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Preface There are various
loving ways to God-consciousness and all can be approached by first experiencing
the true love of another. A life with a loving partner is a preparation for the
ultimate experience of treading the Path to God-consciousness. In loving you in
return, your beloved is teaching you how to accept and give love. Some
of the paths to tread to finally realise God-consciousness may depend on whether
you hold your Ideal as an omniscient, omnipresent God, a God (or Goddess) of
Nature, a God of Loving-Kindness, or of Goodness, Truth and Beauty. Yet all
paths begin with learning to love, truly and selflessly, albeit over many
lifetimes but each life experience assists us to understand and tread a chosen
Path. This
work outlines some of those Paths, several of which can lead to the final
destination of God-consciousness, Self-Realisation and service to humanity. S.A.B. |
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CONTENTS 1 THE POWER OF LOVE
INTRODUCTION EXPRESSING LOVECreating a Solid Foundation for a Loving Relationship
Love is Loyalty
Love is Trust
Love is Respect
Love is Appreciation
Love is Unselfishness
Love is Integrity Love and Biological Evolution
Homo sapiens ‘amans’
Homo sapiens ‘ferox’
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOVE AND LUST
When lust and love coexist
Lust
Extreme suffering that generates lust
SOME SIMPLE TESTS
It
is lust if
It is love if
TEN WAYS TO TELL IF YOUR LOVE IS
REAL
PSYCHOLOGY OF LOVE
Jung and Cosmogonic (Universal Power) of
Love
James Hillman: Love is the Great learning of the Soul THE BIOLOGY,
PHYSIOLOGY AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OF LOVING 2 BHAKTI YOGA
THE CHAKRAS AND BHAKTI
YOGA
The Chakra System
The Seven Chakras Table 2.1 The Chakras and Radiated Colours
The Heart Chakra
The Solar Plexus Chakra
BHAKTI
YOGA
Great Bhakti Poets
Sri Chaitanya Mirabai
Sri Ramakrishna
THOUGHTS ON
BHAKTI YOGA, THE YOGA OF LOVE
Disciplining the
mind 3 THE WAY OF THE SUFI
GOODNESS, TRUTH AND BEAUTY IN SUFISM
Background
SUFISM The Great Sufi Poet, Rumi
WHIRLING DERVISHES 4 LOVE AND LORD BUDDHA
THE BUDDHA’S LOVING-KINDNESS
Meditation on Loving-Kindness The Lord BuddhaKindness Meditation Preliminary Practice
A
Meditation on Loving-Kindness
Subsequent Practice An Alternative Contemplation 5 LOVE AND TANTRIC YOGA
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TANTRIC YOGA
What is Tantra?
THE
SEVENTH and EIGHTH PATH IN TANTRA YOGA
The Seventh Path
The Eighth Path
Sacred sexual union
TANTRA YOGA AT 6 THE PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE
LOVE AND PHILOSOPHY
The Art of Loving
Is Love an Art?
The Arranged Marriage
The Relationship of
Love to Other Academic Disciplines ASPECTS OF LOVE: EROS, PHILIA AND AGAPE
Eros Philia
Agape
The Epistemology of Love Storge
The lover is passive before the beloved THE NATURE OF LOVE
Romantic Love
Physical, emotional and spiritual love Love in Ethics and Politics 7 CHRISTIAN LOVE
ORTHODOX
CHRISTIAN AND GNOSTIC LOVE
CHRISTIANITY A Personal or Impersonal God?
Love; the Foundation for All Relationships
What is Christian Love?
