What skin is it off anybody's hiney if love is the cause of all?

[hybrid]

Love and personality

The first thing you need to know is that your personality or ego does not know how to love. It cannot love. When you say, "I love you," it is always a lie, because the person who says, "I" cannot love, and doesn't know what love is. The personality does not know how to love. The personality is the product of the lack of love, so how can it know love? The personality is what you usually think is you, what you call "I," "myself." When you say "I," it is a lie. "I" doesn't love. "I" doesn't know how to love. "I" is there because you don't know how to love. "I" is there from the beginning because of the loss of love. The very existence of an "I" is the absence of love, the blockage and distortion of love. The "I" knows how to need; the "I" does not know how to love. It is not possible. What we call "I," our separate identity, is our self-image. Even if the self-image knows what love is, it does not have the love and cannot be a source of love. In fact, when there is love, love tends to melt away the "I." The "I" relaxes and gets out of the way. (Diamond Heart Book 2 pg 153)

Originally Posted by hybrid

Love and personality

The first thing you need to know is that your personality or ego does not know how to love. It cannot love. When you say, "I love you," it is always a lie, because the person who says, "I" cannot love, and doesn't know what love is. The personality does not know how to love. The personality is the product of the lack of love, so how can it know love? The personality is what you usually think is you, what you call "I," "myself." When you say "I," it is a lie. "I" doesn't love. "I" doesn't know how to love. "I" is there because you don't know how to love. "I" is there from the beginning because of the loss of love. The very existence of an "I" is the absence of love, the blockage and distortion of love. The "I" knows how to need; the "I" does not know how to love. It is not possible. What we call "I," our separate identity, is our self-image. Even if the self-image knows what love is, it does not have the love and cannot be a source of love. In fact, when there is love, love tends to melt away the "I." The "I" relaxes and gets out of the way. (Diamond Heart Book 2 pg 153)

I agree - to a point.

This view is an extreme. I agree with it, but at the same time I do not know anyone who is purely ego or purely ego-less, so at the same time I see it as conjecture.

This is a very useful viewpoint as a spiritual exercise, but the real word is far more complex, IMO.

[hybrid]

Originally Posted by Humm

I agree - to a point.

This view is an extreme. I agree with it, but at the same time I do not know anyone who is purely ego or purely ego-less, so at the same time I see it as conjecture.

This is a very useful viewpoint as a spiritual exercise, but the real word is far more complex, IMO.

yes, but we can derived a testable theory on that... say love is indirectly proportional to ego.

LOVE = 1/EGO

as ego decreases love increases and vice versa
ie. the bigger the ego, the lesser the love

Originally Posted by andrew g

There is contrast but not opposites. Existence is non-dual in nature i.e. 'not two'. So what we think of as bad is not the opposite of what we think of as good, though it seems like that to the mind because the mind thinks in dualistic terms i.e. it thinks in opposites. What we THINK of as bad is really best described as less good.

Life doesnt need death, if anything birth needs death but really they are just form changes. Life has no opposite, existence has no opposite, love has no opposite. Opposites are illusions of the mind. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it just changes form. All these things just 'are'.

I didnt mean them as opposites, as much as contradicions that couldnt exsist without the other.

And yes, life does need death, without the death of things, there wouldnt be enough matter to recreate life.

[andrew g]

Originally Posted by hybrid

Love and personality

The first thing you need to know is that your personality or ego does not know how to love. It cannot love. When you say, "I love you," it is always a lie, because the person who says, "I" cannot love, and doesn't know what love is. The personality does not know how to love. The personality is the product of the lack of love, so how can it know love? The personality is what you usually think is you, what you call "I," "myself." When you say "I," it is a lie. "I" doesn't love. "I" doesn't know how to love. "I" is there because you don't know how to love. "I" is there from the beginning because of the loss of love. The very existence of an "I" is the absence of love, the blockage and distortion of love. The "I" knows how to need; the "I" does not know how to love. It is not possible. What we call "I," our separate identity, is our self-image. Even if the self-image knows what love is, it does not have the love and cannot be a source of love. In fact, when there is love, love tends to melt away the "I." The "I" relaxes and gets out of the way. (Diamond Heart Book 2 pg 153)

Controversial! I like it and get it (I think!) but I would say that although the ego cannot love and does not know how to love, it is also not separate from love. We cannot ever be totally and fully disconnected from who/what we are (for obvious reasons), and although we can try our hardest to avoid and escape who/what we are we can only play that game for so long. So when we say 'I love you' it is not necessarily a lie and I would say it can be one of our most authentic expressions because it is often said when we are turned more towards Self/God.

Originally Posted by hybrid

yes, but we can derived a testable theory on that... say love is indirectly proportional to ego.

LOVE = 1/EGO

as ego decreases love increases and vice versa
ie. the bigger the ego, the lesser the love

Heh- it all adds up!

Originally Posted by andrew g

Controversial! I like it and get it (I think!) but I would say that although the ego cannot love and does not know how to love, it is also not separate from love. We cannot ever be totally and fully disconnected from who/what we are (for obvious reasons), and although we can try our hardest to avoid and escape who/what we are but we can only play that game for so long. So when we say 'I love you' it is not necessarily a lie and I would say it can be one of our most authentic expressions because it is often said when we are turned more towards Self/God.

My own view is that ego is a gift of that same love that gave us life and existence.

Realization is an acceptance of ego back into that love. Sound familiar...?

[andrew g]

Originally Posted by Time

I didnt mean them as opposites, as much as contradicions that couldnt exsist without the other.

And yes, life does need death, without the death of things, there wouldnt be enough matter to recreate life.

I would say that what seems like death is really a change in form, and form is always changing. Life is the constant amidst the change, and where there is life, there is love.

[hybrid]

Originally Posted by andrew g

Controversial!

hi-hi-hi

[andrew g]

Originally Posted by Humm

My own view is that ego is a gift of that same love that gave us life and existence.

Realization is an acceptance of ego back into that love. Sound familiar...?

haha yes. I agree that ego is a gift in this sense. Some people also talk about 'ego' in the sense that it is not just the separate self, but it is that which gives us our individuality. In this sense, it is also a huge gift.