I want to present the topic of love for discussion. The word “love” is the best word in the English language. It elicits (in my mind) visions of playful puppies and kittens, babies in funny poses, and romantic touches and caresses with the one who holds your heart. What do you see in your mind’s eye when you read the word “love”? What does “love” mean to you?
The word has quite a few definitions, some as a noun, some as a verb. The Free Dictionary by Farlex states (per the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition 2000) defines the word “love” as follows:
n. 1. A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.
2. A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and romance.
3. a. Sexual passion.
b. Sexual intercourse.
c. A love affair.
4. An intense emotional attachment, as for a pet or treasured object.
5. A person who is the object of deep or intense affection or attraction; beloved. Often used as a term of endearment.
6. An expression of one’s affection: Send him my love.
7. a. A strong predilection or enthusiasm: a love of language.
b. The object of such an enthusiasm:
8. Love Mythology Eros or Cupid.
9. often Love Christianity Charity.
10. Sports A zero score in tennis.
v. loved, lov·ing, loves
v.tr. 1. To have a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward (a person)
2. To have a feeling of intense desire and attraction toward (a person).
3. To have an intense emotional attachment to: loves his house.
4. a. To embrace or caress.
b. To have sexual intercourse with.
5. To like or desire enthusiastically: loves swimming.
6. Theology To have charity for.
7. To thrive on; need: The cactus loves hot, dry air.
v.intr. To experience deep affection or intense desire for another.
When I read through these defined parameters of the word “love,” I see how about half are defining a one-to-one relationship between two people (or a person and a thing), with about half using the word in ways that almost carelessly throw the word around. The meaning that bears the most weight in my mind, when I think of what the word “love” means to me, is “a deep emotional feeling that elevates and transcends one above the mundane, to the ideal.”
Certainly, we need to live in the mundane world to survive. Our shoes would never get tied, and our teeth would never get brushed, if we only idealized those acts. However, “love” is a sense of happiness and wellbeing that from time to time surrounds us and envelops us, to the degree that all the mundane stuff goes whistling by, barely being noticed. Still, it is the one-to-one aspect of such emotional uplifts that most of us misunderstand, at least in my opinion.
I read Depak Chopra’s book The Path to Love, back around 1998. I agreed with the importance of his views that “love” is heart-centered, making love become solely a close one-to-one relationship between each individual (my heart for me, your heart for you) and God. This means we all have within our possession an unending source of “love”. God is pure love, and love flows like a fluid. Metaphysically, the emotional self has been long associated with the element Water. The flow of “love” is the proverbial “fountain of youth.” Love makes us act like babies, and we each have an unending supply of love’s water available at this mystical fountain hidden in our hearts, from which to drink at will.
The search for a real fountain of youth represents how we then project that source of love onto others and things. We make love seem as though others bring the emotional experiences of love we remember to us, when in reality it is God’s love we let out from our hearts. We open the tap when we come close to something or some person who triggers a subconscious release.
Unfortunately, the natural flow of love is something most of us have learned to seal shut. We remove the valve handle, so no one can sneak in and turn it on without our knowing. A free release of love is so attractive that it not only attracts the good people also releasing love, but it also attracts those who have such a tight lid on their unwillingness to let their own love shine through them that, like moths to a flame, they are attracted to those who regularly let their love be felt.
Love radiates outward, and others feel it. A playful puppy or kitten is naturally radiating love. A baby making funny poses is likewise naturally radiating love. A lover radiates love too, which is reciprocated in another radiating love back. This has nothing to do with sex, pleasure, or intended purposes to attract love to one (although it certainly can lead to those mundane functions). It is a radiation so natural one does not know one is radiating love. One is simply in love through the release of God’s love through one’s heart.
The unfortunate part we all have learned to realize is a constant flow of emotion is different from the spurts from built-up pressure, and the exciting rush of new streams of love. Like anything that becomes part of a norm, it is not as noticeable as is something excitingly different. Babies grow up and learn not to be naturally cute (physical changes and social developments). Puppies and kittens grow up and learn the ball is not as fun to chase, and the feather only is something to swat at for a moment. A lover’s love matures into levels of love that become the love of compassion and commitment. All are still expressing love, but in less noticeable ways.
