Beloved Students:

I greet each of you in the loveliness of Essence and the likelihood of your own Realization. May each of you delve deeply into the mystery of life and the profound implications of transcendence.

There has never been a better time than the present to put to work all the things you have learned about the power, mystery and active engagement of Love. During this time, when the collective focus for many of you regards the celebration of generosity and gratitude, powerful images arise in awareness of the notions of “plenty” (although I have noticed that the definition of that word varies considerably among my students), sharing giving and appreciating what one has received from others in the preceding year. Of course, these images, along with the accompanying feelings that arise can also trigger their opposites - such as depression, feelings of lack, some hopelessness, and in some cases, even grief. What a wonderful opportunity to cut through the heavier energies by applying the energies of the season in their purer form.

If you stop to think about how the Western holidays came to be celebrated at particular times of the year, you might recognize the need for warmth and light at the time when the Earth process is aligned with cold and darkness. At a physical level, particularly in earlier times, both could be addressed with the use of fire. In the current time, however, many of you hardly even recognize the rotation through the seasons due to your ability to exercise “climate control,” as the phrase goes. At a more subtle spiritual level, you can easily recognize that both warmth and light are energies of the heart – indeed both are products of the force field (or energetic effulgence) you know as “love.”

In truth, while this may sound like a glib metaphysical phrase you have heard more times than you care to count, the entire journey of spiritual growth results from growing one’s capacity for love. This facet of the spiritual jewel always needs polishing. And with every polishing, you discover more and more beauty in the jewel’s ability to reflect “Sourceshine,” or the profoundly brilliant spectrum of Enlightenment. There are ways to discover Emptiness without love, but becoming completely enlightened is, frankly, impossible without continual polishing of the gem of love.

While most people think that love is some kind of feeling upon careful investigation one will discover something else entirely. Of course, there are many feelings that accompany love. This is true because at a personal level, there are many forms of love. Remember when you were a child and someone offered you an ice cream cone of your favorite flavor on a hot summer day? Tremendous happiness and great satisfaction could (and did) arise from such a simple act of kindness. The feelings this event evoked for you are not the same as the feelings you felt as you became aware and actively engaged in loving, say, a dear pet. And, these feelings were not the same as those that arose for, perhaps, love of a particular sport, or activity. Still other feelings made their way into your emotional repertoire when you experienced your first case of “puppy love” for another person.

Thus, if we ask, “What is/are the feeling(s) of love?” one can answer only when a particular type of love is queried. In fact, if you are honest, you will recognize you actually had the feelings before the experience of love arose that allowed you to demonstrate or even recognize, those feelings. Yet in truth, no one of these feelings is the feeling of love. All are predicated upon the presence of the other situation, pet, activity or person. Therefore, in order to feel these feelings you necessarily became dependent upon the situation, pet, activity or person. The feelings simply could not arise otherwise. If you tried, you might have even been frustrated when you figured out no matter how hard you tried, you simply could not experience these feelings for or toward yourself without the presence of the situation, pet, activity or other person. Clearly, this cannot be the kind of love that is required for spiritual growth, since it always depends on something outside the self to arise in order for the feelings to come about. Besides, if you investigate the feelings carefully, you will discover they are personal feelings arising from the workings of the ego mind. They do not spontaneously arise separate from the presence of that upon which they are dependent (e.g., situation, pet, activity or person).

So how does one learn the kind of love that begets a profound state of spiritual unity, facilitates spiritual growth, and becomes the force field from which one consistently creates her/his daily life? Clearly, one does learn something about Love from experiencing the feelings of love about which we earlier spoke. But one must be careful not to confuse the two. When we speak here of “Love,” we are talking about a charged field of creative energy that exists apart from any sensation, feeling or experience that one may describe as “love.” These latter feelings, sensations and experiences originate not from the heart chakra, but from the solar plexus chakra, and are dependent on the presence of the “I,” or ego, to feed and sustain them. Likewise, they are dependent on something perceived to be outside the self in order to arise and be identified. On the other hand, Love exists without either of the two dependency factors cited, and can be accessed and utilized at any instance by touching the creative field of that Love.

Of course, generating Love requires more mindfulness than does simply responding to the experiences that arise from feelings of love. In fact applying Love is an ongoing exercise in mindfulness. It is through cultivating such a practice that one begins to experience the mind as coming from the heart. As we have previously noted in other lessons, the mind that comes from the head is the false mind, or ego mind. The mind that flows from the heart however, is the mind of Essence, which transcends both ego mind and the notion of “I.” The mind of the heart is not dualistic in either nature or focus, and therefore is not confined by the notions of separation (between self and other) that both plague and support the ego mind.

The truth is, no matter how difficult or compromising the conditions of the moment, the mind of the heart never loses its infinite capacity to touch and utilize Love. The mind of the heart can think loving thoughts even in the direst, even seemingly impossible situations. Therefore it becomes the supreme act of mindfulness to keep one’s thoughts filled with Love. This can be accomplished whether or not one also experiences feelings of love. Indeed, one can generate feelings of love simply by thinking loving thoughts. Every time you truly wish someone well, some part of you goes softer, and probably feels more whole as well. Every time you celebrate someone else’s joy, you have more joy. Every time a negative or self-centered thought arises, it can be immediately replaced with a loving thought that will not only re-focus the mind, but will generate feelings of softness and compassion as well. Thus, mindfully placing the thoughts along lines of Love is not only a powerful spiritual practice, it literally places you in the field of Love, which is Essence.

Please join me this month in listening to Choose Love, the talk I gave by teleconference on November 6, 2005. The Earth is reminding you of Her pain, Her scars and Her spiritual journey. Indeed, so much “Love work” is needed currently in the world that you will never run short of applications for your mindfulness! The salient point here is that even though the world does need your efforts of mindfulness, perhaps even more importantly, you need the fruits that arise with learning to generate Love in all areas of mind. In all your relationships, choose Love. In moments of pain and grief, choose Love. In situations where frustration, anger or greed might arise, choose Love. In no time, you will come to realize your True Nature.

May this teaching offer a particular gem of Consciousness to each of you who reads it. May you open your hearts to the presence of Essence mind, and may you realize the presence of the Love which has ushered you forth which sustains you, and which will carry you home!

Your Loving Teacher
Djwhal Khul