The Pagan Path

Those who wonder are not lost; they are trying to awaken! 'The Sleeper must awaken!'

Friday, May 27, 2016

Love is Enough, Right?!

The Beatles were right; all we really need is love, but then, 'what IS love? Do you really, honestly think that good ole John, Paul, George & Ringo were dreaming of a true & lasting love, an active love, rather than just a fleeting feeling expressed in sexuality, when they sang those words fifty some years ago? Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm sure they & others like them were very sincere, but I can pretty much guarantee you they did not have scriptural love in mind!

We have explored previously the old-fashioned notion that love is more, so much more than just a feeling; if more people were to figure out in their own minds that glorious fact, then the Beatle's words might be proven true! Love must be a conscious choice, an action, in order to truly be love. As I've witnessed to before, one can say 'I love you' as much as he or she wants, but if they never actually prove through their actions the force of their words, then the intended will never believe their words & they will fall on deaf ears, so to speak!

The Creator formed humanity in Love; He built us for it, if you will! Feelings are natural to us all, they are a necessary part of our make-up! Without feelings, we would never know the love we have for each other. On one hand, if one ignored the feeling that he or she should act a certain way toward another, then that other would never experience the love that the other willingly offered, but on the other hand, if the one on the receiving end did not experience the love in action that the other willingly offered, then again, that love would be lost & fall on deaf ears!

More than a feeling, Love, like the Creator Himself, is active & unchanging! Feelings, however, often change as the weather. One day, the love may flow freely, but as the days, months & years wear on, feelings may begin to wane, disappear, or even turn again & rend the one who formerly benefited from that feeling. Love, true love, is not based on feelings, it finds its roots in the Creator Himself & is an active choice, a conscious decision to treat others, especially maybe, a certain other as we would like him or her to treat us. Our actions are influenced by our feelings, no argument there, but when our actions are based on feelings, which may easily change, then the love which is engendered by those feelings, will not last!

'Actions', it is said, 'speak louder than words'; it is good to fill your loved one's ears with the words 'I love you', it is better to show by one's actions that he or she truly loves the recipient! Love, if truly more than a feeling, will work itself out through the fingertips, so to speak, making the intended experience that love. That experience may then, in turn, engender within the recipient that same feeling toward the other, moving them to act in kind!

Boston had it right as well; love IS 'More Than a Feeling'! The glorious feeling of being loved is almost beyond words & in fact, many would find it impossible to describe it. Some may claim that both the Beatles & Boston, as well as other contemporary music groups have a faulty notion of love; maybe they're right, but at least those musicians & others like them understand that Love IS a necessity & that it IS more than a feeling. How MUCH more?

That, my friend, is up to you!

Charles Haddon Shank

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