Love is the foundation of faith. It makes us experience the deepest temporal source of joy and then transforms the joy by taking us further beyond our attachment with a profound sense of awe for the freedom and bliss that is to come.
God uses our temporal, ego-based desires and identities and leads us beyond them, everything is used and transformed, nothing is wasted.
After His resurrection, Jesus’ clear message to Mary Magdalene was not that she squelch, deny, or destroy her human love for him - “Do not cling to me” (John 20:17). He was, instead, saying “Don’t hold on to the past, what you think you need or deserve. We are all heading for something much bigger and much better, Mary.”
Our temporal ego-based conditioning teaches us that joy is in possession and attachment. In her desire to cling to Jesus and his refusal to allow it, we see a reflection of our self. We see that eventually even the greatest things in our lives—even our love and beloved—must be released and allowed to become something new.
1 Corinthians 13:13 “Three things will last forever: faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love.”
Comments