Forgiveness
Deeds and Rules
GNOSTICISM Gnosticism and Gnostic Love Background
Sophia as the Female Counterpart to God
Gnostic Sacraments Baptism
Anointing
Redemption
Eucharist
The Bridal Chamber
Gnostic Ethics and Morals
Dualism and Monism in Gnosticism
LOVE IN GNOSTICISM
The Sacrament of the Bridal Chamber
The Mystery of Mystical
The Mystery of the ‘Controlled Embrace’ in modern terms 8 LOVE AND KARMA
DHARMA AND KARMA
The Principle of Dharma
The Law of Karma
KARMIC LAWS OF LIVING AND
LOVING
The Law of Harmony
The Law of Reincarnation and Karma Soulmates The Law of Wisdom
The Law of Grace
The Law of Soul Evolution
The Law of the Bodhisattva
The Law of Vibrational Attainment
The Law of Free Will
The Law of One Table 8.1: Plato’s System of ‘Layers’ Compared with Other
Esoteric Systems of Planes or Levels
Antakharana
The Halo
The Law of Manifestation The Law of Gratitude The Law of Fellowship The Law of Resistance The Law of Attraction
The Law of Reflection The Law of Unconditional Love The Law of Affinities The Law of Abundance The Law of Divine Order
The ‘Little Deaths’ of Daily Life as Love is Lost
ARJUNA
AND THE PATH OF LOVE (A PATH TO PERFECTION) Arjuna, You and the Bhagavad Gita Karma and dharma in the context of the Bhagavad Gita
Path of
Love and Compassion 9 LOVE IN THE
ARTS
CREATIVITY AND LOVE
The Arts and the Meaning of Life
LOVE IN ARCHITECTURE
The Taj Mahal,
La Sagrada
Familia Cathedral,
Gaudi, ‘God’s Architect LOVE IN THE ARTS OF PAINTING, SCULPTURE, POETRY AND MUSIC
Venus (Aphrodite)
Endless Love The Lady of Shalott The Cellist
The Kiss,
by Rodin
Cor Cordium
(Heart of Hearts)
POETRY AND SONG Across a Crowded Room
My True Love Has My Heart
10 LOVE IN MYTHOLOGY
GREEK AND ROMAN LOVE MYTHS
APHRODITE (VENUS)
Aphrodite and Ares
EROS
PSYCHE (SOUL) 11 LOVE IN HISTORY
LOVE IN HISTORY
THE QUEEN OF
CLEOPATRA
Cleopatra and Caesar Cleopatra and Mark Antony CATHERINE THE GREAT AND GRIGORY ALEXANDROVICH POTEMKIN
NAPOLEON AND JOSEPHINE
PRINCE EDWARD AND WALLIS SIMPSON
12 ESOTERIC ASPECTS OF LOVE HELEN BLAVATSKY AND RAGHAVAN IYER ON LOVE DR ANNIE BESANT AND BISHOP
CHARLES LEADBEATER ON LOVE The Rose Temple of Love for the Coming Sixth Subrace
The Sermon
Incense
Sound
RUDOLF STEINER AND PETER TOMPKINS ON LOVE
Peter Tompkins Rudolf Steiner
References Appendix A (To accompany Chapter Seven)
Table A.1: A Comparison Between
Gnosticism and Christianity |
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May I be filled with loving-kindness May I be well May I be peaceful
and at ease May I be happy
As you say the phrases, you may also wish to
use the image from the Buddha's instructions: picture yourself as a young and
beloved child, or sense yourself as you are now, held in the heart of
loving-kindness. Repeat the phrases again and again, letting the feelings
permeate your body and mind.’ Practice this meditation repeatedly for a number
of weeks until the sense of loving-kindness for yourself grows. 2.
‘When you feel ready,
in the same meditation period you can gradually expand the focus of your
loving-kindness to include others. After yourself, choose a benefactor, someone
in your life who has truly cared for you. Picture them and carefully recite the
same phrases: May he/she be filled
with loving-kindness .
When loving-kindess for your benefactor has developed, begin to include
other people you love in the meditation, picturing them and reciting the same
phrases, evoking a sense of loving-kindness for them. 3.
‘After this, you can
gradually begin to include others: friends, community members, neighbours, people everywhere, animals, the whole earth, and
all beings. Then you can even experiment with including the most difficult poeple in your life, wishing that they, too, be filled with
loving-kindess and peace. With some practice a steady
sense of loving-kindness can develop and in the course of 15 or 20 minutes you
will be able to include many people in your meditation, moving from yourself, to
a benefactor and loved ones, to everyone, everywhere.
You can learn to practice it anywhere. You can use this meditation in traffic
jams, in buses and airplanes, in doctors' waiting rooms, in a thousand other
circumstances. As you silently practice this loving-kindness meditation among
people, you will immediately feel a wonderful connection with them, the power of
loving-kindness. It will calm your life and keep you connected to your heart. 4.
‘Now contemplate on kindness as follows:
All those who raised and comforted us deserve to be
cherished because of their kindness. All our temporary and ultimate happiness
arises because of that kindness. Even our body is the result of the kindness of
others. We did not bring it with us from our previous life,
it developed from the union of our father’s sperm and mother’s ovum (Scheffel,
2003). Once we had
been conceived our mother kindly allowed us to develop in her womb, nourishing
our body with her blood and warmth, putting up with great discomfort, and
finally going through the painful ordeal of childbirth for our sake.
