection, the first; the second family attraction and caring; and third, the strong romantic sexual attraction, there is a reciprocal relationship. The partnership between family members is obvious, doesn’t need me to elaborate. Families are essential to the continuance of civilization and so there is that give and take. There is the obvious give and take of the erotic romantic relationship where the two complement each other. And in the first aspect the word love is probably a poor choice, a better word would be some other designation that does not use those letters L-O-V-E. For in that case the relationship is one sided, the object that is of affectionate value provides some need for the person who desires it, whether it be the vanity of a beautiful car, the pleasure of the taste of chocolate or whatever. Here the reciprocation is non-personal.
The love of which I speak more about is the fourth meaning. It has been designated in the Greek language as ‘Agape’. It is a different concept, for there is no ingestion of value from the loved object to the person loving. The love here is an overflowing, a giving purely for the wish to give, the cherishing simply because the giver finds that other person to be of great value in themselves and not in what they can return to the giver. This is unconditional love; this is love with no selfish component. This is the love which powers the universe.
Philosophers and theologians have speculated as to why God created His universe. Some have said God was lonely; others that He needed other beings to worship Him and to express their appreciation so it would satisfy His heart of the need to be appreciated. Of course, these are what you term anthropomorphic notions of motivation. They think of God as though He were a person of human stature. But even some of your artists and musicians, playwrights, etc., have caught a sense of the motivation of the God of Universes. They have experienced the pure pleasure of creating something beautiful in itself. They understand the notion that they don’t do their art or music in order to be applauded, to be rewarded, to be paid. At those moments of high creativity they share the feeling of pure pleasure in the doing of a beautiful, noble, and unique thing.
We are taught that the Paradise Trinity, after creating a perfect universe from eternity, which reflects their nature in repletion, decided to share creativity with other personal beings. And so, this time-space universe that you live in, that we live in, is an opportunity for others to co-create with God, both themselves and the environment that they live in. Your reason for being is to become God like and share in His love, which is expressed in one facet in creativity. It was Gods’ desire to share His creation with other personal beings that He brought into existence, this universe. (The Trinity did not personally create this universe. It is the creation of their Sons and Daughters, the Creator Sons, and Creator Spirits).
The Trinity decided to share their creative power with others so that they could experience the joy of co-creation with God, bringing into existence the perfected status as a result of their long struggle to control all the factors of the environment which are chaotic, and all the factors of temperament and character which the personality desires to unify and bring into cohesive balance.
Love then, is partly expressed in creativity and in the sharing of creativity. The other part of Love is the desire to serve others, to do good to other people. It is that urge you feel to help another person learn and progress, and achieve, and feel good about themselves; not to do it for them but to assist them when they desire it in any way that you can; to serve them where they are in need of service. This desire to share with other people, this desire to serve other people, and this desire to co-create your self is all an aspect of love.
You see, within each of you there is a piece of God, a Fragment of His pre-personal essence, which seeks to blend with your mind. The result is a soul, which is growing and which will survive death, so that your personal existence is not limited to this short mortal life. Depending on your choice, You will continue to go on and on as you grow and expand and become part of the completion process of all creation in its personal aspects, as they, in turn, bring under their control the remaining environment.
Love is the desire to do good to others; and love is the desire to serve others; and love is the creativity and co-creativity, which empowers your lives.
I have said enough to allow you now time to react to these words. Have I been confusing, and hard to understand? If so please feel free to ask questions. There are no restrictive rules on our discussions. All things are permissible. The floor is yours.
Dialogue
Ken: Greetings Daniel my old friend. (Hello Ken) It’s nice to hear from you. I appreciate your lesson this evening on the four aspects of love. It’s always nice; it’s always good to hear that lesson repeated, to give us new and larger insights into the love of the Father. Thank you Daniel, thank you.
Daniel: Yes Ken I appreciate your encouragement and like any teacher we do find ourselves repeating concepts. Perhaps I should add a little bit to my talk that would assist you. I have talked about what love is but I’ve only partially implied why it’s important. Perhaps it would be wise for me to expand on that aspect for a moment.
You see, one of the questions you must ask yourself is this one.and I’m not suggesting that by the way you haven’t asked it. I’m saying this is an essential question. Assuming there is a God and assuming there is a universe of meaning, and not simply accidental causation, assuming there is purpose, then what is my purpose in life? Or what is THE purpose of life? Is there a larger purpose that I would like to become a part of? This is the question that addresses its self in adolescence. What shall I do with my life? What do I want to become? What are my goals? You know what answers your culture offers. For many cultures there aren’t a lot of choices. In the primitive cultures, it is simply to become a good tribal member, to raise a family, to sustain some sort of living and so forth. But in your culture you have quite a bit of leeway.
The issue of this question Jesus often addressed in His parables and stories. He once told a story about a rich farmer, who was very prosperous, and whose barns were not big enough to hold all his crops. So he decided to build bigger barns and then he could retire and enjoy his life and rest on his laurels. In His story, Jesus said, but that night his soul was required of him, in other words he died. And what was the outcome of his life? Today we say one who dies with the most toys wins. It’s the same idea. So that’s one answer. The purpose of life is to make money and use it to do what ever you wish.
