Conference hydra::dejavu

      How about:
    
       Love is the opening door,
       Love is what we came here for,
       No one could offer you more,
       Do you know what I mean?
       Have your eyes really seen?
    
    Nanci

Love is crazy, love is blue
Love is hazy, but it's true
The things that Love drives us to do
Can shake this world's core through and through

Let great minds reach into the sky
Let worlds pass on, eons go by
One thing won't change, by God Above!
Some people will die in the name of Love!

                            -By Robert Brown III
                                July, 1976

________________________________________________

Maybe a little immature, but what the heck: I was only 18!

    Nancy & Cindy:
    
    Love is what we are within
    Beyond the pain of superflous attarctions
    Love is the voice of the One
    Speaking Heart to heart
    and moving us to pass it on.
    
    Ray Shepard
    

    How about SWEET LOVE by Anita Baker.
    
    Sweet Love .....
    Hear me calling out your name .....
    
    
    Susan
    

    This may or may not fit into how youngster think today but i have
    always felt that it has said more on life and love than any song.
    
    
              " COME GROW OLD WITH ME.THE BEST IS YET TO BE ."
    
    by ?

    "Love" defined by M. Scott Peck, M.D.:  The will to extend one's
    self for the purpose of nuturing one's own or another's spiritual
    growth.  (from The Road Less Traveled, p. 81)
    
    This definition is especially apropos to DEJAVU!
    

    
    I've often felt that love eluded description, that to define love
    was somehow to limit it, in much the same way that naming God is
    ultimately impossible...
    
    Then I recently heard Tracy Chapman's song "For You", which says
    
    There're no words to say
    No words to convey
    The feeling inside I have for you
    Deep in my heart
    Safe from the guards
    Of intellect and reason
    Leaving me at a loss
    For words to express my feelings 
    Deep in my heart
    
    
    
    ...gloria

    
    "No greater love hath a man than to lay down his life for his friends."
     
                                        - Jesus, the Son of God.
    Gil 
    

    Cindy,
    
    This is fun!!!!
    
    This one's a bit sappy, but here goes....
    
    Don't go thinkin' that you don't leave a trace.
    Your print's in the sand and your vibe's in space.
    As long as you're leavin' something to the race
    You might as well make it Love.
    You might as well make it Love.
    
    So...make it a song, make it a smile
    Make it make someone's day.
    Make it worthwhile.
    Make it a laugh, make it a prayer,
    Make it on the up and up,
    Shine like a buttercup,
    Might as well make it Love,
    You might as well make it love.
    
    (The singing group at my church sang this one last Wednesday
     and I've been humming it ever since.)
    
    Nanci

             ..Neither be cynical about love; for in  the  face  of
             all  aridity  and disenchantment it is as perennial as
             the grass.

     from "Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann

     Alvin

I'm not one to quote the bible much, but I heard this quoted in the movie
'The Mission' (great movie) and it fits, so...

        If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, 
    I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, 
    and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, 
    so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give 
    away all I have, and deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I
    gain nothing.

        Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is 
    not arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not
    irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in
    the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
    things, endures all things.

        Love never ends; as for prohecies, they will pass away; as for
    tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  For
    our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy imperfect; but when the
    perfect comes the imperfect will pass away.  When I was a child, I
    spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned like a child;
    when I became a man, I gave up my childish ways.  For now we see in
    a mirror dimley, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I
    shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.  So
    faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these 
    is love.

    I Corinthians 13
    
    Terry

    re:.-1
    
    I was just now typing that in, Terry (only King Jame's style). 
    My terminal failed!  Guess that means you really wanted to hear
    something else... Ditto on Bible quoting but sometimes it says it
    just right.
    
    "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."
                         
    "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear"
    
    I John 4 (KJV)
    
    "Charity never faileth"
   
    - A KJV reiteration of a segment of .-1 

    Saludos.

    
    
    			No other Law but love I know,
    			By naught but love may I be known,
    			And all that liveth is my own,
    			From me they come, to me they go.
    
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    
    		"Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends,
    		for it is one of God's best gifts, it involves many
    		things but above all, The power of going out of one's
    		self, and appreciating whatever is noble and loving
    		in another."
    					-Thomas Hughes-
    
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
    Craig

    Beginning
    
    Smile for me
    Sweet echo in my heart
    Giver of joy
    Bring me back to myself.
    Reflection of truth
    Give me your hand
    Show me your heart.
    Hearth of love's warmth
    Who makes my time
    So much more well spent
    Smile for me
    And slay my sorrows
    With the light in your tender eyes
    
    	jody bobbitt - 9/21/83
    

    	Love is a four letter word.
    
    	Mark
    

    From a song heard at a wedding:
    
    Give yourself to love
    If love is what you're after.
    Open up yourself to
    The tears and laughter.
    And just give yourself to love,
    Give yourself to love.
                           
    Love,
    Lois

    And from Whitney Houston....
    
    Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all....
        
    
    Love and Light,
    Lois

    Love is the burning point of life, and since all life is 
    sorrowful, so is love.  The stronger the love, the more the 
    pain.
    
    				Joseph Campbell
    				The Power of Myth

    
    Only through love do we grow,
    
    Ro
    

    From deep within the feeling lies,
    A smile to my lips,
    A tear to my eye.
    How long ago, if ever,
    Did I feel this way?
    
    Pure contentment.
    Ecstasy.
    Respect and total trust.
    Love evolving ever deeper.
    
    *********
    
    The tide is turning;
    The sun is burning;
    And we bask in the harmony
    Of energy,
    As if flow and glows
    And lights up the world.
    
    The grains of sand
    Kissed by ocean's spray,
    Have a love affair
    With the sunlit day.
    
    The spirit is soaring
    As temperatures rise;
    The two become one
    in the joining of eyes,
    Melding of body, of soul
    and of mind,
    A natural high of the
    ultimate kind.
    
    *********
    
    Something special's happening
    Between us two, my love.
    The closeness grows each passing day
    Lifting us above
    Life's trials and tribulations,
    That pain of past may heal;
    Perspective's soothing secret,
    To us it does reveal.
    
    The feeling swiftly deepens,
    Awesomely it stuns;
    One thinks it can't go deeper,
    Yet deeper it becomes.
    
    Who are you and who am I
    To connect thus magically?
    Past souls who once upon a time
    Embraced eternally?
    
    The joy you've added to my life
    In words cannot be told;
    It can only be experienced
    Raw metal turned to gold.
    
    ******
    
    Helaine

    Some say love it is a river that drowns the tender weed;
    Some say love it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed;
    Some say love it is a hunger, an endless aching need;
    I say love it is a flower, and you its only seed.
    
    It's the heart that fears the breaking that never learns to dance;
    It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance;
    It's the one who won't be taken who cannot seem to give;
    And the sould afraid of dying that never learns to live.
    
    When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long,
    And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong;
    Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
    Lies the seed that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the
     rose.
    
    Helaine

    Thank you for making my day with those last two, Helaine.
    
    Here's one.
    
    *************************************************************
    Oh, I've been so many places, I've seen so much
    I know that love is the answer.
    It keeps holding this world together
    Ain't nothin' better
    Nothin's better
    And all the answers to our prayers
    Are just the same everywhere
    Nothing ever breaks up a heart
    Love's a game
    Ain't it a shame, now?
    
    
    Jefferson Starship, "Miracles"      

    
    Earlier, I asked a newly popular singer-songwriter to help me to
    define love. Then I remembered something I wrote a year or so ago
    in another notesfile - 
    
    
    Beyond the word LOVE there is this:
    The knowledge of connection
    The soul's awareness of itself extended
    The union of the spirit in the flesh
    The promise of creation manifest
    The joyous voyage to the infinite.
    
    Gloria Bates
    May 1987
    

Oooooooooooooh .14, you wrote that yourself!?!  wow...thanks!

"Love is the flowers...
 You gotta let it
 You gotta let it grow."

(John Lennon, "Mind Games")

    
    Love makes the world go around.
    
    Cindy

    From the Broadway musical _Pippin_ (S. S., 1972(3?)) ...
    [Song: "LOVE SONG"]
    
    	...
    	They say the whole is greator
    	   then the sum of the parts its made of..
    	Well, if it's true of anything
    	   it's true of love.
    	...
    
    (just adding my two lines)
    	     - George
    
    

    Neil Diamond
    
    (I cannot remember the correct words, so somebody please correct
    me).
    
    from Play Me
    
    You are the sun, I am the moon, play me, 
    
    and the whole song has always made me feel gooey!!
    
    
    ...dale
    

    
    The Wedding Song (There Is Love)
    
    He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts,
    Rest assured this troubador is acting on His part.
    The union of your spirits here has caused Him to remain,
    For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name 
    There is Love, there is Love.
    
    Well a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
    They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
    As it was in the beginning is now and 'til the end,
    Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again
    And there is Love, there is Love.
    
    Well, then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
    Is it love that brings you here, or love that brings you life?
    For if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?  
    Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?
    Oh there's love, oh there's love.
    
    	Sung by Paul (of Peter, Paul and Mary)

================================================================================
Note 830.0                      Perhaps Love....                      No replies
UBOHUB::HOOD_S                                       41 lines  17-AUG-1988 09:15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    
    
    A favourite I have on record sung by an unusual combination of
    Placido Domingo and John Denver:
    
    "Perhaps Love"
    
    Perhaps love is like a resting place,
    A shelter from the storm,
    It invites you to come closer,
    It wants to show you more,
    And even if you lose yourself and don't know what to do,
    The memory of love will see you through.
    
