The Pagan Path

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

Sunday, September 27, 2020

'I'm In Love; I'm All Shook Up'

This question has been proffered many times before, in several iterations, but, 'what IS love?!' We've covered the fact that, humanly speaking, it most certainly involves feelings, but surely, that's not all there is to it! 'Love is an action', so we've heard, but that doesn't seem to cover it, either................ It IS an active proposition, for if it's merely spoken words, where's the proof? 'Actions speak louder than words', they say. So again, humanly speaking,' love is an action', or maybe better said, 'Love is active'! In essence, one can say, 'I love you' every day, but if that 'love' doesn't manifest in their actions, can you trust that one truly loves you? If that one says they love you, but then abuses you in any way, whether physically, emotionally or spiritually, you can be sure they don't really love you, they just 'love' to use you. Once you are of no more use to them, they will slowly but surely fall 'out of love' with you & sooner or later, discard you out of mind!

Maybe our problem is that we've forgotten who we are! We are not bodies ( persons ) that have a Spirit/Soul; we are Spirits that have a ( biological ) body. That Spirit, just like It's Progenitor, IS Love. As Spirits that manifest in this biological construct called 'Life', we merely show that Love, share that Love, in a sensual way, to those around us. 'How do we show Love?', you may ask. Well, 'as above, so below'; Love does not abuse! Love, for that matter, does not even use! Those who use people, in whatever way, though they may truly 'have feelings' for that Person, are not actually manifesting True Love, but are proving their 'lust for the flesh'; they have forgotten Who they are, having swallowed 'hook, line & sinker' the proposition that We are simply People that happen to have a spirit. But, we must begin somewhere......

'Where to begin?' Well, in Reality, it starts with the Spirit! It is the Spirit that first must Will in order to do with the Body. The failure to first Will ( in the Spirit ) to do something ( in the Body ) is where most people get into trouble, for, thinking they are simply a body with a spirit/soul, they tend to act instinctually, like the animals they think they are, with their animalistic lusts ruling their action. Thus, even though they may feel they are showing you 'Love', they're only manifesting their animal nature. 'Love is not a victory march', says a popular song from our contemporary archives: in one way or the other, most people seem to think that it is ( most likely, even the author who coined this phrase ). The majority of people seem to think that one must win, through conquest, the 'love' of another. Once 'won', then, we must actively keep his or her love, for fear that we may lose it & them. In this way, we, generally speaking, are fighting a losing battle, for in that sense, 'the conquest never ends'!

So why, generally speaking, do we think we must fight to 'win' the love of a fair maiden ( or master )? On a funny note, isn't it interesting that we, as a society, seem to be stuck on the notion that the male of the species is the conquistador, not the female? Back to our question; is our culture to blame? A large part of the blame, we must acknowledge, rests squarely on the shoulders of Organized Religion in general & Christianity in particular! Interesting as well, is the fact that Judaism & Islam, from which Christianity unfortunately stems, seem to have this notion in their head as well, that men are somehow superior, in whatever way, to women & therefore bear the greater burden ( responsibility? ). When it comes down to it, it might be noted that this is a large part of the problem in our contemporary culture, with it's father-less children, 'dead-beat dads' & 'sperm-donors'. ( 'baby-daddies' is another such ). However, this is on the way out, slowly but surely, with a growing number of women realizing that they don't 'need' the male of the species to do anything but 'procreate'. But that's another subject for another day, perhaps..............

'Why do you say that 'we are fighting a losing battle?, you ask; 'as above, so below': 'the conquest never ends'! In general, day-to-day ( or yearly, as the case may may be ) terms, think of it like taxes: one might outright 'own' a piece of property, real estate or whatever, but if you miss one payment on your taxes due, you find out pretty damn quickly that, in actuality, it's really not your property, after all.  So in the case of say, the 'conquest' of marriage, whether it's primarily the male or female ( even if it's both ) doing the fighting; once one or both lose the impetus to keep the marriage going, it usually doesn't last very long.  This, again, leads us back to the fact that 'Love is not a victory march' ( whatever the author meant by these words ), so, since 'Love' is not a conquest, something to strive for, 'what IS it?! 

Love is Who we are! We do not need to tell someone that we love them, though it's nice to hear the words, to show someone that we love them, or rather, have feelings for them: all we have to do is 'let it be'. We only have to Be, not who we, as human beings, THINK we are, but Who we, as Spirit-beings, KNOW we are! Realizing this is easier said than done, I most readily acknowledge, what with cultural indoctrination & all; in order for our True Nature to shine through, we must drop the masks society has told us we MUST wear ( in order to be acceptable ). We must acknowledge, first & foremost to ourselves, for this is where True Love begins, that We are NOT what Cultured Society says We are! We are Who we Are, not because we feel like it, not because we've become that, or attained it, but because that is our very nature!

As human beings, to be perfectly honest, we DO feel the impetus to both love & be loved in return, but this is where get into 'Vibrations' & 'Frequencies': again, perhaps another subject for another day! For today, though, though we may hear both our biological clock ticking & feel the 'need' for that human touch, these sensations are felt simply by this biological machine ( wondrous as it is ); our True Selves want for ( need ) nothing: We are complete!

'What is Love? WE are Love! Not in our humanity, though we most certainly make it manifest through our  sensual bodies, but in our Heart of Hearts, Our True Nature, we are the Love that we so desperately seek, as human beings! Do we need to manifest this Love in our humanity, in order to BE Love? No, we must DO nothing in order to BE Who we are; unfortunately, not knowing who they really are, many have chosen to manifest Fear & Hatred. Realizing though, Who we really & just BEing, instead of feeling driven to DO, that we must be conquistadors, We cannot help but manifest our True Selves. This is Love, not that we have emotional feelings for others, but that we accept ourselves for Who we really are, that we first love ourselves!

Namaste & Blessed Be!

Charles Haddon Shank

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