Love Actually | EnlightenNext UK | Evolutionary Enlightenment in the ...

So Spring is finally here in Britain. I was out walking this morning with my wife Kyrsten, enjoying the warmth and light emanating from that mysterious body newly visible in the heavens.

With the sudden warm weather after the prolonged winter, nature is exploding all at once and the force of the life process is staggering: luscious cherry blossom, lime green unfurling Chestnut buds, and Weeping Willow leaves, with an impossible Hockney-esque palette of colour.

The Spectrum of Love

I?m a romantic at heart, and I love it all with a passion. I even went on a mini-Bodhisattva mission to rescue frog spawn laid in a ridiculously shallow puddle, moving it to deeper water so that the eggs wouldn?t be left high and dry as the puddle evaporated. And I love my wife, too. No, I?m not equating her with Chestnut buds and frog spawn!

Love is a word that covers such a wide spectrum of meanings and depths. There are many types of relationships and love. Human relationship?and I mean relationship in its broadest sense, not in the romantic sexual arena?allows new possibilities to emerge between self-aware individuals. This to me holds the promise for creating a culture with deeper values.

Relationship Is Everything

Well, maybe relationship is not quite everything, but it?s not far off. I?m convinced that we can only fully flower as human beings in relationship with others. The deepest urge in our own hearts is for relatedness. At the most fundamental level, we can even conceive of the drive of the universal life process itself as being similar to the urge toward relationship at all levels throughout nature. This could quite possibly be a valid answer as to why the One became the Many, and why something came from nothing.

Unique Yet not Separate

And most fascinatingly, at the very same time we are, each of us, very differentiated individuals, each with our unique combination of aptitudes, qualities and life experiences. And then added to that is the complexity and promise of a special romantic and sexual relationship. My wife and I are like chalk and cheese. I?m a reserved and considered Englishman while she?s a very extrovert Australian. Yet the relationship works remarkably well because we deeply trust each other. When we engage, there?s often positive ?creative friction? between us, which doesn?t preclude the occasional ding-dong. And we never let anything accumulate between us. Most of all, though, it works because we share an aspiration to evolve.

Antoine De Saint-Exupery says it very simply and elegantly:
Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.

I?m always learning more about relationship and am eager to explore the topic with others, which is what Kyrsten and I will doing on 18 May at our day seminar Sex, Love, Romance and Deeper Meaning. Whether you are in relationship or not, you are most welcomed to join us as we delve into this subject which is so important to all of us. Have a look at what we will be doing on the day. We?d love to see you there.

Wishing you some (hopefully) good Spring weather,
Chris

Source: http://enlightennext.org.uk/chris-parish/love-actually/

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