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Having been raised in Christian faith, I recall the odd expression, that seemed popular, Christian love. Now, not before, I see the contradiction of that, unless Christian refers to the quality of Love Itself or Love Itself. My faith communion was claiming a higher expression of Love, all to itself, this Love being its 'private property.' We were esteemed special apart from others, not with them. So, Love is no longer Love, then, but reduced to the love of a single faith group. The claim itself negates Love simply, truly being Love and universal in quality. A Christian love would mean, Buddhists cannot enjoy this Love, Muslims are unable to be blessed with this Love, Hindus have never known and will never know this Love, Jews are excluded from this Love, no Muslim can receive this Love, ... The only recourse, so to enjoy this Love, would be to be a convert to Christianity. Many Christians believe exactly this. Saying there is a Christian love is like saying there is a Hindu liberation or a Buddhist enlightenment, the very claim denying the experience, the experience being that Love is boundless, liberation is boundless, enlightenment is boundless. Christian means one does not aspire to a Christian love, even as when one sees himself or herself as an equal citizen of the world, the esteem of as superior any national identity is dissolved in impartial embrace of the world community, even the Earth community of all creatures. This does not make one less a citizen of the people one lives among, yet enriches that prior preference with a more fulfilling recognition with those who once were excluded from that lesser embrace. A christly being is of the whole world, so a more loyal citizen of his or her own country. In being faithful to all, one is most prepared to be faithful to some. Pure Love expresses purely in nonpreference, pure openness is not by degrees. Simply put, the wider I open my heart, the more I hold within my heart and the more filled, so, fulfilled is the embrace. And this includes the nonhuman as well as human, the unseen and seen. There is only one 'world.' There is a single communion.
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Last writing in this series, "benevolent and indifferent Presence," we ended with a quote we return to, today...
Since God does not function on a personal basis, God will not do anything for you personally. There must be within you always the remembrance that this that you seek, you seek for all mankind, for everyone, friend or enemy. It would be as impossible to channel God into you and your affairs as it would be to channel the rain into your garden. If you want to pray for rain, you had better pray for rain and not specify your or anyone else’s garden. You will have to be willing for it to fall on the gardens of all those you do not like as well as those you do.
*Joel S. Goldsmith. Beyond Words and Thoughts.
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