Chapter 2
The greatest distance between us is in the heart. Love has the power to transcend time and space.
You and I could be sitting across from each other at the same table and be millions of miles away at the same time. Intimacy is a matter of presence. We can be physically present and emotionally and spiritually absent. We can be physically distant and emotionally and spiritually present. Now is the only moment present in the realm of the heart.
Love transcends time and space. When I speak of love, I am speaking of love in the purest sense. I am speaking of unconditional love. Unconditional love cannot be grasped by the limited and conditional mind. Unconditional love can only be experienced through an open heart.
We are all one. You and I are we. The beauty of the soul can only be revealed beyond the shadows of the darkness of the mind. Free your mind, and the rest will follow.
Not even death can separate us when we are in love. Death is not an illusion. The fear we attach to death is driven by illusion born from the ignorance of forgetting who we are. Perhaps ignorance is simply ignoring the infinite reality that is within us and surrounds us as all that is.
Even nothing has something to it. Non-existence as a concept is capable of creating a substantial emotional charge when it is perceived by the mind. In other words, if death is non-existence, or ceasing to exist, fear of non-existence projects a tremendous amount of meaning onto nothingness, which makes it into something.
If nothing is something perceptible to the mind, then it is something after all.
We generally and collectively fear the unknown. Transformation requires surrender to the unknown. Love transforms us. Love is infinite. We are transforming infinitely. Death is an aspect of transformation. It is the dance of surrender and letting go of what has been to create an opening to rebirth into the present moment that is now.
If the dancer is inert, there is no dance. A dancer is in motion. A dancer does not perceive motion fearfully. A dancer embraces motion passionately. The music inspires the dancer to move. The music is always changing and the dancer is always in motion.
So often we are living life as statues frozen in time. We cling to lifeless and uncomfortable postures believing that if we move we will cease to exist. We have identified our being with our frozen postures. We fear that to move a finger would be to lose a finger forever. To wiggle a toe would invite immediate amputation. If we changed our minds, we fear we will definitely lose them. In short, we are so afraid of death we are rarely and barely ever living.
Tantra is an invitation to the dance. It is a celebration of life. Life is not a dress rehearsal. It is a precious gift. Life is a miracle, and love is the greatest miracle of all.
Love is the music we are invited to dance with. We can dance to any music we choose in any way we wish. Whether you are dancing in a passionate embrace with love’s music, or marching wildly to the beat of your own drum, the steady beating of your heart will guide you home. All return to love. Love is a universe big enough to contain all of the music, all of the drums, dancers, statues, and come what may…even the nothingness that means so much to us. Love is big enough for all of this. So are we.
Nothing can change the essence of who and what we are in truth. We are truth. We are beauty. We are love. We can only really experience three realities. What love is, what love isn’t, and the fact that learning what love isn’t only reinforces what love is.
Love is. You are. Be.
Wherever you are, love is. Wherever you are not, love is. Love is everywhere. You are love. You are everywhere.
Enlightenment is very simple. It already exists within your heart. The mind is a chatterbox. You can change your mind without losing it, but even if you lose your mind, let it go. Surrender to your bliss.
Happiness is in the here and now, and so are you.
Let it be.