Sometimes we feel a love so strong that we can almost reach out and touch it.
I had just such an experience the other morning as I was driving my 16-year-old son to his job at a local movie theater. It was a chilly sunny day in coastal Connecticut, one of those crisp mornings where the cold makes the sky seem a luminescent color of blue.
As we were driving, we listened to our favorite Celtic songs in a mesmerized silence. The warmth of the car mingled with the brightness of the sun and the haunting resonance of the music engaged my soul, taking me on an unexpected journey inward. I felt a deep sense of peace and contentment. Sitting in silence, I could almost reach out and touch the love that I felt for my son and for life; it was so expansive.
All at once, I could see the world through new eyes; colors and shapes seemed so vivid and sharp that I found myself gazing about in wonder the way I did when I first happened upon an HDTV at an audio/video store.
After dropping off my son, I chose to take the return route that took me along the edge of the water. As I came around a bend, the full view of Long Island Sound came into sight. The sun was large and low upon the horizon. Lying before it like a spilled bag of diamonds, millions of sun rays glittered across the water, proudly displaying the sun’s wealth and my love for nature radiated out to join them.
For a moment, I felt my soul leave my body and soar among the glorious landscape before me. I could feel love pulsing through my body with each heartbeat, creating the percussion for nature’s symphony. I felt strong, powerful, and free. Luckily I was able to keep both hands on the wheel.
Suddenly, my body and soul rejoined, as I was startled back into awareness by the gasp of wonder that had escaped me. I also became embarrassing aware that I had stopped driving and was impeding traffic due to my car straddling the centerline. As I sheepishly waved to the other drivers, I giggled with joy for the sacred moment I had just experienced. My heart was filled with love, and now, gratitude.
As I drove on, an awareness arose within me that love is not just something that we feel for others, it is a state of mind, possibly the highest state of consciousness; a true enlightenment.
I began to think of the increasing awareness of mindful and conscious living. New spiritual leaders and gurus are sprouting up every day. Humanity is fertile for answers in their search for Truth. The supposed purpose of meditation and prayer is to bring us peace and purpose. I realized that what I had just experienced was a form of meditation and the vehicle was love.
Is the key to human collective consciousness in this new Age of Aquarius as simple as … love?
A smile crept across my face as I considered the possibility. The answers to other societal conundrums appear to point to simple, common sense solutions. Solutions that have one thing in common: love.
Whether it is love for our neighbors, love for our planet, or self-love, it seemed to me that there was hardly a problem that love couldn’t solve. You see love is multifaceted, like a precious gem, comprised of many sides that compliment the whole.
Respect, tolerance, acceptance, patience, compassion, appreciation, gratitude, forgiveness, honesty, loyalty, protection, abundance, joy and peace all stem from love. Love is the ultimate fractal, with the various components reflecting the same loving characteristics. Although the answers to our problems come in many forms, they all point back to love.
As I pulled into my driveway, I felt both enlightened and armed with a new awareness that made me feel like I could go forth and face any situation with confidence.
As I saw the little heads of my children eagerly peeking out the window at me, my heart confirmed what my mind already suspected and which John and Paul so elegantly sang all those years ago: All we need is love.
Aritcle Photo Courtesy Of Dena Smith Givens