    Oh like a blind man who can see or sawdust strong as steel,
    Or some way of looking, or some way to feel,
    And some say love is holding on and some say that is wrong,
    And some say love is everything, and some say they don't know....
                                      
    Perhaps love is like the ocean,
    Full of conflict, full of pain,
    Like a fire when it's cold outside,
    An umbrella when it rains,
    If I could live forever, and all my dreams come true,
    My memories of love will be of you.
    
    
    And on the other side of the record is "Annies Song" which
    I'm sure no-one needs the words to, but hopefully we have
    all had someone in our lives we could have sung it to.
    
    "The mountains may crumble into the sea, but there will
    still be you and me" Led Zep.
    
    Sandy.
    
    
    
    
    
    

================================================================================
Note 831.0                        Love by Louis                       No replies
UBOHUB::HOOD_S                                       24 lines  17-AUG-1988 09:29
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    
    
    Sorry - just remembered a beautiful song:
    
    "What a Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong
    
    I see trees of green,
    Clouds of white,
    Bright blessed day,
    The dark sacred night,
    And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
    
    I hear babies cry,
    I watch them grow,
    They'll learn much more,
    Than I'll ever know,
    And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
    
    The colours of the rainbow so pretty in the sky,
    The smiles on all the faces of people passing by,
    I see friends shaking hands saying "How do you do"
    They're really saying "I love you"
    
    

    The one beautiful thing about love is that it is impossible to give
    away.  If you give your love it always comes back to you, multiplied
    a thousand time over!
    
    Also, love, like respect, can never be demanded. It must be EARNED.
    
    
    Ray

    
    2 lines from an otherwise dull song, that always struck me--
    
    "All your love can't be mine...
    What is mine - I will find."
    
    
    Kim

    
    	Joe Jas

Whenever I Call You Friend

Whenever I call you friend, I begin to think I understand
Anywhere at all, you and I have always been, forever and ever.
I see myself within your eyes and that's all I need to show you why
Everything I do always brings me home to you, forever and ever.

Now I know my life is giving me more than memories 
Day by day, we can see 
In every moment there's a reason to carry on.

Sweet love showing us a heavenly light.
I've never seen such a beautiful sight.
Sweet love growing on us every night.
I know forever we'll keep doing it right.

Whenever I call you friend I believe I've come to understand
Anywhere at all you and I were meant to be, forever and ever.
I think about the times to come knowing I will be the lucky one.
If ever our love will last, I always want to call you friend.

[Refrain]

Sweet Love, shining in my life.
Sweet Love, a bright star in my life.

	- Sung by Kenny Loggins and Melissa Manchester

re: .34

	> Sung by Kenny Loggins and Melissa Manchester

	Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks.  Don't want to upset her Dejavu 
	fans.  

	Terry

    (RE.-1 Kasper)
    
    Terry,
    
    We're both half right.  Melissa Manchester sings it with Kenny Loggins
    on her 'Greatest Hits' album (which is a much different rendition
    then the popular version on the Kenny Loggins album).
    
    I _thought_ it was Stevie Nicks singing with him on the popular
    version, however I looked for her name and it wasn't there.   Thanks 
    for the clarification.
    
    Cindy 

    "Footprints"
    One night a man had a dream.  He dreamed he was walking along the
    beach with the Lord.  Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
     For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand;
    one belonged to him, and the other to the Lord.
    
    When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back
    at the footprints in the sand.  He noticed that many times along
    the path of his life there was only one set of footprints.  He also
    noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of
    his life.  
    
    This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it.  "Lord,
    you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all
    the way.  But I have noticed that during the most troublesom times
    in my life, there is only one set of footprints.  I don't understand
    why when I needed you most you would leave me."
    
    The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child, I love you and I
    would never leave you.  During your times of trial and suffering,
    when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried
    you."
    
    Suz
    

    thanks for posting that...
    
    	thats always been my favorite!!!
    
    
    		wendy o'
    

    
    Hi Wendy!
    
    Time for some skiing this year?  Still have the 4WD and it's going
    great.
         
    As for this note......I LOVE skiing!
    
    *<(8*)||
    
    Cindy

    About two or three years ago, the following poem came into my
    mind.  I didn't compose it in the sense that I've done with most 
    of my poems over the years ... no fretting over words, no concern 
    over meaning and I seldom write stuff that rhymes.

    Since it's definitely about LOVE, I wanted to share it here.


               The Stuff that Dreams are Made From


       Reading a book in a friendly tree;
       Sailing away on a misty sea;
       Remembering things that have yet to be ...
       The stuff that dreams are made from.

       Following a road to the very end;
       Watching the river go 'round a bend;
       Falling in love with a long-lost friend ...
       The stuff that dreams are made from.

       Nothing to lose and nothing to gain;
       Thoughts filled with joy; thoughts filled with pain;
       Even so, thoughts that are never in vain ...
       Of the stuff that dreams are made from.

       Listening to things that no one hears;
       Putting aside a million fears;
       Being in love for a hundred years ...
       The stuff that dreams are made from.

       Friends far off in another place;
       No more need to be face to face;
       Slipping the bonds of time and space ...
       For the stuff that dreams are made from.

       Innocent children on a shiny morn;
       Love, like an old shoe, comfortably worn;
       Written in stardust before we were born ...
       The stuff that dreams are made from.

       Three kinds of Love the Greeks did say,
       Eros, Philios, and Agape';
       I like it better the English way ...
       The stuff that dreams are made from.

       Tomorrow -- as clear as a crystal lake;
       A sleeping giant about to wake,
       But push at the Future and it may break ...
       The stuff that dreams are made from.

       A mystery unfolding, but who knows when;
       A brief flash of insight now and then?
       What happened once must happen again ...
       The stuff that dreams are made from.

       Visiting a wise man across the sea;
       Puts your mind at peace over what shall be.
       For now, the knowledge is enough for me ...
       The stuff that dreams are made from.

       Three days after and three days before ...
       Days can be years in ancient lore;
       Nothing but love must open the door
       To the stuff that dreams are made from.

       Hearing this poem and wondering why;
       Letting it flow until it runs dry;
       A hopeless romantic, at least till I die ...
       The stuff that dreams are made from.

    With love,
    Terry

         For me, love grows and changes, and flows, spanning
         time and space.
         
         Melinda
         
         ==================================================
         
         Blue Bonnet Spring
         
         Gulf Coast Highway,
         he worked the rails...
         he worked the rice fields with their cold dark wells...
         he worked the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico,
         the only thing he ever owned
         was this old house here by the road.
         And when he dies he says he'll catch some blackbird's
         wing and fly away to heaven
         come some sweet blue bonnet spring.
         
         She walked in Springtime,
         when he was home...
         their days were sweet, their nights were long...
         seasons change, the jobs come, the flowers fade...
         this old house seemed so alone
         when the work took him away.
         And when she dies she says she'll catch some blackbird's
         wing and fly away to heaven
         come some sweet blue bonnet spring.  
         
         Highway 90, 
         the jobs are gone.
         They tend their garden, they set the sun.
         This is the only place on earth blue bonnets grow...
         once a year they come and go
         at this old house here by the road.
         And when they die they say they'll catch some
         blackbird's wing and they will fly away to heaven
         come some seet blue bonnet spring....
         
         And when they die they say they'll catch some
         blackbird's wing and fly away together
         come some seet blue bonnet spring.

                           
    	Why Do I Love You?
    
    	I love you,
    	Not only for what you are,
    	But for what I am
    	When I am with you.
    
    	I love you
    	Not only for what
    	You have made of yourself,
    	But for what
    	You are making of me.
    
    	I love you
    	For ignoring the possibilities
    	Of the fool in me
    	And for laying firm hold
    	Of the possibilities for good.
    
    	Why do I love you?
    
    	I love you
    	For closing your eyes
    	To the discords - 
    	And for adding to the music in me
    	By worshipful listening.
    
    	I love you because you
    	Are helping me to make
    	Of the lumber of my life
    	Not a tavern
    	But a temple;
    	And out of the words
    	Of my every day
    	Not a reproach
    	But a song.
    
    	I love you
    	Because you have done
    	More than any creed
    	To make me happy.
    
    	You have done it
    	Without a word,
    	Without a touch,
    	Without a sign.
    	You have done it
    	Just by being yourself
    
    	After all
    	Perhaps that is what
    	Love means.
    
    		- Roy Croft

    
    Goodnight - For Husbands and Wives....and SO's too!  (;^)
    
    This day is almost done.  When the night and morning meet it will
    be only an unalterable memory.  So let no unkind word; no careless,
    doubting thought; no guilty secret; no neglected duty; no wisp of
    jealous fog becloud its passing.  For we belong to each other -
    to have and to hold - and we are determined not to lose the keen
    sense of mutual appreciation which God has given us.  To have is
    passive, and was consumated on our wedding day, but to hold is active
    and can never be quite finished so long as we both shall live.
    
    Now, as we put our arms around each other, in sincere and affectionate
    token of our deep and abiding love, we would lay aside all disturbing
    thoughts, all misunderstandings, all unworthiness.  If things have
    gone awry let neither of us lift an accusing finger nor become
    entangled in the rationalizations of self-defense.  Who is to blame
    is not important; only how shall we set the situation right.  And
    so, serving and being served, loving and being loved, blessing and
    being blessed, we shall make a happy, peaceful home, where hearts
    shall never drop their leaves, but where we and our children shall
    learn to face life joyfully, fearlessly, triumphantly, so near as
    God shall give us grace.
    
