anagogy, thank you for your thoughts.
I don't think we are asked to love catalyst - this idea also came up in another thread and was equally surprising to me as a concept. I would never suggest that loving torture or child abuse is a goal of spiritual development. Thank you for the opportunity to make that clear.
We are, however, asked to respond to all catalyst by loving and accepting all the entities involved, ourselves included. So yes, we are asked to love the child abuser and the torturer, and doing so is essential to reaching the ultimate spiritual goal: realizing oneness within the illusion of multiplicity. Unconditional love is the glue that imbues multiplicity with the wholeness of Oneness, reconciling all differences through unconditional acceptance of all consciousness as One, as Perfect As It Is, as the One Creator.
The fundamental spiritual task is to find peace, love and happiness in adverse circumstances. By doing so, we are actually bringing peace, love and happiness into the illusion, and transforming samsara into nirvana.
Wherever there is torture or child abuse, we are not asked to love it (in the sense of appreciating it), but to love it (in the sense of bringing desperately needed healing love into these dark circumstances). You and I have had a discussion about the importance of clarifying the difference between these two meanings, and I think that it once again makes an essential difference here.
I don't think we are asked to love catalyst - this idea also came up in another thread and was equally surprising to me as a concept. I would never suggest that loving torture or child abuse is a goal of spiritual development. Thank you for the opportunity to make that clear.
We are, however, asked to respond to all catalyst by loving and accepting all the entities involved, ourselves included. So yes, we are asked to love the child abuser and the torturer, and doing so is essential to reaching the ultimate spiritual goal: realizing oneness within the illusion of multiplicity. Unconditional love is the glue that imbues multiplicity with the wholeness of Oneness, reconciling all differences through unconditional acceptance of all consciousness as One, as Perfect As It Is, as the One Creator.
The fundamental spiritual task is to find peace, love and happiness in adverse circumstances. By doing so, we are actually bringing peace, love and happiness into the illusion, and transforming samsara into nirvana.
Wherever there is torture or child abuse, we are not asked to love it (in the sense of appreciating it), but to love it (in the sense of bringing desperately needed healing love into these dark circumstances). You and I have had a discussion about the importance of clarifying the difference between these two meanings, and I think that it once again makes an essential difference here.