Perspectives on ‘LOVE’ — through five windows
What it is — what it does — why it is important — where it applies — how to ‘do’ it.
Context
This is how I’ve come to see it. We live on planet Earth in what is known to be a unified, self-aware universe[1]. That awareness registers in what pioneer researchers call ‘’Quantum Consciousness’. They recognised its divinity and dubbed it ‘The Mind of God’. This ‘God state’ is ‘more absolute’ than the anthropomorphic God of organised religion[2]. Our individual human minds are nested in the oneness of this universal Mind[3], but most of the time our egos mask that awareness by kidding us that we are separate entities in competition with others. Love knows otherwise.
What Love is — the absolute and the relative?
The absolute
Love is the affinity which links and draws together the elements of the world … Love, in fact, is the agent of universal synthesis[4]. It is an inherent aspect of the pervasive ‘energy field’ of the creative source ‘Consciousness’ whose inherent Divinity has been Deified in religious terms.
The relative
Humanity expresses and experiences ‘love’ in varying degrees, qualities, circumstances and moods— within, but mostly, not in full resonance of the potency of love’s absolute.
Definitions of love are legion. I have paraphrased the styles listed by John Lee[5].
- Agape: Agapic love is generous, unselfish compassion for others, gifted anonymously when desirable— always without judgement.
- Storge: Storgic love is the companionable, affectionate bond that enriches families, endures between life-long friends, and emerges within groups of common purpose.
- Filia: Filial love is the same or similar to ‘storge’ but intended to apply exclusively to families.
- Eros: Erotic love is the strong emotion aroused by perceived beauty and sexual attraction that want to know and be known, shared, and mainly expressed sexually.
- Pragma: Pragmatic love is ‘love with a shopping list’. It’s a practical arrangement characterised by mutual compatibilities that ‘make sense’ logically— where the needs, desires, and interests of partners and networks are amicably met—like computer dating services and traditionally ‘arranged’ marriages which all tend to have pragmatic agendas.
- Ludus: Ludic love is flirtatious, game-playing, short-lived and ‘entertaining’. May involve ‘sex for fun’ without intention of emotional bonding.
- Mania: Manic love is characterised by extreme ‘highs’ and ‘lows’. It is a pathological kind of affection that ‘throws a tantrum’ (possibly with violence) when things don’t go well. It may, or may not, be a transient experience in adolescence.
- Philautia: (self-love) Self-love can be unhealthy (Narcissism and Hubris) or healthy.
- Narcissism[6] is an inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love, vanity, that may lead to erotic gratification. It is seen as a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development.
- Hubris[7]: Today, “hubris” has come to mean an inflated sense of one’s status, abilities, or accomplishments, especially when accompanied by haughtiness or arrogance. Because it does not accord with the truth, hubris promotes injustice, conflict, and enmity.
- Philautia:[8] (healthy) Healthy self-love, is akin to self-esteem — our cognitive and emotional appraisal of our own worth. It is the matrix through which we think, feel, and act, and reflects on our relation to ourselves, to others, and to the world. There is a resilience that opens oneself to growth experiences and relationships with joy and delight. There is a willingness to take risks, and an acceptance and forgiveness of oneself and others when there are setbacks.
What absolute Love does
It heals. It mends the broken. It unifies the fragmented. It lubricates frictions. It dissolves negativity by recontextualizing it rather than attacking it.[9] It fosters empathic awareness of all sentient life forms. It energises constructive creativity. It informs and nurtures those who express it. It evokes reverence and underpins enlightenment[10] It drives the evolution of progression of individual consciousness[11] which in turn contributes to the evolution of all humanity.
Why Love is important
If absolute love is expressed, then the benefits listed above will contribute to a deepening sense of well-being in every sense— not only within oneself, but between all inhabitants within a nurturing and sustainable habitat.
Where Love applies
Love is applicable in any and all circumstances.
How to express love
How indeed! Love that transcends sentimentality flows from the heart. Such love is not a state of mind but a state of being. That state of being depends on the degree of resonance that one has with the Divine ‘Universal Consciousness’ — the creative energy field that permeates the universe. At, and above, a measurable degree of resonance, one can both recognise another’s need —and here’s the expression —one intuitively expresses the Love that understands, nurtures, supports, and dissolves negativity. Researcher, David Hawkins, has ‘mapped’ the different levels of conscious awareness, and calibrates such Love at 500 on his 0–1000 scale.[12] It is noteworthy that at this calibration ‘this apparently abstract phenomenon is, in fact, quite concrete; it is accompanied by a measurable release of endorphins in the brain.’ If you look at the appended map you might be surprised to see ‘500’ near the top —not half-way up the page. This is because it is a ‘logarithmic’ scale where larger shifts occur the closer we get to the energy source. At level 540 love becomes more unconditional. Inner Joy is the state of being. The short ‘how to’ version is to ask (yourself and Divine Consciousness) ‘What would Love do next? If you have no intuitive response, recall that your mind is nested in Universal Mind, so ask it to download an insight. See what comes to mind. Filter out any judgement. You might not yet calibrate at 500.
~ David Kranz, 2022
[1] Goswami, Amit. 1995, The Self-Aware Universe, Penguin Putnam, New York.
[2] Goswami, Amit. 2012, God is not dead, Hampton Roads Publishing, Charlottesville, VA.
[3] Dossey, Larry, 2013, One Mind, Hay House. U.S.
[4] Chardin, P. Teilhard, in, Currivan, Jude, 2017, The Cosmic Hologram, p. 183, Inner Traditions, Toronto, Canada.
[5] Lee, J. 1975, Styles of Loving, in Psychology Today, vol 1, no 1, August, pp 20–27, New Perspective’s Publishing, London.
[6] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/narcissism
[7] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201606/these-are-the-7-types-love
[8] ibid
[9] Hawkins, David R., 2012, Power vs. Force, p. 113 Hay House, U.S.
[10] ibid, p. 90
[11] ibid, p. 93
[12] ibid pp 111—113
4 Responses to “Perspectives on ‘LOVE’ — through five windows”
A great engaging and connecting understanding of Love . Thanks David
Thank you PJ, You connect because you live it! love D
Thanks PJ. You exemplify the topic because you live it.
Thanks PJ. You engage because your life is a rich expression of love. David