Lesson 117: Review of
Lesson 103: God, being Love, is also happiness, and
Lesson 104: I seek but what belongs to me in truth
I recall when aspartame first came onto the market. I was in a community college biology class and our instructor mapped out the molecular structure of the new artificial sweetener.
“Right there,” he pointed to a question mark he had added to the end of the chain, “is why I won’t ever touch this stuff. This unknown molecule means it’s not safe for human consumption.”
Nevertheless, I spent years after this dire warning drinking diet soda products in the name of “losing weight” and cutting sugar in my diet. These days, of course, we know the health risks of aspartame and other artificial sweeteners, including increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Sugar, as damaging as some scientists say it can be to our bodies, is better than some of the chemical concoctions made to replace it.
Today’s lesson is like my biology teacher – warning us against accepting any substitutes for Love that the ego likes to concoct in its lab. The ego tells us that love is personal and our task in this life is to get someone to fall in love with us and take care of us for the rest of our lives. The ego likes to convince us that love is a transaction – I’ll do this for you if you do this for me. Love, the ego tells us, is true only when the other person does what we expect of them. Otherwise, it’s counterfeit.
In Reality, all of the ego’s concoctions of love are counterfeit, and definitely bad for our health.
Nothing can take the place of the Love and joy that are ours. They are our “heritage,” this lesson tells us, “gifts” from God that can never be replaced or substituted.
How would it change the way you lived if you truly believed that Love and joy are your heritage? Unearned gifts from your creator? How likely would you be to accept any substitute for love that is based on earning it, bargaining for it or expecting it to be returned when you don’t even know how to give it?
Whatever substitutes for love are hanging around with you, Hafiz says it’s time to toss them out. He writes:
Who would want to live with some crickets in
your room carousing loudly all night?
That is to say, either befriend all of your thoughts,
party with them as best you can … or
toss the rascals out.
Photo by Jasmine Waheed on Unsplash