Opening AS Love

When you hear the term, unconditional love, what comes to mind?

For many, it is the love of a mother for her child.

It is with great sensitivity and caution that I expose the obvious problems with that idea, whenever I encounter it. To do so frees the term, unconditional love, to point to something far more vast and encompassing.

The love a mother feels for her child can be one of the most intensely beautiful and tender forms of love possible. Mothers will fight to the death to protect, as well as unwaveringly stand behind to support, her children.

A mother may love her child, as may a father, with acceptance and ferocity, that is seemingly unshakeable. But alas, this does not mean unconditional.

Unconditional means without condition, and while a mother’s love for a child may be deeply powerful, it is not without condition. To prove this, simply replace the child with another child and the love is gone. This means that a mother’s love is very conditional i.e. for her child.

If you are a mother, before you get upset with me, let me offer another definition of unconditional love, as we will explore it here.

We can speak of unconditional love as without cause, direction or destination. This means that unconditional love could be experienced while sitting on the toilet looking at a wall. I'm not saying the love is for the wall or caused by the wall. The love is for no 'one' and no 'thing' in particular, and therefore the love is for everyone and everything without exception or condition.

This means unconditional love is uncaused.

It simply is.

Let’s look at a very useful and simple analogy.

The sun shines on everything unconditionally. This means it shines impartially and equally on saints and sinners, lovers and murderers, toilets and walls, mothers and children.

What inhibits your capacity to love unconditionally like the sun shines? To experience and practice unconditional Love, you may begin by bringing to mind a person who evokes a feeling of Love, openness and relaxation. Allow yourself to consider whatever images are necessary to illicit the experience of Love as you know it.

You may feel a subtle swelling in your chest, a sense of fullness, openness and joy. When the experience is fully realized, place attention in the experience itself and drop the images that evoked it. This means you allow attention to permeate and saturate the experience of Love, making the experience of Love itself the 'object' of your attention.

With attention rooted in the experience of Love, breathe deeply and open your heart fully, while allowing your gaze to drift and rest upon whatever it happens to rest upon. With your attention rested, continue to open AS Love.

Now, attempt to locate and experience this form of Love as a practice, as well as spontaneously, in all situations and circumstances, until the moment you die.

 

If this article rings true to you, maybe it's time to go deeper?

If so, I invite you to Your Jump Start Your Heart -
Purpose and Passion Strategy Session

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* 2008 All Rights Reserved.

Aaron McNaught, aka "The Wake Up Guy", is the author of five books, a Life Coach and Transformational Speaker who practically owns the term. (Google "Transformational Speaker" in quotes and see for yourself). Aaron is known for his demonstration of awakeness and has committed his life to bringing light into the world.

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