    Goodnight, beloved.
    				        - F. Alexander Magoun

            
    	Fulfillment
    
    	Lo, I have opened unto you 
    	    the gates of my being.
    	And like a tide, you have flowed 
    	    into me.
   	The innermost recesses of my spirit 
    	    are full of you
    	And all channels of my soul 
    	    are grown sweet with your presense.
    	For you have brought me peace; 
    	    The peace of great tranquil waters,
    	And the quiet of the summer sea.
    	    Your hands are filled with peace as
    	The noon-tide is filled with light;
    	    About your head is bound the eternal
    	Quiet of the stars, and in your heart
    	    dwells the calm miracle of twilight.
    
    	I am utterly content.
    
    	In all my being is no ripple of unreast
    	    For I have opened unto you the
    	Wide gates of my being
    	    And like a tide, you have flowed into me.
    
    				- Author Unknown 
    

    Home Is Where There's One To Love Us
    
    Home's not merely four square walls,
    	Though with pictures hung and guilded;
    Home is where Affection calls,
    	Filled with shrines the Heart hath builded!
    Home! - go watch the faithful dove,
    	Sailing 'neath the heaven above us;
    Home is where there's one to love!
    	Home is where there's one to love us!
    
    Home's not merely roof and room - 
    	It needs something to endear it;
    Home is where the heart can bloom,
    	Where there's some kind of lip to cheer it!
    What is home with none to meet,
    	None to welcome, none to greet us?
    Home is sweet - and only sweet -
    	Where there's one we love to meet us!
    	
    			- Charles Swain

re :.41 (Cindy)

	> 36. Learning To Love - Ranier Maria Rilke

	If you haven't read anything else by this guy, a short one I
	think you'll like is _Letters To A Young Poet_.  Very touching
        and very inspiring.

        Terry

    
    Thanks Terry, will check it out.
    
    Cindy

A short but oh so sweet and painful Irish poem.
    hope it hits home. I think of this poem now every time I
    get impatient with my little ones.
    
    r.k.    

                  <<< TALLIS::S3:[NOTES$LIBRARY]CELT.NOTE;2 >>>
================================================================================
Note 111.0                   A BEAUTIFUL IRISH POEM                      1 reply
FNYFS::AUNGIER "Rene El Gringo sin casa, Irish Rebe" 55 lines  30-DEC-1986 04:44
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Ta ana amhas orm a dain seo a cur anseo
    	I am very happy to include this poem here.
    
    	Ta an dain seo ag caint ar paiste. Bionn fearg orainn
    	nuair a deanann paiste rudai cosuil le briseadh rudai
    	sa teach ach ni bionn siad linn rofhada agus mar sin
    	de chaithimid beith pasainte.
    
    	This poem talks about children. We sometimes get annoyed
    	when children do things like breaking something in the
    	house but children are not with us for long as the poem says
    	and because of that we have to be a little patient with them
    
    	
		SUBH MILIS
    		==========
    
    	Bhi subh milis ar bhascrann an dorais
    	ach mhuch me an ciorrai ionam a d'eirigh
    	mar smaoinigh ar a la a bheis an bascrann glan
    	agus an laimh beag ar eirigh.

    
    	I will translate it literally first as it is more beautiful
    	the way we Irish express ourselves in Irish than in English.
    
    	There was jam on the handle of the door
    	but I quenched the anger that arose within me
    	when I thought of the day that the handle will be clean
    	and the little hand missing.
    
    	It means that a child dirtied the handle of a door with
    	jam and the parent felt angry but said nothing, instead the
    	parent thinks of how quickly the child will grow up and leave
    	the home and the handle of the door will be clean with no children
    	around.
    
    	It is a sad and happy poem. Sad because the parent can feel
    	the loneliness that will arise in the home when the child is
    	grown up. Happy because the child brings joy and happiness to
    	the home and give a good feeling in the home.
    
    
    	I cannot remember more off by hard but there are very many such
    	poems which are rich, sad, happy, and give joy to me anyway
    	at the beauty of the Irish language and all that is Irish.
    
    
    	Slan agus beannacht.
    	Go n-eiri an bothair leat agus feachimid sibh an blian seo chugainn
    
    	Rene Aungier
    	(An Gaelach ag obair sa Franc, Nil morainn sheans agam mo chuid
    	Geilge a chleactha anseo ach ta me ag leabh anois mar ni maith
    	liom mo chuid Geilge a chailte)

    Love is a rose and you dare not pick it   
    Only grows when it's on the vine
    Hands full of thorns and you know you've missed it
    Lose your love when you say the word "MINE"
                                                
    
    

    Love is a series of Darlings and Dearies,
    Of Honeys and Sweeties and sugared entreaties,
    Of moonings and swoonings and cooings and billings;
    All tempered, of, course, by occasional killings.
            
    						Don

    	Don, did you write that?
    
    	Hilarious!  =8*)
    
    						Carla
    

    
    A Footpath To Peace                 
                
    To be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to
    work and to play and to look up at the stars,
    
    To be satisfied with your possessions but not contented with yourself
    until you have made the best of them,
    
    To despise nothing in the world except falseness and meanness and
    to fear nothing except cowardice,
    
    To be governed by your admirations rather than by your disgusts,
    
    To covet nothing that is your neighbor's except his kindness of
    heart and gentleness of manners,
    
    To think seldom of your enemies and often of your friends...
    
    These are the little guideposts on the footpath to peace.
    
    					- Henry van Dyke

       
    "Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person; it is
    an attitude, an ordination of character which determines the
    relatedness of the person to the whole world as a whole, not toward
    one object of love."
    
    					Eric Fromm (1900-1980)

    This song doesn't mention love much directly but I
    think that's what it's really about.
    
    There's a Time
    
    There's a time to be coming home again
    There's a time to be knowing when to leave the past behind.
    There's a time, I believe it.
    There's a time to be holding out your hand
    There's a time to be understanding love is what we are.
    There's a time, I believe the time is now.
    
    There has always been a time for reaching out to each other.
    In darkness we have never been free.
    But one light can be shared with another
    And soon the world will see, we will see, let us see.
    
    There's a time to be giving up the lies
    There's a time to be realizing how we can be free.
    There's a time, I believe it.
    There's a time to be letting go of fear
    There's a time to be in the here and now of who we are.
    There's a time I believe the time is now.
    
    I can't tell you who wrote it as my copy of the music cuts off
    the composer's name.  From what I understand this is the _only_
    song this person has ever written.  By the way, the music is
    just as beautiful as the words.
    
    Nanci

from J.Krishnamurti's "The Network of thought" 
(Talks in Saanen 1981 19th July)
 

What is love? This is a very complex question;all of us feel we love
something or other,abstract love,love of a nation,love of a person,love
of god,love of gardening,love of over-eating.We have abused the word love so 
greatly that we have to find out basically what love is.

Love is not an idea.Love of god is an idea,love of a symbol is still an idea.
When you go to the church and kneel down and pray,you are really worshipping,
or praying to,something which thought has created.So,see what is happening,
thought has created it - actually this is a fact - and you worship that which
thought has created;which means you are worshipping,in a very subtle way,
yourself.This may seem a sacrilegious statement,but it is a fact.That is what
is happening throughout the world.Thought creates the symbol with all the
attributes of that symbol,romantic or logical and sane;having created it
you love it,you become totally intolerant of any other thing.
All the gurus,all the priests,all the religous structures, are based on that.
See the tragedy of it.Thought creates the flag,the symbol of a particular
country,then you fight for it,you kill for it,you kill each other for it;
your nation will destroy the earth in competition with another nation,and so
the flag becomes a symbol of your love.We have lived for millions of years
in that way and we are still extraordinarily destructive,violent,brutal,cynical
human beeings.
When we say we love another,in that love there is desire,the pleasurable
projections of the various activities of thought.One has to find out 
whether love is desire,whether love is pleasure,whether in love there is
fear;for where there is fear there must be hatred,jealousy,anxiety,
possesiveness,domination.There is beauty in relationship and the whole cosmos
is a movement in relationship.Cosmos is order and when one has order in
oneself one has order in one's relationships and therefore the possibility
of order in our society.If one enquires into the nature of relationship one 
finds it is absolutely necessary to have order,and out of that order comes
love.

Hi folks!

Just a few ideas on Love inspired by this note and some of the responses 
to the Group Work note (870)...

...Speaking of which, I am off to Hawaii for my honeymoon (or is it 
moneyhoon? :'O...  will be back 10/17. I look forward to massive reading 
when I get back.

========================================================================

Love is the single most pervasive of several energies which permeate and
make up the Universe as we know it.  Love is not an activity, though it 
can be expressed in activity.  It cannot be measured.  The closest we 
can come to measuring Love is to measure the size and extent of the 
activity or the form which It embodies.

The *only* activity in which Love takes form is *Service*.  It takes 
form in service which is offered freely, unconditionally, and with no 
expectations.  Maintaining expectations, especially reciprocity, is the 
fastest way to remove the energy of Love from the service.  The service 
may still have some positive effect, but the real *substance* is gone.
              
Love, though it takes only one form, has many characteristics. Through 
the service, it can appear patient, kind, often firm, and sometimes even 
cold.  It can take on virtually any characteristic depending on what is 
required for the greatest service.

Love can be wielded with great power by those with "purity of purpose".
It is the greatest strength available to the human race, yet the human 
race is for the most part unaware of it.  The vast majority of people 
have not even experienced real Love except for possibly a moment here 
and there when a kindness is performed spontaneously, nothing is 
accepted in return, and a strong sense of well being results.  Many 
people are reaching a point in their development where the genuine 
energy of Love is becoming available, but most do not yet know how to 
use it.

