Today is a special day for me: I finally comprehended the new principle that fulfills us.
Do you remember the series of stories where I explained my life as a fantasy story? In that story, I was born in a place called Evernight Country, which was always covered with coldness and darkness, and I began my journey to Sunlight Country, a legendary place where people could live warmly. Although no one—including me—knew such a place actually existed, since I didn’t finish my life with regret, I set off to seek it.
Let’s continue that story. (If you also remember a final episode I wrote before, forget it.)
The story begins again
In the previous (the second) episode, I discovered the sun. Although I had not reached my destination, Sunlight Country, it was a principle that satisfied me.
The rising sun gradually revealed things I could not see when I lived in the darkness.
I instinctively knew that collecting those principles would lead me to the Sunlight Country. In other words, it was the proof that I was heading in the right direction.
Then I discovered the second principle that fulfills us: the meaning of ‘We are already loved.’
The meaning of ‘You are already loved’
Sometimes, we want to comprehend the meaning of strange spiritual teachings. One typical example is ‘You are already loved.’ It often comes with the instruction, ‘Do not be afraid.’
I didn’t understand those meanings. Although I longed to be loved, I could not feel it, so being told that I was loved made no sense.
The same went for the instruction ‘Do not be afraid.’ Since fear is an essential element for life, ignoring it would clearly be harmful for people. It goes against the natural laws.
However, rationality showed me the true meaning. Indeed, they were the spiritual facts. Today, I will explain why. This explanation may help you understand love and resolve your mental confusion.
Correcting the concept of love
Love is not something we feel. In other words, our greatest misconception is the desire to feel love.
Love has nothing to do with success, failure, and the emotions we embrace. Linking love to those things makes us doubt it.
To put it in simple opposing terms, it will be as follows:
- (Correct understanding) Don’t associate love with fear.
- (Wrong belief) Feel love, and don’t feel fear.
Despite their similar outlooks, identifying that difference frees us from mental confusion.
It means we should be afraid of neither the lack of love nor its reception. Although we can feel fear as living beings, don’t link love to fear, and don’t doubt love. Love is something to believe in. That frees us from mental struggle.
Love vs. reasonableness
The key to understanding it is identifying the difference between love and rationality.
There are two levels of judgment, as follows:
- Judgment based on love: Love is the practice of providing others—and oneself—with criteria for broad, long-term benefit, even if we don’t know what will help the future or how it unfolds.
- Judgment based on rationality: Rationality is choosing appropriate means of love that bring lighter social burdens and better social benefits.
It means that love is a more fundamental layer, while rationality is a more superficial one.
Identifying the difference
All judgments that affect success, failure, and emotions are based on the latter—rationality.
For example, let’s say we have hurt someone in the past. That is an issue we should judge at the level of rationality.
We might have had various reactions, as follows:
- Kill the other person.
- Sue the person.
- Call the police.
- Say something awful to the other person directly.
- Speak ill of the person behind their back.
- Be patient and vent the frustration elsewhere.
- Stop meeting the other person and start being with someone else.
- Start a social movement if many people are in the same situation, and society can be improved.
Choosing more rational judgments according to the circumstances determines the level of our punishment. If we killed the opponent, we would bear heavier guilt. On the other hand, choosing a more reasonable option that maintains the social benefit will place less blame on us.
In contrast to rationality, love is a fundamental level of criteria, like the following:
- I value evaluating a person’s good points rather than looking down on bad ones.
- I prefer personal freedom to social equality.
- I appreciate helping others more than competition.
- I like creating something new, even if it goes against common sense.
- I prefer simplification to complication.
People don’t deny those aspects of love. They are just tendencies that everyone has.
Punishment is given when one exceeds social moderation. In other words, all of our past mistakes should be judged at the rationality level, not at the one of love.
Judging based on reasonableness
That discernment enables us to let go of the past event by rationally judging it. Once we judge and decide our response, we can close the matter.
Since the issue is a pending matter you have been put off until now, you can conclude its meaning and your attitude toward it. If your reaction was reasonable based on the situation, there is no need to punish yourself. If there has been a better option, you can choose it from now on.
Either way, you can evaluate the past, pay the necessary cost as compensation or punishment, learn from that experience, and move toward the next issue that you have. In other words, you can cut it as a loss.
Once we judge how to respond to that event, we can let it go, even if it was a loss.
Being freed from fear
That understanding frees us from the fear of contempt, ridicule, and shame. They have nothing to do with love; they are matters of rationality.
That enabled me to stop worrying about being looked down on. I experienced an iconic event yesterday. When I was helping my brother, my brother ridiculed me for being fond of tidying up. I was instantly angry and thought, ‘Is that something you say to the person helping you?’
If it were my past self, I would be unable to stop my anger. Linking the event to love, being unable to judge the event or decide my response, I would have replayed that situation many times as flashbacks.
However, recognizing it as a rational level enabled me to judge logically. It was a matter of efficiency. I preferred simplicity. Even if we dispose of something that has some value, there is efficiency that can be gained. On the other hand, my brother valued keeping valuable things as much as possible, even if that style reduced the effective management. The efficiency depends on the situation.
Considering reasonable options calmed me. Although it would be effective to simplify his management environment in that situation, I realized he might not be able to keep up with my fast pace of change. In addition, I noticed that I had not explained how my simplification contributes to his management. That may have frightened him.
I decided to slow down a bit and started to consider how to explain my effectiveness. That would be moderate and reasonable.
When I decided on my response, my anger disappeared. It was not a matter of love but rationality. My brother was not denying love; he was speaking on the level of rationality. Not only my brother, but also all people were not speaking on the level of love.
When I realized the discernment of love and rationality, I was suddenly freed from the fear of contempt, ridicule, and shame. The mockery of all people is only speaking from the perspective of reasonableness. It means that no one is denying love.
I have understood that associating the other person’s words with love caused my confusion.
Living with love
You don’t have to punish yourself. Love is something to believe in, not something you can feel or pursue. Don’t try to sense love.
Linking negativity, whose main factor is fear, to love confuses us and causes spiritual troubles.
Your past failures are all matters of reasonableness. They are things that can be compared and resolved. They have nothing to do with your love, which is incomparable and unalterable.
That distinction between love and rationality will enable you to comprehend what love is and free you from unnecessary mental conflicts.
Conclusion
That is the meaning of ‘You are already loved,’ which often comes with the instruction, ‘Do not be afraid.’
Love is not something we feel. In other words, our greatest misconception is the desire to feel love.
Love has nothing to do with success, failure, and the emotions we embrace. Linking love to those things makes us doubt it.
This explanation may help you understand love and resolve your mental confusion.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
