From the perspective of our Love-spirituality, Love is her only path to her self-freedom – to love herself so much that she recreates herself in her own image of the person she truly is, however repressed or sublimated that true person is; and to live by and for that person either solitarily or interpersonally, or socially. Love in its full meaning will thereby set her free – free from guilt, free from reprisals, free from repression, free from anxiety, and all the rest of the refuse of our ignorance. By no means do I advocate the absence of all restraints, or the “derangement of the senses” What I do advocate is wisdom; more specifically, the wisdom of the species. This wisdom, of course, takes a stupendous understanding of one’s self, of human nature, of human relationships, of transcendence. It comes down to human-transcendence — the balance between one’s humanness and one’s transcendence, which is the wisdom of our Love-spirituality: Transcendency.
41 Love is a metaphysical God; not an anthropomorphic God – except that Love is embedded into the very being of our human existence.
42 My first inclination is to resist her criticism; but the word Love stops me in my tracks to reconsider that I’m more interested in the rightness or wrongness of that criticism than my wounded self-love.
43 Isn’t it amazing! that just before we were flooded with lust, or whatever other extreme, and then with a change of mind through the word Love, that flood dispelled; we were free of it; it’s as though it didn’t even happen.
44 You say the word Love, it saves you for the time; then it comes back … and you say the word again until it dispels again and again and again; until your mind, of itself turns to something else quite oblivious of what previously troubled you before.
45 Saying the word Love to save yourself from yourself, and to save others from yourself, is an ideal, to be sure. So, as everything else human, cannot be attained absolutely, perfectly. Yet it is an ideal that becomes more and more real as we come to be in love with Love, so to speak. To be in love with Love is to want always to be with Love, and to do well by Love; just as you would be toward your sweetheart, your mate..
46 Since Love is of eternity and of infinity and of life, so we too are the same, since it is embedded in our being, and all being.
47 Love is so delicate to us, so ephemeral, so elusive, so “jealous,” so to speak, that at the least resistance to It, the least forgetting it, the least questioning It, the least discarding it, leaves us devoid of its presence and effect. Accordingly, we must approach It as sacred, holy, divine, spiritual. In a religious sense, then, we have to no less than worship It as our God that we must worship It for its sacred effect on us.
48 To say “What you do, do in love,” could just as well be for bad as for good; because you could be attracted to what is bad, evil, destruction, self-destruction; and we might think that this power of Love would impart to us the wherewithal to accomplish our ill deeds. So, we have to add a qualification to “Do Love” in our perspective of Love and wisdom: which would be: what you do good for yourself and others, do so through Love.
49 Your ever active mind naturally resists any restrictions of its momentum; and it does this by its siren seductions of your emotional flood of intoxicating pleasure. This is the mind’s wont; and so we can’t expect ever to master it except exceptionally. This, simply states, is our human heritage; but then so is our transcendence part of human heritage. Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher, has this to say about that:
1. “We must not follow those who advise us to have mortal thoughts, since we are only men, and mortal thoughts, as mortals should; on the contrary, we should try to become immortal as far as that is possible and do our utmost to live in accordance with what is highest in us. For though this is a small portion of our nature, it far surpasses everything else in power and value. One might even regard it as each man’s true self, since it is the controlling and better part.”
2. “The object of our search is this – what is the commencement of movement in the soul? The answer is clear: as in the universe, so in the soul, God moves everything. For in a sense the divine element in us moves everything. The starting point of reasoning is not reasoning, but something greater.” And this “something greater” – as you well know, by now – is Love, the power that binds all things determines you in part and in whole.
50 More often than not, at least in the beginning stages, you will not want to turn to Love, because the pleasure – if not lust – of the eyes, of the mind, will not let you. Meaning? Meaning that you are under the sway of the “way of all flesh,” of “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Which means further that conditioning, habit, make their indelible impression on us that at times astound us that we would be still so vulnerable, susceptible, to sensuous-sensual stimuli. Which means further that we love more the object of our desire than Love itself. Understandably.
So where are we? Loving life and loving Love ever at odds with each other. Now the one, now the other. It is a matter of which takes precedence in one’s daily life in the long run. Do we come through life winning the good fight or losing it? Does what we really want ̶ more life or less life ̶ gradually takes precedence over us? Well, we always want more than we get; we are always less than more the person we strive to be. We prefer the way of least resistance ̶ perhaps not so much in our youth; but almost certainly in our aging.