Love, as most people experience it in their daily lives, is really the 
emotional (astral) energy of the solar plexus centre.  *Real* Love is 
channeled through the heart centre. Many aspirants on the Path who have 
some knowledge of the centres intellectually know this, yet continue out 
of habit to associate the lower energies of the solar plexus with those 
of the heart.  The only real problem with this is that if we think, 
inaccurately, that we are using energy from the heart, then there is 
nothing to inspire us to reach up from the solar plexus into the heart.
The majority of people stumble into the heart centre quite by "accident"
as a natural outcome of growth through the ages, along with dharma and 
whatever amount of karma may be required for the final little push.

An example, in this day and age, of pure heart energy and genuine Love
is Mother Theresa.  What does she do?  She serves; that's all.  If each 
person in this country spent a couple of hours each week in selfless 
service to others, the collective consciousness of the nation would be 
immediately enlightened. How many people do we know who serve 
selflessly, with no concern for themselves?  Christ, generally 
considered in this country to be the embodiment of Love, never said, 
"Follow me, let's go work on our spiritual growth."  He urged us to 
heal the sick and feed the poor.  One of the most significant problems 
with "new age" aspirants is "spiritual selfishness".  

We have the knowledge, we have the means, but what are we doing?  
Aspirants, in this country in particular, have replaced the "going for 
the (material) gusto" with, "going for the (spiritual) gusto".  What 
is so spiritual about selfishness?  When we are aspiring to move up 
from the lower centres to the solar plexus, then experiencing the 
energies of that centre is "spiritual", but when we have exhausted 
those energies (which many of us have), it is time to move on.

Jeff

re: .-1

  I agree.  For the most we are unaware of what *real* love can be and
  can do.  I understand, as others do, what you said.  I have some
  trouble with putting 'service' into action.  This means everything
  from risking one's life for another to helping the guy next door
  hang some sheet-rock.  There is a need to develop and love ourselves
  first or we can't provide the kind of service you mention.  When, and 
  how much, do we sacrifice for someone else and how do we learn to know 
  to separate what is okay to sacrifice and what isn't.  I can't believe 
  that we are all supposed to give up everything to whoever comes calling.  
  Like the folks that ask for donations at busy intersections, telephone 
  solicitations, requests for donations (time and $$$) in the mail.  Do I 
  open my house to as many homeless folks that I can pack in.  Do I get my
  paycheck in quarters so I have something to give all those folks (who
  mean well and are just trying to do their part to serve) at the door and
  at the intersections on the way home?  When is it okay to say, "Sorry, 
  not today"???

  This comes from alot of frustration on my part from helping others.
  I always find myself offering my time to others, leaving little time
  for myself.  When I do help, I usually feel good about it afterwards
  but I feel like I'm not attending to the things that really need my 
  attention - and it *gets* to me.  

  I could go on for a while.  This is a hot topic for me and I wish I
  knew (better than I do now) when it's okay to put myself first without
  feeling selfish about it.

  Terry

    Re: .59
    
    Terry, you may feel frustrated, but you aren't alone in it.  I've
    suffered continually from the very same things you mention.  I have
    always equated loving with serving.  But I have lately run up against
    situations that have caused me to question it, particularly in the
    realm of *personal* love/service to another.  What happens when my
    well has just run dry, when I have nothing left to give?  I mean,
    I could get my paycheck in quarters and give it all away too, but
    what of after it's gone?  Am I then to be considered "un-loving"
    because I must show empty pockets to those in need?
    
    What I can say about the connection between love and service on
    a personal level is this:  love for another makes service a joy
    instead of drudgery.  On a night when I had a class, I scampered
    home to cook a dinner for my husband first.  He, in turn, even though
    he's a real lark (early to bed early to rise), waited up for me so
    I wouldn't come home and feel alone (after a class which is often
    upsetting).  We are each of us moved by the other's gestures.  I
    stood at my good friend's side and endured her curses and my
    helplessness to ease her pain as she gave birth to her daughter.
    She, in turn, has listened to me at times when I needed it most,
    and when I just wanted to rail at someone, not take any advice.
    But must a person feel this way about *everyone* on the planet?
    Must one feel like a spiritual slug if one *doesn't* feel this way
    about everyone?  Is it, perhaps, enough that a person can find the
    power within themselves to express this specially numinous kind of
    service for just one, maybe two people in his/her life?  I feel that
    Mother Theresa is as specialized a genius as any athlete, artist, or
    inventor.  A beautiful example but I just don't have the stuff
    (this time around, anyway) to be her.  I am only me, with my small
    circle of people who I am capable of expressing personal love and
    service to.
    
    Service and love, considered extra-personally, is another matter.
    Is service to another necessarily fulfilling that person's expressed
    wish?  I may have to turn away a solicitor for an environmental
    charity, but I carpool, conserve, avoid toxic products, recycle.
    I am *still serving others, even if I could not fulfill a specific
    personal request for a specific kind of service.*  The solicitor
    and I are serving a common goal, born of love for our planet, each
    in our own way, and I refuse to feel invalidated because our ways
    diverge.  
    
    How many of us, I wonder, perform what are actually loving services
    for others that we have never considered in that light?  How many
    of us, if we have realized it, devalue the service we perform because
    others don't value it, or because it just comes so naturally that we
    never think of it as sacred?  I submit that we are all already a lot
    more loving and service-oriented than we give ourselves credit for,
    and that we learn to look at ourselves with fresh eyes, rather than
    automatically assuming that we have some kind of spiritual blight
    that only severe penance can cure.
    
    If you slow down while driving in the neighborhood where you know
    children play; if you turn off your tap water when not actually
    rinsing something; if you lunge the extra step to shove open the
    door for a heavily laden person; if you make silly faces that cause
    the baby in the restaurant to stop screaming; if you offer to run
    any of your office's social functions; if you carpool to work; if
    you donate blood; if you vote; if you keep the sidewalk in front
    of your home shovelled and salted; if you teach your children good
    manners; if you've ever stopped to help a person with a flat; if
    you notify the police if you see something suspicious going on in
    a home not your own; if you bring your pens back to work; if you
    charge your personal phone calls made on company time to your home
    number -- hey, I could go on and on, but by this time you can probably
    think of your own examples.  My point is, this kind of love cum service
    is probably already part of your everyday life.  If you do any of
    these things you are serving others, whether you know it or not,
    and are thereby expressing a kind of love.
    
    Marcia

                        
    I agree with what Jeff writes at one level, and yet also feel that
    this is the major paradox that, if not understood, makes people
    feel even more guilty - that they _should_ be doing more and by
    doing more they will feel far better.  
    
    Well...it doesn't really work that way.
     
    As was written in "Mister God, This Is Anna", Anna says that the
    people who do good works time after time so that they become more 
    loving have it backwards.  She says that the trick is to *be* like 
    Mister God and then you can't help but be good, kind and loving.
    
    So what is it to *be* like Mister God?  Well, first you have to
    know yourself - good parts, not-so-good parts and all...and then
    love yourself - good parts, not-so-good parts and all.  Typically
    this happens in childhood where, if you come from a relatively happy
    home, you have a good sense of Self.  You may have *done* bad things
    but *you* weren't bad.  Despite everything, you knew you were loved. 
    Big difference.  From "Bradshaw On: The Family", Bradshaw estimates 
    that approx. 95% of all families are dysfunctional to some degree.  
    So that leaves about 5% of the population who have a healthy, 
    complete sense of Self, affirmed by the parents and family they grew 
    up around, and knew even that if their world was crashing in around 
    them, that they were loved for who they were.  In other words, not 
    many people are this complete.
    
    If you were in the other 95%, chances are that you have gaps inside
    of you - gaps that are filled by all sorts of addictions trying
    to fill yourself with what you, by all rights, should have received
    as a child - a healthy sense of Self...and a solid sense that you
    are Loved.
    
    When you don't feel you are loved for who you are, then you have
    no love to give.  You can go through the motions of giving, but
    it isn't giving from the Love because you don't have it...through
    no fault of your own.  I guess I'm speaking from experience here
    because this is what happened to me.  It hurt to love and I felt
    bankrupt most of the time.  And drained, very drained. 
    
    It's a long story, but through someone who came along and listened
    to me for the first time and accepted me anyway, I came to realize
    my own personal connection to the Divine source of Love back in
    May 1987.  I still cannot explain the feeling of that moment when it 
    all came together for me.  It was a moment of Grace - nothing less.  
    Now it is possible for me to freely give, because it isn't love, but 
    Love that is behind my actions.  It is the Source which never goes
    away.  With Love, all is possible.   This is the Love that I believe
    Jeff was talking about in his note.  Yes, Service is the way, however
    to get to that level of giving freely, you must first love yourself.
    There's no other way to get there.
    
    Now, even though I went through my experience, I still have days
    where I have to focus in on myself to rekindle my own energy...I also
    have to be loved by my friends more actively than just believing that 
    God loves me and getting by on my own.  Even Anne Lindbergh speaks of
    this need for solitude from the demands of service - the time to
    be alone, and this is especially true of women since they are more 
    typically in service roles than men (though this is changing).  So 
    to be a bit selfish in this regard - there's nothing wrong with this 
    whatsoever.  More than anything else, life requires balance.  
    
    Marcia - in "The Different Drum", Peck writes that the more one
    truly Loves, the less one truly 'likes'.  When you are familiar
    with the parts of yourself that you need to work on, you can more
    readily identify them in other people...but if you love that part
    of you anyway, then you are able to love the other person despite
    their own area they need to work on.  You may not "like" them, but
    you are able to Love them anyway.
         
