In a video titled “Were We Born to Love?”, Deepak Chopra looks at one of the difficulties of being human. He says that we are all born into unconditional love from our mothers, and then we have experiences which create the feelings of being unloved and unloveable. While I don’t agree that we all come into unconditional love (mothers are not perfect), I do think that we all come from unconditional love (the Love of the Universe). And then life in human form offers us many opportunities to feel rejected and imperfect. I like the way he describes the comparison between Spirit and Ego––he calls this Essence versus Experiences.

There is a parallel discussion of this topic in my next book, Traveling Light, Moving Our Awareness Beyond the Five Senses. In the first chapter, “The Nature of God and the Universe”, A’riquea speaks:

Humans are on an interesting journey. You start out coming from the Spirit World. Your physical body grows around your spirit while you are in your mother’s womb. This is your first opportunity to be bathed, in physical form, in the Love of God. It is something that Spirits desire, the opportunity to feel this. It is why you choose to come in.

The developing baby is open to this experience in every way. Other energies impact the baby as well: the mother’s feelings, and energy from the environment around the mother. These kinds of effects continue during the birth and after the baby is born. There is always an interplay between the baby’s energy and the energy around it. This interplay continues throughout a person’s life.

One reason that Life is made this way is so that each person can have a unique energy impression. No two people will be the same. Everyone has gifts and losses. Your work while you are in human form is to use your unique energy impression in the best way possible. This involves finding your spiritual passion and expressing it through compassion. The way in which you make your way through your own unique energy maze leaves an energy impression on the Universe. This is what is meant when it is said that your learning goes back to the One. Everything that everyone is learning in physical form is available in the infinite energy field of the Universe. You contribute to it and you are bathed in it. You have access to it. There is not a separate individual in the world. The energy is in constant motion.

Humans are often distracted by the desires of the physical form. This kind of information is like chatter, like static on a radio station. In order to access the inclusive field of all energy, humans will need to find themselves in the field of All-That-Is. This is like tuning in to a radio station. You are more likely to be a good listener if you are a clear channel.

You are wondering where love fits into this. Little-L love is the opportunity for humans to express and receive the vibration of Love. There really is no difference between the two. Humans, however, are always practicing. Mistakes are made. The love/Love is given and withdrawn, it bathes and then dries up. The challenge of the receiver is to be open to the Love of others, and then to stay open even when it is removed. The ego tends to see the removal as a personal threat, and tries to build protection against the pain that is felt.

Everyone, on their human journey, has to figure out how to become open to the Love of the Universe. This is the greatest Love, and it is unconditional. It is always present. Once this is experienced, it is easier to forgive the imperfections of other humans. Early unconditional love from a parent or caregiver boosts a baby’s ability to recognize spiritual Love. This can also be a barrier to discovering Universal Love in adulthood, if the person comes to believe that this Love always comes from another person.

Only under significant circumstances can another human provide truly unconditional love. Being parented without unconditional love can encourage a child to put up barriers, but it can also enhance the ability to find spiritual Love in the Universe, outside of their strings-attached relationships with others. So you see, it is not that one way is better than the other. It is up to each person to find their way within their own circumstances. The circumstances are all different. The outcome––opening to spiritual Love––is the same.

This is a good application of the One Mountain idea: some people are walking, some are riding a donkey, but everyone is climbing the same mountain. We cannot judge others for the way they are traveling. We can smile when we meet them on the way. Have joy in your heart at the opportunity to make this journey. Believe. In the Love of the Universe, and in the journey that opens to it.