Human
Love / Divine Love
An
article from: Rare Insights
The sage does not love as humans do; he sees people as straw dogs."
Tao Te Ching
WE
LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE EVERYTHING APPEARS TO BE SEPARATE.
We perceive with our five mundane senses and mind, and we see what is
'out there', thus viewing life from a perspective that reinforces our
idea that we are separate from everything and that everything is separate
from us. But in truth, the separate nature of our existence is delusional
because everything in the universe is interconnected and interdependent.
The illusion of separation has firmly established itself as a paradigm
on Earth, and today dominates the consciousness of nearly 6 billion human
beings. From our segregated perspective as individuals we also behold
separation reflected back to us in the form of multifarious pairs of opposites
that also appear to be separate from one another, e.g., good and evil,
right and wrong, friend and foe, etc.
As we continue to invest ourselves and to believe in this illusory state
of duality, we serve to fortify and so perpetuate the matrix of separation
into which we have been born. And as long as we continue to feed the dualistic
matrix we can never transcend it, which is actually the spiritual goal
of life.
No amount of activity applied by the separate personality can help to
liberate mankind or this planet from the dualistic illusion. Humanity,
as a collective of unenlightened personalities, may only affect change
within the constraints of the unholy world-order into which we have incarnated.
The undivine world in which we exist is a dualistic illusion that is ruled
by polarity, and the only thing we may ever change or affect by way of
personal effort is the swing of the pendulum between one pole of duality
and the other. Let us explore this in greater detail.
When we use our personal will - our free will - to embrace one aspect or side of an issue, we expend energy through the generation of our dualistic thoughts and emotions. The ego, by virtue of its inherently separative nature, constantly grasps at or repels that which is outside itself, and as it does so it generates energetic fetters of mental and emotional matter. It is thus that ignorance reinforces the illusory nature of its existence by binding itself to duality. Energy follows thought, thus a certain aspect of duality will be strengthened by one's attraction to it while another may also be strengthened by one's resistance to it. Therefore, such an energetic investment - which to unenlightened perception may seem only to empower the one pole or side of an issue - in fact serves to strengthen both poles, thereby empowering either end of the spectrum and effectively exacerbating one's entanglement in, as well as strengthening the very fabric of, the illusion of duality.
When we use our personal will - our free will - to embrace one aspect or side of an issue, we expend energy through the generation of our dualistic thoughts and emotions. The ego, by virtue of its inherently separative nature, constantly grasps at or repels that which is outside itself, and as it does so it generates energetic fetters of mental and emotional matter. It is thus that ignorance reinforces the illusory nature of its existence by binding itself to duality. Energy follows thought, thus a certain aspect of duality will be strengthened by one's attraction to it while another may also be strengthened by one's resistance to it. Therefore, such an energetic investment - which to unenlightened perception may seem only to empower the one pole or side of an issue - in fact serves to strengthen both poles, thereby empowering either end of the spectrum and effectively exacerbating one's entanglement in, as well as strengthening the very fabric of, the illusion of duality.
To the deluded eyes of those who are wholly invested in and so co-creating
within the undivine, dualistic world, things may appear to be changing,
and sometimes even improving, but such people are actually only riding
a predicamental merry-go-round; they are merely experiencing the inevitable
and fruitless vacillations of their bondage to the Buddha's wheel of
samsara, the world of illusions.
Billions of human beings spend their whole life like this, creating more
and more karma by attaching themselves to one pole or the other in a dualistic
illusion, thus ensuring their continued existence, over lifetimes, in
an unholy world of restlessness, suffering, pain and inevitable death.
Despite
humanity's long-prevailing ignorance of these facts, all true scriptures
have repeatedly testified to the futility of seeking true Fulfilment,
Love and Life where they can never be found: in duality, in an illusion.
Yet still today the restless search for love and happiness continues throughout
the world.
"But,"
says Lao Tzu, "Tao does not love as humans do; it sees all things as
straw dogs. The sage does not love as humans do; he sees people as straw
dogs." - Tao Te Ching.
