February 1995 (Vol. VIII, No. 2)

When I first began to enter the Silence, it felt like an alien atmosphere filled with menacing voices, capricious thoughts, uncomfortable feelings. But as the days and weeks passed, the Silence became a welcoming friend, a presence like the warmth of a fire in which I encountered the Divine Lover of my soul and experienced my Self as God's Beloved.

Love is a yearning on the part of one human being for another. In contemplative prayer one human being yearns for a love relationship, and ultimately a union with the infinite God. It is the quintessential joining of hearts and minds that fulfills the ultimate longings of the human being for infinite love. It begins when one recognizes a deeply felt longing for God, a longing that stirs out of the darkest recesses of one's being and is expressed at times with a sigh that involves the whole body. It calls for undivided attention to the Beloved so yearned for, to the point of setting aside all thoughts about anything else, even holy and comforting reflection and words. It is total dedication to the Beloved alone.

As I walked I heard her voice say:

As you awaken, all those you love awaken a little with you. All through you love are linked by that love, are on the same spiral, rising.

My heart filled with joy, for I knew in that moment that no awakening can be personal or selfish. Every awakening spreads its power and light throughout the world.

Think what it would mean if you could love everybody -- not because all persons in the world are so attractive and lovable that they awaken your love, but because an ever-present consciousness of Love exists within yourself and, like the sun, rays out in all directions on the "just and the unjust" alike... Those who have attained Love-Consciousness carry Love and Joy around with them wherever they go, for it is withIN themselves instead of withOUT. Enter where they may, they find an atmosphere of Love, because it is they who bring that atmosphere... Love beautified everything.

When a person is angry with another person, that person is removed from their heart. That's why the physical reaction is to shout. The greater the distance, the louder the shouting. But when individuals are in love, they speak softly, and when they are further in love, no words are needed.

Great Spirit of love, we only pray to become more aware of Thy glory; that our light may grow more bright, more steady, so that others travelling along life's journey may see the light, and be welcomed to the simple home of love which we would build for all the wayfarers on the path of life. Amen.