Most of us get glimpses of the Great Love at some time in our lives—perhaps in nature, or with an intimate partner, or in the moment of bonding with our children. It is hard to find unconditional love unless you exercise some patience. This person is watching you through the window; her glance protects you and surrounds you with sweetness. Any glimmer of love is a spark from that fire and leads us back to it. The way you view the world is the way your spouse views it too. If someone loves you, you should not expect him or her to mislead you. True love takes time and patience. The flag of the United Nations has 33 sections surrounded by the olive branches of peace. And why does love so often feel lacking, or painful, or both? The practice of loving is never about presenting a false front. 8 months ago. You will love him or her the way he or she is. This is a place of healing and empowerment. It came softly, yet it was almost shockingly sweet. I loved you, and perhaps I love you still The flame perhaps is not extinguished yet It burns so quietly within my soul God grant you find another who will love you As tenderly and truthfully as I. If we're on a devotional path like bhakti yoga, Sufism, or mystical Christianity, we're often taught that the way to enlightenment is to fall in love with God and let that love grow until it engulfs us and we become one with the Beloved. The following are signs that will show you that you are experiencing spiritual love. If you ever find yourself in such a situation, that's spiritual love. © 2020 Cruz Bay Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved, The Simple 5-Part Practice To Encourage Self Acceptance. It helps others, even if they never find out who assisted them. Nowadays, lovers settle for a lot less. You appreciate your significant other as he or she is - no condition applies. Then he acted on the intuition that arose for him. If you have an immediate prayer need, please call our 24-hour prayer line at 800-700-7000. We can't always feel gratitude, but we can remember to say thank you. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13, NLT), "I will answer them before they even call to me. We remember their numinosity, the feeling of deep connectedness they give us, and the fact that even when the love we feel seems inspired by someone or something in particular, it has a profoundly impersonal, universal quality. If we're on a more knowledge-based yogic path, we may be taught to look askance at the feelings of bliss and love that arise in practice, because, we're told, the spaciousness that is our goal is beyond such feelings. "I knew we'd been given our big chance to open up to each other," Elliot said. If you are able to talk to your spouse with ease, he will not only listen but will also have empathy for the situation at hand. This experience inspired a burning desire to get back to it and ultimately became the motive for my spiritual practice. In most relationships, you will find people questioning themselves. Think also of the pain we suffer when, like my friend Elliot, we don't feel loving enough, or when we can't force love to come in the form we want it to, or when we feel lonely or unappreciated or self-deprecating, or when, despite the fact that we know attachment leads to suffering, we can't help thinking that the love we were feeling came from Joe or Alice, and that love is gone because Joe or Alice is gone! If you pose this query to yourself—or, better yet, ask yourself (as Elliot did), How would I act if I were feeling love?—you will eventually discover the practice that helps melt your frozen heart, so the love that always hides behind our emotional barricades can show its face. As ananda, the Great Love is woven into the fabric of the universe, which of course also puts it at the center of our own being. When spiritual teachers use the word love, what kind of love are they talking about? 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. So she practiced relaxing with the breath and was able to talk with her son without the clutch of fear and judgment that had been polarizing the two of them. Love doesn’t think about how difficult the other person is, and certainly doesn’t think of how it could get back at someone. If you are in a spiritual love, give it your best since you never know when it will end. ... 13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. Discover God's peace now. Learn from each other and appreciate what both of you have. You will love him or her the way he or she is. Elliot had recently lost his father, and so I asked him, "Are you talking about something specific?". Most people do not know the definition of equality in a relationship. The meaning of spiritual love is when you are able to maintain your individuality, despite the feeling of passion. He or she should not dictate the way you live. When you connect with someone and you vow to live together, you expect to grow in all ways, especially personal growth. The yoga tradition often describes Absolute Reality as satchidananda—meaning that it is pure beingness, present everywhere and in everything (sat), that it is innately conscious (chit), and that it is the essence of joy and love (ananda). Divine Love (Spiritual Love) Ordinary Love is defined as Infatuation, Attraction, Inordinate affection. "Was it a reward for taking care of my father? ("God's joy moves from unmarked box to unmarked box," Rumi wrote. It doesn’t give up, quit, diminish, or go home. You trust your instincts that all will work out just fine. It can also be the result of nervousness, apprehension, and even mimic the feelings of love. Some people go to the extent of making sure their partners do not have any friends. That, my friend, is what genuine love is. Couples who have a spiritual love are happier, they understand each other, and they fight less. During the last hymn, he finally gave up hope. Couples must talk with other often