Why Would ANY Sane Person Want To Let Go Of Romantic Love !?

Because, for as long as our feelings towards other persons continue to be conditioned by their objective worthiness, we remain vulnerable to the assiduous attacks of hatred, indifference, or heartbreak. But, once their foundation has been completely shattered, we can finally break free -drastically so- and -for the very first time in our life- actually be able to breathe with tremendous relief. The mind becomes utterly unconditioned, and the heart transforms into a never-ending abyss of deep, pure love, overflowing the entire creation, and fulfilling the soul to no end, thus rendering all lusts, passions, cravings, and desires obsolete, inasmuch as that which has already become complete stands in need of no further addition whatsoever.

Our God Is NOT The One We Pray To...

...but rather that which we pray for...

( And it's very important that we be aware of this... )

Why Eros and Agape Cannot Co-Exist

Because they rest upon mutually-exclusive foundations.

The former is based on discrimination and self-centeredness,
while the latter is grounded in non-discrimination and self-giving.

In the end, there can be only one...

We Do Not Truly Understand That Which We Already Know To Be True

Hence why we find ourselves living in a perpetual state of mental disconnect.
We know, for instance, that -theoretically- God is the happiest being there is, and that -at the same time- He never experienced, nor will He ever experience, during His entire eternal existence, the feelings of eros, romance, sensuality, and sexuality, which -for us humans- would basically equate to a life completely bereft of any real meaning or fulfillment...

We're also aware, theoretically, that partaking of this divine love is the greatest possible pleasure and delight known to man, while -at the very same time- not being at all able to understand how on earth this can actually be the case, since this other-worldly love is especially famous for its sheer and utter inability to co-exist with any passion whatsoever, including those that have been mentioned earlier, and which are known to fill our life, heart, soul, and being with so much meaning, pleasure, and delight...

Child-Likeness = Christ-Likeness

This is the equation that leads to salvation.

Perhaps I Should Just Give Up Blogging, And Find Myself A "Real" Job Instead...

Giving Up Blogging For Lent...

Yes. It Is Actually Possible For The Grown-Up Mind To Re-Experience States Of Utter And Complete Child-Likeness

That's what my previous post was about...

( You know... the one that almost no one actually bothered reading... )

That's what all my posts for the past five weeks have been about, actually...
But, hey: it's OK. If the topic of engodment bores you, that's fine by me... I could always use the remaining time-frame to post all those nice little videos about Iesbians that I was storing up... They've been piling up by the dozens anyway... What better way to honor the sacred time-span of Great and Holy Lent, right ? Besides, it's not like anyone cares anyway, so...

We Were All Children Once, We Can All Become Children Again !

We have to... There's just no other way...

Matthew 18:3 And [ Jesus ] said: Verily I say unto you: Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said: Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them: Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God.

Luke 18:16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said: Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God.

( You may wish to turn up the volume on your computer ).

Christ's Bride or Satan's Harlot ?

We dance as our master sings, and move as he commands: but this master is NOT Christ !

Matthew 11:16 ¶But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, 17 And saying: We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented...

Cold-Blooded

Our souls are like snakes: possessing no inner warmth, being doomed to depend on exterior sources of heat. In the company of friends, we are friendly; but when surrounded by enemies, we become hostile. Our self-perceived friendliness is therefore not a part of our nature, but rather an aspect of our outside environment. Needless to say, Christ was nothing like us, radiating only goodness, loving-kindness, and forgiveness from His pure heart even in the midst of the most abject torments and unspeakable torture.

On the Fifth Week of Fasting, the Elder Said to Me:

The Difference Between God's Love And Man's Love

Human love is based on the objective worth of the other.

People have to be or do something in order to win and earn each other's affection.
God's love -on the other hand- is based on His own, personal, and subjective decision to not be anything else -or anything less- than infinite love, sheer goodness, endless loving-kindness, and utter self-giving.

His clean and child-like heart, filled with the other-worldly beauty of these things, and delighting in the indescribable joy and peace that can only spring from such great purity and innocence, completely abhors the notions of hatred and indifference, which only help to limit, bind, confine, chain, restrain, and constrain one's being, deeming such things to be entirely despicable, and refusing to be defined by them, seeing with perfect clarity the abysmal depths of meaninglessness and self-destruction wrought by such spiritual states, where one's being is tainted, defiled, and corrupted by unspeakable evil, darkness, and ugliness.

On the Fourth Week of Fasting, the Fathers Said to Me:

1. It is impossible for someone who is passionate about anything earthly to arrive at the measure of divine love.

2. Love is born of dispassion.

7. The one who cares more for the body than for the soul, and for creation more than for its Maker, is no better than idolaters.

10. The mind aflame with divine love abandons attachment towards anything created, even as the sensible eye is no longer able to see the stars when the Sun is rising.

13. The one who loves God cannot help but love everyone as himself.

14. Unclean is the passionate soul, full of hatred and desire.

15. The one whose heart has even the slightest trace of hatred in it, is completely alien of the knowledge of divine love, for that love cannot bear such hate even in the slightest.

