2001-10-28-Mythology of Love

Session

Opening

Legion : Yes, this is Legion.

David : Welcome, Legion.

Lesson

Discipline

Legion : Thank you. We would speak to you more about the mythology of love and spirituality. How wonderful would it be if your dreams were true: that all would heed the call of love, that all, once given the message, would rapidly transform into the loving beings of your advertisements, floating across meadows of flowers, smiling, light radiating from their eyes with the knowledge of love. What is true for most of you, however, is that this is a step-by-step process of growth, the choice to love being necessary in every muscle pull that lifts the foot, one before the other, and chooses to place the foot, one after the other, on the pathway of God’s love.

How wonderful it would be if the single burning bush, the one clap of thunder, the brilliant flash of light, the one life, the many lives, dedicated to an understanding that God is love, would have the effect to swiftly transform all human life upon your planet. But it is true that each individual must discover and practice the path of their own understanding. Each individual must be willing to choose the discipline of love, which is the discipline of joy, which is God’s joy in God’s love for you. In the practice of this discipline, each individual mind must choose to open, each individual heart must choose to open.

For some of you the opening is easy, even as the practice is long. For some of you the opening is an opening into the unknown, a look into a dark cave of fear, an attempt to open that which you can not remember, Love. Why should you fear love? It is the confusion of love with many other things, many not-loves, that creates and sustains fear. Impatient as you may be with the long repetitive progress of discipline and practice, it is your willingness to choose again and again to practice, to open again and again to practice, to learn and to learn within the greater embrace of patience to practice, that allows the reality of God’s love for you to become manifest in you and to others. You fear to open your hearts to one another no less than you fear opening your heart to love. You fear the confusion, the misunderstanding, the betrayal. You fear the pratfall of the rug pulled out from under you, that you should look the fool. You fear your smallness will be revealed. You fear loss of control.

Having learned to say No, having learned to protect yourself against the unknown, to protect yourself against that over which you have no control, you fear to say Yes. No becomes your comfort. And so you have the idea, the mythological ideal, that love will fill you with the fragrance of flowers and you will blossom forever more, without struggle, without effort, without practice, without actual learning. And this becomes your favorite disappointment, in yourself, in others, and you say, once again, No to proffered love. You retreat. You withdraw. You circle around the opportunity and try to poke holes in it. But we are different here. Yes?

Dialogue

David : Hopefully.

Legion : We say Yes to love. Yes?

Group : Yes.

Legion : You understand, this is human, the human conditioning. Even in those families where love is abundant, there are those experiences which must be embraced with sorrow. There are those encounters with fear that must be dissipated with courage. There are those doubts that rise up before you and must be cancelled with love. So, if you would learn further, engage with me. Shall we dialogue?

Sandy : Legion, I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you. Things are becoming so much clearer to me now, the path seems so much straighter. We are really grateful for these teachings. Thank you.

Legion : Thank you. When you allow the edges of the path to expand, when you embrace your path and all its gravel and skinned knees and potholes, the path becomes clearer and straighter.

Sandy : Right now it looks like a super highway and we are all on it.

Legion : Yes. Sustain this image. In your stillness blow love upon it, seeing each one and greeting each one with the radiance of the light in your mind and heart that creates the image. Patience: saying Yes to love, patiently. Allowing great love to seep, drop by drop, into that tiny opening, drop by drop, to fill. And from the greater well the smaller well is filled, allowing love to seep, drop by drop, into each well of relationship. Filling each well of relationship and allowing love to seep, drop by drop, into the deep well of yearning that is the human cry for peace. Is there another who would speak to me? Or Alana?

David : Yes, Legion. I thought Oliver was going to ask some questions, but he hasn’t responded. He seems to be blissed out over there, so I’ll go ahead and give him time later. You gave me this assignment. I’ve been writing them up for weeks now. What do you want me to do with them?

Legion : Give them away.

Sandy : Have you been writing David and we don’t know about it?

David : Yes.

Sandy : Well, I think you were given that assignment so you could share them with the rest of us.

