Love may be described as the full and total giving of oneself and of that which one has to give. No holding back, no conditions, no agendas. The love of God is given fully and freely, and as God is in each of us just as each of us is in God, the love of God intrinsically dwells within each of us. It is the very essence of who and what we are.
Much like the sun. The sun sits in the sky giving and sharing of its gifts of warmth and luminosity. As it gives and shares, it does so without concern as to what it may get back in return, nor does it concern itself with whoever is receiving its gifts, or whether they like it or not. It gives and it shares fully and freely because that is what it does.
Shining and glowing is the sun’s particular gift to give to the world. And so it gives.
Or imagine if you will, a blackbird on an early spring morning, sitting on a branch delivering its beautiful gift of song to the world. No regard as to who is listening, no thoughts as to what it may get back in return. Giving and sharing fully and freely. No holding back, no strings attached.
This is love. This is the love of God. This is the love that we have come here to discover within ourselves. That we may cultivate it and learn to express it, in ever greater and grander ways.
Relating this to us human beings and the interactions that we have with other individuals, we always want to seek to never withdraw our love from anyone.
Now, compassion, as a very high form of love, may be described as the understanding of lack of understanding in another being, as well as in ourselves.
Compassion is realizing that whenever another being does something hurtful or harmful, they are under the influence of the ego, ignorance, unconsciousness. In other words, in this moment they are lacking conscious understanding. And so we realize that we never need to take anything they do or do not do, personally. Whatever their actions, it has noting to do with us. They are under the influence of ignorance and we just happen to get in the way of it — of the ego acting through the other being.
And so, as awakening individuals, as we spiritually mature and move along the path of unfolding, we gradually learn not to get pulled in by the ego in ourselves that may be reacting to the ego in the other — that we may increasingly choose to respond with love, compassion and forgiveness. It is as Jesus was encouraging when he said: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
The ego is that part in us that gives rise to our thoughts, opinions, points of view, perceptions. It is the entity that snares us in thoughts about what should and should not be. It is the part within us that pulls us into victimhood and a sense of entitlement.
What Jesus ultimately was saying was that a being that is identified with the ego knows not what they do, because it is not really them doing it. It is the ego doing it through them. It really is like sleepwalking. The individual appears to be awake but is really not, and so although they are always accountable for their actions, it is never personal.
Understanding this allows for us to remain in the higher vibrations of love and compassion, even when faced with ignorance — that we may respond to the Divinity within them rather than reacting to the egoic or surface mind of them.
From this perspective, we come to realize that we always want to choose to forgive (which is nothing but releasing all forms of negativity toward another being) the other, that we may continue to live in peace, joy, love and harmony — regardless of what another is doing or not doing. This is love. This is allowing the love of God to flow through us in ever-expanding ways — as is the sole purpose of our existence.