The reason so many grow to learn to shut off a free-flow of love is loving people attract thieves. People come to steal love, often maliciously, and usually selfishly. People learn to use someone who has become oblivious to the realities of the mundane world (not guarded by worry) that they give everything they have away. People willing to give will never find unwilling takers.
The axiom, “stealing candy from a baby” means babies give everything away because all they know is heart-centered. They have little brains that are still growing and learning, from blank slate minds that marvel at things hung over their cribs. The intent to steal from a baby is morally criminal, and because we all have been stolen from as babies is why grown-ups have learned to put a lock on that love lid.
A state of distrust replaces the babies world of complete trust, where everyone loves one another and always gives freely. A world of distrust is a world that fears everyone. The word “fear” can be summed up as meaning, “an absence of God’s love surrounding one, allowing one to know (heartfelt knowledge – gut feeling) one is protected from all evil.”
The reason God has used prophets throughout all the times, at least since apes lost their childlike natural abilities to love first, then scheme later (for survival), becoming the erect body required to carry a big brain, is God knows the ability to think will always get the weakest animal, called Man, into a world of hurt. God knows that the ability to think will lead Man to shut off access to pure love, to the point Man repeatedly will begin to a mistake the true purpose of love. People will always lose sight of the truth of love, and start mistaking lusts, desires, selfish pleasures for love. People will always start throwing around the word loosely. People will always begin to attach love’s true value to people and things, erroneously thinking love is sourced externally, in some place or in someone other than God. The word “love” will always mutate into some form of idolatry (can you say, American Idol?), meaning people will always have a tendency to turn away from the true source (God in their hearts) and worship the thieves who come to steal from babes.
That is why God told Moses right off, first commandment, “Do not have any other gods before me.” This is God knowing that Man, led by its pea-brain in a material world, will ALWAYS find something external that will amuse it, leading it to worship that person or thing in hopes that it will always be pleasantly amused. God knew that was wrong, as ALL amusement is a heart opened, allowing God to shoot by. Prophets are who God calls upon when the people forget that first commandment.
The stories told in The Prophecies of Nostradamus detail what happens to a world of people who have sealed their source of love shut. A sealed heart leads to a back turned to God, because the brain only gropes in complete darkness. Darkness leads to fears. Fears lead to hatreds. Hatreds lead to acts of violence and retribution. God told Nostradamus how bad this downward spiral would get.
The theme of The Prophecies demonstrates how much hatred will have grown in the world. Acts of hatred will swing like a pendulum for centuries, breaking down everything love will have built up. The acts of hatred will be saying, “Since you were not attractive to me (i.e.: loving), I will give you something equally unattractive.” The tools of these acts of hatred will have been created by the collective of human brains, who fear their weaknesses before God so much they can only sleep nights with the false hope of something powerful under the mattress. That “something powerful” has been born from a false love of science, and it has developed “something so powerful” it will destroy all of humanity.
The big brain syndrome has taken over the world since the times of Nostradamus. It has been given names that are accompanied by adoring words (Renaissance, Age of Reason, Democracy, Brave New World, et al), all of which has brought Man to a time when he (collectively) has been forced to bow down to “intelligence” as a god before God. We have grown into a state that idolizes mind over matters of the heart.
The sad ending to this story is like the idiom, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” It is much easier to sing songs that repeat, “All you need is love,” than it is to get people to stop believing in the illusion of man’s superiority, and turn their focus inward. Telling people the answer is to let go of the mind and (Luke Skywalker-style) “go with the flow” only gets laughs (nervously generated from worry, not laughs of feeling God is the answer that will save us). Telling someone “love is all you need” is like telling a heroin addict, “You need to get help man.” In the words of Mel Brooks, from Young Frankenstein, “What hump?” (meaning, “Who needs help?”)
There has been so much fear promoted these days that it has become impossible for the vast majority of people to take their eyes off the threat of terrorists. The magicians (our government’s propagandists) point their magic wands (their schemes of killing, via the latest technological advancement in death mechanics) at this external threat they have created. The reality will be a self-fulfilling reality, brought on through fear and acts of hatred using weapons of mass destruction.
God has always warned against this lack of love, and until now Man would snap to his senses because he always believed in God. However, now the worst fears have spread so wild there are few still believing.
Without God’s love flowing, en masse, around this fragile globe we live on, we will all surely die of broken hearts.
R. T. Tippett