Hello,
And welcome back to Luminous.
Meditation 11 like some.
Love all.
Love is the felt sense of sharing one's being.
With another person or animal.
That is.
It is the felt sense of oneness.
The felt sense of our prior unity.
As such.
Love is not an emotion that we feel from time to time.
It is the natural condition.
Of all relationships.
However.
.
.
Love is not always experienced.
Because it is obscured by the belief and feeling of separation.
Our bodies and minds are obviously separate from one another.
But this does not mean that our essential self or being is separate.
The content of our experience differs.
Our being is shed.
Love is the recognition of our self in the other.
It is the experience of the unity of our shared being.
This does not imply that we should like everyone.
But it does imply that we should love everyone.
Whether we like someone or not.
Depends upon the extent to which our conditioning coincides favorably with theirs.
Love has nothing to do with whether we like someone's character or not.
It is simply the felt recognition.
But in spite of our differences or similarities.
We are essentially the same self or being.
So before we know anything about anyone.
We should first establish.
Not just in our understanding,
But in our feeling.
That we are essentially one with that person.
We then relate with that person as the situation demands.
But our relationship with them is informed by this prior feeling understanding.
Namely that we share our being with them.
They are our very own self.
If this were the guiding principle of our lives.
No other moral or ethical code would be necessary.
This alone.
Would be the sufficient guiding principle.
For all our activities and relationships.
When Saint Augustine was asked about the ethical implications of this understanding.
He simply replied.
And do whatever you want.
That is.
If you feel that you share your being with everyone and everything.
And act in a way that is consistent with this felt understanding.
That is all you need to know.
In order to facilitate this.
I would like to suggest a practice or an exercise.
Start with your eyes closed.
And understand and feel.
That you are the open,
Empty space of awareness.
Now visualize someone that you love deeply.
Can be a friend.
A family member,
A pet or an animal that is present in your life now.
Or it could be someone from your past.
Allow their image to appear before you in your mind.
And feel that behind the layers of thoughts,
Emotions and activities,
You share your being with this person.
That shouldn't be difficult.
We already love this person,
That is,
We already feel that at the deepest level we are one with them.
Our thoughts may be separate.
Our emotions,
Sensations,
Perceptions,
Activities may be separate.
But our being is shared.
Now alongside the image of your loved one.
Bring to mind an image of someone you know,
But don't have any particularly strong feeling for or against.
Maybe someone you don't know very well.
Who you see in the street each day or you encounter from time to time in a shop.
Or a personality from television.
Anyone you know.
But with whom you have a neutral relationship.
Allow their image to come up alongside your loved ones.
And contemplate this second person.
Until you feel your shared being with them.
To the same extent that you do with your loved ones.
Simply go back and forth with your attention between the two people.
Until you not only understand but feel your shared being.
With both of them equally.
You love them equally.
Now evoke the image of a third person,
Someone you positively dislike.
Maybe someone you know personally?
And feel some resentment towards.
Or perhaps a character that you know from the news.
Allow the image of this third person.
To appear in your mind alongside the other two.
Allow your resistance to them to come up to begin with.
And see that this resistance is not really a resistance to who they essentially are.
It is a resistance.
To the way they think,
Feel and act.
However,
Just as our own thoughts,
Feelings,
And actions do not define who we essentially are.
So,
Likewise,
They do not define who this person essentially is.
See through the conditioned layers of thoughts,
Feelings,
And actions.
To the very being of the person.
Understand.
But more importantly feel.
That their being is identical to the being of the other two people that you are imagining.
Go back and forth between the three people in front of you.
Until you feel the same quality of love for all three of them.
This exercise is a preparation for going out into the world.
And recognizing our shared being with everyone.
Irrespective.
Of the way they think,
Feel and act.
This does not imply that we have to agree with everyone.
It does not mean that we may not sometimes take a firm stance against their actions or behavior.
But it does imply that however much we may disagree with them.
We understand and feel that we share our being with them.
We are not called to like everyone.
But we are called to love everyone.