These words spoken by the enlightened sage, Lao Tzu, may come as rather
a shock to many people. If these words are true, they are likely to overturn
one's whole way of viewing life and the world, and that is indeed the
aim of that ancient Chinese revelation we know as the Tao Te Ching. When
we understand what Lao Tzu really meant to convey, many of our preconceptions
will be shot to pieces, for it tears apart the whole paradigm with which
humankind has surrounded itself and which has been handed down from generation
to generation since time immemorial.
In the Tao Te Ching it is said that beauty always brings forth ugliness.
The presence of the polarity of ugliness is the proof that beauty in this
undivine world is also an illusion, and that true Beauty - which is imperishable
and incorruptible and which has no opposite - is not to be found here.
In the world of opposites, beauty brings ugliness to the surface, good
brings forth evil, and love brings forth hatred. Hatred is the proof that
love is an unknown quantity whose reality is not to be found in this world.
Our conceptions of it are an illusion. Worldly expressions of love are
actually attempts of the ego to glorify its own undivine state of being.
That is why they arouse antitheses.
As long as human love is evoked in a world of opposites, hatred will be
its twin brother. There is no avoiding it! Anyone who cultivates personal
love is also cultivating hatred; that is a law of any dualistic world.
Hatred is a means of self-protection in this fearful world, as essential
and as ego-centred as human love.
The scales of love and hatred are constantly in motion and can never be
brought to a standstill in duality. One moment we are amiability itself,
the next the scales tip the other way. Observe mankind, and you will see
this oscillation happening all the time; it is an amazing but inescapable
aspect of human nature. What poor fools we are, consumed by love and hatred,
swinging like a pendulum between the pairs of opposites in duality. Alternating
one with the other, our love and our hatred in their many forms constantly
add fuel to the flames of our dualistic delusion. Is it not quite clear,
then, why Tao does not partake in any of this?
We cannot imagine a hatred-propagating Tao but, by the same token, neither
should we imagine a love-propagating Tao either. Tao Loves us, but not
in keeping with our secular interpretation of the word. Tao does not love
as humans do, and It sees all such perceptions as 'straw dogs', which
in ancient China were used for sacrifices. In the same way, neither does
the sage who participates in Tao love as humans do; he, too, sees the
people as straw dogs, as humanimals, part of the great illusion.
So what does the Bible really mean when it says that "God is Love"? Well, if we wish to understand anything at all about Love, we will need to free ourselves entirely of all our preconceptions about it. We must shatter them, just as we must shatter all the other preconceptions that populate our pantheon of ignorant beliefs and opinions.
Let us, then, firstly take a modern-day example of how divine Love is
so terribly misunderstood. There are many well-meaning New Age groups
and centres in existence today where people sit and attempt to send out
loving thoughts and energies in order to elevate humankind, to protect
it from harm, to put an end to wars, to ring in an era of peace on Earth,
and even to circumvent the forthcoming and necessary geological upheavals.
But in reality, human love has never liberated the world, and nor can
it ever. These centres and groups do not bring about peace on Earth, they
do not quench the fires of ignorance, they can never heal the wounds of
humanity. To the contrary, and when understood esoterically, they are
actually among the breeding grounds of war, indirectly arousing and propagating
hatred by feeding and so fortifying the antitheses of 'good' and evil.
Therefore, they actually strengthen the powers of darkness by their unenlightened
motivations, which are actualised by personal will, not divine Will. Such
activities are akin to black magic, as unenlightened personalities seek,
often with noble intentions, to interfere with the affairs of others and
the world. Such desires create karma and further confusion, for unenlightened
human beings are unable to create and send Love into the world; only Divinity,
only Tao can do that! And remember that "Tao does not love as humans
do".
Therefore, if we truly wish to be an agent of Love in this world, we must
first bring ourselves into a binding with Tao, which has nothing to do
with this world of temporality and illusion. This is the one, solitary
and overriding Goal of every single unenlightened human being on Earth,
and this is why no enlightened Teacher ever prescribes to ordinary humanity
the kind of practices that are being performed all over the world today
within the New Age culture.
