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Peony Blossom
Garden @ Midcoast Friends Meeting; Damariscotta, Maine
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The Sage was asked, "What is love?" He answered, "If I told you, that would not be it."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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Here, near the beginning, I remind again, as I often do in writing, that love is not a feeling. It is not an emotion. Likewise, it is so intangible, though manifesting, that we cannot measure it or how well we live it - or, better, it lives us. The Sage recognized all this, and he chose not to say what love is, for he was unable. Living in love, the idea of "How well?" or "How much?" drops.
What I call below a "lover," in the spiritual sense, will likely not show emotion to the degree most persons do. Emotion is related to pleasure, and spiritual love is much deeper. Sacred love is pre-feeling, even pre-action. Love cannot be quantified based on how much you say you feel loved or feel love. A person may have less feeling called loving feeling and be a more loving being.
Accordingly, in the Sufi sense, love arises from the heart. Yet, in much modern thought, the heart is the center of feeling. Spiritually, the heart is not the center of feeling but the point of union between the self and the Spirit. We can say the heart is the gateway from God to you and me. Hence, there is only one heart, and we all have it and can receive and respond to divine love.
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A Christian scripture speaks of the gift and preeminence of love. This realization applies to any spiritual path, or it is not spiritual, even if it is religious.
"... the love of God has been poured out into in our heart by the Sacred Breath (Holy Spirit, spirit of holiness) ... "
*Romans 5.5
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Drinking Wine -
a Wine world
becomes!
One taste
of Water -
an Ocean appears!
Love
increases
by love
Stay away
if you can't tolerate
more
There are plenty of places
to hide from
your deepest longing
Some eyes seek the Sun
only upon seeing
to run
Some eyes
seek the Sun
and merge with its Light
Only
Lovers
endure this love
Soaking in
the Love Sun
Lovers get burned
Want more?
prepare space
within
But...
Don't say
you weren't
warned
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Want More? (On the Ecstasy of Love)": Dec 12, 2004; Rev. July 15, 2022.
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*©Brian K. Wilcox, 2022.
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox, and title and place of photograph.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
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