We came into this world naked and were immediately
given a home, food, clothes, and everything else we needed. While we were
helpless, our mother protected, fed, cleaned and loved us. Without her kindness
we would not be alive.
Through receiving a constant supply of food, drink
and care, our body gradually grew from that of a tiny helpless baby to the body
we now have. All this nourishment was directly or indirectly provided by
countless living beings. Every cell of our body is therefore the result of the
kindness of innumerable other people. Even those who have never known their
mother have received nourishment and loving care from other people.
Because we have this present body with human
faculties we are able to enjoy all the pleasures and opportunities of human
life. Even simple pleasures such as going for a walk or watching a beautiful
sunset can be seen to be the result of the kindness of many living beings. Our
skills and abilities all come from the kindness of others; we had to be taught
how to eat, how to walk, how to talk and how to read and write. Even the
language we speak is not our own invention but the product of many generations.
Without it, we could not either communicate with
others, think clearly nor share their ideas. All the facilities we take for
granted, such as houses, cars, roads, shops, schools, hospitals and cinemas, are
all available to us solely through the kindness of others. When we travel by bus
or car we take the roads for granted, but many people have worked very hard to
build them and make them safe for us to use. Everyone who contributes in any way
towards our happiness and well-being is deserving of our gratitude even though
they had no intention of being kind to us, that is
irrelevant. We receive benefit from their actions, so from our point of view
this is a kindness. Rather than focussing on their
motivation, we should focus on the practical benefits received. Everyone who
contributes in any way towards our happiness and well-being is deserving of our
gratitude and respect.
We might argue that we are not given things freely
but have to work for them. When we go shopping or eat in a restaurant we have to
pay. We may have the use of a car, but we had to buy it originally and we have
to pay for petrol, licence, registration, maintenance
and insurance. No one gives us anything free. But where does our money come
from? Although we have to work for it, others employ us or buy our goods, and so
indirectly it is they who provide us with it. Further, the reason we are able to
do a particular job is that we have received the necessary training or education
from others. Wherever we look, we find only the kindnesses of others.
We are interconnected in an amazingly intricate
causal web of kindnesses from which it is impossible to separate. Everything we
have and everything we enjoy, including our very life, is due to kindness. In
fact, every happiness there is in the world arises as a
result of the kindnesses and love of others.
Our spiritual development and the pure happiness of
full enlightenment also depend upon the kindness of living beings. Spiritual centres, books and meditation courses do not simply occur
but are the result of the hard work and dedication of many. Our opportunities to
read, contemplate and meditate on spiritual teachings depend entirely upon the
kindness of others. Moreover, without living beings to test our patience, or
develop our compassion, we could never develop the necessary qualities to attain
enlightenment.
We need others for our physical, emotional and
spiritual well-being. Without others we are nothing. Our sense that we are an
island, an independent, self-sufficient individual, bears no relation to
reality. It is closer to the truth to picture ourself
as a cell in the vast body of life, distinct yet intimately bound up with all
living beings. We cannot exist without others, and they in turn are affected by
everything we do. The idea that it is possible to secure our own welfare whilst
neglecting that of others, or even at the expense of others, is completely
unrealistic. 5.
‘By contemplating the innumerable ways in
which others help us, we arrive at a firm decision to cherish all living beings
because they are so kind. Based on this determination, we develop a feeling of
cherishing, a sense that all living things are important and that their
happiness matters. Try to engage your mind with this feeling and maintain it for
as long as possible without forgetting it. 6.
‘We dedicate all the virtues to the welfare
of all living things we have considered during what has been our meditation and
contemplation on kindness’. Subsequent Practice. When arising from meditation, try to maintain the atmosphere and the thoughts and feelings of love you have developed. We do this because, whenever we meet or remember someone, we will naturally think: `This person (or living thing) is important, their happiness matters’. In this way, we can make cherishing living beings our main practice. An Alternative Contemplation.The following may
be used either as an exercise in contemplation, or as a meditation by taking one
stanza at a time:
The Buddha's Words on Loving-Kindness (the Metta
Sutta)
This is what should be done Whatever living beings there may be;
Let none deceive another,
Let none through anger or ill-will
Radiating kindness over the entire
world
Whether standing or walking, seated
or lying down (Trans.
Scheffel, 2003) |
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