But, another answer is the one that Jesus gave, and He said, and I paraphrase, “Make it your first priority to seek the Will of God and all these things that you need will come to you naturally, and even some that you desire”. The words in the New Testament rendering are “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these thing shall be added to you. For what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
Why is it important that we be connected to love? Because it is love that will guide our values in the right direction. Jesus did not say to become a monk, to give up all earthly pleasures, to torture yourself with asceticism, and you will achieve heaven. Nothing of the sort! Put first the will of God in your life! The will of God is that that you love Him, love yourself and everyone else as yourself; that you value the personalities that you meet; that you realize that people are the most important value in the world, not things; that your relationships matter the most, not what you own and possess. That’s why love is important. It’s the juice that runs the universe. It is the motivation of God to create this imperfect universe so that we might have a share in its perfecting process, so that we might learn to become God-like and reach, eventually, the same perfected state by our own efforts in partnership with God’s indwelling, guiding Spirit.
So now, I do think I have completed my talk satisfactorily. Are there other question or comments? Dialog with me if you wish.
Spirituality
Virginia: Daniel, your latest commentary immediately brought up a situation that I have to look at. I do believe that there are many, and I use the word, good people, that are putting a top value first, all over this planet, and yet they do not see all their needs being met or their children’s needs being met. And, I got to believe when I hear God’s promise that all things shall be given to you, that there’s going to be a better opportunity, and I don’t want to say ‘pie-in-the-sky by and by’, I’m not trying to say that. But, a better opportunity when all human needs are going to be met either now or as they grow in the future in the next life.
Daniel: and your question?
Virginia: My question is: I would like to believe that this concept is correct, yet I know that all their needs are not being met even for spiritual people’, those who are showing love. So! My question is: this promise is out there, and I believe God, therefore, it has to be fulfilled at another time. Is this correct?
Daniel: No! Okay,it is not incorrect either. Your phrasing of the situation is incomplete. Your examples are somewhat restricted. Let me explain.
I realize there are religionists who take these words of Jesus as a bargain, as an agreement if we do the will of God, then He will do these things for us. In fact, some of them take it to the extreme that He will make them rich. That kind of understanding is promoted among certain sects of Christianity. Isn’t that true?
Virginia: Yes! I’ve certainly heard that, yes.
Daniel: I say to you no and yes because when you make judgments about a person’s material, emotional, and mental status, you are exposing yourself to great error possibility. The level of satisfaction that some people derive from what you would regard as an inadequate material level of living might surprise you. You may recall that there’s no direct correlation between material success and happiness after the basic material needs are met. So the question is how you define or who is to define what these basic needs are? That’s one of the issues. If you are thinking of the mostly agreed upon, shelter, and enough food for nutrition, and the chance to rest, as three basic needs, then, granted there are some people who are not experiencing those, I will admit.
It’s also very likely, and it’s true, that there are people with very simple needs being met at a physical level, but who are having greater needs met at an emotional and spiritual level; that is, they have better family structures, they have more family love. They are united together and so their needs are being met in this way.
The yes to your question has to do with the future which is, as you know from the study of the book, that if a person chooses to survive all of their deficiency that they experienced in mortal life will be made up. You see, it’s not the environment that you live in that is most important, as I was trying to say earlier. Environments may vary and yet people may have equal satisfaction from various levels of what you might regard as deprivation. It’s not the environment per se; it’s how a person reacts to that environment that is important. So, if you grew up in poverty, lived all your life in poverty and then went to the Mansion Worlds, would you suddenly live in a wealthy estate to make up for the poverty you experienced in your planetary life (I don’t think so) No! That isn’t that way it works. What you will make up is the deficiencies in your spiritual growth, which I might add, are more likely to occur in people who live in a wealthy physical environment, because their challenges are fewer at times.
Virginia: Thank you Daniel and (is that helpful?) Yes! Even as you were talking I thought of the fact that perhaps the greatest need that we have is that we would be able to react in a spiritual way, no matter what the circumstances are. So that when people. when that promise is given, maybe it doesn’t mean bread, water and butter, but maybe it really means satisfaction of knowing that you have chosen to be on the part of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.
Daniel: Well my dear, you have taken the words right out of my mouth! That is precisely what I was trying to communicate. Thank you very much for putting it into the concise words you just did. Yes!
Virginia: Thank you Daniel. I really wasn’t trying to be the devil’s advocate, but there is so much that you see in the world that.
Daniel: If this world was all there was, as many people think, and God is responsible for the injustice and inequity; and there is no larger plan, there is no larger universe picture, then indeed would the anger of many be justified, for God would be obviously unfair, impotent, unloving,etc. If this world is all there is and you try to explain people’s circumstances without an infinity point of view. anger and atheism is your conclusion.
“Pie in the sky by and by” has been used to characterize a type of religion which despairs of this world ever progressing to completion and promises people the rewards of heaven. And while in a sense it is true that there is life after death which is so much better than this world, it is wrong to put religion in the role of the pie maker who can’t deliver his wares until the Fair begins next week, and can’t do anything to help the person today who is hungry.
