True Radiance
It is said that when you love your neighbors and when your love is really true or the love of Agape, you do not expect anything from them in return. Such true and ideal love is always the form of "giving" rather than "receiving" or "expecting." In the same way, both appreciating and understanding should be the form of active not passive. This means that if you know the value of appreciation and understanding, what you have to do or what you are required to do is appreciating and understanding your neighbors, but not expecting to be appreciated or understood by them.
It is a kind of divine requirement; hence, it seems that following and practicing such requirement or principle rigidly is quite difficult or else one of the hardest challenges that our ego has encountered. Moreover, we can say that to follow and practice this principle, our ego or egoistic separate self becomes one of the annoying obstacles. Indeed, because of our ego, we cannot simply focus on loving, appreciating and understanding our neighbors, but rather even unconsciously getting eager to be loved, appreciated and understood by them.
Why like this? The simple answer is that our ego believes that we have separated from our neighbors, environments and God and even from ourselves in such a way that we see ourselves in our consciousness in struggling to become an "ideal self" that our ego want to be or show off. For, if we know that we have not separated from our neighbors, environments, ourselves and God from the beginning ever since (always already), then it is not necessary at all for us to expect anything from all of those. They have been already in our side not their side. More correctly, there is no such dichotomy as either our side or their side, but rather just a sense of wholeness and oneness.
In such awareness our ego can be tamed and harmonized with our higher self that knows the non-dual reality, and our higher self can embrace ego and heal the painful sense of separateness. In other words, because of this healing and embracing by our higher self and because of the sense of wholeness and oneness, we do no longer have to be loved, appreciated and understood. For, we know that we have always and already been loved, appreciated and understood. Because of the non-dual sense of wholeness and oneness, being loved, appreciated and understood are the same as our very act of loving, appreciating and understanding.
It is said, "Love your neighbors as you love yourself." In the non-dual awareness above-mentioned, you can love your neighbors as if you love yourself. For, you do not see any difference or separation between your neighbors and yourself. When you truly love, appreciate and understand your neighbors, you are your neighbors and your neighbors are you. In the same way, you are your environments and your environments are you. You are God and God is you – this is of course NOT the egoistic self-inflation of religious cult leaders.
While it is easy to explain such non-dual state, it is extremely (but in a sense we can say it is easy, too) difficult to achieve such ideal state (or paradoxically we can also say that when we let go of such sense of "achieving" we can just aware of such ideal state that has been always and already). Thus, consciously or unconsciously we tend to seek for being loved, being appreciated and being understood. That is what our ego seeks for actually. And we can see how much all of us are really eager to be loved, appreciated and understood, especially when we have realized the enormous power that the sense of being loved, appreciated and understood can provide us. This sense provides us the infinite energy that keeps us continuously moving, acting, controlling, possessing and achieving.
When we feel that we are being loved, appreciated and understood, we also feel that our power and energy are unlimited. In other words, if you see someone who loves, appreciates and understood you very much (and of course if that someone is also the one you love very much), then that person and that sense give you the tremendous energy. You feel as if you could find the fabulous fountain that can constantly, unlimitedly and infinitely provide you the power and energy by which you can act and produce works; by which you can love, appreciate and understand your neighbors and the one you love. You can feel that you can do anything and can even die for the person you love.
However, unlike the true awareness in which you can feel both wholeness and oneness, such fabulous fountain is an illusion. It is merely relative in the world of polarity – being positive becomes negative soon and vice versa. Why? The reason is simple. As you can easily imagine or even you have experienced by yourself, once you have realized that you are not loved, not appreciated and not understood; once you feel that nobody loves you, nobody appreciates you and nobody understands you, your energy resource, fabulous fountain is immediately disappeared. Suddenly you feel you are exhausted.
Why does such thing happen? It is because when you feel that you are being loved, being appreciated and being understood, what that has done is just to please your ego, satisfy your separate self and inflate your pride. And since our ego, our separate self and our pride always need such external approvals and cannot survive without them, it is relative and fragile. It is situated in the illusion of the worldly polarity.
The sense of confidence easily changes into the sense of insecurity. The sense of hope easily changes into the sense of disappointment. Your heroic behavior becomes your self-indulgence. Your generosity becomes your disappointed stupidity. Your pain becomes your masochistic pleasure. Your hope dances with your despair. Your patience is always accompanied by your painful torturer. Your faith seems not so different from your doubt. Your trusting needs a lot of "ifs" and "unless." And above all, love is hate; hate is love. These are the forms of polarity, the illusion of subject-object conflicts, the worldly, First Tier struggles that we have been conducting.
When we are in love, sadly and unfortunately we tend to more indulge ourselves with this polarity that disturbs our peace of mind. Thus, while you believe that you love your partner, unconsciously you are expecting to be loved more by your partner. Even if you know and can even explain that true love does not expect anything in return, unfortunately this "explanation" is not enough to keep you from such deception. Only if and when you can be always radiant with the act of loving, appreciating and understanding regardless such dual, worldly conflicts, probably you are in the awareness of the wholeness and the oneness. Or rather, only if and when you are in such awareness, you can have the true radiance.