David : I didn’t know exactly what he wanted me to do with them, but obviously Legion is telling me to give them away. Would these students be a good group of people to start with in terms of giving them away, Legion?

Legion :These students may be your greatest challenge in giving them away. (laughter)

David : Well, I must say it has been fun doing it. I don’t know that I know any more than the rest of them. I’ve just been having fun from day to day sitting down at the computer for ten or fifteen minutes knocking out some ideas and my experiences with following the discipline of joy. As a matter of fact, this discipline itself has proved to be quite joyful. I hope my writing shows that I’ve been having fun doing it. Yes, it has been wonderful. A little outrageous, too. Thank you.

Legion : What you do not know, you will learn. Yes? And the exercise is to allow yourself confidence in the knowledge of your practice and discipline.

David : Yes, it has been good for me. Because of my whole professional relationship to religion in my background, I don’t want to step up on stage again, or pretend to know things that I don’t really know. I’ve been very reticent for many, many years, so this has been kind of an easy way of getting into expressing myself. Thank you for the assignment.

Legion : And expressing what you have actually learned.

Sandy : I think we would feel privileged if you share that with us.

Legion : It would be like a birthday party. You present the beautiful cake. You put the candles upon it. You flame them. Then all join in to say, Blow them out, Make a wish. All participate in Cut the cake, and Let us eat. As you work with this group for a fuller understanding, a common understanding, of what you have understood, the pleasure will expand as the sweetness of the cake upon the taste buds.

It is a wonderful gift you have given to me to observe and to witness your delight in your learning and in the production of that which I requested. For it is not totally understood that God’s love is for You, and You, and You, and All, to be loved, to feel love, and to give it away, and in this to feel joy. Joy is wanted, but feared. Joy is criticized. Joy is diluted. We would have you know, and be able to give understanding to others, that essential pearl of joy that resides within that is the essence of God’s love for you. We would have you understand joy as the product of discipline, the discipline of love. Thank you.

David : Are you saying, in effect, that joy is at the heart of existence?

Legion : Yes.

David : Are you saying in effect, as well, that joy is of our essence, too?

Legion : Yes. There are those who understand life as essentially sad. If you know God’s love embraces you, embraces all, and resides within you in the still point of the center of the stillness within your heart, then you know the essence is joy. This joy welcomes you each time you are willing to allow love in the relationships of life, and each time you surrender your fear and open your heart to the joy that awaits you after death. Do not fear life. Do not fear death. Do not fear love. Embrace it. Do not suppress joy. Enhance it.

So, how is your practice going, my friends? You practice much, yes?

Sandy : I’m getting better at it. I’m finding that practice can be many different kinds of activity, as long as I focus on love while I am doing it.

Legion : Yes. We have said, ten minutes a day of stillness practice. Some have said, practice in the morning and practice in the evening. Others would have you practice in the noonday sun, as well. As you practice, you begin to learn, actually learn, that it is the practice which brings you joy. It is in your willingness to surrender entirely to the practice of the discipline of love that allows love to permeate and saturate your whole being, your whole being on this planet, your whole life upon this planet, and so you practice all day long.

Sandy : Can it be considered a kind of practice to let love guide you in what you do on a daily basis?

Legion : Yes. Of course. You would discern between love without and love within, between the guidance as a beckoning and the guidance, that having become an integral part of the practice which leads and follows. The practice of the stillness within allows love to fill you, permeate you, saturate you. The practice of the discipline of love allows this permeated status to infuse your behavior and you give this love away. So it is in the following of the guidance that pours into your stillness and in the assertion of the choice to love, to exercise the behavior of love, that your footsteps become a guidance for others to see, to allow, to follow, and then to give away. Was that useful?

Sandy : Yes. Thank you.

Legion : Is there another who would speak to me?

Spirituality

Oliver : Yes, David was nudging me to see if today is a good day for you to speak on what you meant when you sent a message to me that I was infatuated by the mythology of my spiritual growth. Last week, Alana said something about mythology. Would you explain, or give me an example of my mythology, what I have to look out for, or not to do.

