Love & Fear
LOVE AND FEAR It is not by attempting to force feelings to change that they change. Emotions evolve only when they are accepted exactly as they are. The key to doing this is to stop judging them. Only the ego defines good and bad. This is its primary tool of control: if some desires are good and some are not, life is going to remain split. By separating our feelings from the ego’s belief systems, we can use their powerful energy for personal growth. There is an iconic story from Buddhist monastic tradition that illustrates this point. The monks were attacked from time to time by hordes of demons when they were deep in meditation. No matter how hard they worked to be free from them, there was no escape. It was only when they stopped judging them as evil that they would vanish or transform into celestial nymphs or angels. It was only the monks’ interpretation of reality that was giving them trouble. This recognition is a necessary stage of evolution. As consciousness grows, we naturally learn that whatever comes to us is our own creation, none other’s. With the dawn of this understanding, we stop wasting our energy fighting, resenting or repressing what we created. This enables us to use the energy of our desiring to accomplish much faster growth to enlightenment. Did you know that there are only two roots to all our emotions? The entire drama of our emotional life stems from either love or fear. The experiences we have can be traced back to their origin and it is very easy to see the difference between experiences born out of fear and those born out of love. Each moment we choose to water one of the two roots. The root that gets most of our attention is what colors our life. This choice is often unconscious to us due to the deep rooted stress around low self-worth and not being loved. Because we have separated from the Source of Unconditional Love in our own hearts long ago, there is often a deep resentment even toward the creator itself. A feeling of being abandoned is very common in most people. Our conscious mind can do little about this deep stress. We are not always aware of our choice for fear and yet it is what we do. This is what has created the wars and conflicts of this world we live in. One can recognize fear when we desire to control others and our experiences. Fear creates limitations and restrictions; complications and difficulty. The ego is fighting a battle inside of us and fear is its
weapon of choice. It demands to know how, when and where. The more we gain mindful awareness the easier it is to recognize these patterns of fear and choose a different way. When we choose for love, it is always expansive and all-inclusive. It is always giving of itself without needing anything back in return. Love does not place conditions nor does it attempt to control anything. Love is the true essence of who we are and it is always present in our lives and in our hearts. Fear can mask it and create an illusion that love is not present, but that is a mirage only. The moment we choose to realign with the underlying reality of love, fear disappears like it was a dream, which it is. The key to evolution is to stop judging our feelings as good or bad. It is only by accepting them as they are that we go to a more expanded state and the emotions will evolve. I have found in my own experience that the worst demons inside have often been the greatest allies in pushing me forward into making a clear choice for love instead of fear. No matter how hard the knots of stress may be, how deeply the belief in separation has been engraved in us, no matter how long we have turned away from light, the moment that we choose to focus on love, that is all there is. When the sun rises darkness is no longer there.