Turn Love Inside Out
Q & A with Jim
Jim, first, why Turn Love Inside Out?
As I was writing Wide Open Spaces I began noticing how every chapter seemed to wind up being about Love in one way or another. There’s been a few times in my life when Truth unveiled itself in such a clear and powerful way that it radically altered or awakened me deep inside. It was one of those experiences, and the Truth that presented itself to me is Love. Until then, I assumed I more or less knew what there was to know about Love. Oops! I see now I’m just scratching the surface in terms of accepting Love, giving Love, and being Love. It become pretty simple for me, is there anything more significant than unpacking the reality of Love? Turn Love Inside Out is simply an invitation to anyone and everyone who desires Love.
Okay, then the million-dollar question is: What is “love”?
You can't define it. Go ahead and try but then at the end of your definition you must footnote an acknowledgement that Love is deeper and wider than whatever you came up with. In that sense Love is like God. In fact, the Bible says, “God is Love.” Love is the Ultimate Reality. You can’t define God or Love but if you could, you would be bumping into the same thing. Though Jesus Christ has been central to my relationship with God for many years, only recently have I realized that Christ seeks to awaken me and make me aware of God’s Love within myself, and free me to express this Love to all people everywhere. For me, to “be like Christ” is to accept that God Loves me as he Loves Jesus Christ, and to be this Love in every moment as Jesus was. These days I am discovering great peace, joy, and freedom as I apprentice myself to Christ in the way of Love.
Jim, typically religious people seek to persuade others to their religion. For example, Christians seek to convert others to Christianity. It sounds like you however, want to convert people to love. Is that fair?
I capitalize the word ‘Love,’ because I view it as Ultimate Reality or God. Love is not some flighty, sentimental, self-focused human emotion. Love is the Creator and Source of all that is real. Humans were made in the image of Love, and so Love is the ground of our being, and our natural inheritance. When someone is awakened to Love, they are awakened to the most transformative reality there is. Its power heals, sets people free, makes whole, and puts one at deep peace and joy. Love is a spiritual reality within ourselves we can turn to in any moment. One way I experience it is a deep knowing that in every moment I am held in unconditional acceptance. When I allow myself to dwell there, all sense of separation from God is extinguished and I experience oneness with God. Free at last! Jesus prayed we would “experience” this oneness, and I am finding that Love is the doorway to it. I enjoy hiking, and often trails are marked by various color streaks on trees – red, blue, green, whatever. Likewise, the trail to God, in God, with God is marked by Love. As I convert the inner experience of Love into a life of being Love, I am one of those trees showing people the path to God, Ultimate Reality, and the only power on earth capable of transforming our inner being.
What would you say to people who feel they can’t or don’t experience Love? For example, a very beaten-down individual or a person who is a victim of hate and abuse?
Honestly, one reason my co-partner Anne and I began Turn Love Inside Out, is because we realized if we can know, experience, and be changed by Love, any human being can! We are both nobodies, and we’ve had plenty of life circumstances that have created resistance to Love inside us. Speaking for myself, I grew up in an abusive home and have a list of life failures a mile long. If there had been a “most likely to fail” honor in high school, I would have easily won it. OCD, Tourette’s, depression, self-hatred (to name a few) have been things I have had to contend with over the course of my life. Love is no respecter of persons. Whatever resistance to Love we have nurtured inside it is no match for the power of Love. Love does not need any particular set of circumstances in order to exist because it is an internal spiritual reality. Love is available in abundance to every person in every moment inside of them; this is our natural inheritance as people created in the image of God. All that’s left is to remove the blocks that hinder our awareness of Love’s presence. As mentioned previously, Christ has helped remove my blocks. We are to help each other. The best way to do this is to simply Love each other.
Q & A with Jim
Jim, first, why Turn Love Inside Out?