16. The one who does not love his neighbor cannot love God either.

17. Blessed is the one who can love all men equally.

25. God, being good and dispassionate by nature, loves everyone equally.

31. As the remembrance of fire does not warm the body, so does the faith devoid of any good deeds not work in the soul the enlightenment of one's conscience.

34. A clean soul is freed from passions, delighting constantly in divine love.

37. Remember Saint Stephen, the Disciple of Christ, who -like the Redeemer Himself- prayed to the Father for his executioners, asking for their forgiveness.

49. Don't defile your mind by thoughts of hatred and desire.

71. Perfect love does not divide the one nature of humanity, according to their merit, but -looking constantly upon itself- loves everyone equally.

110. If you hate some, others you neither love, nor hate, and yet others you love, but only moderately, while -finally- others you love very dearly, then know from this inequality that you are a stranger to perfect love, which loves every man equally.

Maxim Martyr, Four Hundred Chapters on Love

On True Love: Why Parents Don't "Truly" Love Their Children, And Husbands Don't "Truly" Love Their Wives

True love is unconditioned, knowing no "reason", "cause", or 'because'.
Parents love their children because they are their children... They obviously don't love all other children out there as their own... And -even if they would- they would do so because they are children, and not something else... Obviously, they wouldn't love grown-ups as much as they would love children: especially their own... And sometimes they don't even love all of their children to the fullest possible extent, and with the greatest possible love that their heart could give, but rather they prefer some of them over the others, loving some of them less, while others more... And even those few that love all children as if they were their own, prefer the cuter, smaller, nicer, more obedient ones over the others...

In other words, not even the greatest love known to man, namely that between parents or grand-parents and ( their ) children or grand-children, is the true love that the Scriptures talk about... the love that God freely pours out of Himself over all creation... the love that created the Universe... the love that brought everything from non-being into being... the love that destroys everything... the love upon which the world was established... the love that beget the Son and poured forth the Holy Spirit... the love of the Saints in Glory... the love that Christ poured from the Cross over his mockers, tormentors, and executioners... the love that springs as if from the bowels of the earth... the love that destroys everything...

But what then shall we say about the ( true ) love between man and woman ? It is even less worthy of the name, even in its purest and most profound form ! ( After all, when push comes to shove, one can divorce one's spouse, but one can never, ever, "divorce" one's children: no matter what the circumstances... ) Not even the transfigured forms of eros, which are infinitely deeper than even the so-called "true love" for one's spouse, cannot match the other-worldly beauty of agape, but pale by comparison, as dwarves along-side titans: and I'm not saying this to be "poetic"... Regardless for what reasons a man loves a woman, what matters is that said reasons do in fact exist... even if they are selfless, and noble, and pure, they are not non-existent...

Discrimination: The Mother Of All Passions

Lust is born by discriminating between the two sexes.

Hatred is born by discriminating between friend and foe.

Pride, envy, egoism, and indifference are born by discriminating between oneself and others.

Discrimination: The Root Of All Evil

All passions sit on the same throne, and share the same footstall:

When this common foundation is removed, they all fall to their death.

This single supporting platform is discrimination, the enemy of loving-kindness.

It is unkind to care less for other children than for one's own.
It is unkind to care less for other elders than for one's parents.
It is unkind to care less for other women than for one's wife.
It is unkind to care less for other men than for one's husband.
It is unkind to care less for other people than for one's friends.

It is unkind to care less for people you don't know, than for the ones you do.
It is unkind to care less for people you don't need, than for the ones you do.
It is unkind to care less for unattractive people than for attractive ones.
It is unkind to care less for uninteresting people than for interesting ones.
It is unkind to care less for unintelligent people than for intelligent ones.

But -then again- how can one's heart truly, deeply, and sincerely care so much for other people (of the opposite gender) in an actually meaningful manner, without falling into the other extreme of the lust-hate spectrum ? Of course, to the mind the answer comes easy: let go of lust, and you'll be able to love all people infinitely, without any limits or boundaries, just as God does... but how can the heart ever actually do such a thing... and, more importantly: why ?

Do you better understand now how it is that we find ourselves trapped in a cage of our own egoism, doomed to never be able to break out, unless -by doing so- we may perish by entering into another one, diametrically opposed to the former, yet equally deadly and dangerous ?

Love and Desire

Love is self-giving. Desire is self-centered. By nurturing the former, we're weakening the latter.

Absolutes

There aren't any ...

The Fool Had Said In His Heart: There Is No Spoon !

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief. They are all mind-wrought.

If women are truly that irresistible...

1.

... why don't they fall in love with each other, or even with themselves ?
( Do not automatically silence your mind by truisms : think about it ! -- Could it be that our lust for women makes just as little sense as their desire for men ? -- After all... what sane person could ever desire a man !? We wouldn't ! Of course, we're glad to be desired by them, but -deep down inside- we all know that it's just plain ridiculous ! -- But we don't tell them that because we can't even bear the thought of a life without them, let alone actually live it... yet -according to Christ- this is precisely what Paradise will be like... )

2.

