Grace Hui for Incentre
Love is the driver of humanity’s most selfless acts. We sacrifice in the name of love. We perform feats of courage and surmount seemingly unsurmountable obstacles motivated by love. Yet, Love remains something that words fail to fully describe. Yes, we can describe the actions that love drives us to do, but language somehow falls short when it comes to explaining what love actually is.
As humans, we know that we want to be loved. We also know that we want to love in return. All religions, philosophy, customs and cultures talk about love. There is the love that a parent feels for a child, globally exemplified by the bond between a mother and her child. Then, there is romantic love, encapsulated by millions of poems, songs and letters time immemorial. We feel safer knowing that we are loved but we also fear what love can bring hurt and pain.
We know about love and popular culture across the ages has certainly given us a lot of opinions about love. But yet, what it truly is remains somewhat a mystery.
Is it a feeling? Is it something that transcends time and space? Is love a force for good or is it a force to be feared?
The answer to this is that it depends on what one’s relationship with love is.
The Alpha and Omega of Love
There has always been much emphasis for external love. Within our own lives, we often express how much we love our family, our pets, our friends and even various activities. But how well do we understand that love and its effect on us?
In recent times, there has also been much information about the concept of self-love, self- care or self-nurture. Within these concepts comes further information about boundary setting and putting oneself first. While there is nothing wrong with any of these things, to focus on these things without first understanding where we stand amid these things is putting the cart before the horse.
Founder Gudni Gudnason of the Modern Mystery School asked a simple but yet thought provoking question – Can someone say they love something when they do not know themselves?
Ipssisimus Dave Lanyon also made a profound follow up observation about love. In modern day Western society, we use the word “love” very loosely. We love our wife, our dog and milk shake. But do we really love all these things the same way? Do we feel obligated to love certain things?
With all things in our lives, it goes back to the self. How we relate to people, things, situations all goes back to this – how well do we know ourselves? Can we have a genuine and authentic relationship with anything if we do not first know thyselves?
What is Know Thyself?
In the Modern Mystery School, and indeed in any Mystery School tradition, the core focus is for each person to Know Thyself.
Knowing Thyself has sometimes been confused with being selfish or self-indulgent. However, this could not be further from the truth. Knowing Thyself isn’t about putting up walls to avoid triggers or to keep people out in order to avoid hurt. It is not about keeping people away or looking for short term ways to feel good or better. Rather, it is about having the courage to face yourself so as to transcend your hurts, shortcomings or traumas so that these things no longer have control over the decisions that we make and how we live our lives.
Knowing Thyself is the genesis of truly fulfilling our individual purpose and relating to others in a way that is genuine. Without knowing yourself, every interaction is a distortion, influenced by the masks that we wear to present a front to others. It could even if a mask that we unconsciously put on based on childhood programming or societal expectations. We may not even be aware of it. Often, it is a combination of both that lead us to put on mask upon mask that further distracts us from who we truly are.
If we do not truly know ourselves or if we are not aware of who we are, how do we take responsibility or ownership of our own lives? Do we then outsource these to others? Do we project our issues on others thereby creating more drama and problems in the world?
Imagine a world where everyone took accountability for healing their own traumas? This would be a world of Shamballa or peace on earth!
Knowing Thyself frees you to truly Love Yourself
Many of us go through life trying to survive it. We repress our pain or we remain trapped in it, unable to let go of the past, fearing the future and feeling robbed of the present. Often, our decisions are not based on our true desires but based on fear – trying to prevent the outcomes that we are afraid will cause us pain.
While this may seem like protecting yourself, is this really loving yourself? And, without genuinely loving yourself, can you ever be the best that you can be? Can you thrive? Can you live life truly alive?
When we awaken to our true divine nature, we will truly love ourselves and feel worthy to live from a place of purpose as opposed to simply going through the motions. We will accept our imperfection knowing that in every moment, there lies the opportunity to learn and to improve. To quote Ipssisimus Dave Lanyon once more: “You are not perfect the way you are.” Nor are you expected to be. No one is! One is only perfect when he or she is in the process of trying to be perfect.
In other words, making mistakes is completely normal. As long as we are willing to accept those mistakes and be willing to improve from them, then we are “perfect” in that state.
Recognising that we are not perfect and that we will make mistakes is an important first step to Knowing and Loving yourself. The next step is to accept those mistakes and realise that you can take the actions to do better and improve yourself, knowing that you always have the opportunity to be better. Living from this empowered state is when we are truly free to love ourselves and from a state of really loving ourselves, to love others and to perform all that we do with passion from a place of purity.
Running Away from Reality is not Loving Yourself or Others
How often do we look at ourselves for all that we are? For the good and the bad? Do we really know where our shadows lie?
For example, when we help someone, do we help because along with the desire to help, we also want to feel good about ourselves? There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel good but what is important is that we recognise our motives for all that they are so that there is no distortion being projected onto our inner and outer worlds.
We often hide from our shadows. Not just so that others don’t see these and judge us but also to hide from ourselves as a result of shame or discomfort. But if we are always trying to run, we can never really live. We will never really be free. This in turn clouds every action and distorts every interaction with others.
Loving ourselves therefore requires us to face ourselves every day. And it is only with facing ourselves that we can look at others as people who are, like us, imperfect, but also trying to be better.
If everyone faced themselves and saw others as also trying to be better, there would be so much more compassion and empathy in the world. But this comes back to the self.
Think about it this way – How can the words “I love you” be true if we don’t really know who the “I” is?
Attachment is not Love
To quote Founder Gudni again, we have never been born, therefore we can never die.
We are part of the all things in the Universe and all things are part of us. We are all made up of energy and science confirms that energy cannot be destroyed, it merely changes form. There is therefore no separation – not really anyway. While the physical state has its limitations, we are much more than this physicality, which is but part of our collective experience.
Indeed, Ipssisimus Dave said that “Love is the force that maintains Eternity”.
As long as there is true love, there is no separation.
While fear of the loss of something or someone that we love is understandable, our ability to transcend this and embrace eternity is when we can love in a way that all that we love are free, just as we will be free when we love in an “unattached” manner.
True Love is the most powerful force in the world
Love is the force that amplifies every good act that we do, rippling out into the world, lighting up every corner, bringing joy to ourselves and those around us.
However, for us to reap the full benefit of love, we first have to understand what love truly means and this starts with the self.
When we truly love ourselves, can we truly love others.
How?
It all begins with a Life Activation – a life changing modality that reconnects you to who you truly are, your higher self. Then, there is the Empower Thyself Class and Initiation which hands down rituals and brings so much more light into our structures through the illuminating power of initiation, helping you to not only awakening you to who you are but helping you to live as your higher self, day to day.
And, much more!