In sum, then, since we are “creatures of habit,” it’s a matter of which habits dominate our lives, that “make us or break us”; and we have to ask ourselves: do we want to be made or broken ̶ go to wreck?” If the latter, then love as you can; if the former, then love as you will; that is will to love more than you merely can; transcend can love to will love. Accordingly, align yourself to transcendent Love so that you can will to love beyond your more-than-human limitations. However, for this to happen, we have to go through the crucible of forming a new dominant habit. We must reform our inclinations, and the only way this can happen is to familiarize ourselves consistently with our new way so that it becomes “second nature” to us. But nature will not let us off so easily; its ways are too ingrained in our nature, our humanness, however we may sublimate or repress our natural inclinations. What we must do is to make Love our “third nature,” so that it transcends our second natures. And that is by being ever conscious of Love, by having Its presence underlie everything we do and think so that Love becomes motivating power of our choices, our beliefs and attitudes whether we are conscious of doing so or not. In this case, we will have attained a good measure of wisdom: a wisdom that balances both our humanness and our transcendence rather than conflicts with them.
51 Let the word Love be your grace: the grace that makes you “beautiful of soul.”
52 Be awed by the thought of Love as “the underlying theme to the universe,” as Lennon sang it.; or as he also said, “Love is eternal”; or as he sang it: “Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns,” or love is old, love is new / Love is all, love is you, or ” Love is the answer, and you know that for sure,” or “Love is all you need,” or :” Love is surrender,” or “Love is knowing we can be,” or “Love is touch, touch is love,” or “Love is feeling, feeling love,” or “Love is knowing we can be, or “Love is free, free is love.”
53 Can’t be alone with yourself? Then be alone with your Love divinity.
54 Ah, the imprints of pleasure!
How they overwhelm us
at the anticipation of
the next sweet,
the next meat
the next treat
the next heat;
the next beat
— all these are fine
accompanied by Love divine.
55 No more to be devastated by the scorn of others ̶ how free! knowing that even your accusers and detractors have their purpose, their meaning, under the sun. Love binds them as they do you. Your advantage is that you’re in touch with It, and so, Its wisdom.
56 Let the winners take it all!
Your Love divinity will not let you take a fall.
57 Amidst a decadent, degenerate, and depraved, corrupt, world, let your world live in the glow of Love, and those of like mind will share it with you. Believe me.
58 Are there cases in which the word Love, the chanting of Love, the singing of Love, will be of no avail? Definitely. Take this one situation alone: your child has been brutally raped and murdered. You probably could only survive such an outrage, such a loss, through medication, or drugs, or drink ̶ anything to numb your mind; and even though you’re surviving day by day, you are nonetheless destroying your self, your well-being, your will to live. Another outlet, which is common enough if you can’t allow yourself to die alive because of your other children or your spouse, or just your own survival instinct, you no doubt would turn to some faith, to God, to Jesus, or who or whatever else, as your comforter. Turning to a divine source – religion – you could at least feel yourself justified in giving yourself over to a spiritual being, a higher power, that you believe loves you and so will comfort you in your horrific grief. You yourself are nothing, feel yourself to be nothing, believe yourself to be nothing; and so you are only something in the embrace of a spiritual being. Whereas the saying or chanting or singing the word Love, is too bright, to joyful, too cheerful. In your ongoing grief, you cannot bring yourself to be uplifted, but only consoled, only comforted; there can be no uplift. You are convinced that you are not to be happy anymore, you don’t want to be; or simply: you can’t be happy anymore. By turning to, praying to, Jesus, or God, or Buddha, or Allah, or Krishna, or some form or other of meditation or yogo,you can get through your days. There is no more joy in your life; only comfort. You have lost an essential part of your being, of your reason to live. Yes, you will carry on, you will smile, and even laugh at times, and fulfill your responsibilities; but you feel yourself, you believe yourself, or you are yourself, no longer a whole person.
There is not much more to be said for this state of affairs; this is life, this is the bond that human love has over us – human bondage, as Spinoza put it. And if consolation be our only salvation, then that too is part of Love’s way. And if it’s your love of Jesus, or of God, Allah, Brahma, Krishna, Buddha, comforts you, then still you are on the right track; because if nothing more, these “persons,” “names,” “concepts,” are divine, sacred in origin; and so are valid outlets for our transcendence. In any case, you are in touch with the Source of all being whatever It is, or is called. It affects your mind transcendently; and that “It” is your transcendence, your Love divinity, working inwardly at the core, the essence, of your being. So, so the word Love, or the word Jesus, or the word Krishna, the word God, or Allah, and so forth; in any case let that be your comforter and guide according to your own nature and inclination.
59 Transcend the mood that brings you down – say the word Love over and over again.
60 And the strong will be the meek
As justice and wisdom they seek.
The Love Testament 