Essay for
September 20008

Love Cannot Evolve out of Fear

The title 'Love cannot evolve out of fear' can be perceived as stating the obvious. However, that is what some religious doctrines attempt to achieve. The ideal focus of religion is to stimulate unconditional love within their practitioners, providing a moral code, engendering an ethical vision of how to function within society. On the surface, that ideal appears to affirm the content of the religion. However, problems can arise by how the content is taught, as the ideal is routinely upheld by using some form of fear. Most religionists do not appreciate another focusing upon the fear element within their teachings. However, teaching using fear remains a potent force within religions, potentially defeating the content of the teachings as unconditional love is unrestricted and fear is restrictive. They form a quasi-duality as fear restricts and love expands. The two are not complementary and yet are thrown together for a common purpose. The common purpose is to provide a moral base for ethical action, providing a foundation for unconditional love to flourish. The potential downfall of that common purpose is that fear is used as a foundation for unconditional love. No matter how good the result of mixing unconditional love and fear may superficially appear, it is not honest, establishing a subliminal dishonesty that can destroy what is attempting to be constructed.

Fear and love form a quasi-duality, as they do not resonate. If a moral foundation is built upon, or uses any form of fear, how can unconditional love develop without affecting how it functions? If any form of fear is present in its formation, self-interest will subliminally rule that forced un-conditionality, as fear is bound within self-interest, making unconditional love superficial or conditional. Using any form of fear ultimately defeats, or subliminally destroys the honesty within a moral foundation, ethical behavior, and unconditional love. Meaning, any teachings that uses any form of fear ultimately defeats the very thing they are attempting to teach. If that is true, why do religions use fear in their doctrines? The simple answer would be that fear is easy and quick to use and has immediate results, but it is more complex than that simplicity.

The love religionists speak of is unconditional. It is unrestricted. It is extended with no expectations of any form of reward for the giving and embedded within that action there is no requirement for it to be returned. Unconditional love stands on its own. It has no attachments. However, if any form of condition is present, or fear is within its formation, it is restricted, defeating its un-conditionality. If you have a difficult time evaluating if unconditional love is truly being presented, simply check to see if within its foundation, any form of fear is unobtrusively hidden. The presentation may appear genuine and may be beneficial on many levels of existence, but is it honest? It can be postulated that it really does not matter, assuming no one is harmed in its application, the result is what counts and not necessarily how the result is achieved. Yes, the result is important and can be extremely beneficial, but how it is achieved is more important. If the presentation of unconditional love is not honest (fear in its foundation), subliminally, fear guides that presentation and will make itself known in a variety of ways, indirectly defeating the intent of the presentation.

Unconditional love stands on its own. If any form of fear exists within its construction, it is not honest, as in some form, conditionality will always be raising its head to make itself known. That conditionality pollutes the presentation and the pollution can obscure the reality of what is being expressed. Meaning, listeners or readers are subliminally seduced by an unseen undercurrent that they instinctively know does not quite feel right but cannot grasp what that undercurrent is, as the undercurrent is so strong that it seduces and entraps. The undercurrent is the conditionality that remains hidden within the presented un-conditionality. Emotional orators and cult figures are two obvious examples of that subliminal conditionality as they seduce and entrap, without the audience being aware of the seduction and entrapment. Alternatively, if they are aware and cannot free themselves from that undercurrent, they are normally swept along with it, being dragged into the 'light' of the presentation by subliminal darkness. This is the great deception as it is unrecognized death in the guise of life, as darkness is been presented and accepted as 'light', and it is not.

Why is fear used within religion? Amongst the many possibilities, it is an easy method to control the excesses of self-interest and the self-indulgent diversions of a large population by a limited number of 'religious interpreters'. As well, fear underpinning a moral code indirectly validates the dogma of a religion, making it easier to present and apply. That moral code is essential for any society to constructively function as it establishes the foundation for legal systems and individual ethical behavior, allowing a society to evolve and prosper. A moral code is elemental for the presentation of unconditional love, but if both have been constructed upon fear, both the moral code and ethical behavior can be twisted to suit self-interest with the self-interest being justified by the convolution. Hence, the importance of knowing how the unrestricted nature of unconditional love can be evolved, free of any form of fear, making it experiential and not simply learnt. Meaning, in order to make a moral code and ethical behavior honest, and not just lip service, it must be experienced as true and not simply learnt, accepted, and regurgitated as true. An experiential moral foundation, as distinct from a learnt moral foundation, reveals the directional reality within unconditional love as a living fact and not a dogma to aspire too.