... why are their own brothers, parents, and children so utterly immune to their charm ?
( Out of the many stupidities that people say to themselves and to others when rejecting monasticism, the excuse I find the most hilarious is that they supposedly "love" their wives ! It's not their "wives" that they love, but rather the sensual feelings of eros, romance, and sexuality: If they would truly love their spouses, they would try to love them with the highest possible love: and what other kind of love can that be, if not the love that parents and grand-parents have for their children and grand-children ? What greater love is there, that's known to the average mortal man ? Please, do tell me, 'cause I'm just dying to know ! [ Pun very much intended ]. The true husband sacrifices pleasure for the sake of love, and attains engodment: That's why -of the two men that were taken up to Heaven- one was married, and the other was celibate; that's why both marriage and monasticism are valid paths to salvation; that's why Christ had both married and celibate men amongst His most trusted inner-circle of devoted Disciples... Blessed are those dumb enough to believe this, and crazy enough to put it into practice, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven ! )

3.

... why did Christ Himself never marry ?
( True, He came to suffer, but now that His earthly mission is over, and His suffering is in the past, what exactly is it that's stopping Him, and why ? )

4.

... why does God apparently 'punish' Himself by not having a beautiful woman as wife ?

( Just what exactly is it that's stopping Him, and why ? )

Just what exactly is it that we are missing ?

The things that chain us are unreal, but the chains that bind us to them are very real indeed.

Simone Weil, as quoted by Nicolae Steinhardt

Lust & Hate

Two sides of the same coin.

On Prince Charming and the Seven-Headed Dragon

How can the Charming Prince ever defeat the many-headed monster, if each time he cuts one of the Hydra's heads, another one grows straight away to take its place ?

By aiming for the heart !
All passions sit on the same throne, sharing the same footstall: When that common foundation is removed, they all fall to their death, as a group of men sentenced to hang, standing on the same scaffold, from underneath whose feet the single supporting platform is instantly removed.

All Our Hopes, Dreams, Wishes, And Desires...

...were NEVER meant to be fulfilled in the first place !

Our heart is directed towards all these [ worldly ] things, is stuck on them, loves them, and longs for them. But the release from catastrophe should be sought elsewhere. The change should occur within us. We must become total strangers towards everything human, towards human logic and human thought, and towards all good things. We must be indifferent towards everything. When estranged from everything, then God can be everything for us, for God alone to remain with us. This will give us the deep peace from within. Otherwise, even if there is something in our heart which is not of the other life, but of this one, we should know that we will be continuously tormented.

Aimilianos of Simonopetra

On My Previous Post

I wasn't referring to psychological states of hopelessness and despair, but to the overpowering drive and overwhelming compulsion that characteristically accompanies our sinful passions, whose strong grip on our hearts and minds creates in the weakened soul the illusion that any resistance is childishly futile, and that their outcome is utterly unavoidable, completely inevitable, and totally inescapable...

You Don't "Have To"

Whenever necessity dictates that we adopt a certain course of action... Whenever circumstances force us to behave in a certain manner... Whenever we're left with no choice and no other alternative, finding ourselves hopelessly trapped inside the cage of a vicious circle... remember these apparently-meaningless words...

On My Last Two Posts

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief. They are all mind-wrought.

Nothing and no one can truly force us to be or to do or to feel anything...

The devil may tempt us... but he cannot actually make us sin...
As for God Himself, even though He could control us -if He wanted to- yet He never actually "possesses" us, but rather respects our personal freedom of choice, inasmuch as He created us to be like Him, made in His image: Lords, not slaves...

Cause and Effect, Action and Reaction

There's no such thing ...

On the Fourteenth Day of Fasting, the Buddha Said to Me:

Mind precedes all mental states.

Mind is their chief.

They are all mind-wrought.

From the First Two Stanzas of the First Chapter of the Dhammapada

The Beatitudes

Blessed are those who live full of love amongst those consumed by hatred,
dwelling free from hate amidst the hateful.

Blessed are those who live free from craving amongst those enslaved by desires,
dwelling free from compulsion amidst those enchained by lusts.

Blessed are those who gave up their belongings, for they shall be fed with joy !

The First Four Stanzas of the Nineteenth Chapter of the Dhammapada

On the Twelfth Day of Fasting, the Buddha Said to Me:

Though one may defeat a thousand times a thousand men in battle, yet he indeed is the noblest conqueror, who overcomes himself.

The Fourth Stanza of the Eighth Chapter of the Dhammapada

On the Second Week of Fasting, the Buddha Said to Me:

Monks, I know of no other touch by which a man's heart is so enslaved as it is by that of a woman !

Monks, a woman's touch obsesses a man's heart !

From the First Chapter of the Anguttara Nikaya