    The greatest commandments are "Love The Lord Thy God....", and "Love
    Thy Neighbor AS Thyself."  This doesn't say love thy neighbor _more_
    than or _instead_ of, but _as_ THYSELF.  You can only love yourself
    by knowing, accepting and loving all of you.  
    
    In the experience of community, we didn't all necessarily _like_
    each other at the end of the weekend, but we loved each other enough
    to be able to step over those more irritating things to go forth
    as a community where we were all accepted for who we were anyway.
    Kind of like DEJAVU.
    
    Hope this helps somewhat.  It falls far short of what I'm trying
    to convey however.
    
    Cindy

    
    May have written this here earlier.....
    
    Read very recently what Mother Teresa said to someone who came up
    to her after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and asked her what
    they could do to advance the cause of world peace.  Her reply was
    "Go home and love your family."
    
    Service can be this simple and straightforward.  If everyone on
    Earth truly understood and actually loved their family in the way 
    that is written about in many religious texts and other places, we 
    would achieve world peace in short order, because to love your 
    immediate family is the same as loving the entire family of humanity
    .....after you love yourself first.  It is this first step that is
    the most difficult.
    
    There is no 'us vs. them'.  There is only 'us'.  The other 5(?) 
    billion people on the planet are our neighbors.
                               
    Cindy

    I agree with Cindy .61 and .62.  The most difficult lesson I've
    had to learn is that no matter how much you love someone, if that 
    person doesn't love himself/herself they can't accept or return
    love.  They feel undeserving and unworthy of being loved.  If they
    have low selfesteem they begin to batter on your selfesteem.  They
    figure you must not be much of a person if you could love them.
    
    Finally, through talking to the other person's therapist I had to 
    face the fact that there was really nothing I could do and there
    wasn't much hope of the person changing at this point.  The
    problems stemmed from childhood (being the child of an alcoholic) 
    and until he could let go of the anger/guilt/shame/whatever and love
    himself, he would just continue to drive people away from him.  
    Perhaps attending Adult Children of Alcoholics meetings or such
    would help him or continued therapy, in the meantime you can only
    love someone who doesn't love himself from a distance...
    
    Ro

    Re: .60 (Marcia)

    Thanks for your reply.  I think alot of us do those 'little' things
    every day and that's good, real good.  But, I just seem to frequently
    overbook myself at the times I need me-time the most.  Must be some
    subconscious reason (or maybe ego reason) I do that.  Just need to
    keep working on it. 

    re: .62 (Cindy)

    > There is no 'us vs. them'.  There is only 'us'.  The other 5(?) 
    > billion people on the planet are our neighbors.
                               
    Right!  How would a tree get along if the leaves fought amoungst
    themselves???  (recognize that line Bill, it's from the book you
    told me about...) However, cosmically speaking, rather than neighbors,
    we *are* them and they *are* us...

    Terry
    

    This is also in note 558.0 originally posted by Bill Keefe, however 
    it fits in rather well here with the comments about Love toward the
    end.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    The following was taken from one of Bob Monroe's early "Explorer 
    sessions". It relates to the current discussions as well as the coming 
    changes. This is a full transcript of one of the Explorer tapes 
    from the Monroe Institute. 
    
    	   	            ==================
        
    	    			"MESSAGES"    
    
    
        Blessed are they who seek me. In seeking me, their long period of 
    forgetfulness is coming to an end. They are awakening to who they truly 
    are - a living part of me, manifesting life and radiating love.
    
        There is much to do. There is much to learn. There is much strength 
    to be gathered. Be aware that all is life. All life is one. You are one 
    within one and you must feel the constant presence of the one who is. 
    Feel with my feeling. Know with my knowing. Bless all creatures with 
    the love we have shared from the beginning.
    
        You have forgotten to look for me, much less to gaze upon my 
    countenance, oh, ye of little faith. There are countless numbers who 
    live in the expectancy of my coming. In truth, I never left.
        Let him who has ears to hear, let him hear, now.
        You seek me amidst your blindness. You look upon me without 
    recognition, You touch my hand and know not whom you have touched.
        You proclaim my name and my teachings as it suits you and the 
    occasion.   
        You were taught years ago to search the scripture and learn of me. 
    You were also told that in the reading of the scriptures you must go 
    deep. In the depths you will find your draft of fishes. 
    
        Awaken, behold the reality of my being that is among you.
    
        I am the earthquake, wind, and fire.
        I am the still small voice piercing the thunderous tumult.
        I am the peace beyond all understanding.
        I am the light that guides all men to the Father.
        I am the love that overcometh all things.
        I am the light that illumines the minds of men. I am the the 
    sustenance of man's soul.
        I am your life and you are my own.
        I am the very breath you breathe.
        We are one in the Father.
    
        Do not despair, I will never leave thee nor forsake the, nor can 
    you truly forsake me, for we are one.
        Let the old way be gone. It must die and its ashes be blown to the 
    four corners of the earth. The new is emerging but you must change your 
    perspective. Do not look for me in the form of a man. The time is not 
    yet. But look for me in the life that speaks to you in your everyday 
    activities. You have looked amiss.
        I have no limitations and am not bound by physical dimensions.
        I defy logic and am beyond your conceptual imaginings.
        I live and move and have my being in all there is. You have sought 
    me amiss.
        My countenance is seen within each face of my Father's creation. 
    Look upon your brother and see my face.
        Bend over a still pool. Do not be deceived. The image that you see 
    reflected is my own.
        Do you not see the truth now?
    
        Fear is an acid that erodes the total man. 
        Fear deters growth of all kinds. 
        Fear reduces the giant man into a pygmy. 
        Fear clouds reason and darkens the soul. 
        Fear has no power to protect itself, but invites the enemy, one's 
    own perverse thoughts. 
        Fear is a parasite, it grows stronger feeding upon the energy of 
    its host. 
        Fear engenders fear and becomes the cause of many illnesses. 
        Fear is of this world, but has no place in the higher reality. 
        Fear thoughts are not to be trusted for they are already 
    distortions of the truth. 
        Live in the realization of us, the light. We dispel all darkness, 
    even the shadowy places. Man does not walk alone. His self made fear 
    convinces him that he is a solitary creature. This is true only if he 
    wills it so. You suffer unnecessarily for we surround you and uphold 
    you. Listen, your instructions are ever present only awaiting your 
    receptivity. Fear clogs the channels. Fear is a form of self 
    preoccupation and limits you to your lower self. 
    
        We speak through the higher octave, the more refined network where 
    data is more easily transmitted. Only the strong will survive and you 
    are being prepared. Call upon us believing. 
        Do you not understand why the word believing was and is used in 
    connection with prayer? To believe emits a strong type of vibration 
    that literally rearranges the atoms in the thought universe, converting 
    it to greater forms of energy that is directed toward and becomes its 
    own fulfillment. 
        Believing is an emotion, an energy, a trusting and an acceptance. 
    Ask and ye shall receive, believing. Seek and ye shall find, expecting. 
    Knock and it shall be opened unto you. 
        Believe, expect, and act upon your belief. Give thanks in all 
    things. 
        Look for us amid your joys and your pains, your fears and your 
    triumphs. We are where you are, where life is, for we are one with all 
    things, with all there is and you are one with us. 
        Believing is the key. It will open your consciousness to the 
    realization of our presence. Together, we can overcome all fear. 
    
        Speak oft with thy Lord. This means nothing more than a moment by 
    moment awareness of my presence within you. 
        Take my hand, my strength is yours. 
        Take my thoughts and let them become your thoughts. My love will be 
    your love bringing purity to your mission, for my understanding and my 
    compassion will be channeled though you as we prepare the way. 
        I have led you before, but now I say, recognize me and become a 
    child of the living God. 
    
        Man has been blind long enough. The new day is upon you. The scales 
    will fall from your eyes. 
        You will recognize me more and more as you move through your days 
    beholding those about you with new vision and understanding as to who 
    they truly are as well as the mission of mine they are trying to 
    accomplish to the best of their abilities. 
        Once you begin to perceive me as the real essence of life within 
    those whom you encounter along the way, you will then understand the 
    emergence of the new heaven and the new earth. It is upon you, awaken.
    
        Ye who truly seek me shall surely find me. Go in peace.
    
        Learn of me. Take within your hand a leaf, a stone, a drop of 
    water, and know that nothing exists that does not contain me.
        Have you not known that I am eternal life and therefor recognize 
    neither the past, present, nor future? Only the now, that is. Live in 
    the now, with me.
    
        You must live daily in a state of receptivity, your awareness 
    sharpened that you may hear my voice. 
        Listen for me and then listen to me, for I am there. My light rests 
    upon you, reflect it to your fellow man in my behalf.
        Perceive me in the sea of moments through which you move through 
    all the days. Listen for my voice upon the winds of time and you will 
    know I am ever with you and there is nothing to fear. 
        Blessed are they who seek me for they have found me.
    
