| Gifting Unconditional Love by Desiree de Angelise "Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself." Thus, begins Kahlil Gibran's comments on "Children" from his book The Prophet. Are you familiar with that glorious writing? I hope so. I still remember my first reading and how years later at my son's and daughter's christening, I included Gibran's "Children," my poem honoring their uniqueness, and a minister's reading that each night a child is born is a "holy night." I think we all need to say "Yes!" and claim being "the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself" for no matter what age we are all children at heart. When I think of preparing children for the future, I think of those ideas and would include the well-known Thoreau quote, "If you have built your castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." If I could, I would give the magic wand of unconditional love in preparation for the future to each child (and everyone else on the planet)! My own childhood included that. My playmate's father, Jay Sehorn, now understood as a part of my soul family, gifted me with that amazingly special energy and feeling, even "joy in my very being." In small and larger actions, Jay offered affirmation and love until his early death. Many years later, I am still awestruck by the magnitude of that gift as I daily realize what a truly magic wand unconditional love is. Through that gift, which in the receiving then flows out through you to others, both you and the world you see and live in is forever different. Mirroring unconditional love is inherent in the gift, so given that truth, it is now my specific intention to extend personal mirroring to include my written words and their suggested thoughts as my offering to each of you. With the wave of that wand, your eyes see not a separated world; instead, they behold a world of connection, an energy and feeling of being "golden and cherished," affirming you and others. They also have the ability to see and celebrate that specialness that is each person's to live and give. A versus world becomes win/win with oneness as its foundation. Oneness has never meant sameness; it has always meant an honoring of each part, as well as the whole. Recently while watching My Fair Lady, I noticed a scene expressing what I mean by honoring. This scene shows the heroine confronting the behavior of the professor in contrast to his partner, who she says treated her like a lady before she spoke or acted like one. Defending himself, he insists he treats all equally -- the lady like the guttersnipe. For far too long we have accepted the professor's version of "equality," and not that of the other teacher. Like unconditional love, the other one uses "equality" in an honoring and uplifting sense rather than a leveling one. We need to honor our children, ourselves and each other in preparation for the future we desire. Twelve-Step programs express the idea that craziness is the act of continuing the same actions, behaviors and patterns while expecting a different ending or outcome. In much the same way, treating our children, ourselves and each other without honoring each guarantees an "old" future, not the one of promise we want for our children. "Everything is an opportunity to learn to love yourself more" is something I learned from an Alan Cohen book. If this is true, then unconditional love is even more critical to our well-being and that of our children. "Opportunities," especially those in negative guise, loom larger without the self-esteem and sense of self-inherent in unconditional love. And because life is filled with those opportunities, preparing our children for the future needs to include gifting and working with that special energy. With that foundation, we can more graciously accept the opportunities and release their energy rather than getting trapped in negative energies and the past. Unconditional love seems to include a timeless present, a being in the Now, no matter when or where it is or was received. Forgiveness -- our own self and of others -- also seems connected with it. Unconditional love honors the essence, the being of each; forgiveness offers the possibility of staying in or returning to alignment and not getting caught in past actions and energies. If forgiveness does offer us the possibility of staying in or returning to alignment, maybe we need to re-examine it. What if Jeshua/Jesus' "Father, forgive them..." was actually meant to show us about energy. It might be that the only way he could stay in his own aligned energy and not get trapped in energy ties with those who abused him was to immediately forgive them. Could those words have really been his demonstration of his understanding and Mastery of energy? And even if we missed that, he left us the "70 times 7" teaching and answer to how many times we need to forgive. Unfortunately, most of us have seen forgiveness not in terms of energy, but in terms of the deservingness or lack thereof of the person or action. In preparation for the future we desire, we need to truly understand ourselves and share with our children that forgiveness is solely, completely, about energy. It is about not taking on any misqualified or mis-aligned energy. Forgiveness of ourselves and others frees us to be in alignment, in the present or Now of timelessness. It matters not what has been done or by whom. Forgiveness appears to be our way, our only way, to release and return old energy and being back into alignment with God energy. It is that important! Our lives today eloquently speak this truth as each of us, especially recently, have had to face whatever is coming into our lives to be acknowledged, released and tranmuted. Will we re-act to this or will we be able to see it, however difficult, as Love's offering to each of us? If we see the latter, we have a possibility of a future in aligned energy, a true "New Millennium." We need to accept the magic wand of unconditional love -- meaning, we see the essence and don't judge ourselves or each other. Discernment is not judgment, and to create the desired future, we need to use discernment as an important part of that foundation. Unconditional love, discernment and forgiving ourselves and each other as "the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself" that we truly are offer the best preparation I know of for creating a desired future for our children and our planet. Desiree de Angelise/Dee Grover's unique approach to life includes adoption, growing up in California and learning from teachers of philosophy and dance, as well as from spiritual leaders. She choreographs and shares sacred dance and writes poetry and articles. She may be contacted at deelightasol@yahoo.com. Copyright © 2003 Desiree de Angelise |
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