As I was writing Wide Open Spaces I began noticing how every chapter seemed to wind up being about Love in one way or another. There’s been a few times in my life when Truth unveiled itself in such a clear and powerful way that it radically altered or awakened me deep inside. It was one of those experiences, and the Truth that presented itself to me is Love. Until then, I assumed I more or less knew what there was to know about Love. Oops! I see now I’m just scratching the surface in terms of accepting Love, giving Love, and being Love. It become pretty simple for me, is there anything more significant than unpacking the reality of Love? Turn Love Inside Out is simply an invitation to anyone and everyone who desires Love.
Okay, then the million-dollar question is: What is “love”?
You can't define it. Go ahead and try but then at the end of your definition you must footnote an acknowledgement that Love is deeper and wider than whatever you came up with. In that sense Love is like God. In fact, the Bible says, “God is Love.” Love is the Ultimate Reality. You can’t define God or Love but if you could, you would be bumping into the same thing. Though Jesus Christ has been central to my relationship with God for many years, only recently have I realized that Christ seeks to awaken me and make me aware of God’s Love within myself, and free me to express this Love to all people everywhere. For me, to “be like Christ” is to accept that God Loves me as he Loves Jesus Christ, and to be this Love in every moment as Jesus was. These days I am discovering great peace, joy, and freedom as I apprentice myself to Christ in the way of Love.
Jim, typically religious people seek to persuade others to their religion. For example, Christians seek to convert others to Christianity. It sounds like you however, want to convert people to love. Is that fair?
I capitalize the word ‘Love,’ because I view it as Ultimate Reality or God. Love is not some flighty, sentimental, self-focused human emotion. Love is the Creator and Source of all that is real. Humans were made in the image of Love, and so Love is the ground of our being, and our natural inheritance. When someone is awakened to Love, they are awakened to the most transformative reality there is. Its power heals, sets people free, makes whole, and puts one at deep peace and joy. Love is a spiritual reality within ourselves we can turn to in any moment. One way I experience it is a deep knowing that in every moment I am held in unconditional acceptance. When I allow myself to dwell there, all sense of separation from God is extinguished and I experience oneness with God. Free at last! Jesus prayed we would “experience” this oneness, and I am finding that Love is the doorway to it. I enjoy hiking, and often trails are marked by various color streaks on trees – red, blue, green, whatever. Likewise, the trail to God, in God, with God is marked by Love. As I convert the inner experience of Love into a life of being Love, I am one of those trees showing people the path to God, Ultimate Reality, and the only power on earth capable of transforming our inner being.
What would you say to people who feel they can’t or don’t experience Love? For example, a very beaten-down individual or a person who is a victim of hate and abuse?
Honestly, one reason my co-partner Anne and I began Turn Love Inside Out, is because we realized if we can know, experience, and be changed by Love, any human being can! We are both nobodies, and we’ve had plenty of life circumstances that have created resistance to Love inside us. Speaking for myself, I grew up in an abusive home and have a list of life failures a mile long. If there had been a “most likely to fail” honor in high school, I would have easily won it. OCD, Tourette’s, depression, self-hatred (to name a few) have been things I have had to contend with over the course of my life. Love is no respecter of persons. Whatever resistance to Love we have nurtured inside it is no match for the power of Love. Love does not need any particular set of circumstances in order to exist because it is an internal spiritual reality. Love is available in abundance to every person in every moment inside of them; this is our natural inheritance as people created in the image of God. All that’s left is to remove the blocks that hinder our awareness of Love’s presence. As mentioned previously, Christ has helped remove my blocks. We are to help each other. The best way to do this is to simply Love each other.
3 comments:
To convince someone to accept my religious beliefs is ridiculous, but to encourage people to love, is incredible...religion should be truly about love, not convictions or who is right or wrong, but who and how can we love?
"but to encourage people to love, is incredible..." Kendra, what an encouraging thought. What freedom there is in that!
If you believe God is Love, and you believe God is omnipresent, then you believe that God/Love is everywhere in everything including you.
I am very familiar with the struggle in trying to feel the Love in a particular situation, but when you realize that You are the Love in a particular situation that can be when things begin to change, to be transformed.
Peace and Love,
Keren
Post a Comment