This Sunday, Rev. Brian Grandon continues the five-part series, “The Playground of Life,” in a talk titled “Being Love.” The series has been exploring the work of Dr. David Hawkins, and this week’s talk, which focuses on the power of love, represents the nexus point where we move from “doing-ness” to beingness.
When we cross this threshold, we become less focused on what we do, and increasingly attuned to who we are being, when we do what we do. Of course, who we are being in the world is defined by who we believe we are. When we fully realize that we are love itself, then we become living breathing expressions of love in action. That is when life truly becomes one big playground of creative activity.
Who am I?
This may be the archetype question of all-time, the entry point for all philosophical, spiritual, or artistic inquiry. Who am I? Experientially speaking, the answer is: I am whoever I believe I am. However, just because I believe something to be true doesn’t necessarily make it so. There is a distinct difference between who I am in truth and who I might believe I am. Who am I? It could be fairly said that the vast majority of us are still in the process of discovering the true answer to this most basic existential question.
Unity’s third principle reminds me that I am defining my own personal experience by the thoughts and feelings I am holding and maintaining in the activity of my consciousness. Who am I? How you and I answer that question for ourselves determines how we will see the world and our place in it. Without a clear sense of who we are in truth, living a purposeful life is impossible.
Without purpose, we are too easily distracted and fall prey to the trap of “doing-ness,” which becomes a ceaseless activity that never accomplishes anything. We then find it challenging to free ourselves from the snares of doing in order to express the true nature of our being. Who am I? Who are you? The true answer to both questions is grounded in our beingness, not our “doing-ness.”
I am the light of the world.
A Course In Miracles teaches that: I am the light of the world. This affirmation expresses the essence of my being, my true nature as “created by God.” It is true for me, true for you, and true for everyone else as well, including those who most challenge our peace. Accepting this truth for yourself provides the “perfect answer to all illusions,” establishes your “peace,” and allows you to be “certain of your purpose” in this world, as the light of the world.
“I am the light of the world. That is my only function. That is why I am here.” – ACIM, Lesson 61
Pause for a moment and feel the truth of this teaching. Say it out loud to yourself right now: I am the light of the world. That is my only function. That is why I am here. Repeat it two or three times to yourself, increasing your confidence in its truth each time you say it. Feel the creative power expressed and implied by this affirmation of divine truth.
I am the light of the world. You are the light of world. Together, we are lights in the world, part of the same One Light that lights all of Creation. Together, we have the power to shine away the “world of darkness” and illuminate the presence of love that inspires gratitude, compassion, joy, peace and enlightened unity. But, having the power and expressing the power are two different things altogether.
How does the light of the world shine its light?
As children of God, we are born to be the light of the world. Not just some of us, all of us. However, most of us are either completely unaware of this truth, or actively resisting it. Nonetheless, the truth does not change just because we don’t believe it, or are unaware of it. If it is true that we are born to be the light of the world, then the only relevant inquiry is: how do we shine the light?
Created to be the light of the world, we are divinely endowed with all of the creative power necessary to fulfill our purpose as the light of the world. To this end, the power of love is our most essential creative power. Love is the answer to every question, problem or challenge we have, individually and collectively. To be the light of the world is to choose to be a living, breathing expression of love in action. Shining your light and expressing your love are fundamentally the same action.
Love is the optimal creative power.
Love is the optimal creative power humankind is capable of expressing. The harmonizing quality of love is essential to the successful expression of any creative act. Without love, artists could never produce masterpieces. Without love, athletes could never become champions. Without love, musicians would never achieve virtuosity. Without love, we would never experience gratitude, compassion, healing, joy, or peace. In short, without love nothing is possible, including life itself.
In Dr. Hawkins’ “map of consciousness,” the power of love is the highest action we can ever take in this world. Choosing to express universal, unconditional love is the fulfillment of our purpose as the light of the world. Beyond the choice to express love, there is no other action we can take. Everything beyond love is the result, effect and consequence of expressing love. Compassion, gratitude, joy and peace are not causal. Love is the cause; they are the effects.
Removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence.
In the Introduction to A Course In Miracles, it states that its purpose is not to “teach the meaning of love,” but rather to “remove the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence.” If we are not experiencing or expressing love in our lives, it is not because love is not present. It is because we are unaware of love’s presence. We cannot express love, if we do not see it. We do not see it, because we have placed “obstacles” in the way, which temporarily “block” our awareness. These “blocks” may be varied in form and variable in scale, but are all equally capable of restricting the expression of love. Where the expression of love is restricted, peace is impossible.
Underlying every block or obstacle to the expression of love is a grievance. Every grievance is an “obstacle to peace,” and a block to the awareness of love’s presence. Every grievance serves to separate you, not just from the one against whom you are holding the grievance, but also to the awareness of your beingness as a “child of God” whose very function and purpose is to be the light of the world. To remove grievances requires forgiveness. For this reason, every act of forgiveness is ultimately an act of love, because it removes the obstacles to the expression of love.
Forgiveness is love in action.
It is not an overstatement to say that, quite literally, forgiveness is love in action. Indeed, A Course In Miracles declares that, as the “light of the world,” forgiveness is your function, the very purpose of your life. Expressing forgiveness is the most fundamental “demonstration” that you are the light of the world. Forgiveness allows the “truth” of you to “return to your memory,” and lays the foundation for your “salvation.”
Next week, in Part II of “Love In Action,” we will explore how proactively practicing forgiveness in your life is the surest path to gratitude, compassion, healing, joy, peace and enlightened unity.
