Love is the key...

originally posted by: Realtruth

originally posted by: onequestion
Love is the key to the universal creative force and understanding compassion.

It's the key to changing the world.

The key to destroying the ego.

It's the fundamental key we need in order to go to the next stage of evolution.

I would agree to everything you say with the exception of destroying the ego. The ego imo needs to be loved and acknowledged as well.

Destroying anything has negative connotations and is the opposite of Love.

If love is the key, it should be unconditional perhaps?

Peace,

RT

One could perhaps make the case that the ego is the barrier which prevents unconditional love...after all, what determines the conditions which merit love, if not the ego? Though we should of course not be 'negative' towards the ego. After all, what is it that chooses some things to be positive towards and other things, if not the ego? Unconditional love and compassion certainly applies to yourself, perhaps even begins with your self as with Buddhist Metta meditation. And this unconditional love and compassion perhaps naturally subdues the ego, until all that is left is that love, unconditional and undivided, thus without room for ego.

a reply to: onequestion
Most days I spend time in mediation radiating love and it seems like lately I can feel it radiating back as well. So, I have hopes that we will evolve as you say.

I have learned through a profound experience that love is indeed the key. Yet, we live in a society governed by fear and violence. First it was religion that ruled by fear. Bow before God or you will go to hell after you die. Fear. Now it is government that rules by fear. We are taught to fear our neighbors growing up. "If someone offers you candy they may be trying to kidnap you." And we hear things like, "Without food stamps, your neighbors will attack you for your food."

Every day, there are maybe a million counts of gross injustice and the vast majority of it centers around government-sanctioned violence. 10,000 people die in Mexico each year because of the USA war on drugs. Just the other day many of us saw the video of a man feeling harassed by the police say "please don't touch me" and then the police tackle him to the ground where he died. Why? Because he was "in the wrong to complain about feel harassed" which "warranted arresting him".

Every aspect of our daily life is becoming violent. "Build your house this way or we will tear it down with a wrecking ball or forcefully remove you from your own property." "Pay this fine or you will be forced into debtors prison for a long time." "Either pay your taxes, or go to jail." That is extortion when done by any other group of people, but the government does it as a way of life.

I know someone personally who last week was wrongfully arrested without cause and then for accidentally tripping causing him to mildly bump into the officer on the way to the squad car he was severely beaten and charged with assaulting a police officer. Its standard treatment for a poor person. It is a policy of fear and hate. "Hate the poor." "Fear the poor."

Yet with all this hate, injustice, and violence, mostly centered around the government, there is a movement to base civilization on love and peace. That would be something people who are generally libertarians, anarchists, some communists, classical liberals, some Christians, some spiritualists, and a select few others grasp. That movement is growing and that movement is what I hope will usher in an age of love.

Instead of building a society on fear of what will happen if we don't commit acts of violence and extortion, we should build it on voluntary cooperation, compassion, and hope in each other that such a system can lead to a higher form of civilization.

ATS member Aphorism is quite incorrect in the assessment that the world has tried love. No, the world has tried aiming weapons at each other in pursuit of collective gains and collective security. Today's world is based on two wrongs making one right. Today's world is based on supporting the lesser of two evils. Today's world is based on fear and violence. Tomorrows world may be based on love and peace and the change would be profound and revolutionary.

I wanted to share something on the subject of ego and the 'destruction' thereof.

I've been studying Buddhist texts most of my adult life as I find them imensely practical and thought-provoking.

From "The practice of Lojong: Cutivatin Compassion through Training the Mind" by Traleg Kyabgon:

"The goal of all the Buddist teachings is to overcome our state of ignorance. Our delusions obstruct our vision so that we draw all kinds of spurious conclusions from our experiences and cause ourselves immeasurable suffering. The main component of our delusory mental states is our eogistic preoccupation. The more we fixate on our experiences from that perspective, the more unmanageable our delusory mental state become. The more depressed our mood, the more we indulge in all kinds of projections onto other people, convincing ourselves that nobody really cares about us. Our self-obsession fans our negative emotions and compels us to obsess over our inner turmoil until we're incapable of seeing anythings clearly. Dharmaraksita explains:

Since your ego is your enemy, against whom sahll you fight?
Since your ego itself is the protector, whom shall you protect?
It is the very witness of all you have done and left undone.
When you have tamed your ego , you shall be liberated."

