Love: A Spiritual Perspective

A few weeks ago, at church during the meditation (I go to a Unity church so metaphysical meditations are a part of the service), we were asked to think of someone or something we loved so that we could cultivate love in our hearts to then send out to the world. It is common during this practice to think of a loved one or a dear friend, so you can remind yourself of what love feels like inside your physical body and then send that feeling out into the world.

On this particular day, I was surprised by what came up in my mind’s eye when I pictured the “someone” I loved.  It would have been very easy for me to think of my daughter or husband or even my parents (yes, even you mother dearest), but instead, a scene came up in my head.

It was a mundane experience I had driving home from dropping my daughter off at school.  On the drive home I passed a crow who was perched on a beam that put him about the height I was as I drove past him.  While I slowly drove past, this crow and I made eye contact and he slightly moved his head to see me with one of his eyes.  During this encounter I felt an immense sense of love spring up inside me.  Not the love of this particular bird or this encounter, but the love of the universe.  The feeling I label as love of an overwhelming presence in my heart center.

This seemingly mundane encounter of passing a crow in my car brought me an immense sense of love and one that I was able to cultivate and bring up several weeks later.

When we typically talk about love we speak of it as towards people or things.  But, I propose that from a spiritual perspective, we should speak of love in a broader sense.  The emotion that is felt of unity in oneness in experience.

This feeling that I label love isn’t just a one time experience.  It is something that comes up on me randomly throughout my day.  Just a few days ago I was walking to the kitchen to make some tea and I caught the sight of the steam from the tea kettle coming off from under the cabinets and exposing itself to a sunbeam – instant feeling of love.  The image of a gull flying over a lake on a cold winter day – instant feeling of love.

It is my belief that if we can recognize and cultivate more of these mundane experiences of love throughout our daily life we can then send that love out into the world on a more regular basis.  

All it takes is a second to stop and notice when something brings that emotion up in you.  Too often we are rushing around, not making time in our life for these moments.  But what if you stopped when you sipped your morning coffee and noticed how that experience makes you feel.  Do you have a feeling of love welling up inside you?  Can you send that love out and spread it throughout the universe?

Love isn’t just something that comes from items or people.  It isn’t just something that should be kept to ourselves.  Loves is a force to recognize in every encounter and to spread around freely.

My challenge to you today is to recognize an experience of love in your mundane life today.  To then take that love and usher it out into the universe. I dare you to try.