Love and Devotion

Valentine’s Day – the time of the year when we turn our attention to love. Love is a combination of many different energies and emotions and like the nature of light defies our attempts to fully define it. Yet we can define individual aspects, and while it is impossible to order the different strands in any meaningful way today we focus on devotion.

Many of us fear the concept of devotion, that depth of love and loyalty, to anybody or anything. We believe we would have to give up our independence, lose the choice to do what we want and surely be deprived of control over our own lives. So, what we do instead is to pull back, and withdraw to stay safe and in control while trying to keep getting our needs fulfilled. However, withdrawal results in loss of passion and contact and increasing amounts of dysfunction not only in our relationship but also in other aspects of our life. We find ourselves getting fatigued and exhausted so eventually we just give up. Often this becomes the pattern of our relationships until eventually we hardly put our toe in the water.

Let us take a moment and consider what is called for by devotion. A Course in Miracles says that we should give a brother or sister twice as much as they ask. Therefore, in a committed relationship what is called for is our 200% commitment. That is devotion or at least the start of it and it takes courage. But let’s look at the upside of devotion. Devotion to another leads to mutual progress as no-one is held back, or trapped or stuck. True devotion opens the door to inspiration and when we are inspired we are “in spirit”. We know when we are inspired, not only by our creativity but also by our total lack of fatigue.

When we pull back and withdraw, we become egocentric and we listen to the voice of the ego which means it is only a matter of time before we become dis-spirited, we lose heart and give up. When we are dis-spirited life becomes difficult and it takes more and more energy to achieve dwindling results. Conversely, a return to spirit which is our true nature, is a return to ourselves and the return of joy and ease which is to be inspired. The path lies through our courage to be willingly devoted, to give ourselves so totally we transcend our limitations and reap the rewards; and it all starts with the person that stands closest to you.

These next few days is a good time to muse on our devotion and gain the courage to go with our partner twice as far as they ask. For those without a partner we can also choose to be devoted to family and friends, or even to life itself, for it is through our devotion that we find ourselves.

With our love,

Jeff and Sue