All of us are quite familiar with the universal principle expressed in Jesus' famous words: "Give, and it will be given to you" (Luke 6:38). On Valentine's Day, we think of this principle in terms of romantic love. Accordingly, we know that we will receive love from someone in whom we are interested only if we first give of ourselves in love to them. However, this principle is interpreted too often as a merely MORAL law. We act as though our giving of love is a kind of ethical attitude necessary to receive love in return as our reward. But this understanding, I'm convinced, does not do justice to the depth of meaning encompassed by the giving-and-receiving principle. Instead, I like to imagine a seamless circle, with no beginning and no end. When we give love to someone, we throw ourselves into this circle. The natural result of flowing outward toward someone is that this will NATURALLY cycle back toward us, enabling us to be on the receiving end. In the Kashmiri tantric Hindu tradition, this is called "spherical logic." Amazingly, an act of love that starts out moving away from us and toward another actually ends up moving back toward us as it arcs around the cosmic sphere. The same is true of desire. We cannot desire the Divine in another being unless we are also desired by the Divine in one form or another. The two movements are part of the same sphere of love. There is no possibility that we could desire and not be desired. Thus, the "give, and it will be given to you" principle is far more than moral. Instead, it is an ontological principle - present in the very nature of the BEING of the universe!
Photo: Alpine Sunflower blooming on a stormy day; Snowbank Lake, Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; June 15, 2012
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