Legion : It is not the mythology of your spiritual growth, for your spiritual growth is very real. There is a mythology of spirituality, the myths of which shape, convince, tempt. Tempt one to believe, “Aha! Now I have it!” And yes, indeed, in that moment you may indeed “Have it!” But it is our task to bring to you the understanding that spiritual growth is constant and never ending. For you, on your planet, it is always Now, and Now, and Now. You can not relax in the cleverness of understanding, the intellectual grasp, nor can you relax in the mass social approval of the mutual affinity in any particular spiritual understanding. You may, yes, relax in love, relax in the arms of the Mother’s embrace, relax in the full power of the Father’s love pouring down upon you. But you must practice now, and now, and now, the discipline of allowing love to shape your every behavior, to coat every word upon your tongue, to open your minds to new discovery of yourself and others.

There is the myth that if I pray once, and my prayer is answered, that is prayer. Many prayers go unanswered, but they are heard, they are lifted up into the power of God’s love, the embrace of the Mother’s understanding, and the answers are blowing on the wind of the breath of love.

It is a common myth to believe that because in my stillness I have achieved the greatest experience of comfort and joy, the complete knowledge that I am guided by God’s love, that I am “protected” by the Mother’s embrace, that so it is and it ever shall be without end…and without practice, or without discipline, or without choosing again, and again, and again to love. Once again, “What was it you said, Legion? Strengthen my body?” Yes. “Pracitce the discipline of love?” Yes.

There are those who believe, “Because I understand, because I have such remarkable experiences in my stillness, therefore I am done, therefore I am good, therefore I have arrived.” Goodness is living, just as love is living. It must be chosen again and again. It must be nurtured. It must live and grow and creatively express itself again and again and again. Even your goodness, without practice, without alertness, without returning again and again to the stillness for further guidance, further revelation about your self and your goodness, can cause harm, can, in the fever of your “good deeds,” step on another’s toes.

There are those who believe, “I am guided.” And think no more.You live in a jungle. You do not walk that jungle blind. You stay alert. You practice walking carefully, each time you step out. Yes, God’s love is yours. Drink from the fountain of his love. Absorb the embrace of that comforting love. But, listen, learn, and do this again, and again, and again.

There are some whose practice has so infused their lives that their lives visibly appear more blessed than others. There are some whose practice is so constant that their words lift others up, up, up into the light of God’s love and they begin to understand. There are some whose lives reveal the glorious gift of their practice in the form of love given away greatly, vastly. Even they do not relax in the myth that “all is done.” They do not say, “I need not look again.” They do not say, “I am so great I can speak without thinking, write without the patience of allowing love to be my ink.” They practice. They know their practice is never ending. It is a source of joy. Has this been useful?

Oliver : Yes. That has hit home, so to speak. I was just thinking during the last part of what you were saying, talking about those who were doing all these loving things. What is it like at your level? Do you have to make a decision, too, now and now again for God’s love? Is this something that is permanent and eternal?

Legion : Love is an eternal creative Now. Even I, even Alana, learn. In the learning, we give away, and in the giving away, we teach. The spiritual journey is an interactive and co-operative and collaborative venture. You do not “go it alone.” Always remain attentive to how, Now, your love bleeds into the love of others; how, Now, your not love bleeds into the love and not love of others. Even I, even Alana, in giving a teaching may fail to attend to the narrower understanding or desire of the student. So in the teaching is the opportunity for actual learning for me, for Alana, for the student. The student says, “Ouch!” or “I do not understand.” Or “Help!” And the teacher says, “Forgive me. This is my love. Forgive me for I would have you understand and I would not have you say Ouch, nor fear I will not help.”

Oliver : Legion, I am most impressed by the incredible patience that you and Alana and the other teachers have with us. Of course, we often go over the same question several times, but you invariably and always have patience with us. This is something that I am working on and I am learning, learning, learning how to be patient.

Legion : Yes, there is a mythology of spiritual patience. I would have you understand, much as with the seemingly endless repetition of discipline, that it is in patience that rapid spiritual growth is attained. It is much like the stillness practice, when observed, one might say, “That fellow is doing nothing.” And yet, the deepest and most profound experience of all is taking place. So too, impatience would speed up the process, have things happening NOW! But it is in the Now Embrace of Patience that all will come to pass as God has willed it so, that love and only love will become who you are, and who you understand yourself to be, now.

