There is no higher way...

...for humans to set a clear example of existence than through choosing to be conduits of Unconditional Love.

Sourcerer....fine words, except - do you find unconditional love easy to practise?

Hello dear Amy.

There is no "except" when it comes to appreciation, when it comes to love, my friend. That would be like me stating, "I love you, except..." I know for an unquestionable fact that I love you deeply and profoundly as I love myself, feeling no real separation between a "me" and a "you." You are my Beloved, and I would have it no other way.

When one gives a compliment and then immediately says "but" or "except," that may be something to Self-investigate on the part of the "giver." To be honest, I sometimes catch my mind doing this very same thing, and it calls for more Self-honesty and Self-love, as I do not intend to Self-negate nor negate the very love and appreciation that I give.

YES, I find it very easy to *practice* Unconditional Love, not as something that I "try," but as a deep, intuitive remembrance and recognition of What I AM, and this feeling of deep compassion is unmistakable in me. I know that all human *expressions* of Unconditional Love are camouflaged through the CONDITION of "being human," and that is why I call it being a "conduit of Unconditional Love" in human expression, meaning being in very close alignment with Source. ALL human expressions of love are distorted through beliefs (which we all have), and this is fine.

However, we are evading the REAL QUESTION and looking "outside" of our Self when we concern ourselves with inquiring if "another" finds unconditional love easy to practice. Much wiser to ask YOURSELF that question directly, in a loving, open and receptive way.

As a reminder, I recommend the "Who Am I?" question, as given by Ramana Maharshi. "What is my True Spiritual Nature?" Same essential question. And then, to let the question marinate in consciousness, without accepting any of the intellect's answers as true.

I am still "marinating" in the open space of "Who am I?" and I enjoy the fact that the ego cannot know the Divine Truth!

Sourceror - your connection and ability to love unconditionally is a very special quality you have and, I would surmise, very rare.

I have no need to ask myself about unconditional love since I know I find it hard (hence using the word "except"....that's me being sceptical). As I understand it, to love unconditionally means no matter what may occur, i.e. if you are abused, taken for granted etc. The thought of being taken as some kind of pushover/doormat gets in the way of unconditional love for me.

I am a very kind person...perhaps too kind. Kindness can easily be abused and that's when I back off. So I confess I am a mere mortal in such matters.

Kudos to you indeed Sourceror if you truly are as you depict yourself here. You come from a lovely place. I got close to that place once when I was so totally in love with someone and homeless....It would seem to the world that I had nothing, yet I felt I had everything I needed. Indeed, I suddenly realised that I had a great resonance/understanding for what Jesus was about. It was humbling, gentle and completely beautiful.

Originally Posted by amy green

Sourceror - your connection and ability to love unconditionally is a very special quality you have and, I would surmise, very rare.

I have no need to ask myself about unconditional love since I know I find it hard (hence using the word "except"....that's me being sceptical). As I understand it, to love unconditionally means no matter what may occur, i.e. if you are abused, taken for granted etc. The thought of being taken as some kind of pushover/doormat gets in the way of unconditional love for me.

I am a very kind person...perhaps too kind. Kindness can easily be abused and that's when I back off. So I confess I am a mere mortal in such matters.

Kudos to you indeed Sourceror if you truly are as you depict yourself here. You come from a lovely place. I got close to that place once when I was so totally in love with someone and homeless....It would seem to the world that I had nothing, yet I felt I had everything I needed. Indeed, I suddenly realised that I had a great resonance/understanding for what Jesus was about. It was humbling, gentle and completely beautiful.

Deep appreciation, Amy. Skepticism is good here, in the sense that you possess much healthy skepticism, and I do encourage people to question (in the sense of intuitively FEELING) whether or not the other they are interacting with is very genuinely loving in their expressions and in their claims.