It is a kind of divine requirement; hence, it seems that following and practicing such requirement or principle rigidly is quite difficult or else one of the hardest challenges that our ego has encountered. Moreover, we can say that to follow and practice this principle, our ego or egoistic separate self becomes one of the annoying obstacles. Indeed, because of our ego, we cannot simply focus on loving, appreciating and understanding our neighbors, but rather even unconsciously getting eager to be loved, appreciated and understood by them.
Why like this? The simple answer is that our ego believes that we have separated from our neighbors, environments and God and even from ourselves in such a way that we see ourselves in our consciousness in struggling to become an "ideal self" that our ego want to be or show off. For, if we know that we have not separated from our neighbors, environments, ourselves and God from the beginning ever since (always already), then it is not necessary at all for us to expect anything from all of those. They have been already in our side not their side. More correctly, there is no such dichotomy as either our side or their side, but rather just a sense of wholeness and oneness.
In such awareness our ego can be tamed and harmonized with our higher self that knows the non-dual reality, and our higher self can embrace ego and heal the painful sense of separateness. In other words, because of this healing and embracing by our higher self and because of the sense of wholeness and oneness, we do no longer have to be loved, appreciated and understood. For, we know that we have always and already been loved, appreciated and understood. Because of the non-dual sense of wholeness and oneness, being loved, appreciated and understood are the same as our very act of loving, appreciating and understanding.
It is said, "Love your neighbors as you love yourself." In the non-dual awareness above-mentioned, you can love your neighbors as if you love yourself. For, you do not see any difference or separation between your neighbors and yourself. When you truly love, appreciate and understand your neighbors, you are your neighbors and your neighbors are you. In the same way, you are your environments and your environments are you. You are God and God is you – this is of course NOT the egoistic self-inflation of religious cult leaders.
While it is easy to explain such non-dual state, it is extremely (but in a sense we can say it is easy, too) difficult to achieve such ideal state (or paradoxically we can also say that when we let go of such sense of "achieving" we can just aware of such ideal state that has been always and already). Thus, consciously or unconsciously we tend to seek for being loved, being appreciated and being understood. That is what our ego seeks for actually. And we can see how much all of us are really eager to be loved, appreciated and understood, especially when we have realized the enormous power that the sense of being loved, appreciated and understood can provide us. This sense provides us the infinite energy that keeps us continuously moving, acting, controlling, possessing and achieving.
When we feel that we are being loved, appreciated and understood, we also feel that our power and energy are unlimited. In other words, if you see someone who loves, appreciates and understood you very much (and of course if that someone is also the one you love very much), then that person and that sense give you the tremendous energy. You feel as if you could find the fabulous fountain that can constantly, unlimitedly and infinitely provide you the power and energy by which you can act and produce works; by which you can love, appreciate and understand your neighbors and the one you love. You can feel that you can do anything and can even die for the person you love.
However, unlike the true awareness in which you can feel both wholeness and oneness, such fabulous fountain is an illusion. It is merely relative in the world of polarity – being positive becomes negative soon and vice versa. Why? The reason is simple. As you can easily imagine or even you have experienced by yourself, once you have realized that you are not loved, not appreciated and not understood; once you feel that nobody loves you, nobody appreciates you and nobody understands you, your energy resource, fabulous fountain is immediately disappeared. Suddenly you feel you are exhausted.
Why does such thing happen? It is because when you feel that you are being loved, being appreciated and being understood, what that has done is just to please your ego, satisfy your separate self and inflate your pride. And since our ego, our separate self and our pride always need such external approvals and cannot survive without them, it is relative and fragile. It is situated in the illusion of the worldly polarity.
The sense of confidence easily changes into the sense of insecurity. The sense of hope easily changes into the sense of disappointment. Your heroic behavior becomes your self-indulgence. Your generosity becomes your disappointed stupidity. Your pain becomes your masochistic pleasure. Your hope dances with your despair. Your patience is always accompanied by your painful torturer. Your faith seems not so different from your doubt. Your trusting needs a lot of "ifs" and "unless." And above all, love is hate; hate is love. These are the forms of polarity, the illusion of subject-object conflicts, the worldly, First Tier struggles that we have been conducting.
When we are in love, sadly and unfortunately we tend to more indulge ourselves with this polarity that disturbs our peace of mind. Thus, while you believe that you love your partner, unconsciously you are expecting to be loved more by your partner. Even if you know and can even explain that true love does not expect anything in return, unfortunately this "explanation" is not enough to keep you from such deception. Only if and when you can be always radiant with the act of loving, appreciating and understanding regardless such dual, worldly conflicts, probably you are in the awareness of the wholeness and the oneness. Or rather, only if and when you are in such awareness, you can have the true radiance.
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