The first love of oneself has to rise in your own heart. If the love has not risen for yourself it cannot rise for anybody either. One has to love one's body and one has to love ones soul. The person who loves himself is bound to become more silent and meditative, than the person who does not love himself. If you love yourself you will be nourishing yourself. When you love yourself you will discover that others will love you. Nobody loves a person who does not love himself. To love yourself is of immense spiritual value.
The person who loves himself will find that there is no self in him. Love always melts the self. Whenever you love, the self disappears. Ego and love cannot exist together. The less a person is loving himself, the more egoistic a person is. The more you love yourself, themore you will find that the self disappears. For moments, you will find that the self is not there and only love is there. ”
― The Call of the Heart
From: Good reads:https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/no-self#:~:text=The%20thoughts%20of%20the%20mind,mind%20thinks%20us%20into%20creation.%E2%80%9D&text=%E2%80%9CIf%20you%20love%20another%20person,have%20to%20become%20a%20nobody.
Hmm! I was looking for wise words that would clear up my confusion. Not sure if those words above help me to get past my conundrum or if they confuse me more. Sigh!
It is obvious , as others have pointed out, that I, like many others, do not love "myself" enough. I never really did. Other people's needs have always seemed to be more important than my own. It always felt like I was here to serve others, make others happy, deny myself etc...like I am supposed to be always available for others to lean on but I am never supposed to lean on others, that I am supposed to always give but never take. So that is how I operate. That is how my mind works for a hundred different reasons. Is that spiritual or is that sick?
It seems like I do not love myself but it feels that I genuinely love others, deeply and profoundly, so I must love myself? If the love has not risen for yourself, it cannot rise for anybody either. What about you? Do you love others and therefore yourself?
I do love my soul but I just don't tend to view it as "my" soul...it is just soul. I appreciate my body / this body that the soul is in but maybe I don't love it enough. That could be true. Do you love your body and soul enough?
I am more silent and meditative than most people I know but I also share the secrets of "my" heart very freely. Are you silent and meditative in your self love?
I do not, however, nourish myself in the ways others tell me I should. I have no interest going to a spa or going for a mani-pedi or even a haircut...couldn't afford it anyway. I am not even sure what nourishes me and what part of me needs to be nourished. I mean writing nourishes the soul...so I write. Time with "my" grandchildren nourish the soul...so I try to spend time with them. Solitude and nature nourishes soul...I have not spent enough time lately in nature. Do you nourish yourself...I mean your soul?
I know people love me, conditionally, but do they love me for who I really am beneath what I can offer to them? I don't know. The above words say unless I love myself I will never truly realize that I am loved by others. Is that the way for you as well?
To love yourself is of immense spiritual value? We are to love "self" then, this thing that does not exist as part of our spiritual practice? We are to love that "mara", that obstacle on our path to understanding? Why?
So when we love ourselves , we discover there is no "self" within us? Does that make sense to you?
And for the next part: When we love, self melts away, but we cannot love unless we love this self that melts away?? So we need to love our ego just so that it disappears?? Yet ego and love cannot exist together??
So is the author saying that the more we love our ego...the illusion of "self"...the faster we make it go away, that true love begins with loving that which is so unimportant...our own egos?
Maybe Love, loves itself through us and our realization that there is no "self".
Good and confusing, eh?
Anyway, all is well in my world!
No comments:
Post a Comment