and they must be on the same page. Love doesn’t boast. Our parents, the movies we see, our cultural and religious milieu give us ideas about love that go on influencing us long after we have forgotten their source. Love succeeds 100 percent of the time. We remember these experiences for years afterward, often for the rest of our lives. The first is the practice of recognizing that the awareness in another person is the same awareness that is in me. When we read spiritual books and encounter teachers, our understanding about love can get even more complicated, because depending on what we read or whom we study with, we get slightly different takes on what love means in spiritual life. However, in spiritual love, no such thing is expected. We are soon left to wonder where the truth lies in all of this. In short, if the Great Love is naturally unifying, our individual, human experience of love is subject to change and loss, moods and tides, attachments and aversions. The answer that came up was "relaxed." You are able to love without applying any rules to each other. If I graduate from theological seminary and know all the answers to questions you’ll never even think of asking, and if I have all the degrees to prove it … and if I say I believe in God with all my heart, soul, and strength, claiming to have incredible answers to my prayers, but I fail to take the time to find out what makes others laugh and why they cry, I’m nothing. Another way to receive love is to imagine that just outside the window of your room sits a compassionate and loving being, someone wise and incredibly forgiving. People in love look each other in the eyes as they talk. "It was Ned (or Sarah, or Jeannie). Elliot's father died three months later, and Elliot sat through the funeral dry-eyed, still waiting for his heart to open. Get to know others seeking God’s guidance and wisdom for life. Love with a capital L: That's the Great Love, love as the source of everything, love as radical unity. He knew he should love him. You are both there for each other and support one another while being in love. Even in the holy texts of different religions, spiritual love applies. As he told me the story of his father's death, I felt a deep sense of recognition. You appreciate them for who they really are. "For 60 years," Rumi writes, "I have been forgetful, / every moment, but not for a second / has this flowing towards me slowed or stopped.". At that moment, like a small trickle from a dammed-up stream, he felt a stir of tenderness in his heart. "It was the music," we say. You connect well with your lover and share energy. You are able to love without applying any rules to each other. You are two individuals who have different characteristics, but living together will enable you two to explore each other to the fullest as you age with time. Most of us have been confused about love all of our lives. If thoughts come up to block it—like "I don't deserve this" or "This is just an exercise; it's not real"—notice them and let them go as you might in meditation, saying, "Thinking," and then breathing the thought out. Yet, as Rumi says in another of his great poems, love is always there, always available, always ready to pour itself out to us. Send a prayer request now, or call 1‑800‑700‑7000. Most people claim they are in love but in reality, they have no idea what the meaning of true, spiritual love is. When you open your eyes, look around you with the thought that the love you have been contemplating is still flowing toward you from whatever you see and from the air itself. It becomes veiled by our thoughts and feelings, and we start to think that love comes and goes, that we can feel it only for certain people, or that there's not enough love to go around. He fielded the emotional crises of the other family members. I was sitting with a friend in my living room, listening to a Grateful Dead album, when without warning, an overwhelming experience of joy welled up in me. Everyone wishes to experience this kind of love at one point in life. Couples enjoy each other company; they leave the fate of their union to Mother Nature. It doesn’t seek to take, but it willingly gives. They can sit across from each other at a table and communicate with their eyes only. Some teachers tell us that our essence is love; others say love is a passion, an emotion that leads to addiction and clinging. He slowed himself down and tried to keep his awareness linked to his father's breath. Love succeeds 100 percent of the time. Years ago, I had to work with a demanding, critical, narrow-minded boss. The teacher replied, "If you love me in the way you've loved other people, you'll suffer." That, my friend, is what genuine love is. © 2020 The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., A nonprofit 501 (c)(3) Charitable Organization. When you are together, you feel a passion that you have never felt before. The meaning of spiritual love is when you are able to maintain your individuality, despite the feeling of passion. This is a great opportunity for you to experience the true joy of being in love. The thought struck him as so funny that he giggled—causing something of a commotion in the funeral chapel, as people turned to see what was making him laugh at such an inappropriate moment. You will love all the flaws he or she portrays and not criticize them. That is not a definition of love; it is an illusion of love. Your love should learn to incorporate his or her needs into yours. If so, why wasn't it there when I needed it, so to speak?". Yet when the father became seriously ill, the only person he wanted around him was his son. You should live in harmony and be able to respect each other. Instead, the feeling I had in that moment was that there was nothing but love. They let their spouses dictate their way of living and have no mutual respect in the commitment, all in the name of "love". Not different but one.