It's the self-obsessed, self-centered, selfish self (small 's') not the Transendent-Highter Self (big 'S'). Both are part of the ego - the self is transient and the Self eternal.

In my understanding.

a reply to: onequestion

so then why are so many here opposed to the man who said:

"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous"

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

???

Folks, dates me but do you remember England Dan & John Ford Coley song....

"love is the Answer."

www.youtube.com...




love and GBY,


colbe

a reply to: wayforward

You are correct about personal practise and that there are many people doing this good work.

With respect, I think you are blaming the wrong people. Other's government, business, religions all are culpible but the change has to start in each one of us. Then the power of Service, Compassion, Selflessness or Love, whatever you want to call IT will trickle up. We need to make the change in ourselves first.

These governments, businesses, religions, clans, tribes are made up of individuals and as such reflect the nature and state of their members.

We, each of us, bears some responsibility for the consequences of the groups we belong to (willingly or not).

An example from my life. I'm a pacificist (through I do acknowledge the possiblities of Just War). I've never been in favor of any military solution to criminal, economic, political, etc problems. However, as a US Citizen, I am partially responsible for the blown back from these actions. There's a Hawaiian healing method that specifically deals with this sense of personal responsibility called Ho'oponopono.

originally posted by: onequestion
Love is the key to the universal creative force and understanding compassion.

It's the key to changing the world.

The key to destroying the ego.

It's the fundamental key we need in order to go to the next stage of evolution.

Once you find out, that Love was never part of the equation, you will understand why this philosophy has , and always will, remain as powerful as the Secret. IE. always collapse in failure.

The world IS THE KEY, to something ELSE that is changing.

The Ego is a nice implant in the minds of everything metaphysical, no one can confirm it, it is just believed without any proof, let us find our way past this corrupted program. IE , the ego and Subconscious mind are a MUSE RUSE.

Evolution was halted long ago, and has not been in any "natural state" of a progression in longer than anyone can remember.

ALL the Records were broken, LONG AGO.

Time to forget everything you have learned, that is not, and never was actually TRUTH.

Ever wonder how the most advanced types all claim the same thing ??

They have been taught that energy is everything, sound, vibrations, duality, polarity, that all these things are a constant.

THEY ARE NOT, and those that refuse to actually FIND OUT what REALLY everything is made of, just are not going anywhere, at all.

Sorry to be so blunt, but we can see far past these limitations, and boundaries, it is time that you do also.

a reply to: onequestion

next question: what is love? Good luck on that one.

Yet, to some, love is obsession.
Love, like every concept, has a dark side.
Pretending otherwise is not safe.

Might as well say "Spork is the key."..............

originally posted by: HarbingerOfShadows
Yet, to some, love is obsession.
Love, like every concept, has a dark side.
Pretending otherwise is not safe.

Might as well say "Spork is the key."..............

The dark side of love is attachment. That's why detachment is part of enlightenment. It's possible to love without limits or attachment. It's possible to feel undifferentiated, non-local, unconditional love, forgivness, and compassion for everything that every was or ever will be.

WE ARE SOVEREIGN BEINGS, YET WE ARE INTEGRAL TO EACH OTHER.
Love is the force that holds all Life together.
Love allows us to stand strong as individual "I AM", and to stay connected together as "WE ARE".
Love is more than a possessive emotion shared between individuals, or objects.
Love is more than what these words convey.

If You Think You KNOW all of what Love is; its likely you only FEEL part of who you are~


LOVE∞

6 Heart Virtues

a reply to: BlueMule

The dark side of love is attachment. That's why detachment is part of enlightenment.