The vast majority of New Age teachings, channellings and meditations encourage
people to use their personal will to create change within and for
themselves, and sometimes in order to help manifest positive change in
the world also. Their focus is on personal transformation, as in:
"create your own reality". But by encouraging people to focus upon
themselves and the dualistic world, and to use their personal will to
implement their high ideals, they only serve to feed the illusion of duality,
along with the rest of the spiritually-unawakened masses.
In fact, these so called New Age teachers, channelers, channelled entities
and groups are actually participating in something even more detrimental
than those who are occultly unaware. By inciting people to polarize themselves
en masse towards 'peace, goodness, light and love', these well-intentioned
but misguided groups are actually synergetically strengthening and empowering
the opposite end of the spectrum, i.e., violence, evil, darkness, hatred,
etc. on a global level, thereby unwittingly exacerbating the already chaotic
and desperate condition of this planet.
Such groups are causing the pendulum of the polarized illusion to swing
further and more dramatically from one side to the other, effectively
producing more and more dualistic power, momentum and tension in the world,
all of which is actually helping to hasten our planet toward cataclysmic
developments.
Now that we have clearly seen how personal love has nothing whatsoever
in common with divine Love, let us further explore the scriptural axiom
that 'God is Love' by again reviewing Lao Tzu's words:
"Tao
is like a bellows. It is empty and never exhausted. The more it moves,
the more is brought into manifestation." - Tao Te Ching.
The divine Manifestation is governed by a certain rhythm, which is present
even in the minutest atom. This state of being knows no antitheses, it
casts no shadows, and always brings forth itself. Good is not set against
evil there, nor beauty against ugliness, nor love against hatred, nor
reality against delusion. Tao does not have love, it does not even
give love to others - Tao is Love! In other words, divine
Love is not something that can be targeted at a goal, as the New Age people
attempt to do in order to dignify or save themselves and to preserve this
world of separation and pain. Love does not make any effort, it does not
seek to counteract the effects of evil in duality, and so it does not
know conflict. Divine Love is not the opposite of hatred or fear, either.
If divine Love had an opposite, then it would not be divine, eternal;
it would be dualistic. Divine Love is a neutral Force; its power is boundless,
and can be compared with a bellows. If a bellows is pumped rhythmically
it generates a great deal of power. In the same way, the rhythm of Tao
generates an enormous Power and nothing that conflicts with that rhythm,
nothing of duality, can ever become one with it.
Knowing all this, we will understand better than ever before why this
undivine, dualistic world will remain fundamentally imperfect and essentially
irreparable, however much personal love - via group meditations and the
like - is sent out into it! Knowing all this we will resolve to waste
as little energy as possible on such futile and often detrimental activities
as so many people are involved with today within the New Age movement.
We will leave the fallen world of duality for what it is. In complete
self-surrender and genuine, selfless service to the Divine Plan, we shall
focus only on that which is capable of assimilating the divine rhythm
of Tao and which is of the same nature, the Divine Nature.
It is only through the complete surrender of our personal will, only through
the relinquishing of all our attachments that bind us karmically to the
wheel of samsara, that we may become clear, unimpeded vehicles for the
divine Intelligence of Tao, which alone has the Power to affect really
positive change in this world. Only when we give up our self-grasping,
egotistic ideals and forget our small selves may we become empty enough
to allow Divinity to enter into our hearts and to awaken the spark that
lives within us so that we may become instruments of Tao.
It is our selfishness, our ignorant use of free will that brought us collectively
into our present state of existence. Therefore it is only by a 180° reversal,
through selflessness, through the complete and utter surrender of ourselves
and our personal will to the divine Will of Tao, that we may allow the
forces of true Change, the forces of Redemption, to work through us and
liberate us completely from the unholy illusion of this world, which necessarily
knows so much dualistic restlessness and, therefore, suffering.
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