You know that you are intensely involved in the co-creation of yourselves, so that you can influence others and that society as a whole gradually be elevated and spiritually advanced. As spiritual advancement occurs, material inequity an injustice will be obliterated, for you cannot truly love another person and treat him unjustly. God’s purpose is that His sons and daughters of all the planets of His vast universe will reach the maximum of the status in each of their planetary histories, Light and Life, on the planetary level, in the mortal career. But then, that is just the beginning of this wonderful advancement. Enormous ideas, these.
The two things that I want you to remember is that one of the aspects of love is your freewill gift of personality, which allows you to co-create yourself and be part of a society which is co-creating itself; that is the first thing. The second thing is that you can let that love flow through you to other people in your service, and in that flow movement you are feeling God in you. You are feeling God’s feelings of LOVE AND SERVICE. And you do it because this is the heartbeat of the universe.
Virginia: Thank you Daniel.
Daniel: Thank you Virginia for engaging me in getting my juices stirred up so that I completed my intention with the original talk. Other questions or comments? Disagreements?
Bob S: Daniel there is one aspect of what you discussed which causes me great difficulty, and I suspect others have difficulties (yes Bob, tell me about it). When we are told we are must love everyone because we are all brothers and sisters. we have difficulty with that and your lesson tonight, I think, helps us deal with that by broadening our definition of love; but at the same time, what can you say that would help us. what can we do that would help us love everyone, as we start to recognize that everyone is our brother and our sister? Because we get hung up in our limited understanding of love and say it’s not possible for me to love that person. I don’t know that person, others I do know, I don’t like. What can you say that would help us take the next step?
Daniel: Very important question! First of all, you need to be honest with yourself and admit that you might not like other people. That is sort of a ‘gut’ reaction. If you want to become analytical then ask yourself – why don’t I like that other person? If you can get past superfluous reasons such as: I don’t like the color of their hair; they are too fat; they are too skinny; they have the wrong color skin.(I call these superfluous reasons because they have to do with appearance).you may discover what you don’t like about that other person is more a matter of their attitudes, and their behaviors. Does that make sense so far? (yes)
Now what do you know about their attitudes and behaviors? What do you know about the origins of them? Nothing! Probably! (nothing, very little) At this point you have to ask yourself this question. Granted I don’t like the way this person acts and what his attitudes are, and assuming that he is mentally normal, is it possible that, barring the normal amount of human mistakes that we all make, he is doing the best he can? And then if you can answer that with a ‘well, perhaps so’ reply, you have opened the door to the possibility that he and you are the same; that he is after all a Son of God, even if a misguided one.
Now this may not deal with how you feel about him in term of liking, you may still dislike him. But perhaps you can come to say to yourself that you are willing to wish for him the best that can be his. YouI desire to do good for him. You would be willing to be an influence in his life if that’s how it’s going to work to help him become a better person. If you can say “I’m willing to be in that relationship with this other person”, then you are loving him, for you are desiring to do good to him. You still may not like him, but you have the willingness to do good for him, which is love.
People get stuck, and I think your question refers to this, at the level of their feelings. This is especially true towards somebody who has really hurt you by betrayal, or by lying, or you know, some act of hurt. How can you love your enemies? But, Jesus said to love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you, for the Father sends rain upon the just and the unjust. In your human nature, in your emotional feelings, you may never arrive at a really warm feeling towards this person. But the more that you understand them, the more that you open your mind to the possibly there are reasons for their obnoxious behavior, their dislikable behavior that you don’t know, but you wish them well, you wish them spiritual growth, then in fact you are in fact loving them. Does that help you Bob? (Oh,yes!) It may sound like philosophical sifting of sand but it really isn’t.
Bob S: No. I think your point is well taken.
Daniel: Jesus regarded Herod at one point in His life as a fox, someone he was not going to deal with. But finally in the last moments of His consciousness he blended his human mind with his divine mind and said, “Father forgive them they don’t know what they are doing”. And that may be the best you can do which is divine in itself. (Pretty good) To say to God about this other person, “Oh Father help me forgive him. I don’t know what he is doing, but I’m willing to believe that he is your son or daughter, as it may be”.
Well my friends, Kathy and Chris, I welcome you both. Your guardian seraphim, standing behind you, know that the sense you have had of their presence is real. Know that love, which we’ve talked about, is the most alive thing in the universe. It flows through you. It energizes you. It is your connection with your divine Parent.
Closing
Let us all stand and conclude our meeting.
Klarixiska: This is Klarixiska. Divine Parent, that made us so that we might experience Your love and the love of our brothers and sisters and the creativity that is your gift to us to share, not only in creating ourselves, which is in a sense sharing that which we have the possibility of becoming, we thank You. We thank you that our minds, our hearts, and our hands can create beauty, and be a part of your contribution to this planet. We would ask that as we, each one, the seen and the unseen, go this week, we all might find ways to be an expression of your love through service. Amen.
