Love and Forgiveness

Love and Forgiveness, the top rung of the spiritual ladder

Love and Forgiveness

Love and forgiveness  do not bargain,  do not keep count. They are not only at the top rung of the Spiritual Ladder , but they are the foundation of the ladder and need to be practiced on each rung.  They are gifts  we need to choose more and more often. Recognize  that the love and forgiveness are ours to give. They defy the rules of the material world because the more we give of them  the more of them we have. The choice becomes easier and easier and begins to be applied to more and more situations. Yoga helps us feel the joy of giving and the misery of withholding these ideas.

Love and forgiveness also do not keep track of time. Nor do they  fall  asleep with anger, disappointment or negative judgement toward anyone. They wake us up each and every day giving us  fresh eyes. When we look  at the world with fresh eyes, especially those with whom we live, work and play, it becomes so important to keep love and forgiveness exuding from our heart. Without this new outlook, love erodes. It erodes our inner sanctum and erodes the relationships we once so cherished.

So I am not describing love  as smooching, as hugging as desire to be with someone in particular,a child or a partner, but a love that says ‘choose the high road’ or ‘choose the silence and wait’. In taking the second alternative we do not let seeds of disappointment grow, nor seeds of resentment, nor seeds of dissatisfaction, nor seeds of loss. In this choice Love always wins, and It wins shining in a way that eventually we share It with more and more situations. It is a force that opposes nothing and yet when invited in It diffuses, and transmutes everything: no opposition, no resistance, no bargaining, no conditions. Giving those negative seeds no room to grow will allow all relationships to grow or wilt away if we cannot learn from each other.

Offer love and forgiveness  and it will come back to you. A friend of mine wrote this song for children. But I think it works for everyone: “When you give your love away it will bounce right back, bounce right back,  when you give your love away it will bounce right back to you.” Love is sharing, you can only find It through Itself.

So how can you begin to love and forgive those that ‘hurt’ you so much? Can you afford the health cost associated with not offering love and forgiveness. You must Practice. Practice, Practice. Be  present to the freedom you find for yourself.  Leave the temptation of seeing disappointment and ask “ what good is happening or in the making, right now, that I will not see should I focus on this one disappointment?” Then take a pause, if only five seconds. That’s all you have to do. Little by little you wil begin to hear the invitation of love, to love, that pause will make forgiveness easier and easier. Lose the practices of aggravation, anxiety, belligerence, obstinacy, conviction of being right, and criticism, leave those all behind and take pause when you feel disturbed. This is the beginning of Forgiveness;  forgiveness always calls on love in oneself to share with oneself and others. Sometimes those others are unknowing, Sometimes they are unknown.  Love remains hidden until you waive the white flag of, not surrender, but of Peace.  Forgiveness offers this and nothing more , because there is nothing more.

One cannot withhold love from one single person, wish anyone ill or not encourage another. Love will always win. After all It is at that top of the ladder and It is the firm foundation  upon which the ladder rests. Practice It as you climb each rung.

Note: Workshop on Forgiveness occurs twice next week. Scroll down the workshop page and choose one.