“Something that’s intrinsic to being itself is an absolute love and cherishing of what is.” ~ Adyashanti
Absolute love is not love for anyone or anything. It is not an emotion or a depth of feeling. It is itself the greatest teaching: that we are the love we seek, and that the object of our love is already contained within what we truly are. It is the realization that what is looking out through our own eyes and the eyes of another is the same.
To love in the highest sense is to realize that you, as you really are, are the wholeness that encompasses and includes your human expression. It is the understanding that you are the one love that contains your beloved and everything else. This may seem inconceivable at first, but if allowed to blossom in the heart, it can become a doorway to experiencing absolute love in every moment.
The word “absolute” comes from the same root as “absolve,” which means “to set free.” When our love is absolute, we allow everyone the freedom to be as they are, regardless of how we want them to be. We may choose to be with them or not, but if our love is absolute, we love them as they are in the present moment. It is only in this moment that we can truly experience them as more than a concept or a projection. This does not mean that they will never change. Only in a space of true freedom can deep transformation take place.
The most powerful love is love in the midst of life. As we begin to recognize it, it starts to determine our actions, even our automatic responses. It overrides the ego, which only ever acts out of fear.
The power of absolute love is in its ability to transform our sense that we are separate from the rest of existence. Slowly at first, we begin to feel this ever-present love even when we are in sadness or difficulty. It gives us the strength to meet whatever is arising, because we know that everything is truly all right.
Finally we learn to realize and experience the constant, all-pervading love of what is, as it is, here and now. We come to the source of love, the love of which all other love is an expression. When we live in the presence and acceptance of this moment, as this moment, all of our actions are guided by this love. This intimate, infinite love reveals itself as the eternal, all-embracing presence of the One.