David : Legion, we have been very patient for a year and not asked curiosity questions of you. Would one be in order now?

Legion : What would you know?

David : Well, ah, I guess I would just like to know what stage you and Alana are on in the spiritual journey. I know you are mortals on the same path as we, but you have gone on further. I don’t know, whatever information you think we could handle.

Legion : We embraced your path and more. We return to fill your hearts with the love that is so difficult for mortals to understand. We return to fill your hearts with the love that satisfies the curiosity, saturates the mind so completely that love becomes the only joy, the only service. We have achieved a standing among our peers that allows us to represent to you information, given by the Most Highs, that you may overcome your warlike tendencies in relationships. I am assigned to you and your group. Alana may move about. That will have to do.

Closing

David : I wanted to make a comment of thankfulness to you teachers for your presence with us. I consider it the greatest gift of my life to have this experience of being guided by your love, and guided by your presence.

Legion : And so we shall look forward to you giving that away.

David : Yes.

Legion : Alana would speak with you now.

Oliver : Thank you, Legion. Thank you very, very much.

Nena, Sandy : Thank you.

Alana : This is Alana.

Oliver : Hello, Alana. Welcome.

Alana : Thank you. Yes, we would have our Mr. Boisterous share with you the beginnings of his lessons. There will be more, but we have agreed that to put him on the stage, so to speak, before you, will be a very good lesson of learning for him, for yourselves, and for us to observe, and kibbitz, as you say. It will not be an ending. It will be the continued practice of the discipline of love, which is the discipline of joy. We look forward to having this experience the very next meeting.

Sandy : So do we, Alana.

Alana : Thank you.

David : How are we doing as a group?

Alana : Better than ever, my friend.

David : That’s good to hear.

Oliver : Alana, I was very taken when you were explaining last week, and I was made aware of it in my own life, the conditional love that we have, and that even our conditional love is to be given away. That was very freeing for me. Thank you for that lesson of last week.

Alana : Yes, the human mythology, if you will, is that practice makes perfect. We would infuse that idea with a little bit of comforting news; it is the practicing that makes perfectioning. Do not be ashamed, ever, if your love looks so tiny in comparison to…. I will leave that open for you to place your favorite “perfect” being. There is no competition, no comparison in love; there is only loving. Thank you. Shall we close for the day, or is there one other?

Sandy : I asked, Alana, some nights ago, if there was any (can’t make out the word) evil at your level. What I saw was a mountain. What I heard was that from your position on this mountain you can see evil, but it is very, very far away, way down at the bottom. I don’t know why I shared that, but it is a comforting thought, because we are faced with so much fear of evil right now.

Alana : Yes. We are on the other side of the mountain, you might say. As will you be. The greatest patience embraces the greatest evil. You, it can be understood, stagger under even the slightest attempt to be patient and to embrace evil with love.

Sandy : Yes, that must be our hardest challenge.

Alana : And so you have fear, and sometimes you have doubt, impatient to make the evil go away. Today, as we pray, each one of you, now, embrace the heart room and allow the heart room to embrace you, and we shall blow love upon the evil that you see. Now.

Open your minds. Open your hearts. I blow love into you. Welcome your loved ones. Welcome those you see in not-love. We shall blow love upon them. In your fear and doubt, step into the heart room. We are always there. You can not begin to understand completely the great love that we bring. Our journey has gone beyond your comprehension and we return with the love that surpasses your understanding. Build your heart room. Have faith. We are there. I blow love upon you, all. Thank you.

Devina : This is Devina.

Sandy : A little pull on the heart strings would be nice. Thank you for coming.

Devina : Yes. I pull upon your heart strings, and I would have you feel the pull as you lift the sides of your mouths up. Notice. Joy is here. Yes? I sprinkle joy upon you. As I tug upon your hearts, I send the vibration of my joy into you. Thank you.

Alana : We will close with a prayer of gratitude. Thank you Father, Mother, Michael, for love. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.