There is no requirement to define self-interest, as you instinctively know if an action or omission does or does not fit that unspoken definition. A self-interested action and a self-interested omission not to act are the same thing, even if they appear different. Sometimes an omission not to act, when that action is required, is far more personally disturbing than a self-interested action, as the omission has an interesting ability to haunt. Those self-interested actions or omissions are all, in some form, fear-based. Hence, the importance of knowing the long-term damage they do to your life, as normally those actions are not universally recognized as being detrimental. Meaning, your moral or ethical code has been self-interestedly re-shaped or bent by some form of fear, establishing internal avoidance rather than external participation, revealing the superficiality of learning a moral/ethical code engendered by fear.

An experiential moral code contains no element of fear in its foundation, releasing ethical behavior and unconditional love in their purest unrestricted form. The problem associated with an experiential moral code is that first, and practically, it must be experienced as true. Meaning, it must actually connect to something beyond itself, which is the problem. That connection must bond directly to the Source of existence, not as a theory, but as a living reality. This moves one outside of dogma, creeds, doctrine, and theology and directly into the Underpinning-Source of what that dogma, creed, doctrine, and theology is constructed upon. The issue associated with that connection is that it takes time, perseverance and direction and all those are normally in short supply within a world that demands constant attention to survive. The paradox of that situation is that within the demanding world of physical survival and safety a connection to the Source of existence is constantly available, one simply has to shift attention away from relentless self-interest and a pathway always opens up for that experience. Standing-aside from self-interest is not easy and takes enormous courage and determination, which is what opens the pathway. The pathway is not hidden, or it is hidden in plain view, and yet few take advantage of that open corridor: the passageway to move beyond an unconnected sense-of-being or sense-of-presence by a subjective connection to a greater Sense-of-Presence that has its Presence within yours and not outside it.

Is the preceding presentation too simple to believe or trust? Try it out for yourself and you will immediately experience the result, and the result is what gradually builds an experiential moral code that has direction without relying upon doctrine, theology, or any form of fear. It will simply make you feel-good, not only about the direction of your actions and thoughts, but also about yourself. It indirectly frees or liberates you from years of conditioning, breaking the cycle of that dependency to reveal the 'real you' lying beneath the accumulated detritus of the 'old you'. That is how to begin the process, which one either does or does not. There is no in-between.

Once that internal process begins, it may take years to stabilize a personal experiential moral code that is usable as a foundation for ethical behavior. Once stabilized, you will enter a new phase of that process where the giver and receiver are perceived as identical. It is an unspoken equality. That experiential equality is what frees your vision and leads directly into a personal connection of what is beyond you, or a direct experiential connection to the Source-of-Existence. It is internal, subjective, and very real and that connection cannot be given to another. Each has to find their own pathway to that Source and learning to overcome one's self-interest is one way to enter it. Not the only way, but all ways eventually lead to it. Discovering that pathway is essential but once discovered keeping it straight becomes a priority. You will encounter many obstacles upon that journey and the temptation to twist and turn the pathway into a variety of shapes other than straight is constant. Keeping your chosen pathway straight reveals your directional determination to reach an experiential moral foundation. The more you do it the easier it becomes. Within that internal journey, you will discover overcoming obsessive self-interest naturally unveils an internal compassionate insight that applies equally to all of humanity, which is, possibly unknowingly, the experiential moral-code being discovered and revealed. It is the development of equanimity of compassionate insight on a practical everyday level, forming the moral foundation for an honest unconditional love.

The simplicity of overcoming self-interest to connect to the Source-of-Existence can be just too simple to believe. Normally, no amount of argument or rhetoric will ever convince another to endure that simple procedure, but if one does, the results will eventually become self-evident. Those actions are rarely acknowledged by another, no matter how good they are, or appear to be. You may be the only one that recognizes them for what they are. However, when you enter the liberated and rarified world where the giver and receiver are honestly experienced within equality, you will also recognize that your actions have been acknowledge where no physical acknowledgment can reach. Then you will know and the knowing opens new pathways to 'touch' what cannot be physically touched. This is where true unconditional love has its foundation, squarely centered upon an experiential moral code, containing no element of fear. When that center is 'touched', you have 'touched' the Source of existence, which is an internal acknowledgment by each of the other, and so known.

RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE