Source Text
The animal soul wants to live, wants to eat, wants so many things, but love gives it another value system—one that makes the soul see that all those things are ultimately insignificant. If love is complete, if it is really integrated, then a person is willing to give up physical life if that is what is called for.
Love is the wave that is unfolding all of appearance. We don’t see it as love because our perception of love is limited. Truth is manifesting all that we experience, all that we see; and the force of the manifestation—which is the unfoldment itself, the movement itself—is the movement of love. That is the function of love. But what is the manifestation for? The Beloved wants to be known, wants to be seen. The purpose behind creating the world was not so that everybody would have a hard time—though many people think that, right? They ask, “What is all this for? It seems like it is just for us to suffer.” The truth implied in these sayings from Rumi’s tradition is that reality loves to see itself—truth enjoys perceiving the treasures that endlessly come out of it. The source loves so much to see and perceive that it manifests the whole of creation. It is always revealing its treasures, continuously creating all that is. Everything in existence is only those hidden treasures that are manifesting all the time.
With each revelation, you are full of love, you are full of joy and celebration. It is a wonderful discovery, an exhilarating experience. But at the same time, the Beloved is hiding itself, and you don’t know that until you realize, “This is just a veil, another veil. The journey isn’t finished yet.” You need to part the veil and keep going. The journey continues until you find yourself recognizing that the whole universe is the unfoldment of love. As long as you don’t recognize this, you will experience the unfoldment of love revealing the truth to you through one veil after another.
our endeavor “the work,” but that term expresses only a certain aspect of the inner journey. Here, we have repeatedly called the work a love affair, in the sense that it provides nourishment for our heart and soul.
Do I love the absolute or does the absolute love me? The passionate love is the intensity of the annihilating power of the absolute, as it erases all but itself.
The beloved now claims the heart fully. It has taken full possession of it, as its own throne. The beloved is not an other, it is the true dweller of the heart, my source, my ultimate self and the ultimate essence of everything.
When you really get to the source of that longing, it is a dynamic love—full-bodied, like a full, rich wine with a lot of texture and taste. It is a presence aware of itself as it fills your consciousness with intense passionate affect.
There is a defensiveness and obsessiveness to the guilt that arises for loving yourself, which will tend to block your true self-love.
Of course, the superego says you’re bad to be loving yourself. “You’re so selfish, so self-centered—how narcissistic you are, really?! All you can think about is yourself. Other people are suffering and you are ecstatic.”
“What the hell is this judgment, who says that’s bad? Whoever thinks it’s bad, they can jump off a cliff if they want. I’m not going to stop liking myself and having fun.”
AI Summary
Love Unveiled by A. H. Almaas and Ram Dass presents key insights from the Diamond Approach tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.