        Lo, I stand in the midst of you. 
        I am the very center of your being. You have only to grow quiet and 
    listen to know that I am here. 
        Your physical senses find difficulty in placing me. Your mind 
    demands scientific answers. If the soul itself cannot be located nor 
    xrayed then its existence is not only questioned but in many cases 
    rejected. You must surely understand the even greater difficulty one 
    would face if he tried to explain my presence with him. 
        Do not doubt the light that is within you. I and the light are one. 
    From this light you will be shown the way.
        Your involvement with me cannot be fruitious if it is only an 
    intellectual acceptance. Strong emotional impulses must be generated 
    within you motivated by your own deep felt desire to communicate with 
    me. This emotional welling fort will bring about your inner sense of 
    recognition of my presence. Then you can accept me as a living part of 
    you. 
        Learn then to sustain your awareness of me in the joy of your 
    discovery. In your joy will come a total knowing, a knowing and 
    interflow of peace and confidence that will sustain you all the days of 
    your life.
        
        Love. What's in a word, especially love? The very word is tired. It 
    is not the word we are interested in but what it represents. 
        Very few in your world know what the word love means or have ever 
    experienced this condition. Some have had glimpses, which in truth 
    would affect the quality of their emotion you now call love, but you 
    have not even begun to know the true essence of love. 
        The difference between man's understanding of love and the 
    knowledge of the true essence of God like energy expressing itself, in 
    full, is comparable with a candle and the sun. 
        Some of you have had moments of exquisite agony as you have tapped 
    the stream wherein flows this God energy expression. Once you have 
    known this ecstasy you seek always to duplicate it. 
        Do not be fooled, you do not love in the true sense. You are merely 
    fond of, for this is the emotion that is commonly accepted as being the 
    basis of love affairs as well as the ingredient that holds families and 
    societies together. 
        Man has stopped to soon. He has convinced himself that what he 
    calls love is sufficient. He is a child, ignorant of the greater 
    consciousness. 
        In simplest form, man must not only love as he understands love, 
    but learn to intensify it a million fold, thereby moving into the 
    knowledge of God energy expressing itself as pure, divine love/light.
        Is it not true that as a result of your own infrequent surges of 
    this love energy, reveal no more than a split second, you react 
    inwardly in a profound ecstasy, moved to such a degree that it defies 
    expression?
        Man says there are different kinds of love. I say there is only one 
    love. This divine love energy cannot be profaned. 
        You ask why man has missed his mark and failed so miserably in not 
    only his understanding but in his use of this condition of being in the 
    love state. 
        So far in man's evolution he has grown complacent with what he 
    feels is a workable solution in developing part of his nature, to love 
    as a balance for all his negative characteristics. 
        At least man has made a step in the right direction, but he is a 
    mere babe at the crawling stage in his capacity to truly love. The babe 
    who crawls does not know what it is to walk, much less to run or to 
    fly.
        Man does not know his potential to love. Until man opens himself to 
    the absolute sweeping power of dynamic God energy, compassionate, 
    health giving, understanding and tolerant in every way, he will remain 
    in his illusion that he is a practitioner of the thing he calls love. 
        This God energy expressing itself is the very essence of the new 
    heaven and the new earth, and one's eligibility is based upon his 
    perception of, use of, and attunement to this rarefied energy. 
        The glimpses you may have had are only reminders, for you know 
    already it is a matter of raising your consciousness and learning to 
    sustain that state. If you will hold longer and longer periods in this 
    glorified state, you will find you little self melting away and a sense 
    of true sonship coming upon you.
        You can only express love in its truest sense by becoming love. The 
    old pattern must be broken. You must die to your lesser self that you 
    may reach out and accept your true identity as a living expression of 
    the love of God. 
        Prepare yourselves to move away from the old and become the new, 
    the new love.
    
        I stand in the light, as you stand in the light. But you do not 
    know of your light. I am here to show you that your light and my light 
    are one and the same. Once you recognize this divine light to be a part 
    of all that is, will you then begin to understand your own relationship 
    to life, to your creator, and thereby to your own sonship eternal.
        I neither slumber nor sleep and you must learn that your soul 
    neither slumbers nor sleeps. Once you realize this, you are aware of 
    your spiritual vitality and wakefulness to your higher consciousness. 
    In so knowing you will understand that I am truly closer than your 
    hands and feet. In this knowing, in this knowledge, we are one.
        Live in truth. Be truth. Live in beauty. Become an artist in 
    living.
        Live in me and let me express you.
        I reside in all space and no space, all time and no time.
        Once you turn and become a part of my reality, all power is 
    restored unto you. This is the power that makes you one with all 
    things. This is the power that will set you free.
        My children, abide in me.

re: .59

I've been gone for a week, but I would like to reply to Terry since his 
was a reply to my previous note.

>                           -< Where's the line??? >-
> .............................................................When, and 
> how much, do we sacrifice for someone else and how do we learn to know 
> to separate what is okay to sacrifice and what isn't.  I can't believe 
> that we are all supposed to give up everything to whoever comes calling.  
> ........................................When is it okay to say, "Sorry, 
> not today"???

> ...This comes from alot of frustration on my part from helping others.
> I always find myself offering my time to others, leaving little time
> for myself.  When I do help, I usually feel good about it afterwards
> but I feel like I'm not attending to the things that really need my 
> attention - and it *gets* to me.  

If we want service to be a central part of our lives, then we treat it 
the same way we treat other integral aspects of our lives.  Take 
meditation, for instance.  More important than the technique which is 
used, is the regularity with which it is used; regularity meaning the 
setting aside of a certain amount of time on a daily basis and sticking 
with it.  If we want to play an instrument well we set aside a certain 
amount of time on a regular basis and we practice.  Similarly, if we 
want to become servers we must spend time serving.  

Eventually, we will reach a point where we will *choose* *not* to 
*ever* put ourselves first.  At that time we will have come into our 
own, we will know the Christ Light, and Heaven will indeed be 
establishing itself on Earth.  Until that time we must start with the 
first brick and not think that we must always give to everyone and 
everything.

The technique for serving is to try to have an attitude of service at 
all times, but choose one area in which to concentrate the service. It 
doesn't matter what it is.  It could be anything from caring for the 
elderly to picking up garbage along the road.

We must always serve our families first, and insure that the basics are 
covered.  What is left over, we begin to offer to others.  If we can 
inspire our families to serve with us, so much the better.  There is no 
need for guilt for not giving to everyone who asks for a donation.  
Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.  Simply doing 
_something_ regularly is all that is necessary.  As service gradually 
becomes an innate part of our character we begin to apply it to more and 
more of what we do; we become better at it; and more and more we find 
that opportunities to serve are available.  Discrimination tells us what 
to pursue.

When knowledge is channeled through the mind and Love is channeled 
through the heart simultaneously, the resulting activity is service, and 
the culminating understanding is wisdom.

Jeff

    	
    
    	There is this little girl
    	  playing on a neighbor's back lawn.
       	Oriental girl
      	  smuggled from some night to this dawn.
    	So beautiful and small
      	  so precious to behold
    	'though nations rise and fall
      	  the truth does not grow old
    
    	And I see her as a seed
     	 from two lost refugees
    	Who later died at sea
     	 but love lived on..
    
    	Though our hopes be set adrift
      	  and our faith a faded wreath
    	And our history seem a myth
      	  only mocking our beliefs
    	Love lives on.
    	  			-Michael Kelly Blanchard	

    
    Hi everyone - still in catchup mode.  Short request...
         
    Anyone out there have the lyrics to "I Love You Just The Way You
    Are", sung by Billy Joel?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Cindy

    Re .68 (Cindy):
    
    >Hi everyone - still in catchup mode. 
    
    Whatta tomato! :-D
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

	Don't go changing to try and please me,
	  You never let me down before.
	Don't imagine you're too familiar,
	 And I don't see you any more.
	
	I would not leave you in times of trouble,
	  We never could have come this far,
	I took the good times,
	  I'll take the bad times,
	I'll take you just the way you are.
	
	Don't go trying some new fashion,
	  Don't change the color of your hair.
	You always have my unspoken passion,
	  Although I might not seem to care.
	
	I don't want clever conversation,
	  I never want to work that hard.
	I just want someone that I can talk to,
	  I want you just the way you are.
	
	I need to know that you will always be,
	  The same old someone that I knew.
	Oh what will it take till you believe in me,
	  The way that I believe in you.
	
	I said I love you and that's forever,
	  And this I promise from the heart.
	I could not love you any better,
	  I love you just the way you are.

    
    Bill - thanks so much!
    
    Steve - (;*)  oh no, now I'm getting this wicked attack of
                  french-fry-itis
    Cindy

    Lately I've been trying to define the term love for
    myself in terms of our interrelationship with each 
    other.  This definition came up in a class I'm taking:
    
      Love is when I am more concerned with your relationship
    to yourself than I am with my relationship to you.
    
    Nanci

    Not sure I agree with the definition there, Nanci.  It may be seen
    as love on the part of the concerned party but can also be seen
    as downright interference by the other person. I *do* see what you're
    getting at, but don't think it defines LOVE.
    
    Now, as an old married man (VERY happily), let me have a go - and
    believe me it's tough! Or maybe you already know that?!!!!
    
    Love is :	When your heart skips on seeing your partner
    		Waking your partner up in the morning with a tender
    		kiss.
    		Saying you're sorry even when deep down inside you
    		don't yet feel that way.
    		An embrace that is remembered for ever.
    
    Brian

    
    > .72  (Nanci)

    	"Love is when I am more concerned with your relationship to
    yourself than I am with my relationship to you."
    