Kindness is a virtue and you cannot really be "too kind." Those who may have perceived your kindness as a weakness were themselves coming from a weak place of mind. Some of what you perceive as kindness concerns "reaching out to others," and this is not always appropriate, unless it is inspired, for most humans have many egoic ideas in connection to helping others that "distort" the pure expression of love. Feeling deep compassion in itself IS "reaching out" in a very practical sense, as it operates by the Ripple Effect, and many millions of beings find benefit through this love that is radiated. Through this "rippling effect" we add loving energies to so many that help create miracles in many reaches of the world/universe; most of which we are not aware of on a personality level. Sometimes our "reaching out" to help another is largely done out of fear and guilt. Kindness, being virtuous, is not really what is being "abused." It is not the Divine Self that would feel victimized, but the ego. It is when we focus so much on "helping others" and neglect the Self that we open ourselves to "abuse." Helping others, remember, is not about our *ideas* about what it means to help, but rather it is really about what our Inner Being would feel is most appropriate as an expression of helping. It is not the actions in themselves, but rather the CHOICES/INTENTIONS behind those actions that make the difference. Every loving thought/feeling we choose is HELPING, is KINDNESS, in itself, with or without a corresponding physical action.

Yes, the push-over/doormat "dilemma" has been a very huge part of my lesson in this lifetime as well, in my lesson of learning greater and greater Self-appreciation. I find that forgiveness of "the past" and actually appreciating those very people/experiences has helped me tremendously in healing my mind of its "inner demons," and surely I still find more to forgive and surrender within my mind. My heart goes out to those who have tried to "take advantage" of your great kindness, and to you for showing them high expressions of true kindness. Your experiences have made you wiser, more loving, and less "taken in" by those who may have poor intentions against you.

I understand what you say about kindness. Of course there can be many reasons to be kind....some intentions being less pure than others. For myself it comes from the heart - it is compassion. I do agree that it is the ego that feels it when such an act is abused. I guess self protection then operates (at least in myself) since to be disrespected feels like a form of unwanted pollution.

I can give you a recent example. In UK we have homeless vendors who sell the "Big Issue" magazine, where some of the cost is passed on to them to help them out. I always buy a copy when I can and often ask if they want a drink (if it's cold or too hot) and maybe something to eat. There's a particular vendor who I do this for...even though I have come to find it distasteful when, having bought the magazine and given him something to eat and drink, he then shows me a photo of his baby and says something about nappies. I let it go until recently. On that day I didn't have the right change so felt like giving it a miss. He followed me to the busstop, hassling me! That felt excessive and I told him it wasn't nice. This has put me off being overly kind to him. I wasn't hurt - just offended that he took advantage. I understand that being in his position, some might say they have to take it as far as they can, but most vendors I find are polite and pleasant.

[wstein]

Originally Posted by Sourcerer

...for humans to set a clear example of existence than through choosing to be conduits of Unconditional Love.

Taken at face value, this makes no sense to me.

Please clarify my misunderstandings:
1) higher towards what or in reference to what?
2) is not any human pretty much as clearly part of existence as any other. They all seem to be made pretty much of the same stuff and at least the living ones seem to clearly exist. Some being larger than others does not seem to make them more of an example of existence.
3) why are conduits of Unconditional Love 'higher' than sources of Unconditional Love? Perhaps you don't believe humans capable of sourcing 'Unconditional Love'?

Originally Posted by wstein

Taken at face value, this makes no sense to me.

Please clarify my misunderstandings:
1) higher towards what or in reference to what?
2) is not any human pretty much as clearly part of existence as any other. They all seem to be made pretty much of the same stuff and at least the living ones seem to clearly exist. Some being larger than others does not seem to make them more of an example of existence.
3) why are conduits of Unconditional Love 'higher' than sources of Unconditional Love? Perhaps you don't believe humans capable of sourcing 'Unconditional Love'?

Hello brother!

I often advise people not to take ANY THING at "face value," for NO THING is what it appears to be on the "surface." This is just practical spiritual sense. Notice that you defined your own personal thoughts/questions as "misunderstandings." I clearly recall that in one of my threads in General Beliefs that you stated that there is no such thing as Absolute Truth (which is simply another one of my terms for Source), and that the only truths are our personal truths, yet you just devalued your own questions/statements by calling them "misunderstandings," which is a lack of appreciation for your own personal truth.

