Unselfed love triumphant over loneliness
Yesterday's article discussed how loneliness and isolation are the consequence of material consciousness, the limited sense of life that obscures the spiritual brotherhood of man. The possibility of realizing our relationship to God, the one divine Mind, was explored as the basis for true fellowship with His creation.
The idea of a knowable, loving God embracing all identities in spiritual brotherhood is inspiring, but how is it made practical in day-to-day life?
The practicality begins to appear as we see that this idea is infinitely more than an abstract metaphysical concept. The one Mind, divine Love, and the brotherhood of creation are the reality of being, the Truth behind all truths, the Love behind all love, the Life behind all life.
When Christ Jesus came preaching sonship with the Father and the brotherhood of man, he was not preaching some lofty human idealism nor an otherworldly mysticism. He ''made flesh'' the present reality of divine Love, not by altering reality but by bringing it to light. Jesus was the supreme realist, the ultimate pragmatist.
Enlightened faith in divine Love is a transforming power. As soon as we realize that the reason to live is to love unselfishly, we have found the one sure antidote to loneliness. For in loving unselfishly we're bringing our thoughts and lives into harmony with the one Mind, Love itself, which is the only genuine source of satisfaction, joy, and brotherhood.
When we obey Jesus' command to love as he loved, something marvelous happens - we feel the Christ, God's own presence, entering our lives and bringing to light a ''new creature.'' As Jesus promised, ''If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.''n1
n1 John 14:23.
The person with God's presence in his or her heart triumphs over loneliness and can never truly be isolated from others. Why? Because communion with God imparts a sense of self-completeness, and the person whose consciousness is filled with Love will always be found in loving service to others.
Some may feel that satisfying companionship is impossible to find. If this seems so, then maybe we need to reassess our life style. Do we, perhaps, spend the majority of our free time self-absorbed, or communing with the TV, or in pursuit of mere self-gratification? Everyone needs entertainment, but a lonely life or unsatisfying companionship is often symptomatic of a life centered on ''me'' and the possession of material things.
Mary Baker Eddy, n2 a Christian woman who devoted her life to serving mankind , proved that, in her own words, ''unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, - these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute individually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence.''n3
n2 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.
n3 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 58.
If we feel lonely and isolated, or if our relationships lack permanence and happiness, it could very well be that ''unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity'' are needed. The problem so often is not society, or other people, or anything external. It's a need for more of Love's presence in our hearts.
So knowing God intimately and loving others in the way Jesus taught are not optional activities reserved for saints or the ''next life.'' They're life's greatest need. They're absolutely essential to having right companionship and a life worth living. And they're things we all can do, however little we may feel we now know of the nature of Love.
Jesus didn't expect us to start out saints. He just said, in effect, ''Follow me; obey; and the living Christ will shape you anew.'' This Christ is present now, a divine presence, unseen to the senses but as close as the desire that prays in all earnestness, ''Father, show me how to love.'' All that we could ever ask for in affection and companionship can be found in the answer to this unselfed prayer. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Beloved, let us love one another. I John 4:7