        
    Excellent!  That's a very good description of love more as a "state
    of being", than something that happens to us if the conditions happen
    to be just right.  If it is anything less than a state of being
    love becomes a transient condition continually sought after but rarely
    maintained if the conditions that brought it on cannot be maintained.
    There is not different types of love, although the word love may
    be used inappropriatly at times.  There are only degrees or aspects
    of love- all culminating in love as a state of being when all aspects
    are learned and understood.   you are, of course, describing or
    explaining what Jesus tried to teach about Love.  All the feelings
    of love-all the emotions continue when Love is a state of being.
     The difference is that in this state, these feelings go on
    uninterrupted because now one IS love and not "in" love.  
    	I don't understand this dichotomy.  We respect and admire great
    masters like Jesus, Buddha, etc. for reaching this state of being
    in love and maybe even aspire to it ourselves.  But when push comes
    to shove, we would rather remain with our elusive, highly transient
    beliefs of love.  Why is it so difficult to understand that one
    need not give up anything except self-centeredness to reach the
    state and awareness of all the risen masters. 
     
    Ernie
    
    

    
    Yes, Nanci - superb!  I needed to read that yesterday and brought
    a lot of things together for me.
    
    Ernie - it is difficult because it is something most people have
    never experienced firsthand in their lives and therefore haven't
    a clue as to what it really is.  It is up to those who understand
    this to put it into practice and set an example for those who do
    not have this conscious love in their lives today.
    
    Cindy

    Love is as honest as the sunrise
    It is as deceitful as the penny
    at the bottom of a wishing well.
    
    As one reaches for it; it changes.
    As one accepts it; it changes one.
    
    When one is willing to be changed by love,
    all things are changed.
    
    Larry

	I would like to add some excerpts out of "Story of Attitudes and 
Emotions."  This is based on Edgar Cayce's readings.  Chapter 10 is titled 
"Love and Forgiveness."
	MY INTENTION IS NOT TO TURN THIS INTO A RELIGIOUS NOTE. But the idea 
of love and God (higher self, etc.) are in my mind synonymous and can be used 
interchangeably.   Notice that through all the aspects of Love runs the thread
of selflessness.  This may seem repetitive to many, but from many of the 
"interpretations" of love I have read in this and other conferences, perhaps a 
refresher course is necessary, especially for those entities who only recently 
have reincarnated into this realm and have not yet been able to regain their 
understanding of the self's purpose(to love others as the self) in this 
physical realm.   The following concepts are no different whether interacting 
with the self, with friend or mate, or at the level of humanity as a whole.
 

    Ernie

    
    
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
         
			LOVE IS NOT

Love is not being possessive or jealous.
(Friends, mates or even one's children are not to be regarded as "property")

Love is not "business". It should not be "I'll love you if--"
(Keeping strings attached comes from fear or safety-keeping positions within a 
relationship.)

Love is not saying "After all I've done for you!"
( For then one can ask in return "So why did you do it?")

Love is not saying " How could you do this to me?"
(Probably because they deservedly had it coming to them.)

Love is not demanding more than one can freely give.

Love is not feeling superior to any other human being.

Love is not "sitting in judgment."

LOVE IS NOT BEING INTOLERANT OF SELF

LOVE IS NOT CONDEMNING SELF
	
LOVE IS NOT JUSTIFYING SELF
	Justifying self is blaming someone else.

LOVE IS NOT BEING A DOORMAT!
	To be sure, patience, long suffering and endurance are in their 
respective manners urges that would lead to virtues, but they cease to be a 
virtue when the individual entity allows self to merely to be imposed upon, 
and to take second place merely because someone else, of a more aggressive 
nature, imposes.

LOVE IS NOT BEING PERMISSIVE!
	Even Jesus chased the money changers from the temple.  In our present 
"permissive society" we see many of the fruits of parents who have reared 
their children out of fear or "safety-seeking" positions.  To allow selfish, 
willful children free reign is to bring forth the potential of a destructively 
arrogant, indolent, and resentful, self oriented generation. How it will all 
come out remains to be seen.

			

			LOVE IS

Love is seeing God(God-force, higher-self) in all that exists.

Love is being a light of love to others.
	For flowers will love the entity, as the entity loves the flowers.  

Love is giving--completely--with no strings attached, with no need or 
expectation of reciprocation. (for love is sufficient unto love-and virtue 
should be its only needed reward.)

Love is putting "others first." 

Love is allowing others complete freedom to be themselves.

Love is accepting others as they are-not as how we would like them to be.

Love is being respectful of others' thoughts and privacy.(and their time too.)

Love is sharing--"filling the other's cup."

Love is attempting to give what is needed by another individual.  (saying or 
doing the right thing at the right time and place.)

Love is praying that God's  (God-Force,higher self's) will be done through 
others-even if it hurts you in the outcome.

Love is accepting the fact that others may hate you for doing (risking) what 
you know is right and proper.

Love is being able to stand knowing the truth about yourself and others.

Love is being able to bear whatever you have asked for. (for example, if one 
really asks for another's personal opinion about self, or the actuality of a 
situation and then cannot stand the answer or ends up hating or resenting the 
other for being honest, then better never to have asked.)

Love is being God's Will in the earth.  (Being true to self and self's inner 
guidance--knowing that one can and should be a channel for the Creative 
force.)

LOVE IS BEING OF SERVICE.
	They then who begin to pity themselves or wonder what it is all about, 
lose the real purpose of Love; that ye may make manifest the love He hath 
chosen to give thee.

	in every way and manner present self and self's service for service's 
sake, and not for self's sake, see?

LOVE IS BEING A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE EARTH

LOVE IS BEING ABLE TO STAND UP AND SPEAK OUT FOR WHAT ONE FIRMLY BELIEVES IN

	True, one must become selfless, but to have knowledge and withhold 
same from others, is not always the best...

	Be willing ever, to give account of the reason for faith that lies 
within-don't be afraid to speak of same.

LOVE IS BEING HUMBLE

	Humbleness does not mean, then degrading nor becoming discouraged when 
self has been refused that which according to the principles of self is 
debased by those that SHOULD be, are in the position to be, helpful 
experiences in the affairs of the entity.

LOVE IS HAVING FAITH AND TRUST

	And when you trust in Him (Higher Self) ye are sure--and never need to 
be afraid of the material things.  For does He not feed the birds in the air?  
Does He not give the color to the lily, the incense to the violet?

Love is being able to admit to self and others that you were wrong.(and with 
sincerity.)

Love is being sorry enough to never want to be wrong again.

"love is going to someone you've wronged and truly ask forgiveness." (the 
readings are very positive toward the need and effectiveness of such aspects 
of confession and also of confessional prayer.  Truly to be sorry and attempt 
to make restitution can even work in the case of prayers for the dead-where 
the offended party is beyond telephone, mail, or face-to-face contact. Yet all 
are worthwhile approaches-so states the readings.

Also, love is so being that others will find us easy TO forgive!
(One should be able to state honestly and simply, "I was wrong, I'm sorry.  
Please forgive me--I'll try to make up for it in what ever way you feel is 
agreeable.")

Last though not the least, by any means:


LOVE IS--
PATIENCE--PATIENCE--PATIENCE

    Not to make less re .77
    
    A view, Love is gravity to the soul: it draws us together.
    
    
    
    
    Larry

    I've searched for him all of my life
    I've known that he is there,
    His face has been in my dreams,
    The man has style and flair.
    
    I've kissed his sweet, sweet lips,
    And gazed into his soft, brown eyes
    I wait for him with anticipation,
    When he appears, I'll not be surprised.
    
    For I've "known" him always in my heart,
    He is my true love, my destiny,
    And when he walks into my life,
    Loneliness will cease to be.
    
         Dolores (Dolly) MacDonald
    
               
    
    

    
    	   As long as we're tossing definitions around, I have
    	a few of my own to add.
    
    	Love is when you trust enough to offer your soul
    		when you care enough to give it if it is needed
    
    	   But then, what do I know about love?
    
    	- Greg

Gurdjieff once said;

	With ordinary love goes hate.I love this.I hate that.
	Today I love you,next week,or next hour or next minute,
	I hate you.He who can really love can be;he who can be,
	can do,he who can do,is.
	To know about real love one must forget all about love and
	must look for direction.We love because something in ourselves
	combines with another's emanations from instinctive center,
	emotional center or intellectual center;or it may be from
	influences of external form,or from feelings - I love you
	because you love me,or because you don't love me;suggestions
	of others,sense or superiority,from pity;and for many other reasons;
	subjective and egoistic.
	We allow ourselves to be influenced.Everything attracts or repels.
	There is the love of sex,which is ordinarly known as "love" between
	men and women - when this disappears a man and a woman no longer
	"love" each other.There is the love of feeling,which evokes the
	opposite and makes people suffer.Later,we will talk about conscious
	love.

	
    
    
    
    
    
    
    		True love is the answer to everything.

{From: "Love Is Letting Go Of Fear", by Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D.}

Author's Note
-------------
We teach what we want to learn, and I want to learn to experience inner
peace.

In 1975, the outside world saw me as a successful psychiatrist who 
appeared to have everything he wanted.  But my inner world was chaotic, 
empty, unhappy and hypocritical.  My twenty-year marriage had recently 
ended in a painful divorce.  I had become a heavy drinker ad had 
developed chronic, disabling back pain as a means of handling guilt.

It was at this time that I came across some writings entitled "A Course 
In Miracles".  The "Course" could be described as a form of spiritual 
psychotherapy that is self-taught.  I was perhaps more surprised than 
anyone when I became involved in a thought system that uses words like 
'God' and 'Love'.

I had thought that I would be the last person to be interested in such 
writings.  I had been extremely judgmental toward people who pursued a 
spiritual pathway; I saw them as fearful and I believed they were not 
using their intellect properly. 

When I first began studying the Course, I had an experience that was
surprising but also very comforting.  I hard an inner voice, or possibly 
it would be more accurate to say an impression of a voice, which said to 
me, "Physician, heal thyself: this is your way home."

