Spiritual Love

Love is the greatest and most powerful emotion, being difficult to understand, much less describe. We can say it is divine energy radiating in all things. It is said, love conquers all and some believe it is better to have lost in love than to never have loved at all. As spiritual beings having a physical experience, our understanding of love is simply from a physical perspective.

In 1763, Emanuel Swedenborg said In Love and Wisdom, “Man knows that there is such a thing as love, but he does not know what love is. He knows that there is such a thing as love from common speech, as when it is said, he loves me, a king loves his subjects, and subjects love their king, a husband loves his wife, a mother her children, and conversely; also, this or that one loves his country, his fellow citizens, his neighbor; and likewise of things abstracted from person, as when it is said, one loves this or that thing. But although the word love is so universally used, hardly anybody knows what love is.”

Probably one of the best ideas of love in modern times is the Dalai Lama. Exiled from his homeland many years ago when China invaded Tibet, the Dalai Lama had become the ambassador of love to the entire world. He traveled to one country after the other sharing goodwill. When asked about his religion, the does not speak of Tibetan Buddhism, he simply says, “My religion is love” and even refers to the Chinese government who exiled him, as “my friends, the enemy”, the same lesson Jesus taught, nearly 20 centuries earlier. Most of us have to ponder, how can we love our enemies or those who hurt us.

As we evolve spiritually we begin to realize that the essence of our being is love, divine radiating energy that holds us together. Perhaps from a factual standpoint we could say spiritual love;

1. is divine energy, Universal Intelligence beyond our comprehension.
2. is unconditional and without judgement
3. is the unification of the feminine and masculine within each of us
4. is the acceptance of the self.
5. the acceptance of oneness

Spiritual love is what our ancient teachers have been trying to convey to us for centuries. The ancient Chinese sage Lao Tzu said “Nothing but good comes to him who loves others as he loves himself” while Buddha tells us “When you see yourself in others, it is impossible to hurt anyone else.” Krishna said “to Me, all beings are the same. I hate none, and no one is more dear to Me than another.” and of course Jesus tells us, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

When we know our true self, our true nature, then perhaps, we will know the unlimited power of spiritual love.