My friend gave me
this
book a couple years ago. I go back to it now and then for a spiritual refresher.
It is particularly poignant on Valentine's Day. Here are some passages:
Just as your body is made by
cells, your dreams are made by emotions. There are two main sources of these emotions:
one is fear, and all the emotions that come from fear; the other is love, and all the
emotions that come from love. We experience both emotions, but the one that predominates
in everyday people is fear.
In order to understand these emotions,
we can describe certain characteristics called "the track of fear" and "the track of
love." These two tracks are merely points of reference to see how we are living our lives.
These divisions are for the logical mind to understand and to try to have some control
over the choices we make. Let's look at some of the characteristics of love and fear.
Love has no obligations. Fear is full of
obligations. We fear we have to do something so we resist it, and we suffer. On the
other hand, love has no resistance. We do what we do because we want to.
Love has no expectations. Fear is full of
expectations. We blame others for not fulfilling our expectations. When we love, we
don't expect something to happen. That is why hardly anything hurts us when we are
in love.
Love is based on respect. Fear has no
respect, even for itself. Love is ruthless; it doesn't feel sorry for anyone, but it
does have compassion. Fear is full of pity; it feels sorry for everyone.
Love is completely responsible. Fear avoids
responsibility. Trying to avoid responsibility is one of the biggest mistakes we make
because every action has a consequence.
Love is always kind. Fear is always
unkind. We feel victimized by everything; we feel angry, sad, jealous or betrayed.
These are all masks for fear. But if we are in the track of love, we instead feel
generosity and kindness.
Love is unconditional. Fear is full of
conditions. In the track of fear, I love you if you let me control you, if
you are good to me, if you fit into the image I make for you. In the track of
love, there is no if. I love you the way you are, you are free to be the way
you are.
If you know what is love and what is
fear, you become aware of the way you communicate your dream to others. The quality of
your communication depends upon the choices you make in each moment, whether you tune
your emotional body to love or fear. If you are aware that no one else can make you
happy, and that happiness is the result of love coming out of you, this becomes the
mastery of love.
Love is not about concepts. Love is
about action. Love in action can only produce happiness. Fear in action can only
produce suffering.
The only way to master love is to
practice love. You don't need to explain your love; you don't need to justify your
love; just practice creates the mastery.
Excerpted from
The Mastery of Love
by don Miguel Ruiz, Amber-Allen Publishing 1999
Especially cute little itsy, bitsy ones ...
like Munchee.
An injured, malnourished stray, Munchee
needs our help. The family who found him has setup
a web site that accepts donations to
assist in the medical and spiritual recovery of Munchee.
Call me gullible. Perhaps it's all
a scam ... but I don't think so.
You may say there's thousands of other
dogs out there that need our help. You're right, there are. Go help them too. While you're
at it, throw some change into your Paypal account and help Munchee.
Tired of thinking about war? Here's
your chance to forget, just for a bit.
My friend gave me