I found the Course essential in my struggle for personal transformation. 
It helped me to recognize that I really did have a choice of 
experiencing peace or conflict, and that this choice is always between 
accepting truth or illusion.  The underlying truth for all of us is that 
the essence of our being is Love.

The Course states that there are only two emotions, love and fear.  The 
first is our natural inheritance, and the other our mind manufactures.  
The Course suggests that we can learn to let go of fear by practicing 
forgiveness and seeing everyone, including ourselves, as blameless and 
guiltless.  By applying the concepts of the Course to both my 
professional and personal life, I began to experience periods of peace 
that I had never dreamed possible.

I would like to add that I still get depressed and at times feel guilty, 
irritable and angry.  These moods now last for only brief periods, 
whereas they used to last for what seemed an eternity.  I used to feel 
that I was a victim of the world I saw.  When things would go wrong, I 
would blame the world or those in it for my misery and feel justified in 
my anger.  Today, I know I am not a victim of the world I see, and 
therefore tend to take responsibility for whatever I perceive and for 
the emotions I experience.

We are all teachers of each other.  I have written this book because I 
believe that in teaching what I want to learn, inner peace, I can become 
more consistent in achieving it for myself.  This approach is not for 
people who want gurus, since it views everyone equally as both a teacher 
and a student.

As each of us moves toward a single goal of achieving peace of mind for 
ourselves, we can also experience the joining of our minds that results 
from the removal of the blocks to our awareness of Love's presence.  

Together, therefore, let us demonstrate in our own lives this statement 
from A Course in Miracles:

		"Teach only Love for that is what you are."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

From the Foreward, by Hugh Prather:

..."To be fully content within this moment is a state of mind so powerful 
in its ability to heal and extend peace that it cannot even be hinted at 
in words.  

Anxiety - the only alternative to trusting what is happening - is a
state of immobilization caused by our focusing on what we believe cannot
be changed: on what is over, or on what has not occurred."  ...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Introduction:

My friend, Hugh Prather, has written, "There must be another way to go 
through life besides being pulled through it kicking and screaming.  

I believe that there *is* another way of going through life.  It 
requires our willingness to change our goal.

There is an increasing recognition among people everywhere that we are 
destroying ourselves and the world in which we live.  We do not seem to 
be able to change the world, to change other people, or to change 
ourselves.  Many of us, myself included, have felt the futility of 
trying to rid ourselves of frustration, conflict, pain and illness, 
while still holding on to our old belief systems.

Today there is a rapidly expanding search for a better way of going 
through life that is producing a new awareness and a change of 
consciousness.  It is like a spiritual flood that is about to cleanse 
the earth.  This transformation of consciousness is prompting us to look 
inward, and as we explore our inner spaces we recognize the harmony and 
at-one-ment that has always been there.

As we look inward, we also become aware of an inner intuitive voice 
which provides a reliable source for guidance.  When the physical senses 
are hushed, and we begin to listen to that inner voice and surrender to 
it, we notice that moments of true healing and growth occur.  In this 
silence, where the conflict of personalities has ceased to interest us, 
we can experience the joy of peace in our lives.

Although we want to experience peace, most of us are still seeking 
something else that we never find.  We are still trying to control and
predict and therefore we feel isolated, disconnected, separate alone, 
fragmented, unloved and unlovable.  We never seem to get enough of what 
we think we want, and our satisfactions are highly transitory.

Even with those people who are close to us we often have love/hate 
relationships.  These are relationships in which we feel a need to get 
something from someone else; when the need is fulfilled, we love them, 
and when it is not fulfilled, we hate them.  

Many of us are finding that, even after obtaining all the things we
thought we wanted in terms of job, home, family, money, there is still
an emptiness inside.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India, calls this 
phenomenon 'spiritual deprivation'.

Throughout the world there is a growing recognition of the need to feel 
fulfillment within, rather than to rely on the external symbols of 
success.  When we have a desire to 'get' something from another person 
or the world and we are not successful, the result is stress expressed 
in the form of frustration, depression, perceptions of pain, illness 
and death.  Most of us seriously want to get rid of the pain, the 
illness, and frustrations, but we still want to maintain our old 
self-concept.  Perhaps that is why we are going in circles, because we 
rigidly hold on to our old belief system.

The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system 
that is not working.  To perceive the world differently, we must be 
willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our 
sense of *now*, and dissolve the fear in our minds.  This changed 
perception leads to the recognition that we are not separate, but have 
always been joined.

There are valid pathways that lead to transformation and inner peace.  
This small book is written as a primer for those of us who are motivated 
towards a life of giving and Love, and away from a life of getting and 
fear.  In brief, this is a book about self-fulfillment through giving.  
The words and drawings present practical applications of the steps for 
transformation to everyday situations that all of us face.  It is 
intended to help us remove the blocks to the awareness of Love's 
presence, our true reality, so that we may experience the miracles of 
Love in our lives.

As A Course in Miracles suggests, we can have a single goal of peace of 
mind and a single function of practicing forgiveness, and our 
fulfillment can come from listening to the voice of our inner teacher.  
In so doing, we can learn to heal our relationships, experience peace of 
mind, and let go of fear.

From the Religion Conference: Note 181.397 by Kamran Hakim.

================================================================================

This is an extract from a tablet from Abdu'l-Baha on marriage:

"The bond  that unites  hearts most  perfectly  is loyalty.  True  lovers,  once
united,  must  show  forth  the  utmost faithfulness  one  to  another. You must
dedicate your knowledge,  your talents,  your fortunes, your titles, your bodies
and your  spirits to God, to  Baha'u'llah, and to each other. Let your hearts be
spacious as spacious as the universe of God!

Allow no trace of jealousy to creep between you, for jealousy, like unto poison,
vitiates  the  very  essence  of  love.  Let not the  ephemeral incidents of and
accidents  of  this  changeful life cause  a rift between  you. When differences
present  themselves,  take  counsel  together in  secret, lest  others magnify a
speck  into  a  mountain. Harbour not  in your  hearts any grievance, but rather
explain  its nature to  each other with such frankness and understanding that it
will  disappear, leaving no remembrance.  Choose  fellowship and  amity and turn
away from jealousy and hypocrisy.

Your thoughts  must be  lofty, your  ideals luminous, your  minds  spiritual, so
that  your  souls may become a  dawning place for  the  Sun of Reality. Let your
hearts be  like unto two pure mirrors reflecting the stars of the heaven of love
and beauty.

Together make mention of noble  aspirations and heavenly  concepts. Let there be
no secrets  one  from the other.  Make your  home a haven  of rest and peace. Be
hospitable, and  let the door  of your house be open to the faces of friends and
strangers. Welcome every  guest with radiant  grace and let each feel that it is
his own home.

No mortal can conceive  the union and harmony which God has designed for man and
wife.  Nourish continually the  tree of your  union with love  and affection, so
that it  will remain ever green  and verdant through all seasons and bring forth
luscious fruits for the healing of nations.

O beloved of  God, may your home  be a vision of the paradise of Abha' [i.e. the
most  glorious paradise], so  that whosoever enters  there  may feel the essence
of  purity  and  harmony, and cry out from the heart: `Here is the home of love!
Here is  the palace  of love! Here  is  the nest  of love! Here is the garden of
love!'

Be like  two sweet-singing birds  perched upon  the highest branches of the tree
of life, filling  the air with songs of love and rapture.

Lay the  foundation of your affection in the very center of your spiritual being
at the  very heart of  your consciousness, and  let  it not be shaken by adverse
winds.

And when God gives you sweet and lovely children, consecrate yourselves to their
instruction  and guidance,  so that they may become imperishable flowers  of the
divine  rose-garden,  nightingales of  the ideal paradise, servants of the world
of humanity, and the fruits of the tree of life.

Live in such  harmony that others may take your lives for an example and may say
one to  another: `Look  how they live,  like two doves  in one  nest, in perfect
love,  affinity and  union. It is  as though from  all eternity  God kneaded the
very essence of their beings for the love of one another!'

Attain  the ideal love  that God has  destined for  you, so  that you may become
partakers  of eternal life  forthwith. Quaff deeply  from the fountain of truth,
and dwell all the days  of your life in  a paradise of glory, gathering immortal
flowers from the garden of divine mysteries.

Be to  each other as  heavenly lovers and divinely bestowed ones dwelling in the
paradise  of love. Build  your nest  on  the leafy branches of the tree of love.
Soar into  the clear atmosphere of  love. Sail  upon  the shoreless sea of love.
Walk in  the eternal rose-garden  of love.  Bathe in the shining rays of the sun
of love. Be  firm and steadfast in  the path of love. Perfume your nostrils with
the fragrance from  the flowers of love. Attune your ears to the soul-entrancing
melodies of love.  Let your aims be  as generous  as  the  banquets of love, and
your  words as a  string of white pearls from the ocean of love. Drink deeply of
the elixir  of love, so  that you  may live continually in the reality of Divine
love."

					Abdu'l-Baha  -Baha'i Writings-

    
    
                        Let it be so.

    
    Hello Everyone,
    
    I once heard Leo Buscaglia speak on LOVE sometime back
    on channel 2. It was a moving experience !
    I have been longing to listen to him again.
    I tried local stores for his videos but i guess none are
    available.
    Could someone lend me a video recording of him if they 
    possess one ? 
    I shall be most grateful. 
    
    Love to All
    rama karedla 
    ( who once thought he understood what LOVE is ,now knows he doesn't)