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Love and Fear are the only emotions we as human entities are able to express. All the others are just sub-categorical emotions. For example, on love's side there is joy, peacefulness, happiness, forgiveness, and a host of others. On the other hand, fear reflects: hate, depression, guilt, inadequacy, discontentment, prejudice, anger, attack, and so on.
Love and Fear can not coexist. Where one is, the other can't be also. The one will leave immediately, should the other enter its presence. If you find yourself in a situation where you are experiencing great joy, and are suddenly overtaken by fear, the joy is gone! But it works the other way too: If you are terrorized, frightened, or otherwise threatened in any way, all you need to do is turn to the love within, and the fear disappears.
Learning to make the active choice to love and not fear in every situation is the way to find inner peace in this world. Yes, I said choice! We all choose what we wish to see in every situation, at every moment. Most of the time we choose based on what we learned in the past. It is what we were taught by our parents, teachers, peers, doctors, employers, etc. and what we were brought up to believe we should do. We act on laws that we made to control our behavior and that of others so that we may live in an orderly society. When someone gets "out of order" they may be disliked, fined, incarcerated or killed. Sometimes, entire countries get "out of order" and our answer is to declare war on them. These are all things that are done out of FEAR. We fear that, if someone is out of control, that is, not following the rules we set up for them to follow, they are a threat to us, and we fear they will harm us in some way. So we react to our fear by attacking them first. That is the way of this world. The law of the jungle so to speak; eat or be eaten; kill or be killed. That is the way of fear!
The way of LOVE is quite the opposite. It makes no rules, no laws, for they are not needed! If everyone lived the law of love, no other laws would be needed. Laws that protect our bodies would not be needed because we would not wish to harm another. Property would not be in jeopardy because we would not wish to deprive another. We would not use drugs because our love for our selves would prevent self-destruction. We would not drive recklessly, or at excessive speeds or under the influence because we might hurt some one or our selves. We would not sue any one, or lie or cheat or deprive or take advantage of them. A world without fear would not need lawyers, courts, police, or jails, because every one would trust and care for one another. Prices would not go up, work would be done right by service oriented businesses, foods would not have harmful ingredients, workers would not be exploited, etc.
But that is not the way of a world built on fear! We as individual entities, sharing one God mind can make a world of love. We can do this by keeping connected to our Source, which in fact we are, but need to open our awareness to it.
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Love is LIGHT. Fear is DARKNESS. When you turn on a light, darkness is no more. There is not a trace of it left! There is not even a hint of darkness ever having been there! God is LOVE. Love is light. We are all children of God, therefore, in truth, we are only LOVE. When we act out of fear, we are turning out the light, denying our truth, and entering into the darkness. We leave our love behind and attempt to be something we are not. We attempt to be apart from our Source; apart from God.
Let us try again this day. Let us tune in to LOVE; to peace, joy, and happiness.
©1996 Frank Sant'Agata - timelessmiracles.com
The works herein © are the exclusive property of Frank Sant'Agata. They may be copied and distributed freely,
for personal and ACIM study group use, only if credit to the author and this message are included.
"THOUGHT + EMOTION = BELIEF + FEELING = "INTUITION"
The above chart depicts the fundamental process of belief creation. Belief is connected to Feeling, through feelings we acquire our beliefs. Emotions are not Feelings... Emotions provide 1/2 of a complete Feeling, and Thought provides the other 1/2. There are only 2 Emotions at the root of all Feeling...Fear & Love. These 2 Emotions are then influenced by Thought and a choice is made. This is when a Feeling is created. That feeling can then be traced back to its root Emotion source of either Fear or Love. Choosing Fear will have a negative result in both, the physical & spiritual worlds, while choosing Love will produce a positive result. Using this chart we can measure personal & social belief systems to see whether the root Emotion source is either, Fear or Love. This can be very telling in many profound ways when it comes to the way we all live our lives. It can also guide us in creating positive results instead of negative results. This chart was created with the intent to help create peace & harmony for the children of the future.
