As 2012 rolls to a close, and we prepare ourselves to fully embrace the new world that the Mayan calendar refers to, we notice that LOVE is the topic on a lot of our lips, minds and hearts. Let's de-mystify LOVE and, instead, give it a firm foundation within which one can both jump off of from as well as locate center within.
Personally, I am choosing to stand for a radical LOVE ~ one in which I am willing to extend myself for the purpose of my own or another's spiritual growth. This principle is at the heart of every community that I endeavor to move within. What this means is that when I have my head so far up my butt, I give you full permission to give me a swift kick in the pants. Especially right before I run head first, unaware, into traffic. Please, by all means - help me by also seeing to my whole Self's well-being.
I've spent the past few days ruminating upon LOVE as we know it today. Either it's a romantic fairy tale that has no basis in reality - filled with erotic illusions for men who are sadly disconnected from their emotional bodies and dripping with erroneous visions of being saved for women who are unwilling to truly take a stand against today's systems of oppression and dominance - or it's a nebulous, New Age fantasy of pure light, butterflies and rainbows with no pain or suffering, ever. Any which way, these thoughts debase the true power of LOVE which is its ability to transform and change us.
Yes, as my dear brother Ben says, "We are all perfect" AND... growth is why we are here. To extend ourselves, to reach towards the light, to fall into perfects piles of messiness, to trip over one another as we run towards some imaginary finish line simply because it's fun to play games. We are here to drop into exhausted heaps at the end of adventurous journeys, as well as to root our intentions for the survival of our children's children. We are here, now to grow. And, there is no other force more powerful than LOVE for endeavoring within us this action state.
After lamenting the loss of my western male counterpart's whole being vibrancy - raised in a world in which he has been taught that he does not have to express his feelings, he has been wrongly conditioned to believe that his emotional withholding is "normal" - I've been honored to bear witness to three of my brothers reflecting the exact opposite. Here in San Diego, in the beloved community I feel so fortunate to call my own, I am surrounded by emotionally available men who are committed to their growth, and who are, thus, open to experiencing the pain and loss that may be a consequence of taking the risk to LOVE. Because there is no other recourse - love is an action and it requires courage to walk willingly into its licking flames of transmutation. We never know what resides on the other side of the great wall. All we can know is that we will be forever affected and altered by the must-have life experiences of following our hearts. When we don't listen, when we refuse to grow, our hearts wither. It's a form of Soul-suicide.
You were born for no other purpose but to revel in - every single minute - TRUE LOVE. A LOVE that holds you gently and unconditionally, yes, as well as a LOVE that changes you, for the best. In this vein of LOVE, we can old each other accountable - we can honor ourselves and our planet by saying, "No," and speaking up for those that can't speak up for their selves and we can honor each other by agreeing that, sometimes, a lightning strike is exactly what this moment calls for. Pa-dow!
(And, please know, that there is nothing to fear where Kali (Ma) is concerned. As the Goddess of Creation and Destruction, she keeps us in balance by puncturing the illusions of our egos so that we may live in harmony while honoring that death is a natural part of our life cycle. Pure unadulterated LIFE is Kali's - and, really, all Goddesses - intention.)
