Looking for Love

"Love makes the world go 'round," is an apt description of what may be the most important and fulfilling experience on earth. Love creates individuals, families and organizations. Love brings joy, exuberance and appreciation as well as hurt, guilt and sadness. We love our pets, movies, books, vacations, trees, birds and most anything we can sense. At one time or another, we've all felt the longing for love. Love is central to life.

In separation consciousness, love is seen as that which makes us whole or complete. Since we are viewed fundamentally as being apart from others, we need the love and acceptance of others to create a sense of being loved or whole. The desire for love can easily lend itself to the ownership of or dependence on another, be it a spouse, parent, son, daughter or friend. It is common in separation consciousness to use manipulation and persuasion in an effort to maintain this sense of love. With love, we fill the chasm of separation consciousness, and when love is lost we re-experience that chasm. We experience a loss of love in break-ups, divorces and death. Such perceived loss is accompanied by sadness, heartache, grief or even agony.

The view of relationships in separation consciousness has two sides - giving love and accepting love. Giving love can be defined as the offering of one's self through thought, word or deed. Accepting love is the opposite and receptive quality that allows such offering to come from another -- or ourselves. There are few more precious words to our ears than "I love you," whether we are delivering or receiving them. Love is a wonderful thing!

Love takes on a different meaning in unity consciousness. Consider the idea that in unity consciousness, we are viewed as being complete and whole. We are not separate or apart from one another as we fully coexist with one another and all of life. There is no chasm between individuals that would lead to personal ownership. There is no sense of loss -- even in the face of death -- only a changing of appearances. Life is energy and energy can be transformed, but it never leaves us. We are One and in unified consciousness we are inherently tied to all that is.

In unity consciousness, there is no lack of or longing for love. We are love itself and love is recognized as our nature instead of something we need to acquire. We become the "light bulb" of existence, complete in shining our light into the world. The light bulb is complete in its sharing, emitting and giving; it does not long for anything to be returned to it.

In the purity of unity consciousness, our relationships with others provide a reflection of who we are. The love we experience seemingly from others is simply the reflection of our shining light of love. "You complete me" is transformed into "You reflect me." Actually, there is no "you" and "me" in unity consciousness and all that remains when taking away the sense of individuality is the existence of love. As soon as the ideas of "you" and "me" are recognized, the chasm exists, which we attempt to fill with the presence of and love "from" the other.

In separation, we believe that another is necessary to experience love. And as long as perception remains in separation, this is true. When the perception changes to unity, the chasm is filled and the longing or need for love dissipates. What remains is the realization that we are love and that all the love of the universe is an inherent part of our nature. In such realization, there is no longer the thought of the giving and taking of love as a commodity. In our stillness, we are love, sufficient unto itself. And wherever we are and whatever we do, there love is. We do not need to try to love; love is what we are.

The paradoxical nature of separation/oneness can be viewed through the eyes of love. In unity consciousness, the individual can stand alone in the experience of love and completeness. There is no need or want of another, though others will certainly be in one's sphere of association. Such associations will be void of negative separation qualities that are reflective of an inner chasm. While there is recognition of the uniqueness of individuality, there is also the awareness that the "other" is a part of the self. As "I" am love, "you" are love. Here again, drop the "I" and "you" and only love remains.

In separation, love is viewed as a healing force. It is the medication that soothes the inner chasm created by the entity. Love is the band-aid that rescues the separation consciousness from itself. What is needed is not the band-aid but the healing -- a realization that the chasm can be permanently filled.

Why does one want to be loved when one is love itself? How can one need to love when one is complete love? How can one feel loss when unity consciousness shows we we are one with all existence? How can we attain love from another when we are universal love itself? Needing, losing and attaining love are all views of separation consciousness, where we are seen as incomplete until we are made complete by another. The chase for love disappears in unity consciousness, where we can stand still and experience infinite love as who we are.