I would not call your questions misunderstandings. They are merely requests for clarity. Perhaps this example will help my opening statement make some sense to you:

I have noticed that you share a wealth of experiential knowledge in metaphysical matters with our forum mates, and I appreciate the ideas and exercises that you share, even having fun with one of them myself (from the "Psi Ball" thread). Now, without needing to get into any specifics, I FEEL a deep sense of love, appreciation and connection for/with you, your essence. This loving FEELING brings me into close alignment with Unconditional Love. I spoke of no "higher" nor "lower" in terms of beings, but rather I mean that when we ALLOW our "highest" spiritual nature (being a "conduit") we are simply thinking/feeling/acting in a "higher" vibrational way than when we ourselves feel anything less than close alignment to Unconditional Love.

The statement is very simply saying that the more loving we are, the more clear we are in consciousness. It states that spiritual alignment with our inner purity is the "highest virtue." Very simple. When I use the word "higher" I in no way am devaluing any other expressions, and I sometimes mention in my messages that there really is no "higher" nor "lower." In no way does the statement say anything remotely close to suggesting that one can be "more" or "less" an example of existence. Of course we are all made of the same "stuff." The opening statement is about PURITY OF ONE'S OWN INTENT. Not as a contrast against anyone else. That's all, brother.

Just as with my other thread that I mentioned, there are points that you've made that I deeply resonate with. (For example, in that particular thread when I made a statement about the "entire universe" being conscious, and then you respond with a huge analytical essay in which you said something to the effect of, "Not only the universe, but all universes..." etc., and numerous other point-by-point responses to my original post. Yet in my original post I did not exclude consciousness from anything. In fact, my intuition tells me that most people who read it had a clear understanding of what I meant, which was saying that all of creation is conscious, without a need to "correct" it or suggest that I was in any way excluding anything or anyone by the statement.)

Now, back to the this feeling of love and appreciation--THIS is what really matters in terms of having clear communication--and not feeling a need to pick apart a person's posts in a point-by-point matter, unless the original poster specifically asks for this, you see (if indeed you do "see" what I am speaking about). I value this love and appreciation so much that I often choose to spend very little time actually reading and writing posts here, focusing much more on increasing my Self-awareness of the Unconditional Love that I AM. Quite often, it is VERY EASY for most regular visitors to online forums to forget their joy and well-being to a large degree as they read and write messages, often focusing heavily upon the words and opinions of other members.

In terms of this brief dialogue with you, I would rather love to emphasize here the deep loving resonance and appreciation I feel towards you, and the love and information that you share with our friends here.

I warmly suggest to you to be more AWARE of the egoic mind's tendency to seek out "differences" than instead to accentuate the commonalities of Oneness that we all share. I too seek to increase my own awareness of this mind-trap, so as to avoid continuing to do so myself. I love you, brother, and I thank you for seeking clarification.

[Baile]

Originally Posted by wstein

Please clarify my misunderstandings:
1) higher towards what or in reference to what?
2) is not any human pretty much as clearly part of existence as any other. They all seem to be made pretty much of the same stuff and at least the living ones seem to clearly exist. Some being larger than others does not seem to make them more of an example of existence.
3) why are conduits of Unconditional Love 'higher' than sources of Unconditional Love? Perhaps you don't believe humans capable of sourcing 'Unconditional Love'?

Hi wstein. 1) Regarding references to higher versus lower: most spiritual traditions identify physical matter as denser, lower, or of a lower vibrational level than spirit matter. Everything is spirit, yes, by degrees. 2) Every human is equally an aspect of existence and spirit; not sure what you're asking there. 3) And you question the use of the word conduit versus source. Both work equally well, I see no difference in meaning between one or the other.

I support Sourcerer's premise. The one and only truth and question that will be asked of us/we will ask ourselves, when the course of human life and lifetimes has run it's course, is: Did you love?

[muffin]

Afternoon Sourcerer
We see the same but in different term's, for me you are extension of who I am and that goes any one else reading this post and those that don't. I wouldn't say love that comes down to how you define it and ones own experience of it. For me it's far easier to say I care and for other's to understand and we each give in our own way.