The Power of Metta
The subjective benefit of universal love is evident enough. The enjoyment of well-being, good health, peace of mind, radiant features, and the affection and goodwill of all are indeed great blessings of life accruing from the practice of metta-meditation.
The Psychology of Metta
One loves all beings:
(a) by the non-harassment of all beings and thus avoids harassment;
(b) by being inoffensive (to all beings) and thus avoids offensiveness;
(c) by not torturing (all beings) and thus avoids torturing;
(d) by the non-destruction (of all life) and thus avoids destructiveness;
(e) by being non-vexing (to all beings) and thus avoids vexing;
(f) by projecting the thought, "May all beings be friendly and not hostile";
(g) by projecting the thought," May all beings be happy and not unhappy";
(h) by projecting the thought, "May all beings enjoy well-being and not be distressed."
In these eight ways one loves all beings; therefore, it is called universal love. And since one conceives (within) this quality (of love), it is of the mind. And since this mind is free from all thoughts of ill-will, the aggregate of love, mind and freedom is defined as universal love leading to freedom of mind.
The Karaniya Metta Sutta: Hymn of Universal Love
Who seeks to promote his welfare,
Having glimpsed the state of perfect peace,
Should be able, honest and upright,
Gentle in speech, meek and not proud.
Contented, he ought to be easy to support,
Not over-busy, and simple in living.
Tranquil his senses, let him be prudent,
And not brazen, nor fawning on families.
Also, he must refrain from any action
That gives the wise reason to reprove him.
(Then let him cultivate the thought:)
May all be well and secure,
May all beings be happy!
Whatever living creatures there be,
Without exception, weak or strong,
Long, huge or middle-sized,
Or short, minute or bulky,
Whether visible or invisible,
And those living far or near,
The born and those seeking birth,
May all beings be happy!
Let none deceive or decry
His fellow anywhere;
Let none wish others harm
In resentment or in hate.
Just as with her own life
A mother shields from hurt
Her own son, her only child,
Let all-embracing thoughts
For all beings be yours.
Cultivate an all-embracing mind of love
For all throughout the universe,
In all its height, depth and breadth —
Love that is untroubled
And beyond hatred or enmity.
As you stand, walk, sit or lie,
So long as you are awake,
Pursue this awareness with your might:
It is deemed the Divine State here.
Holding no more to wrong beliefs,
With virtue and vision of the ultimate,
And having overcome all sensual desire,
Never in a womb is one born again.
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"Metta - The Philosophy and Practice of Universal Love"
by Acharya Buddharakkhita
Five Principles of Non-Violence as
Outlined by Martin Luther King Jr.
Based on a speech given at University of California, Berkeley, June 4, 1957, and an article published in Christian Century in early 1957.
1. Nonviolence is a Way of Life for Courageous People:
â–º Non-violent resistance is not a method for cowards. It does resist. The nonviolent resister is just as strongly opposed to the evil against which he protests, as is the person who uses violence. His method is passive or non-aggressive in the sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent, but his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade the opponent that he is mistaken. This method is passive physically but strongly active spiritually; it is non-aggressive physically but dynamically aggressive spiritually.
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2. The Peaceful Community is the Goal for the Future:
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â–º Nonviolent resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through noncooperation but he realizes that noncooperation is not the ends itself; it is merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent.
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3. Attack Problems not People:
â–º The attack is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who are caught in those forces. It is a struggle between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness.
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4. Know and Do What is Right Even if it is Difficult:
â–º Nonviolent resistance avoids not only external physical violence, but also internal violence of spirit. At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
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5. The Universe is on the Side of Justice:
â–º Nonviolence is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. It is the deep faith in the future that allows a nonviolent resister to accept suffering without retaliation. The nonviolent resister knows that in his struggle for justice, he has a cosmic companionship.
"The meaning of life is to love yourself completely,
free yourself and others from guilt and become
totally visible no matter what the risk."
"Life opens up opportunities to you,
and you either take them or you
stay afraid of taking them."
- Jim Carrey -