Then in certain contexts enlightenment is horrible....
Case in point that would make sociopathy enlightenment.

originally posted by: HarbingerOfShadows
a reply to: BlueMule

The dark side of love is attachment. That's why detachment is part of enlightenment.

Then in certain contexts enlightenment is horrible....
Case in point that would make sociopathy enlightenment.

No, sociopathy doesn't require mystical experiences such as ego-death and ego-resurrection. Enlightenment does.

a reply to: BlueMule

Yet sociopathy is a form of detachment.

originally posted by: HarbingerOfShadows
a reply to: BlueMule

Yet sociopathy is a form of detachment.

Have you ever had to let go of something or someone you love? If so did you first stop loving?

I've seen this kind of thread multiple times. Usually something like "God is love." or "Love will lead to peace." Yada, yada, yada, et cetera.

Sure love is obviously the "better" human emotions, though love is none existent. You can't readily define love, or even measure it for that matter. Love is a word that only really describes human desire. Desires turn into dreams, and dreams are usually something that are valued within the individual.

You may love baseball, and I may love football. You may love your girlfriend/wife, and there's a good chance I wouldn't at all, at least not in the romantic sense. Some people love their jobs, other hate theirs, even though these two kinds people may share the same job.

There will never be complete love due to the fact that love comes in many different shapes and sizes, with many different dimensions and parameters. Love is in the eye of the beholder, and it comes as no surprise that there will be varying perspectives and insights.

I don't mean to come off negative, I can agree that humans need to at least get along and respect one other. But love being the key to all of our problems? No, it's not that simple. It's cute and poetic to say, but in all reality, it isn't realistic, and the statement itself doesn't make too much sense.

Too bad the Universe constantly seeks balance. Extreme love will always give rise to extreme evil and vice-versa, you cannot create a world of pure love as you would be creating pure evil from it also. There cannot be one without the other because there is no light without darkness. One of the two will be on control for a while while the other "rests", then they will exchange places. From Dark Ages to Golden Ages, etc.

The Universe doesn't seek balance, thats only the starting scenario. Its all a test. The Universe is mirrored in from Higher Perfection. But in a so called balanced way to initiate tests, but people go much further and tip it the wrong way, and on many planes, or floors of the multiverse, make it good.

Disclaimer:
I did not read the rest of this thread, only the OP. Subject such as this, I find to be thought stimulating and prefer to observe my primary reactions and write them out. I am thankful for the opportunity to do so, and apologize if it is out of sync with the current direction of discussion.

Perhaps. I do not know. Love, in a larger sense, means to me the experience of other and self as one. The open flow of energies.

What is so enjoyable about that experience is the melding of two- if we are not two to start with, we cannot experience that. A total lack of boundry causes certain problems and suffering in a very pragmatic sense, as well as depriving one of that moment of ecstacy when the boundries fall, and opposites come together! It is the moment of creation!

Perhaps it would be a great world if everyone was able to flit back and forth between the solitude of self, to the creative moment of love, even with those very different from self.

But some prefer to limit those moments of ecstacy to a few. Being able to step in their shoes, I can even appreciate that!

a reply to: DeadSeraph

so then why are so many here opposed to the man who said...

I don't think anyone is really "opposed" to the man himself. If you aren't a Christian, it's not even necessary you think he exist and I would go so far as to say that most people who aren't a Christian wouldn't think the man as he is described literally in the bible exists. I'm not going to get into that, the only point I'm making is that it is *basically* a dichotomy... Basically because I know dichotomies don't exist and that there are infinite shades of grey in between black and white blah blah blah.

If you define yourself as a christian, chances are you aren't going to be against Jesus and if you aren't one, it's not necessary to define a position for or against him because you don't necessarily explicitly care one way or the other for him, regardless of what a pastor says about anyone not being with him being against him. It's not an us vs. them thing at all.

Are you a Pseudoskeptic?

Have you heard of the "One True Scotsman" fallacy?