Wise Love

"Remembering your self is virtue, forgetting your self is sin. It all boils down to the mental or psychological link between the spirit and matter. We may call the link psyche (antahkarana). When the psyche is raw, undeveloped, quite primitive, it is subject to gross illusions. As it grows in breadth and sensitivity, it becomes a perfect link between pure matter and pure spirit and gives meaning to matter and expression to spirit. There is the material world (mahadakash) and the spiritual (paramakash). Between lies the universal mind (chidakash), which is also the universal heart (premakash). It is wise love that makes the two one."

- Nisargadatta Maharaj, FROM "I AM THAT", Chapter 21

While engaging in another reading of "I AM THAT", Nisargadatta's definitive work, I came upon the words wise love. This use of language is so close to what I have been stressing in my blogs, and so very important, I thought I would look at it closely for a bit.

As we all realize, the mind can take us only to the door of Truth. The key to the door is Grace. We need to look into the heart for Grace. The mind must be clear. The mind must be empty, and lost in the frustration of seeking without finding, to the point of total exhaustion. Then Grace has a chance to enter. There is no guarantee it will; that is the nature of Grace. But an open and Loving heart, free of desire, smooths the path of Grace; for Grace and Love are the same.

Wisdom brings understanding. Love attracts Grace. Together they open all doors, answer all questions.

The mind is full of discoveries, memories, and all of the story that is you and your life. It also contains what you know of Scripture, meditations, and any other "spiritual" practices and knowledge you have "acquired". The heart contains the intuitive sense that you are, and a vague sense of "what" you are. As much as we fight it, the innate sense that we have something to do with love is hard to deny. We mistake it for desire. We call it an "emotion". We contrast it with hate. We feel it pull us in the very "seeking". But we seek with our minds, which really don't want to be left behind, so they convince us the door is "locked". The mind tries to convince us there is no key it can find; so there must not be one. So it confuses and confuses itself so it won't have to face the need to step into the apparent "darkness" of the unknown.

The heart belongs to the unknown. The step into the unknown is all about Trust. Trust is all about how much we Love what we Trust. If we Trust in Love itself; get lost in it; we become it. Once we realize that we are Love itself, all the wisdom we have learned, indeed, all the Wisdom of the ages unfolds in an instant, the key being found. The key is Wise Love.