{"id":267,"date":"2008-04-06T06:40:42","date_gmt":"2008-04-06T06:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/04\/loving-all-of-life-not-just-pa.html"},"modified":"2008-04-06T06:40:42","modified_gmt":"2008-04-06T06:40:42","slug":"loving-all-of-life-not-just-pa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/04\/loving-all-of-life-not-just-pa.html","title":{"rendered":"Loving all of life, not just part of it"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wonder if we really understand what is meant when we are urged to \u201cLove God above all things.\u201d I have an idea about that which may be a bit radical. I think that what God might be saying to us us: \u201cLove everything, for that is what I Am.”
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\nSunday is Message Day on the blog. Monday through Friday we look at contemporary events and day-to-day occurrences at the intersection of Life and the New Spirituality\u2026but on Sunday, we reserve this space for a specific teaching derived from the material in Conversations with God<\/em>
\nThrough the years I have given hundreds of talks and written scores of articles revolving around this material. Every seven days we will present in this space a transcript or reprint of one of those presentations. We invite you to Copy and Save each one of them, creating a personal a collection of contemporary and uplifting spiritual thought which you may reference at any time. We hope you will find this a constant source of insight and inspiration.
\nThis week\u2019s offering: As above, so below<\/strong><\/em>
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\nThen I think that God would have added…
\n\u201cLove not one thing and not the other, nor love one thing more than another, yet love everything, and all of life, with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your soul; for in the loving of that which you call \u2018bad,\u2019 you transform it; in the loving of that which you call \u2018evil,\u2019 you disarm it; in the loving of that which you call \u2018harmful,\u2019 you render it safe; in the loving of those who would do you harm, you cause yourself to be impervious to them.
\n\u201cAnd in loving that which you call \u2018good,\u2019 you empower it; in loving that which you find pleasurable, you enhance it; in loving that which you call \u2018Godly,\u2019 you define yourself and lay claim to Who You Are. Yet judge not, and neither condemn, for that which you judge will you become, and that which you condemn will condemn you.\u201d
\nGod would have said, \u201cLove thy neighbor as thyself.\u201d Then he would have added, \u201c\u2026for thy neighbor is thyself.\u201d There is no separation. Therefore to love your neighbor is for your right hand to love your left, your eyes to love your face.
\nYou cannot love one thing without loving the other, nor can you despise one without casting aspersion upon the other, for all are of the same body, and none exists apart and separate from the other.
\nWhen you understand this, and when you help others understand it, you begin to create life \u201con earth, as it is in heaven.\u201d
\nWe are doing that right now, of course. We are creating life right now as we think<\/em> it is in Heaven. That is why…<\/p>\n


\n…the world is the way it is. That is why our planet is filled with intolerance, judgment, and condemnation.
\nOften I have said in my ReCreating Yourself retreats: \u201cAs above, so below.\u201d And often I have been asked, \u201cWhat does that mean? That\u2019s cryptic and sounds so important, but what does it mean? In practical terms, what are you saying?\u201d
\nWhat I am saying is that we are always creating life on earth as it is in heaven. The way we imagine life to be in heaven is how we try to create it on earth. And if we construct an idea of heaven which includes punishment of the mistaken and the \u201cwrong,\u201d exclusion of the undeserving, a home for a God of special favor to only a certain few, a God of judgment and damnation, of anything but unconditional love, then you will experience
\nan earth of the same qualities.
\nFor it cannot be any way for you on your earth other than the way it is for you in your
\nheaven. Thus: as above, so below. For the highest of your thoughts will produce the lowest of your experiences. And the higher your thoughts and aspirations, visions and intentions, the higher will be even your lowest experiences.
\nIt has been written, \u201cSeek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all else shall be added unto you.\u201d Yet know this: the Kingdom of Heaven is not sought and neither is it found by selective exclusion of everyone you call \u201cungodly.\u201d Rather, it is created by calling everyone godly.
\nIn other words, by unconditional love.
\n\u201cAs above, so below\u201d means: As it is in your highest thoughts, so will it be in your lowest; as it is in your highest dream, so will it be in your lowest; as it is in your highest idea and your highest ideal and your highest vision, so will it be in your lowest.
\nThe lowest part of you is risen (\u201cHe is risen\u201d) when the highest part of you soars.
\nDo you understand what I\u2019m saying here? I sounds like I\u2019m on drugs, right? That\u2019s the
\nproblem with spiritual clarity. It can be very difficult to share your thoughts with others because you start to sound crazy. People will think you\u2019re hopped up. Heck, I look at what I just wrote and I think I\u2019m hopped up!
\nYet maybe it\u2019s time for just that. Maybe it\u2019s time for all of us to hop up to a New Level. To take the next step, to make the next leap\u2014a quantum leap into new understanding, new awareness, a new experience of ourselves and of what it means to be human. Maybe this will be the year in which we do that. And maybe enough of us can do that to make 2008 the year that the world itself changed forever. Or at least began to.
\nWhat do you say? We\u2019ve got 10 months left. Want to make this the Year of the New Beginning? In the larger cycle, want to make 2008 the time when we first saw, really saw, the Spiral? Okay, then let\u2019s begin.
\nLet\u2019s start now.
\nLet\u2019s use the onset of March as the onset of the New Self. Let\u2019s forget everything we
\nthink we know about ourselves, let\u2019s forgive everything we think we\u2019ve done that is \u201cbad,\u201d and let\u2019s start over, this time recreating ourselves anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever we held about Who We Are\u2014as a species, as an individual, and as an Aspect of Divinity expressing That Which Is.
\nRemember today that you are not your Yesterdays. Remember today that you are not your weaknesses, not your foibles, not your offenses, not your failures. Remember today Who You Really Are, and claim that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wonder if we really understand what is meant when we are urged to \u201cLove God above all things.\u201d I have an idea about that which may be a bit radical. I think that what God might be saying to us us: \u201cLove everything, for that is what I Am.” = = = = =…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-looking-up-close-at-life"],"yoast_head":"\nLoving all of life, not just part of it - Conversations with God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/04\/loving-all-of-life-not-just-pa.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Loving all of life, not just part of it - Conversations with God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I wonder if we really understand what is meant when we are urged to \u201cLove God above all things.\u201d I have an idea about that which may be a bit radical. 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